WALTER WITTENBERG AND MARIE EICHHORN WITTENBERG:

THE LIVES OF TWO GERMANBORN CITIZENS OF LITTLE ROCK

By Dan Durning March 2012

In 1978 or so, when I was living on C Street in Little Rock's Hillcrest Neighborhood, I bought several items at a local garage sale that clearly had belonged to some Germans who had settled in Little Rock many years before. As I sorted the purchases, I found that most of the itemsincluding a post card albumhad belonged to Marie Eichhorn Wittenberg, who had been married to Walter Wittenberg. It appears that the items came from the estate of Walter Wittenberg Jr, the son of Marie and Walter, who died in April 1977. He resided in the Hillcrest area, at 412 N. Palm Street, for many decades. The Wittenberg name has been well known in Little Rock for nearly a century and a half. Walter Wittenberg arrived in Little Rock in 1865 as a clerk in the Union Army. Since then, he and his descendents have worked in Little Rock in accounting, banking, civil engineering, architecture, and undertaking. One of the legacies of the family is an architecture firm created in 1919. That year, Wittenberg and Delony Architects opened for business in downtown Little Rock. The firm is now known as Wittenberg, Delony & Davidson. One of the founding members of the firm, George Wittenberg, was a grandson of Walter Wittenberg and his first wife, Annie. Based on the materials purchased at that 1978 garage sale, plus some other research, the following is part of the story of the lives of Walter Wittenberg and Marie Eichhorn Wittenberg. The Marriage of Walter and Marie Wittenberg On January 19, 1911, Rose Marie Eichhorn boarded the ocean liner Pennsylvania in Hamburg for a trip that would take her to Little Rock to marry Walter Wittenberg. On February 2, she wrote the following on a postcard to her sister Mrs. Hedwig Eichhorn Weinkamer in Cleveland, Ohio: Today is the 13th day on the Ocean. The water is terrible. Many storms, much wind, perhaps we will be underway until Sunday, February 5th....I will write you again as soon as I arrive in Little Rock. It is not clear when and where 34year-old Marie Eichhorn had met Walter Wittenberg, a widower who was 76 years old. Perhaps it was when she had made her two earlier trips from her home in Dresden to the United States. She first came in 1892, when she was 17 years old, traveling on the Steamship Switzerland. Her ship registration said that her employment was as a "domestic" and that she was going to Ohio. Likely she visited her sister Hedwig (Hattie) in Cleveland.

Rose Marie Eichhorn Writing about her Atlantic Journey

Apparently, she stayed in the United States for several years: her address book has "Marie Eichhorn, Cleveland, 1895" written on its inside cover. Marie returned to Saxony sometime after 1895, then visited the U.S. again in 1908, at the age of 30, traveling with her parents Henry (age 60) and Catherine (age 60). They departed on Sept. 10, 1908 from Cuxhaven on the SS Deutschland. No information is available about what cities they visited or how long they stayed. Marie's postcards indicate that she spent some time in Chicago. If Marie and Walter did not meet during one of her trips to the United States, they may Marie Eichhorn's Address Book have met in 1895 when Walter traveled to Europe for several months. And there is evidence they met -- surely not the first time -- when Walter and his 33-year-old daughter, Annie, traveled to Europe in 1910, departing on Sept. 11 aboard the S.S. La Lorraine from Le Harve. Two postcards in Marie's scrapbook has written on the back: "Received in Dresden from my dear Walter." With the timing of events, it seems probable that on this 1910 trip to Dresden, Walter became engaged to Marie. No records show when and where Walter and Marie were married, though it was likely soon after she arrived in Little Rock. They lived together in a large house at 518 Broadway Avenue in Little Rock, and soon had a son, Walter Wittenberg Jr. Their life together was brief; Walter died suddenly on November 11, 1912. Marie married again on December 22, 1920. This marriage to James E. Hogue (October 4, 1866 June 28, 1935) ended in divorce on June 18, 1924. After that she used the name Marie Wittenberg until her death on November 25, 1961. Both she and Walter Wittenberg's first wife, Annie, are buried with him and some other family members at the Mt. Holly cemetery in Little Rock.
Written on back: "Received in Dresden from My Dear Walter"

