Johann Friedrich Kohlhepp's Obituary

Among Kim Teichert's box of family history documents and photos is a newspaper clipping of the obituary of Fred's father, Frederick Kohlhepp [Johann Friedrich Kohlhepp]. It says the following:

Frederick Kohlhepp

Frederick Kohlhepp of 99 Brookside avenue, a long-time resident of Jamaica Plain and prominent in local German circles, died at his home Thursday morning, aged 85 years lacking two days. He was a cloth dyer by trade and formerly conducted a dyehouse for many years in the rear of his residence. He was the first dyer in America to dye hair. He was born in Saxony, but came to America in early life and had been a resident of Jamaica Plain for nearly 50 years, residing in the house in which he died for 44 years. He was a member of Morning Star lodge of Masons of Woonsocket, R. I., and one of the oldest Mansonic [sic.] members, having belonged to the order for 54 years. He is survived by five daughters and a son.

Funeral services will be held Sunday at 2.30 at his late home, conducted by Eliot lodge of Masons.

This is an informative piece. Of note:

1. Johann Friedrich was "prominent in local German circles." I haven't found too much documentation on Johann, simply spotting his Dye House as it was mentioned in Boston directories and almanacs. I have some court documents too. However, I have not seen too much of his prominence in Jamaica Plain. Of course, since it was in German circles, my research has been somewhat limited. There is not online access to German newspapers and even if I did have access to them, my 1 year of eighth grade German won't help me too much. The German fonts of this time period require transcription from their strange format to the way German is written now. I experienced this while trying to understand and generally read information on Fred's mission from the German LDS newspaper, Der Stern. My mother is fluent in German, but getting her to work on this with me is highly implausible while she studies in a PhD program. Perhaps one day we will get to German newspapers on microfiche from Boston and try to hunt Johann Friedrich down. At the moment, prospects don't look high.

2. Cloth dyer. I imagine that a dye house can focus on dying any number of items. This obituary claims he focused in dying clothes. I recall, of course, Eda's claim that Johann Friedrich's dye house helped dye union uniforms for Boston soldiers in the civil war. According to this article, he had been a resident of JP for nearly 50 years (probably a little less), and this would have placed his arrival into JP in the middle of the civil war, 1862-1863. I suppose it is possible he dyed such uniforms. However, I think the dating in this obituary may be incorrect.

To my surprise, this obituary also states that "he was the first dyer in America to dye hair," which was also a claim made by Eda. Now, I highly doubt that the residents of JP and the Kohlhepp family members had the sort of information access to determine whether Johann Friedrich was actually the first one in all of America to dye hair. Nonetheless, it shows he did pioneer the new practice at least.

3. The dye house. This obituary clarifies that that the dye house was in the rear of his residence. I am not sure if this means that the dye house was connected to his house "in the rear of his residence," or whether it is referring to that it was behind his home on the land he owned. Having looked at several JP maps of Fred's land, there are several properties on it. Since it is also a dye house, I would expect it to be a separate building too. I will have to post some of the JP maps soon.

4. Emigration. It is hard to know when the Johann Friedrich left Bad Salzungen and Saxony to live in the United States. It claims he left for the United States in "early life." Since it notes how he was a member of the Rhode Island freemason lodge for 54 years, we would suppose he left by the latest when he was 30-31 in 1858-1859, and likely somewhat earlier. Johann Friedrich married Marie/Maria Elizabeth Wetzler in 1849 (and it may have even been something akin to a "shotgun wedding" given how they had a child out of wedlock and month and a half before their wedding), and they gave birth to John Kohlhepp in March 1852. John died in his infancy four months later in July 1852. Their next child, Amelia Louise Kohlhepp, is listed as being born less than 3 years later in April 1855. This gives a short 2 year window in which they would have emigrated to the United States, when Johann Friedrich was 25-27 years old. I don't think anyone has found the emigration documents or exactly when they entered the United States.

5. Residency in Jamaica Plain. The obituary notes how Johann Friedrich was in his last home for 44 years, but that he had been a resident of JP for 50 years. The 44 year home must be the Brookside Avenue residence, which sadly is no longer still around. Google map shows a large concrete slab with tons of semi-trucks where Johann Friedrich's home and dye house would have been. I think I have an address for another residence of his near Jamaica Pond. I will post that later.

6. Freemasonry. This obituary confirms Eda's claim that her grandfather was a freemason. Apparently, he joined and stayed affiliated with a lodge in Rhode Island. Of course, he formed some relationships with the Grand Lodge of Massachusetts. After all, the Eliot lodge (which had been formed in 1866 and chartered in 1867) who ran the Jamaica Plain jusidiction, performed his funeral services. I gained a little information on the Eliot Lodge from the Proceedings of the Most Worshipful Grand Lodge of Ancient Free and Accepted Masons of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, 36 (The Lodge, 1887). It is telling of his religious background that the services were held in his home by a fraternity. Yet, it appears he was active in this organization to some extent. I have attached a picture of the Masonic Temple in Jamaica Plain at the crossroads of Seaverns and Centre that Johann Friedrich likely attended below.

7. He was survived by five daughters (Anna, Amelia, Elisabeth, Constance, Ernestine) and a son (Fred).