Eugene Gauss

Eugene Gauss.

Eugen Gauß , American Eugene Gauss (born July 29, 1811 in Göttingen , † July 4, 1896 at Columbia , Missouri ), was a German-American entrepreneur and banker. He was a son of Carl Friedrich Gauß and emigrated to the USA as a student. After a decade as a soldier and fur trader, he started a successful business in St. Charles and became the first President of the First National Bank in St. Charles.

Life

origin

Peter Samuel Marius Eugenius Gauß was born on July 29, 1811 in Göttingen. He was the fourth child of the mathematician and astronomer Carl Friedrich Gauß and the first child from his second marriage to Minna Waldeck, the daughter of the professor of law Johann Peter Waldeck and his wife Charlotte Wyneken.

In his first marriage, Carl Friedrich Gauß was married from 1805 to 1809 to Johanna Osthoff (1780–1809), the daughter of a master white tanner. The children Joseph , Minna and a son who died in infancy resulted from the marriage. Joseph was five and Minna three and a half years older than Eugene. Two siblings were born after him, Wilhelm, 2 years younger than him, in 1813 and Therese, 5 years younger than him, in 1816 . The family lived in Göttingen on the first floor of a large half-timbered house at Kurzen Straße 15 before moving to the newly built Göttingen observatory in October 1816 , which was headed by Gauss.

After the birth of their three children, Gauß 'wife Minna began to be ailing in 1818. She was sick with consumption and a terrible period of suffering began for her until her death in 1831. The housewife's long illness resulted in a domestic strain that Gauss and the entire family suffered. The younger sons Eugen and Wilhelm Gauß and the youngest daughter Therese lacked the security of a safe and caring home in the crucial years of their youth. The lack of maternal affection meant that Eugen and his younger brother Wilhelm developed a problematic way. The Gauß researcher Theo Gerardy judges the children of Gauß and Minna:

“The different mental legacies of the mothers can be seen in the children. Josef and Minna, Johanna's children, are warm-hearted, uncomplicated and capable of life. In addition to many advantages, Minna's children also have clear characteristics of maternal imbalance. Eugene is reckless, violent and unbridled; Wilhelm is easily offended, thoughtless and unreasonable; Therese seems strange, closed and exalted. "

Kurz Strasse 15, Göttingen.

View from the north of the Göttingen observatory. Gauss lived with his family in the right wing.

high school

Latin School Celle.

Eugen received private lessons up to the age of 14. In 1826 Gauß gave his son to the humanistic grammar school in Celle in the care of the director Ludwig Hüpeden. Eugen lived with the director's family, who tried to replace his home and give him a good education. In his letters to Gauss, Hüpeden was satisfied with Eugen's good school performance, but criticized the “disorder” of his pupil. In 1827 Eugen's mother wrote to her husband: "Eugen's baseliness and disorder is very bad, and I sincerely wish that your admonitions and reprimands help."

Eugen suffered in the unfamiliar environment and under the strict upbringing far away from his parents' home and was repeatedly troubled by constant bad news about his mother's illness. Hüpeden wrote to Gauß: "[Eugen's] mind [was] too stimulated by the physical suffering of his mother and kept in tension and worry". Unlike in his letters to Gauss, Hüpeden made a very negative assessment of Eugen's character in the school register. As unpleasant traits, he noted righteousness, selfishness, arrogance and coldness, which made him "very unlovable". In particular, Hüpeden complained about a lack of affection and cordiality towards him and his family. In 1828 Gauß also gave his youngest son Wilhelm to the Celle grammar school. After three years of schooling, Eugen passed his school leaving examination in 1829, and his brother Wilhelm also left school after only one year to pursue a career as an economist.

Education

Eugen was the most talented of the Gauss sons and, like his father, was mathematically and philologically gifted, but was not encouraged by him in this regard. Although Eugene was inclined to study philology, his father urged him to study law. At his age Eugen said that his father did not want one of his sons to do math because he feared that his sons would not be able to reach his own high level.