The Story of Walter Wittenberg Walter Wittenberg was born on September 6, 1834 in Coblentz in what is now Germany. His parents brought him to the United States in 1849, sailing on the Julius from Bremen on 30 September 1849. They settled in St. Louis. In 1856, Walter married Annie E. Libby (21 August 182413 March 1883), born in Portland, Maine, and the following year they had their first child, Frank (1857-1925). Likely, Walter studied accounting while in St. Louis. In 1865 he came to Little Rock as a clerk in the quartermaster's office of the Union Army that occupied Little Rock. He served, according to his obituary, in "Steele's regiment." After the end of the war, he was chief clerk in the Freedman's Bureau under General B. O. Carr. [Arkansas Centennial, vol II, p. 1089] Walter's wife and children joined him in Little Rock, and the family became residents of the city with Walter working as an accountant, bookkeeper, and banker. On September 17, 1869, Walter organized the first building and loan association in Little Rock, named the Little Rock Building Association No. 1. He was the secretary of this Association, which was governed by board that included: George A Davis J. N. Smithee W. A. Briley W. L. Fields John H. Newbern J. W. Davis L. Lessenbee J. W. Ward J. F. James D.W. Blocher J. H. Haney Walter Wittenberg The Little Rock Building Association was a success, spawning the creation of several other building and loan associations in Little Rock and elsewhere in Arkansas. Wittenberg continued to work with building and loan associations until his death. The picture below shows a page from the accounting journal of Little Rock Building Association No. 5, created on June 1, 1881. (The journal was obtained at the 1978 yard sale.) The Association sold six thousand at $25 each to create $150,000 in capital; that sum was augmented later by the sale of 2,000 more shares, for a total capitalization of $200,000. The Bank's journal has the names, and in many cases, the signatures of the people buying shares. They include many of Little Rock's leading citizens at the time.

Articles of Association for the Little Rock Building Association #5

Some of the Members of the Little Rock Building Association #5, 1881

Walter and his wife Annie had six children, two of which died very young and one died as a teenager. They were: Frank (June 4, 1857December 21, 1925) Mollie [Mrs. Reese P. Parry] Fannie Edith (1864 or 65 7 May 1882) Julie M. (February 186614 November 1871) She was 4 years, 8 months, and 23 days old when she died [Arkansas Gazette, Nov 15, 1871, p4] Walter Jr. (2 October 18682 October 1873) Annie Lucy (1877???) Among the items acquired in the garage sale was the 1878 German language exercise book of Fannie, who died as a teenager in 1882.

1878 German Exercise Book of Fannie Wittenberg

Walter Wittenberg became a naturalized citizen on October 3, 1890. When he completed an application for a passport in 1895, it had the following description of him: Height: 5' 8 1/2" inches Forehead: ordinary Eyes: grey Nose: prominent Chin: prominent Mouth: ordinary Complexion: dark Face: long The following were among the items purchased at the garage sale. It may be a picture of Walter Wittenberg late in his life:

Coincidentally, Wittenberg's 1895 passport application was filed when he was in Paris and the witness to his application was U. M. Rose, a prominent lawyer in Little Rock who started the famous Rose Law Firm, which is still in existence. Apparently, he and George Wittenberg were traveling together to Europe, both staying at the Hotel Continental. The 1910 census showed that Walter and his daughter Annie were living at 518 Broadway in Little Rock. Walter's obituary, published in November 1912, mentioned that Annie and another of his daughters, Mollie (Reese P. Parry), were living in Oklahoma City. A prominent citizen, Walter Wittenberg's death was front page news in the Arkansas Gazette. The following is an excerpt from his Nov. 12, 1912 obituary: Pioneer Resident Dies Suddenly Death Comes without warning, Well-Known Business Man Walter Wittenberg, 78 years old, of 518 Broadway, secretary of the Little Rock Building and Loan Association and one of the pioneer residents of Little Rock, died at 5 oclock yesterday morning as a result of a stroke of apoplexy. Mr. Wittenberg awoke, raised the curtain of the window in his bedroom and asked his wife the time. Then, without another word, he fell back dead. Mr. Wittenberg was one of the most scholarly citizens of Little Rock, speaking fluently the French and German languages and was rated among leading expert accountants in the State. 7

