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Bürgermeister of a German Town
A bit of information passed down through the generations is that George
Wenzel was a Bürgermeister (mayor) of a town in Germany. Four
older family members have told me this, my late grandmother Helen
Collins. two of her sister's daughters Virginia, and Leona, and my
father Donald Collins. Unfortunately none had any more details or
information. George Wenzel’s gravestone shows he was born April
13, 1826. The 1860, 1870, and 1880 Census and his death
certificate confirm he was born in 1826. So, how could a person so
young attain a position of Mayor at the age of 22 and why would he leave
the position and his home county to come to America?
The German Revolution of 1848
The answer is quite possibly the German Revolution of 1848. In the
German states, violent uprisings of peasants and liberals erupted,
sparked by the strong desire for reform among various groups (the
educated, the wealthy, the peasants, etc.). Events began on February 27,
1848 in Mannheim, where a Badische Volksversammlung (Assembly of the
people from Baden) adopted a resolution demanding a bill of rights.
Similar resolutions were adopted in Württemberg, Hessen-Darmstadt,
Nassau, Bavaria, and other areas. The surprisingly strong popular
support for these movements forced rulers to give in to many of the
Märzforderungen (demands of March), almost without resistance.
Märzministerien (liberal governments) were installed in an attempt to
calm the unruly masses, to contain the dissemination of revolutionary
ideas, and to salvage the monarchies by offering concessions.
However, overall success of the Revolution depended upon the course of
events in the two major German states, Austria and Prussia. In May of
1848, The National Assembly was called together in Frankfurt to prepare
for this "unification". After dissensions between Prussia and
Austria, Prussia decided to try to unify Germany under their
kleindeutsch plan, which would include all of the German states except
Austria, with Prussia in control.
Within just a few months, liberal hopes for a reformed Germany were
disappointed. Conservative forces saw that the liberal movement
was divided into several groups having sharply different aims.
Furthermore, the liberals had little support left among the lower
classes, who supported them in the first weeks of the revolution by
constructing barricades and massing before their rulers' palaces.
Few liberals desired popular democracy or were willing to enact radical
economic reforms that would help farmers and artisans. As a
result, the masses deserted the liberals. Thus, conservatives were
able to win sizable elements of these groups to their side by promising
to address their concerns. Factory workers had largely withheld
support from the liberal cause because they earned relatively good wages
compared with farmers and artisans.
Once the conservatives regrouped and launched their successful
counterattack across Germany, many of the reforms promised in March 1848
were forgotten. The National Assembly published the constitution
it drafted during months of hard debate. It proposed the
unification of Germany as a federation with a hereditary emperor and a
parliament with delegates elected directly. The constitution
resolved the dispute between supporters of a “Little Germany” that would
exclude Austria and the Habsburg Empire, and those supporting a "Large
Germany", which would include both. The constitution advocated the
latter.
The Prussian king, Friedrich Wilhelm IV (r. 1840-58), was elected as
united Germany's first emperor. He refused the crown, stating that
he could be elected only by other kings. At that point, the
assembly disbanded. A few subsequent rebellions drew some popular
support in 1849, but they were easily crushed and their leaders executed
or imprisoned.
Many Germans who had hoped for the success of the German Revolution were
unwilling to return to a life under the restored authoritarian regimes
and chose emigration, mostly to the United States. German Citizens
who left Germany almost tripled, reaching a peak of 252,000 in 1854.
While previous emigrants often left Germany for religious or economic
reasons, this new wave brought many highly educated people who fled for
political reasons.
The German Revolution may explain how George Wenzel, age 22 attained the
position of Bürgermeister, only to leave Germany for America a year or
two later. From the above information, it would be safe to hypothesize
that George Wenzel was educated, likely a college student, and probably
an active revolutionary.
Of course the old family story could be wrong. Perhaps his
father was a Bürgermeister. Online, I found Christoph Bathelt, a
local historian living in Mainz, Germany. He was able to determine
that Nikolaus Nack was the Bürgermeister of Mainz after the German
Revolution. He stated that George Wenzel could possibly been a
mayor of one of suburbs of Mainz such as Gonsenheim, Finthen,
Bretzenheim etc. These were independent communities with their own
mayors in 1848.
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