Eugen enrolled at the Georg August University in Göttingen in the summer semester of 1829. After living in Celle, Eugen surrendered to a relaxed student life and plunged into debt that his father had to pay for. Gauss, who as a student had only lived his studies and was now a highly respected member of civil society, and his wife, who had grown up in a professorial household, could not muster the slightest understanding for a young man in his development; on the contrary, she believed the family honor had been dragged in the mud and could therefore not treat the "failed" son with kindness and indulgence.

After violent arguments with his father in August 1830, Eugen decided to emigrate to America. He fled from home, his father followed him, took him to Bremen to see Christian Focke, the son-in-law of his friend Wilhelm Olbers , and provided him with a letter of credit that should make his first start in the USA easier. Eugen at Focke bridged the several weeks waiting time for the next ship to the USA by improving the English skills he had acquired in Celle. On October 13, 1830, he embarked in Bremerhaven on the "Massachusetts", which arrived in New York on December 19 after more than 9 weeks.

Soldier and fur trader

Eugen was looking for a job as a teacher in New York, but the career prospects for intellectuals like him were extremely poor, because practitioners were needed in the New World. After eight weeks in New York, Eugen had used up the capital on the letter of credit without finding a job. In his distress, he decided to volunteer in the military. In April 1831 he signed his letter of commitment in Philadelphia.

During his five-year service he was stationed at two Indian bases in the north Midwest , Fort Crawford near Prairie du Chien and Fort Snelling , both on the Upper Mississippi . Eugen did not like military service, but an attempt to be released because of his nearsightedness failed. He was appointed company sergeant and, due to his education, was appointed administrator of the camp library.

• 

  Fort Snelling, around 1850.

• 

  Fort Crawford, around 1840.

During his service, Eugen underwent an inner change. He became deeply religious, an attitude that continued to rule his life, and joined the Presbyterian Church in 1835 . After his release in 1836, he wanted to become a missionary, but his application to the Foreign Mission Society was rejected. He found work as a fur trader, learned the Sioux language and assisted the missionary Thomas Smith Williamson with the translation of the Bible from French into the Sioux language.

Entrepreneur and banker

Henrietta Gauß b. Fawcett.

According to the will, Eugen was only to receive the inheritance from his mother, who died in 1831, if he had “really improved” by 1838. Since Gauss was convinced of Eugen's improvement, at the end of 1839 he sent him the interest-bearing inheritance in the amount of 5100 gold thalers. With this share capital, Eugen opened a store in St. Charles , Missouri . He ran a grain mill and a sawmill and was involved in the timber trade. Unlike many Germans, Eugene had quickly become Americanized and acquired American citizenship in 1840 or 1844. His business did well, and in 1844 he married the six years younger, wealthless Henrietta Fawcett (1817–1909) from a Huguenot family who had seven children. In 1860 Eugen built a large brick house with lawns, gardens and orchards in St. Charles at 701 Clark Street, where the family lived in comfort and prosperity. Eugen was successively a member of various Presbyterian churches and led a pious, religious life.

Eugen's brother Wilhelm Gauß had also immigrated to the USA in 1837 and settled in various places in Missouri before he finally established himself as a shoe wholesaler in St. Louis near St. Charles in 1856 . Eugen founded the First National Bank in St. Charles, of which he was president from 1863 to 1870. During the Civil War , Missouri sided with the states, but renegades fought for the Confederation cause, so the political situation was extremely uncertain. Shortly before the end of the war, Eugen therefore contemplated leaving Missouri, an intention which he did not materialize.

Retirement

Eugene Gauss.

Grave of Eugen and Henrietta Gauß.

In 1885 Eugen bought a farm near Columbia , Missouri, about 170 kilometers west of St. Charles, as a retirement home , where he and his wife would spend their old age . Like his father, Eugen had been nearsighted since his youth, from the late 1860s onwards his eyesight deteriorated more and more and at the age of over 80 he lost his eyesight almost completely. In the remaining years of his life he kept himself spiritually up to date by allowing himself to be read - and by doing mental arithmetic, because he had inherited his father's notion of numbers. So he calculated the amount to which a capital of 1 dollar would have grown since Adam's time, i.e. about 6000 years ago, at an interest rate of 4%. He carried out this calculation in his head for a few days, only having his son Theodore record the 30-digit interim results from time to time.

