(Karl) August Widenmann, my grgrfather, b. 21 Aug 1826 in Blaubeuren, Kingdom of Wurttemberg, d. 22 June 1884 in Ann Arbor, came to Ann Arbor in 1851, opened a hardware business the following year and on 11 March 1864 was appointed Consul for the Michigan area by King William II of Wurttemberg. There are indications that he at the time was also speculating in real estate. At any rate the family was wealthy. In 1873 or '74 he suddenly lost everything: his financial resources, his home and - most important - his reputation among his fellow Germans. The family was thus reduced to poverty. What happened to cause all that? I have a couple of theories but nothing concrete in the way of documentation. Does anyone on this list recall having encountered mention of A.W. in a contemporary newspaper article, biography or letter - in short, anything that might throw some light on the cause of his demise? I am currently living near Copenhagen, Denmark, which hampers direct research in primary sources, and would thus be very grateful for help of any kind: a clue, a hint - anything!. -- Regards, Robert J. Widenmann maribob@tdcadsl.dk

On Fri, 18 Feb 2005, Robert J. Widenmann wrote: > In 1873 or '74 he suddenly lost everything: his financial resources, his home > and - most important - his reputation among his fellow Germans. The family > was thus reduced to poverty. > > What happened to cause all that? Most likely it was the Panic of 1873. It was a sudden and catastrophic business downturn. Much of the paper money that existed (issued by private banks) became instantly worthless when the banks collapsed. Undoubtedly real estate values crashed too. Lots of affluent folks were plunged into poverty. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panic_of_1873 for details and links. It has mostly been forgotten, but the word "depression", as first used in the 1930s, was a euphemism for "panic". Later, of course, "recession" became a euphemism for "depression". But today we have stable currency, unemployment compensation, etc., so the impact of these events is much less severe. Larry --- Lawrence Kestenbaum, polygon@potifos.com Washtenaw County Clerk & Register of Deeds The Political Graveyard, http://politicalgraveyard.com Mailing address: P.O. Box 2563, Ann Arbor MI 48106