.... Funeral services at 518 Broadway. Rev. A. H. Poppe of the Lutheran Church. Pallbearers Robert E. Walt John A Adams WL Reaves James Mandlebaum Fred W Allsopp W.L. Ray Hon: John W. Goodwin Judge U.M. Rose Col. Benjamin S. Johnson T.H. Bunch Maj. R. H. Parham Max Heimay John Geyer Among his pallbearers were at least two men who served in the Confederacy during the Civil War, plus many prominent Little Rock citizens, including Fred Allsopp, Judge U.M. Rose, and John Geyer. Apparently the fact that Wittenberg arrived in Little Rock as a member of Union Army forces did not stop him from making friends with others in the city who had supported the Confederacy. In addition to his wife and child, Walter was survived by his three children and by two siblings who lived in St. Louis: Paul W Wittenberg and Mrs. Margaret Kuhn. Walter's son, Frank Wittenberg (June 4, 1857Dec. 21, 1925), was living in Little Rock when his father died. Frank had attended St. John's College and the University of Virginia, studying Latin, Greek, German and mathematics. After his schooling, he had returned to Little Rock, working as an accountant and banker, like his father. He was the first certified public accountant in Arkansas. In 1887, Frank married Ruth Hyde. They had three children: George, the first registered architect in Arkansas and co-founder of the Wittenberg and Delony firm; Frank Jr., a civil engineer who co-founded the Martin and Wittenberg firm; and Mabel, who married T. Steele Dortch of Scott, Arkansas. (Centennial History of Arkansas, vol. II, pp. 1089-99). Frank and his wife were members of Little Rock's First Presbyterian Church [Centennial History of Arkansas, Vol. II, pp. 1089-90] Among his accomplishments, Frank received in 1895 a patent for a Match Safe. This invention was designed to stop people from taking large numbers of matches from businesses who were providing free matches in their store for customer use. Frank's son, George, the architect, married Minnie Greenfield. Their children included George Jr, (born January 1, 1916 in Little Rock), who became director of a leading funeral 8

home in the city, and Gordon (born August 21, 1921) who became an became an architect like his father. A grandson of George Wittenberg, also named George, is also an architect who worked more many years for the Wittenberg, Delony, and Davidson firm and who since 1992 has taught urban studies and design at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock (see http://www.downtownlittlerock.com/content.cfm?StoryID=30). Another descendent of Walter Wittenberg and his wife Annie, Tom Wittenberg, is sole owner and executive officer of Ruebel Funeral Home in Little Rock, one of Little Rock's biggest. (see http://www.ruebelfuneralhome.com/history.html) Rose Marie Eichhorn Wittenberg Rose Marie Eichhorn was born in Saxony on August 19, 1877. As mentioned earlier, her parents were Henry and Catherine. Marie had a sister, Hedwig (Hattie) who, according to the 1900 census, was born in 1870 and immigrated to the United States in 1892, marrying Michael Weinkamer in 1895. Also, according to Maria's address book, she had two other sisters: Margarethe (Gretchen) Lange, who lived in Leipzig, and Anna Lahre, who lived in Pansdorf, a village near Leipzig. Her postcards included a couple of pictures of her nephew Alfred Lange from Leipzig. Not much information is available about her life before she came to the United States. As noted, she traveled to the U.S. in 1892 and 1908. Her postcards show that in 1904, she was living in Leipzig and made a trip to Paris: A postcard dated October 15, 1904, was sent to Miss Marie Eichhorn in Leipzig. The note on a picture of the Eifel tower says, "For memory of the last day that I spent in Paris." It appears that she mailed the card to herself from Paris to Leipzig. She also lived in Munich for some time in 1906. A postcard in early December from her sister Hedwig in Cleveland, Ohio asked her what kind of store she was working in; it was addressed to Kaufingerstrasse 9, Munich. It appears that she lived most of her first thirty years in Dresden. She has post cards addressed to her there in 1903, 1905, 1907, 1908, and 1910. As chronicled above, Marie traveled from Dresden to Little Rock in early 1911, married Walter Wittenberg, had a son, then lost her husband in November 1912. Earlier that year, on April 14, 1912, her sister Hedwig, in Cleveland, Ohio, died. A postcard in her collection shows that she visited Cleveland during the summer of 1912. Her postcards document that she stayed in touch with her sister's children, William and Clarence.
Nephew of Marie Wittenberg

