WILHELM EDUARD LOUIS BLAU was born on October 16, 1837 at 8:00 p.m. in Frankenhausen, a village on the south slope of a small wooded mountain range, the Kyffhauser, in the Thuringia state of Prussia. His father, Johann Lorenz Blau was a master linen weaver. His penmanship workbook shows that he was educated and had a very clear handwriting as a teenager. The workbook also contains his youthful drawings of animals and of people in typical German dress of the mid nineteenth century, clearly showing his artistic talent. As a youth in Germany he learned his father's trade of linen weaving. Germany was not a unified nation in mid-nineteenth century and there were perpetual military actions between the various German states. It was law that at age 17 a young man went into the military. However, the oldest son in a family was exempt. The eldest son was also the only child in a family who could inherit from the father. Eduard was the third son in the family, however the first born son died at age four months. 

Wilhelm Eduard Louis Blau's birth record in the Lutheran Church of Frankenhausen, 1837

The Gutenberg Lands in New York

The Gutenberg landed in New York on May 24, 1854. The list of passengers disembarking does not show Doris Blau, but does show Eduard Blau, linenweaver, age 16 and Johann Blau, linenweaver, age 18, both from Frankenhausen. The disembarkation list shows they had one piece of baggage. Sometime after arriving in the United States Wilhelm Eduard Blau Americanized his name to Edward William Blau. He told his children that upon his arrival in the United States he went to Milwaukee . Railroads were being developed in the 1850s and Wisconsin was a new state, having entered the Union in 1848. A large number of Germans and other northern European immigrants settled there. Edward told his children that while walking down the street he saw a man painting a cow on the side of a dairy wagon. He boldly told the man he could paint a better cow. His boldness was rewarded by his being given the job. He worked in Milwaukee as a sign painter and a piano and organ tuner and technician. No one with the name Blau is listed in the Milwaukee City Directory during the years 1854-1861, nor is there any mention of a Blau in the Milwaukee Sentinel newspaper during that time. It is not known how long his brother Carl stayed in the United States. Carl eventually returned to Frankenhausen where he is found in tax records in 1880.

Milwaukee To Columbus

Civil War

Ironically, having left his homeland because of unsettled conditions there, he found himself in an area of civil war over issues about which he probably did not have strong feelings. He did not become involved in the Civil War until August 3, 1863 when it was mandated that all able bodied men in the Columbus area contribute to the war effort. He entered into the Confederate Army in Columbus as a private in Company F, 19th Battalion, Georgia State Guard in the Arsenal Division, manufacturing war materials for the Confederate Army. Columbus was one of the major manufacturing centers for the Confederacy, including making boats for the Confederate Navy. Edward was involved in the manufacture of uniforms, no doubt making use of his childhood training.

On September 3, 1863 Edward purchased lot 196 in Girard, Russell County, Alabama, just across the river from Columbus (Russell Deed Book 26, p 216). The lot was on Marshall's Mill Creek on Albert Street (the name was changed to 5th Avenue about 1885). It was a short distance to Bridge Street and a wooden covered bridge over the Chattahoochee to Columbus. The Edward Blau family remained in this house until his death. His son Eddie Otto died in May, 1864 and was buried in a plot owned by Leonora's sister, Isabella Roman, in Linwood Cemetery in Columbus.

Edward was shown on the muster-in rolls as early as August 3, 1863 of Capt. Julius Brands' company of the Columbus City Guards. The Civil War was coming closer to home as Sherman's army began its approach to Atlanta with the Battle of Rocky Face Ridge, near Dalton, on May 8, 1864.  All able bodied men were sent to Atlanta. Edward was sent to General Walthall's Division. He was wounded in the foot on July 28, 1864 at the Battle of Ezra Church in Atlanta. He was sent to the hospital in Columbus and worked in the shops, until he was sent to join the forces in Macon. The Confederates were in retreat to Thomasville, where his wound bothered him, then he continued on to Savannah where he was engaged in battle, retreated into South Carolina and was captured. When he was released, Edward walked from Savannah to Columbus. While he was a captive, the Union army in Alabama did not receive notice that the war was over. The Union army came through Girard and on Easter Sunday, April 16, 1865, a week after Lee's surrender, captured Columbus in "the last battle of the war." Union troops were right by the Blau house but were unable to cross the river over the Dillingham Street Bridge due to planks having been removed by the Confederates, who then set fire to the bridge. No damage was done to the Blau house.

