Joseph Anton Hemann (Dec 13, 1816, Oesede – Jun 28, 1897, Cincinnati) was a German-American educator, newspaper publisher, and banker.
Biography
Joseph was born in Germany in the town of Oesede near Osnabrück, Kingdom of Hanover, and studied at the Gymnasium Carolinum in Osnabrück, one of the most celebrated colleges of Germany. He acquired a thorough knowledge of the Latin, Greek, French, and English languages, mathematics, and history. In the spring of 1837, at the age of 20, without his parents or other family members, he embarked at the harbor of Bremerhaven and sailed for the American shores. Two months later the ship Favorite entered the Chesapeake Bay and dropped anchor in the harbor of Baltimore.
Shortly after his arrival, young Hemann, who had brought with him prominent credentials, visited with Professor Beleké at Mount St. Mary's College near Emmitsburg, Maryland. The professor advised him to go to Cincinnati where he might complete his studies at the Athenæum, the Catholic seminary of the diocese. Having no further means, Mr. Hemann worked a month on the canal near Hagerstown, Maryland, to earn sufficient money to enable him to make the journey.
In the fall of 1837, he joined an emigrant train of large mountain wagons and in their company crossed the Alleghenies on the National Road to Wheeling. Being the only one in the company who could speak the English language, Mr. Hemann acted as interpreter for the rest, bought the provisions, and was held in high esteem by his companions. During the prolonged voyage the young traveler was able to study the romantic scenery and the people of the country. They landed safely in the port of the Queen City of the West on October 7, 1837.
The letters of credence from Professor Beleké were given to Dr. Joshua Young, the prefect at the Athenæum, who later became the Bishop of Erie. Hemann was welcomed at the seminary, where he continued his studies until he followed a call of Rev. Ferdinand Kühr, whose acquaintance he made at the Athenæum, and accepted a position as teacher at the Catholic parochial school in Canton, Ohio, where he remained about a year and a half.
It was during his stay in Canton when he met his wife. On January 28, 1839, in Stark County, Canton, Ohio, at St. John the Baptist Catholic Church, he married Anna Margaret, daughter of John Baptiste DeVille, who had emigrated in 1831 from the town of Hachy in the Province of Luxembourg, Belgium.
He then returned to Cincinnati and took charge of the new German Catholic school in the Over-the-Rhine area, which he opened from the large hall of the then Rising Sun tavern, on the corner of Main and Thirteenth streets. This school became the nucleus of the second German Catholic congregation of Cincinnati, which in the next year became St. Mary's Church, at the corner of Thirteenth and Clay streets.
In Cincinnati, at that time, the question of introducing the German language as a regular branch of instruction in the public schools was agitated with great vehemence, and after a severe struggle the Legislature of Ohio passed a law, making it the duty of the trustees of the common schools of Cincinnati to have the German language taught in the schools under their care. Accordingly, an examination for teachership was advertised, and Mr. Hemann was among the several candidates that passed successfully and received a certificate. He shortly afterwards received his appointment, and accordingly began the organization of the first public German-English school in America in 1840.
Differing, however, from the majority of the school trustees, who endeavored to squelch the efficiency of the whole system, he resigned in July, 1841, when the celebrated German-English school struggle ensued, which caused great commotion in the then quiet annals of the city. The Germans withdrew their children from the public schools, and organized schools of their own, and Hemann was appointed principal. There were differences of opinion between Mr. Hemann and the Germans on one side, and the school-trustees on the other. The Germans insisted upon a system of comparative education, whilst the board wanted separate instructions. The Germans kept up their own schools until the next year, when they induced the majority of the trustees to modify their system, and adopt that of comparative tuition. Mr. Hemann, however, quit the public schools, and went back again to the principalship of St. Mary's school. Here he remained for five or six years, during which period he also kept an evening school, in which class several of the most prominent citizens of Cincinnati, such as Uncle Joe Siefert, John H. Koehnken, and others, were then sitting to study English.