Eugen Gauß died on July 4, 1896 at the age of almost 85 on his farm. His wife Henrietta, who was 6 years his junior, survived him by 13 years. She also died on the farm at the age of 92 on November 24, 1909. Both are buried in a common grave in Oak Grove Cemetery in St. Charles.

Eugen was the last surviving child of his father, who had died in 1855. After his emigration he had insulted Eugen as “a good-for-nothing in America who dishonored my name”, but contrary to all fears Eugen had become a highly respected and economically successful citizen of his new home. Gauss 'daughters remained childless and died of consumption in 1840 and 1864, like Gauss' wife Minna. Gauss' favorite son Joseph, who had remained in Germany, died in 1873 as senior construction officer of the Hanover Railway Directorate and left behind a son, the only Gauss offspring in Germany. From the marriages of the two “American” Gauss sons, 15 children were born, to whom a widely ramified offspring can be traced back.

Parental inheritance

Maternal inheritance

Eugen's mother Minna Gauß suffered from consumption, which was still fatal in her day, and the last nine years up to her death on September 12, 1831 were marked by terrible suffering and hopelessness. In the year of her death, she wrote her will on January 20th. She disinherited her son Eugen “entirely” because of his “poor lifestyle”. 4500 Reichstaler of the capital left behind were to be divided among their children Wilhelm and Therese, the rest of the capital between all three children. If Eugene has “really improved”, he should receive interest from 1838 and his share of the capital from 1843. Since Gauss was convinced of Eugen's improvement in 1839, he sent him his interest-bearing inheritance of 5100 gold thalers. This share capital enabled Eugen to set up a business that enabled him and his family to live a prosperous life.

Paternal inheritance

Joseph Gauß: Change (remittance) to Eugen Gauß as compensation for the paternal inheritance. 3rd column from the right: cumulative amount in Reichstalers.

Gauss was the highest-earning professor at the University of Göttingen. He invested his money in government bonds and loans and used his mathematical genius and high level of expertise to constantly increase his fortune. Because of his poor origins, Gauss suffered from the constant fear of losing everything and suddenly being left without wealth. His children were often embarrassed by his stinginess at a time when they needed their father's support. When Gauss died, according to today's standards, he was a multiple euro millionaire, based on the values ​​of the Deutsche Bundesbank.

When Gauss died in 1855, four of his children were still alive, Joseph, Eugen, Wilhelm and Therese, who shared in the inheritance. Gauss had entrusted the execution of the division to his eldest son Joseph in a will in 1854. In the case of the two sons living in America, this was associated with a huge, time-consuming effort that Joseph selflessly undertook. Eugen's share in his father's inheritance amounted to almost 39,000 Reichstaler Kurant at the final settlement, which corresponds to between 900,000 and one million euros according to the value approach of the Deutsche Bundesbank.

literature

German literature

• Kurt-R. Biermann : Two dropouts and one science fiction. In: Kultur & Technik, 1989, pp. 158–159, pdf .
• Menso Folkerts : CF Gauß and his sons. Gauß 'sons (Joseph, 1806–1873; Eugen, 1811–1896; Wilhelm, 1813–1879). Lecture at the opening of the Gauss exhibition 2005 in the Landesmuseum Braunschweig, manuscript. Braunschweig, 2005.
• Theo Gerardy: CF Gauß and his sons. In: Mitteilungen der Gauß-Gesellschaft Göttingen, Volume 3, 1966, pages 25–35.
• Daniel Kehlmann : The measurement of the world : Roman. Reinbek near Hamburg: Rowohlt, 2005, pages 215–234.
• Heinrich Mack (editor): Carl Friedrich Gauß and his family. Festschrift for his 150th birthday. Braunschweig: Appelhans, 1927, page 106–120, 125, panel X, illustration.
• Horst Michling: Carl Friedrich Gauss. Episodes from the life of the Princeps mathematicorum. Göttingen: Göttinger Tageblatt, 2005, pages 115–122.
• Joseph Weinberger: Carl Friedrich Gauß 1777–1855 and his descendants. In: Archives for kin research and all related areas , year 43/44, 1977/1978, issue 66, pages 73-98.