Isabella Roman

Isabella Roman was an older daughter of Sarah Parish. She had married Peter Bennck Roman and had a daughter, Sarah Margaret Roman, born on December 23, 1871, who died September 25, 1887. It is not known what happened that Peter was not with his wife at this time, or when he died, though presumably after March, 1871. Isabella, widow of Peter Roman, was born November 13, 1835, and died March 31, 1886. When Eddie Otto Blau died, the Romans purchased a plot at Linwood Cemetery. He was buried in an unmarked grave in their plot. Peter is not buried in the plot, but Isabella and daughter Sarah are.

The Episcopal Concert

Some six or seven hundred persons were present at the inauguration of Springer's Opera House on Tuesday evening by our Episcopal friends...Messers Blau, Pond, Wells and Coart very creditably furnished the masculine tones in the several choruses..."

(Columbus Enquirer,February 23, 1871)

"THE CONCERT TONIGHT 

The Children Of Leonora Parish and Edward Blau

1. Ida Eugenia Blau, born December 29, 1861 in Columbus; married John Poitevent Golden on October 31, 1882; died July 13, 1939.

2. Eddie Otto Blau, born February 14, 1863 in Columbus; died as an infant in Girard on May 22, 1864.

3. Ada (Addie) Bertha Blau, born April 4, 1865 in Girard; died December 21, 1873.

4. Charles Herman Blau, born July 16, 1867 in Girard; married Isabel (Belle) Eva Gaither on November 7, 1892; died February 5, 1962.

5. Edward William Blau, Jr, born October 31, 1868 in Girard; married Mattie Love Gaither in 1887; they were divorced about 1902; died October 9, 1945.

6. Tina Belle Blau, born September 26, 1870 in Girard; died May 17, 1889.

7. Lorenz Gustav Blau, born November 9, 1872 in Girard; married Montarie Elizabeth Coulter on June 19, 1907; died July 31 , 1954.

8. GEORGE GAFFORD BLAU, born December 26, 1873; married Ola Castleberry on January 24, 1894; died February 12, 1957.

9. Effie McDougall Blau, born January 3, 1876 in Girard; married Lorenzo Garland Biggers on August 10, 1904; died March 18, 1967.

10. Leonora May Blau, born March 18, 1878 in Girard; married Dr. John Pickney Norris on July 8, 1903; died September 6, 1987.

11. Richard Ernst Blau, born November 23, 1879 in Girard; married Ramoncita del Escobel on November_ , 1905; died November 14, 1928.

Emma Cobb Massey Blau

Edward married a young widow neighbor, EMMA COBB MASSEY, on July 1, 1883 (Russell Marriage Book 1872-1886, page 388). She was born in Chattahoochee County, the daughter of Savannah House and Isaac Cobb. Edward's youngest sister had married a piano and organ builder. When his father retired, he apparently joined his son-in-law in building pianos and organs. As a wedding present, they sent Edward a family made piano from Frankenhausen. It was an upright with 85 keys.

[In 2000 the piano case is in good condition and has no name on the fallboard. It has a carving of two cherubs, one playing a wind instrument and the other playing a stringed instrument. On each side of the carving is a silver candle holder. Attached to the top back of the piano is a carved eagle. In 2000 the piano is not functioning.  The piano action (typical of the period: being "birdcage" style) was manufactured by L. Isermann and bears the serial number 4046. Isermann opened the first piano action factory in Germany in 1842 in Hamburg, and was in business until his death in 1898, about which time his grandson merged the company with F. Langer & Company in Berlin. When Edward William Blau died, the piano went to his oldest child, Ida Blau Golden. It passed to her daughter, Sarah Elizabeth Golden Skardon, who gave it to her son, John Norton Skardon, who upon moving to Japan in 1989 gave it to George G. Blau, III.]

13. Agnes Bertha Blau, born August 15, 1892 in Girard; married Ralph E. Moseley on August 15, 1911; died February 16, 1920.

References:

Blau Family Bible kept by Leonora Blau Norris; Oral History of Leonora Blau Norris at Columbus College; photos collected by Leonora Blau Norris.

Muscogee County property and marriage records; Columbus Enquirer; Columbus City Directory; Census Records; Alabama Civil War Pension Records; Georgia Death Records; Linwood and Riverdale cemetery records; Russell County property records

Hamburg Passenger Records; Frankenhausen Church Records

Mahan, Katherine: Showboats To Softshoes: The Musical Development of Columbus 1828-1928. pp 43, 67.

Martin, John: History of Columbus, Georgia, Part 2: 1845-1865. pp 125, 172.