|
Before
I
continue
with
my
next ancestor (48
Peter
Kremer)
I thought we could take
a look at his brother, George Kremer. George is not
a direct ancestor
of mine, he is the younger brother of
my Great
Grandfather X3 (48) Peter Kremer, which would make
George my "Great
Great Great Grand Uncle"
The "Honorable George Kremer" was
born on November
21, 1775 in Middletown, PA, the second son of Jacob
and Eliza Fleming
Kremer. [181]
George
was
a
US
Congressman from Pennslyvania, and served in the US
Congress
from 1823 to 1829:
From:
http://bioguide.congress.gov/scripts/biodisplay.pl?index=K000329
Congressman
Kremer
was
involved
in some political intrigue, involving
Presidential Politics!
which was a big national story of the day:
"During
his
second
term,
Mr. Kremer
became
involved
in
a dispute, which
brought
him
into
public notice.
Mr.
Kremer
was
firmly
convinced that
Henry
Clay
threw
his influence against
General
Jackson,
by
which
the
electoral
vote
of
Kentucky was given
to
Mr.
Adams,
for a consideration,
and
when
the
first place in
the
cabinet
was
tendered
to and accepted
by
the
Kentucky
statesman,
Congressman
Kremer
opened
a
volley
of
charges
that created a sensation
and
disturbed
the
politics of
the
entire
country.
Under the
date
of
Jan.
25,
1825, Hon. George Kremer
published
in
the
Columbian Observer
a
number
of
charges in-
volving
Mr.
Clay.
In
response to this
Mr.
Clay,
under
date of Jan. 31, 1825,
in
the
National
Intelligencer,
made
reply
and
challenged
Mr. Kremer
to
mortal
combat. Mr.
Kremer
offered
to
prove his charges,
but
later
found
he was unable
to
do
so."
source - [181]
"The
Democratic
Republican
Party
retained an inharmonious hegemony through
Monroe's Presidency, remembured inaccurately
as the "Era of Good
Feelings"; but it was torn by factionalism
in the 1820's when
conventions "fresh from the people" replaced
legislative caucuses, and
a host of "favorite sons" challenged the
older leadership. When John
Quincy Adams bested General Andrew Jackson,
the nation's first
folk-hero, for President in 1824, despite
the latter's larger popular
vote, Jackson's partisans charged that Henry
Clay had turned over his
electoral votes to Adams in return for an
appointment as Secretary of
State. The accusation had been made in the
Washington press by Union
County's Congressman, George Kremer, and
"bargain and sale" became the
catchwords of the Jackson (Democratic)
Party. Four years later Jackson
was swept into the Presidency by a popular
fervor hirtherto unseen in
American Politics.
On the strength of his charge, George Kremer
became a hero in his own
right. Returning to Lewisburg, he was met by
a delegation of citizens
and invited to a public dinner at the house
of Thomas R. Lewis. After a
sumptuous meal, the cloth was removed and
"toasts were drunk with much
hilarity and good glee."
"Honorable George Kremer," one of the toasts
boasted, "the intrepid and
watchful guardian of the people's rights.
When corruption reared its
hydra head, he cried aloud, and spared not."
When Clay called for
proof, however, Kremer could produce nothing
more substantial than
rumour and his fame was short-lived; but in
Union County, among Jackson
men, to be sure, he remained a prophet and,
in old age, the seer of the
party."
From
the book "Union County, Pennsylvania: a
celebration of history"
By Charles McCool
Snyder, published 2001.
I
found a few other
references to this
affair that are less flattering to our
Congressman Kremer.
It would
appear that then,
as now, the "slant" of this story depends on
who wrote it! and which particular political
affilation the author
subscribed to. (some things never change! ;)
Some
sources laud George
Kremer as a hero for attempting to uncover
political corruption, other's paint him as a
mere political nusiance,
presumably because it appears his charges
could not be proven. I would
like to dig into this story further.
But it's
clear Mr. Kremer
was a well respected "Servant of the People",
well liked
by his
Pennsylvania constituants.
There is
conflicting data
on George (1775-1854) & Peter (1773-1834)
Kremer's parents, some sources say "Jacob
Kremer" is their father,
others say a "George
Kremer" was their father. I am using Jacob
Kremer, based on the
strength
of my sources [181]
and [182],
which are both historic documents:
My source [181]
is the book: "Snyder county
annals : a collection of all kinds of
historical items affecting Snyder
County from the settlement of the first
pioneers in this section, to
the names of the soldiers in the World War,
1917-19" by George
Washington Wagenseller,
published in 1919.
which states Congressman George Kremer's
father was Jacob Kremer.