American literature

• Florian Cajori : Carl Friedrich Gauss and his Children. In: Science , New Series, Volume 9, 1899, pp. 697-704.
• Susan Chambless: Gauss, Eugene (1811-1896). In: Gauss' Children .
• G. Waldo Dunnington : Carl Friedrich Gauss. Titan of Science. A Study of his Life and Work. New York: Exposition Press, 1955, pp. 365-372, 102, 221, 236, 311, 356-357.
• William B. Fawcett, Jr .: A History of the Fawcetts and Related Families in America, Chapter 4: Biographies of Relatives. Part 1 (A – G), online .
• Letter from Charles Henry Gauss to Florian Cajori, Columbia, Missouri, December 21, 1898, through his father Eugen Gauss, online .
• Letter from Robert Gauss to Felix Klein, Denver, Colorado, September 3, 1912, via Eugen and Wilhelm Gauß, online .
• Obituaries for members of the Gauss family, 2003, online .

Documents

• Minna Gauß b. Waldeck, Testament, Göttingen, January 20, 1831, copy: Braunschweig, Stadtarchiv, G IX 21: 4, Waldeck family papers, No. 2–5.
• Letter from Carl Friedrich Gauß to Minna Ewald geb. Gauss, Göttingen, December 31, 1839, Gauss letter database .
• Carl Friedrich Gauß, Testamentary Order, Göttingen, December 1854, copy: Braunschweig City Archives, G IX 21: 23 No. 4.
• Joseph Gauß, register of remittances for Wilhelm Gauß, no location, June 9, 1856, manuscript: Braunschweig City Archives, G IX 21: 23 No. 69.

Web links

Commons : Eugen Gauß  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Footnotes

1. ↑ # Mack 1927a .
2. ↑ # Gerardy 1966 , pp. 26-27.
3. ↑ # Gerardy 1966 , p. 26.
4. ↑ Old Latin School in Kalandstrasse 5. Eugene lived with the director at Kalandstrasse 6.
5. ^ Letters between Carl Friedrich Gauß and Ludwig Hüpeden, January 22, 1826 to September 16, 1830, Gauß letter database .
6. ↑ Baselei: Loitering, absent-mindedness.
7. ↑ Minna Gauß b. Waldeck to Carl Friedrich Gauß, Göttingen, May 25, 1827, Gauß letter database .
8. ^ Ludwig Hüpeden to Carl Friedrich Gauß, Celle, October 1, 1826, Gauß letter database .
9. ^ Directory of the pupils of the high school in Celle, Celle city archive, L13,730.
10. ^ Economist: estate manager.
11. ↑ # Gauss 1898 .
12. ↑ # Gerardy 1966 , pp. 29-31.
13. ^ Letters between Carl Friedrich Gauß and Wilhelm Olbers, September 4, 1830 to October 20, 1830, Gauß letter database .
14. ^ Letter from Eugen Gauß to Carl Friedrich Gauß and Minna Gauß b. Waldeck, New York, May 15, 1831, Gaussian Letters Database .
15. ^ Eugen Gauß to Carl Friedrich Gauß, Fort Crawford, July 19, 1832, Gauß letter database .
16. ^ Eugen Gauß to Christian Ludwig Gerling, Fort Snelling, January 8, 1835, manuscript: Lower Saxony State and University Library Göttingen, Gauß, letters D: Eugen Gauß 2.
17. ↑ #Fawcett 2008 .
18. ↑ Carl Friedrich Gauß to Minna Ewald geb. Gauss, Göttingen, December 31, 1839, Gauss letter database .
19. ↑ #Dunnington 1955a , page 370th
20. ↑ #Chambless 2013 .
21. ↑ Eugen Gauß to Charles Henry Gauss, St. Charles, March 8, 1865, #Chambless 2013 .
22. ↑ # Gauss 1898 .
23. ^ Find a grave .
24. ^ Letter from Carl Friedrich Gauß to Christian Ludwig Gerling, Göttingen, November 13, 1831, Gauß letter database .
25. ↑ # Gauss 1831 .
26. ↑ # Gauss 1839 .
27. ↑ # Gauss 1854 .
28. ^ # Gauß 1856 , Deutsche Bundesbank, purchasing power equivalents of historical amounts in German currencies .