After Walter's death, Marie continued living in the house at 518 Broadway. Notes in one of the journals acquired at the garage sale shows that Walter Wittenberg left about $22,000 in his financial accounts. Apparently, she inherited this money and the house. Marie was living at the house on Broadway with her son when the 1920 census was conducted. The census recorded that she had became a naturalized citizen in 1914 and that her son Walter was six years old (he was born in 1911 or 1912, but the 1920 and 1930 census stated his age as if he were born in 1914). She was recorded in this census and the 1930 census as having no employment. It is not clear what Marie Wittenberg did to support herself after Walter's death. On December 22, 1920, Marie married James E. Hogue (Oct. 4, 1866June 29, 1935). Hogue had a law degree at Vanderbilt University and had been married previously. He practiced law for many years in Hot Springs before moving to Little Rock sometime after 1910. In 1908, he had run unsuccessfully for Congress against Joe T Robinson. Hogue was a member of the Authors and Composer's Society in Little Rock. A poem he wrote in honor of E. W. Rector was published in the Centennial History of Arkansas, vol. III, p. 229-230. Marie and James were divorced on June 18, 1924. As of July 2, 1924 (shortly after her divorce), Marie was still living at 518 Broadway (a postcard was delivered to her there). Sometime between then and June 1927, she moved to 5020 Hillcrest Avenue in Little Rock. In 1931, according to a city directory, she lived at 4303 Lee Street. The 1937 Little Rock city directory listed her as living at 412 North Palm Street. She lived there until her death. Little else is documented about Marie Wittenberg's life except that she was a member for many years of the First Lutheran Church (originally named First German Lutheran Church) in downtown Little Rock and was secretary of its women's association for many. One of the items purchased at the 1978 garage sale was a journal with the minutes of the monthly meeting of this women's group from January 1938 through January 1949. As shown on the next page, the minutes were written in German. In her later years, Marie Wittenberg attended Grace Lutheran Church. She died on November 25, 1961. Her obituary did not mention any familial connections to other Wittenbergs in Little Rock other than to her son Walter Jr. Walter Wittenberg Jr. worked for many years for the Veterans Administration Hospital in North Little Rock. He never married. He died on April 23, 1977.
Luther Memorial Church, Little Rock

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Minutes of a Meeting of the Women's Association of the First Lutheran Church

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Sources consulted: Crawford, Sybil and Mary Fletcher Worthen (compilers). Mount Holly Cemetery, Little Rock, Burial Index. 1993. Centennial History of Arkansas, vol. 2. The J.S. Clarke Publishing Co., 1922. Centennial History of Arkansas, vol. 3. The J.S. Clarke Publishing Co., 1922. Hogue, James E. Our Banking Laws: Necessity for Co-operative Banking. Speech of James E Hogue of Little Rock, Arkansas delivered at the Fourth Co-operative Congress held at New York City, Nov. 6, 7, 8, 1924. [Univ. of Arkansas Library] Hogue, James E. (Obituary). Arkansas Gazette. June 29, 1935, p. 2. "Pioneer Resident Dies Suddenly." Arkansas Gazette. November 12, 1912. p. 1 Mrs. Marie Wittenberg (Obituary). Arkansas Democrat, Nov. 27, 1961. Mrs. Rose Wittenberg (Funeral Notice). Arkansas Democrat. November 28, 1961. Mrs. Maude Wittenberg (obituary). Arkansas Gazette, Nov. 27, 1961. Wife of Walter Wittenberg Dies in Little Rock. Arkansas Gazette. March 14, 1883, p. 1 Julia Wittenberg (obituary). Arkansas Gazette. Nov 15, 1871, p. 4. Walter Wittenberg (obituary). Arkansas Gazette. Oct. 3, 1873, p. 4. Frank Wittenberg marries Miss Ruth Hyde in Little Rock. Arkansas Gazette. May 26, 1887, p. 4. (Other documentation, including transatlantic travel, from public documents accessed at www.ancestry.com)

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