Translation of Article:
CHRISTIAN FENN
Not a famous statesman or politician, not the owner of expansive factories or industries with massive incomes, no - this is a simple, honorable, German who lived in our city for more than 30 years. He looked after his own with care, and, faced with cruel twists of fate, still managed to put away a penny for a rainy day.
On 14 August 1836, Christian was born as the youngest son to the barrel maker Fenn of Walchenfeld, Hofheim county, in Lower Franconia, Bavaria ((a tiny tiny place in central Germany, between the cities of Coburg and Schweinfurth, near the old border with East Germany)). The child attended school in his hometown and learned the barrel making trade at an early age from his father. In Spring 1853, the elder Fenn decided to emigrate to America with his 8 family members. They began their journey on 9 May. It took the family 30 hours to travel to Gotha, from there they took a train to Bremen, where the family boarded the sailing ship CATHARINA DUCKWITZ on 19 May. After a relatively happy journey the Fenn family arrived in New York on 10 July. They only spent 5 days there before moving on toward Chicago, which they reached on 19 July.
Since Father Fenn was getting on in years and was unable to carry out hard work any longer, the responsibility of caring for the family rested on the shoulders of Christian and his two elder brothers. From 1853-57 Christian worked as a barrel maker's assistant before setting up his own shop at 329 South Jefferson Street. He remained there until New Year's Day 1861.
The elder Fenn died on 2 October 1860, in his 65th year. On 8 July of the same year Christian wed Miss Maria Louise Behrend, born in 1839 in Sonnenburg, Prussia ((another tiny village, this time between Berlin and the Polish border, south of Bad Freienwalde)).
Mr. Fenn, who sold his business on Jefferson Street early in 1861, established a new barrel making enterprise on Larrabee Street,, which he ran until 1864, at which time he moved into his own firm, which he built at the intersection of Union and 12th Street. Since that time this has been a profitable and exemplary establishment.
On the political front, Mr. Fenn was a die-hard Republican, who was extremely active without ever demanding personal gain. He showed the same traits in his social life. From 1872 on, he has been a member of the Herder Lodge No. 669 of the Freemasons; since 1867 he has been a member also of the Hoffnungs (Hope) Lodge No. 353, and sinces 1861, of the Chicago Lodge No. 1 of the Sons of Hermann. In the latter two organizations, he held numerous high positions of authority.
In spite of all his successes, Mr. Fenn suffered from the cruelty of the Grim Reaper. Barely was he over the grief at losing his mother, who died on 4 June 1879 at age 79, when he had to face the death of his eldest daughter in Kansas City, Kansas: Mrs. Julius Roesler, who had only been married 15 months. On 26 April 1882 Mr. Fenn came down with smallpox, which soon spread to his sons Heinrich and Georg, as well as daughters Anna and Rosa. The last three died within 8 days of each other, between 12 and 19 May. Only thanks to a miracle did the others survive the disease. Besides this, Mr. Fenn had to withstand the death of his brother, Karl, who died at Ft. Leavenworth, Kansas, in 1870 at age 43. Today five of his children are still living. Also still alive are two brothers, Georg and Johann, and two sisters, Barbara and Dorothea.
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