[182] is the
"Commemorative
biographical record of central Pennsylvania",
published in 1910,
which also states congressman George's father
was Jacob
Kremer.
Other
sources, such as [180]
that
say a "George Kremer" was Congressman George's
father, are modern internet gedcoms without
any source documentation.
So based on the strength of sources 181 and
182, and the undocumented
status of source 180, I think its safe to
conclude that the father of
Peter Kremer and his brother (congressman)
George Kremer was in fact
Jacob Kremer.
But my
conclusions could be
wrong! ;) (although I doubt it in this
particular case) but if you know
of data that
conflicts with, or disproves, *anything* I
have on any of my genealogy
pages, please dont hesitate to let me know!
(email link is at the
bottom of this page) My goal is historic
accuracy..I dont mind being
proven wrong!  The
entire goal of
genealogical research is to uncover our true
heritage, it is always a
work in progress.
Congressman
George KREMER (1775-1854)
married Catherine EVANS (1794-1880) [179]
and they
had six Children:
Amelia
Snyder KREMER
b. aft.
1811
married
Samuel Owen EVANS.
Catherine
Lydia KREMER
b. 10 Nov
1822
d. 19 Mar
1909
married
Thomas BOWER
George
KREMER
b. 17 Apr
1827
d. 3 Oct
1833
Margaret
Brown KREMER
b. 20 Aug
1817
d. 26 Sep
1875
Frederick
Evans KREMER
b. 27 Jan
1820
d. 15 Feb
1887
married
Elmira G. SMITH
Ann Eliza
KREMER
b. 2 Jan
1815
d. 2 Nov
1865
See source
[179] for
more
detail
on
this family.
Update on George Kremer! April 2011.
Our "Uncle George"
(Great Great Great Grand
Uncle actually!) lived and died (1775-1854)
just before the
regular use of
photography..its unlikely there are any
photographs of him.
(although I imagine there must be a painted
portrait or two of him, out
there somewhere, considering he was a US
Congressman)
My
cousin Paul Kremer and his wife Anne took a
drive down into PA and
photographed George Kremer's gravestone (and
the stones of several of
his family members) at Glendale Cemetery in
Middleburg, PA.
Photos of the stones can be seen on the Cemetery
page.
thanks Anne & Paul!
The photos led me to do some more searching
on our Uncle George, and I
came across two new interesting bits of
information! An article about
George, from 1940, with more details about
his involvement in the "Corrupt
Bargain"
presidential
scandal
of 1825, and a drawing/cartoon of him! which
is
probably vintage! likely made during his
lifetime!
The drawing is for sale from the
Philadelphia bookstore that owns it,
$125..personally im not interested in buying
it..(I probably would be
if he was a direct ancestor) but I thought I
would share it, in case
anyone is interested in it!
We aren't direct descendants of George..we
are the descendants of his
brother Peter.
However I imagine George must have a lot of
living descendants out
there somewhere, our distant Kremer cousins,
but I havent found any of
them yet..I emailed the book shop to ask if
I could use the lithograph
on my webpage, they agreed! So here is
George Kremer:
The Lithograph is owned by "The Philadelphia
Print Shop" bookstore:
http://www.philaprintshop.com/polport2.html
Their caption for the lithograph says:
“George Kremer Esq., of Pa., ‘the
people’s man.’” Hand colored
engraving. 4.5" x 3.5"
George Kremer (1775-1854) apprenticed in
the store of his uncle, Simon
Snyder, later becoming a lawyer but a
plain-spoken one who
loathed ostentatious shows of erudition,
especially in Congress, where
he served 1823-1829. He was famous for
wearing a leopard-skin coat, for
lapsing into “Pennsylvania Dutch” on the
floor of the House of
Representatives, and for claiming
authorship of the anonymous letter of
1825 accusing Henry Clay and John Quincy
Adams of a bargain to have
Adams appoint Clay Secretary of State in
return for the votes of Clay
supporters in the House vote for
President, needed because neither
Adams, nor Clay, nor Andrew Jackson nor
William Crawford garnered an
Electoral College majority.
This unusual image of Kremer has two
interesting penciled additions
besides the title: a tiny sketch of a
table with bottle and glass in
the lower right corner, plus the word
“reform” on the pages Kremer is
perusing. $125"
Thanks to the Philadelphia
Print
Shop for letting share this drawing!
And an article about him
from 1940:
THE POLITICAL IDEAS OF GEORGE KREMER
By WILLIAM A. Russ, JR.
Susquehanna University, Selinsgrove.
PENNSYLVANIA HISTORY
VOLUME VII, NUMBER 4, OCTOBER, 1940
Click below for the full article:
|
|
