Franz Josef Peter

Franz Josef Peter (born January 26, 1789 in Achern , † July 29, 1865 in Union City, New Jersey ) was a Baden merchant and politician who emigrated to America because of his involvement in the Baden Revolution .

origin

Peter came from a widely ramified family in Achern since 1745, which in the 19th century produced three mayors and some free thinkers close to liberalism. Franz Josef Peter was the son of the Oberachen “Rössel” host Johann Anton Peter. Among the numerous Franz Josef Peters siblings, Anna Maria Peter, born in 1800, can be highlighted. She married Franz Ignaz Goegg in 1825 and thus became the stepmother of Amand Goegg , a leading figure in the Baden revolution. Joseph Ignatz Peter , also from Achern, was a cousin of Franz Josef Peter.

Life

Peter belonged to the Catholic Church, which is well represented in Achern, and started out as a tradesman. From 1837 to 1842 he held a mandate in the Second Chamber of the Baden Estates Assembly for the electoral district of the offices of Achern and Bühl . From November 14, 1846 to August 13, 1849 he was mayor of Achern. During his tenure as mayor in the run-up to and in the course of the March Revolution , increasingly revolutionary ideas also spread in Achern. The “Engel” landlord Friedrich Peter (1813–1863), who was related to Peter, was the commander of the Citizens Guard and allowed well-known Baden opposition politicians to speak at public meetings from the balcony of his inn. On April 2, 1848, Joseph Fickler called for the Republic for the first time in public and received such approval for his speech that the representatives of the Achern District Office did not have the courage to take action. When Gustav Struve proclaimed the German Republic in Lörrach in September 1848, there were also expressions of solidarity in Achern. On the night of September 22nd to 23rd, 1848, even the rails of the railroad were removed so that the possible deployment of units of the Baden Army could be delayed. Franz Josef Peter took out a loan of 1000 guilders as mayor in 1849 in order to procure weapons from the armory in Karlsruhe. The civil guard was merged with the general militia and on May 13, 1849 Achern was also represented at the large state assembly in Offenburg during the marches. After the defeat of the Baden Revolution by the troops of the German Confederation , Peter was removed from his position as Mayor of Achern. He was sentenced to four years in prison for his attitude during the revolution, but was able to evade the execution of the sentence by fling to America with the approval of the chief bailiff Johannes Bach and initially settling in New York . After he had been granted amnesty, he returned to Achern in September 1852, where he took care of various outstanding matters. He spent the rest of his life in New Jersey with his wife and several children. He found his final resting place in the Flower Hill Cemetery in North Bergen .

family

Franz Josef Peter married Maria Antonia Hof (1796–1865) from Oberkirch . Numerous children resulted from the marriage. Son Wilhelm Peter (1832-1918) went to America with him and founded the William Peter Brewing Company in Union Hill . In addition, Wilhelm (William) Peter worked as a painter in the circle of the Hudson River School . He kept in touch with the numerous refugee revolutionaries in 1848 who had emigrated to America, in particular with Carl Schurz . Also with their parents Franz Josef and Maria Antonia Peter four daughters came to America. Magdalena Peter had married the notary Max Frech in 1848, who led the Korker Volkswehr during the revolution , which was slaughtered by Prussian Uhlans near Iffezheim on June 30, 1849 . Louise Peter married the gunner Franz Braunstein. Braunstein had commanded the revolting artillery in Rastatt. Anna Peter married the Heidelberg student leader Wilhelm Hexamer . Franz Josef Peter's sons Hubert and August Peter stayed in Baden. Hubert Peter was also among the persecuted supporters of the failed revolution, but faced the legal proceedings. August Peter married Magdalena Schneider from Urloffen near Appenweier and founded a branch of the Peter family there.

literature

• Hans-Peter Becht: The Baden second chamber and its members, 1819 to 1841/42. Investigations into the structure and functioning of an early German parliament. Dissertation University of Mannheim, Heidelberg 1985, p. 487
• Gerhard Lötsch: On the history of the Peter family in Achern . In: Die Ortenau: Journal of the Historical Association for Mittelbaden , 80th Annual Volume, 2000, pp. 391–398 online
• Eugen Beck: The revolution 1848/49 and the Achern family Peter . In: Die Ortenau: Journal of the Historical Association for Middle Baden , issue 35: 45 Years, 1910–1955, 1955, p. 9 ff. Online

Web links

• Portrait of Franz Josef Peter and documentation of his grave