Ottfried von Bendeleben

Ottfried von Bendeleben (born June 30, 1836 in Bendeleben ; † January 3, 1908 in Santa Rosa ) was a participant and later head of the Western Telegraph Expedition, which between 1865 and 1867 surveyed and mapped the Seward Peninsula in northwest Alaska had the task. He first found gold in Alaska in 1865. The Bendeleben Mountains , which are up to 1137 m high, are named after him.

Childhood and youth

Ottfried von Bendeleben was the second of three sons of Otto Friedrich Freiherr von Uckermann-Bendeleben (1804–1855) in Bendeleben in Thuringia . His mother was Eliza von Uckermann-Bendeleben, née Powell of Banlahan. After his parents' divorce and the sale of the castle in Bendeleben, Ottfried von Bendeleben emigrated to America with his father and the two brothers Melchior and Lothar. The father's name is at least on the passenger list of the frigate ship George Washington , which left the port of Bremen on October 19, 1847 . The family's new home was San José , California , where his father built a 748-acre ranch, raised cattle, and grown wine. After the death of the father on November 12, 1855, the ranch was sold to the future governor of California, Robert Field Stockton . However, the underage Bendeleben brothers lived on the Stockton Ranch for many more years. Ottfried von Bendeleben later moved to San Francisco and, according to the electoral roll, worked there as an employee.

Western Telegraph Expedition

As a member of the Navy and secretary of Captain S. Bukley, the chief engineer of the Western Telegraph Expedition, he started the crossing to Alaska on July 12, 1865 on the steamer George S. Wright. During the trip, Ottfried von Bendeleben was accepted into the expedition team as first lieutenant. The expedition aimed to build an overland telegraph line from the United States via Russia to Europe. Ottfried von Bendeleben was in charge of the surveying work for the most favorable route of the telegraph line in the area of ​​the later Seward Peninsula. After the death of the scientific director Major Robert Kennicott , von Bendeleben took over the management function. Despite the failure of the expedition, the first valuable data on the geology, flora and fauna of Alaska were obtained by exploring the area. According to Collier (1908) it is said to have been Ottfried von Bendeleben who first found gold in Alaska in 1865. A tributary of the Niukluk River is named as a site .

After the expedition

After the Western Telegraph Company canceled the expedition, Ottfried von Bendeleben returned to California, where he bought land in Santa Rosa ( Sonoma County ), built a ranch and married Augusta Wetzlar. The marriage resulted in his son Alfred (* March 1869 in Santa Rosa). At least since 1879 he lived in Santa Rosa. According to an 1880 census, he lived on East Street in Santa Rosa, was divorced, and worked as a clerk. He lived in Santa Rosa until his death and is buried in the Santa Rosa Rural Cemetery.

literature

• AJ Collier: The Gold placers of parts of Seward Peninsula, Alaska. Washington 1908.
• W. Neumerkel: Until the end of the world. From Thuringia to Mount Bendeleben in Alaska. 64 p., Bendeleben 2009.
• The Cemeterian of the Santa Rosa Rural Cemetery , Vol 19, No. October 4, 2012

Individual evidence

1. ↑  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )