Haunted Franklin Castle

Following the sale of his Cleveland house, Hannes and his new wife were entirely occupied at their Lake Avenue home in Lakewood but would frequently take trips to Vermilion with the Wiebensons, where Hannes’s sisters Catharina and Lowiese were living with their families. The Wiebensons felt so comfortable on these visits that Edward Wiebenson ended up purchasing a cottage near the lake, where the whole family could go on weekends to get away from the city and still be close to their relations.

In 1898, Hannes and Henriette took a trip to Germany. When they returned aboard the Pennsylvania later that year, they were accompanied by two women who would work as servants in their house. They were twenty-two-year-old Bertha Hinze and twenty-three-year-old Tiebke Gieschen. Both spent the next few years in Tiedemann’s employ, living at his house on Lake Avenue. Also employed at this time was a new coachman named Louis Gardner.

On October 5 of the following year, tragedy struck the family, as Hannes’s brother Lewis died at his home in Toledo. Hannes’s brother-in-law Lyman Perry Foote had passed away the previous fall. Funeral services for Lewis were held at his residence, after which he was buried at Woodlawn Cemetery in Toledo. Lewis Tiedeman was seventy-two.

In 1900, August Tiedemann moved from his home on Detroit Avenue to a rented one on Franklin only a few blocks west of his father’s former residence. With a new home also came a new occupation. August Tiedemann took a job as the secretary and treasurer of the Langenau Manufacturing Company. He and his family rented this house for a short time, the reason being that August was building an even grander house on Jennings Street.

Also occurring in 1900 was the passing of Hannes Tiedemann’s longtime friend and former business partner John Christian Weideman. Weideman died from a heart attack at the New Amsterdam Apartment House on Euclid Avenue, where he resided when not staying in Lakewood. He’d been married twice and became one of the most prominent grocers in the Midwest. He’d even held public office from 1876 to 1880 as Cleveland’s police commissioner, and although he’d been approached many times, he refused to run for mayor. He was laid to rest at Riverside Cemetery only a few feet away from Lyman Perry Foote. John Christian Weideman was seventy-one.

Just before the holiday season of 1900, the Tiedemanns gained an addition to their Lake Avenue residence. This came with the arrival of Henriette’s fifteen-year-old nephew, Harry Peter Detlef Kern. The following year, his uncle Hannes employed him as a clerk at the United Banking and Savings Company. He’d hold that position for about a year, at which time he traveled back to Germany. Upon his return to Cleveland, he was moved to the position of bookkeeper.

That Christmas 1900, Dora wrote again to her friend Frances, telling her about their holidays spent in Ohio:

It was so kind of you to write for Christmas. I was not quite so thoughtful. You are always so good in excusing me and know you will do so again. No doubt you enjoyed your Christmas very much with your mother and Amy there. Ours was pleasant of course. Christmas vacation is quite a noisy time for us. The children jangle more than usual as they all want the same thing at the same time. The graphophone also gives its share of entertainment which the children enjoy immensely. Nevertheless, they are four dear boys and give us a great deal of pleasure and when it gets too much for me, I get in a room and sleep it off. I enjoyed my little visit with your mother very much before she left for Texas. I often think of her, how kind she was to me as a girl and let me take my dinners with you all, when she had such a family to look after. I still always use the napkin ring she gave me once. Christmas with my brother’s family and ours were at my father’s on Lake Avenue. Henriette is a very kind good woman but everything is so different than it was formerly. Mr. Wiebenson joins me in thanking you for your kind wishes and we most heartily wish you a very Happy New Year.

Many decades later, Dora and Edward Wiebenson’s son Walter recounted his childhood spent growing up in Cleveland. His account is quite lengthy and fortunately very detailed. He remembered quite vividly many of the events that occurred in his family during that time, and it’s because of this we can get an insight into what life was life back in those days.

In these accounts, Walter recalled spending many summers with his family at Ocean City, New Jersey, and the months spent at a convent near Youngstown, where one of his mother’s friends was living as a nun. This occurred around 1902, when his parents were on vacation in Europe. Mr. and Mrs. Wiebenson were fond of traveling, though bringing their entire family would have been too much to handle for such lengthy trips, especially with the boys being so young. Dora wrote to Frances after her return to the United States, telling her about their vacation:

Yesterday was your birthday and again I did not write to you in time. I congratulate you most heartily. We returned about the 21^st of September and did not have a very pleasant passage over. Yet were fortunate not to strike a severe storm. We were gone in all four months which seems a good long time. The children were so well taken care of by the nuns but you ought to have heard them when they came home. Talk—I never thought they would stop and Catholic as you please. Next morning they built an altar in their bedroom so they could pray but they are gradually getting normal again. We enjoyed our trip very much. Two months we stayed at Neuenahr not far from Bonn and the one month traveled. I was real glad when it was at an end, it did tire me so. I expect you enjoyed your mother’s visit ever so much. I shall call on her soon. I keep more help now and can get away better. Our house is so miserably full. All the boys are away at lunch which is a great relief. Edward will be in high school in two years if he does well. He is almost as tall as I am. It does not seem long ago that we were little girls going down Pearl Street together. What a good time we used to have. I hope to hear from you soon and also that you will visit us some day in the near future. I am with kindest regards to you and your husband ever your sincere friend,

P.S. Just read over your last letter and thank you for your kind invitation to visit you. Who knows perhaps some day when I can eat like other respectable people I might take a run down to visit you. Last winter when I mentioned it to my husband he said why yes if you like. In fact, I get everything I like. Some day I am afraid I shall be dreadfully spoiled. Miss Payn [referring to Agnes Payn, Dora’s nurse] and I were to Quebec this summer and from there to Poland Springs in Maine. It was beautiful there but did not enjoy it as well as I might have because I was not feeling comfortable all the time. Am sorry you lost your mother-in-law. Yes Frances it is very hard for us to lose our friends as we grow older we feel it more and more. Give my love to your husband and write soon with love D.

Walter Wiebenson recalled his father purchasing a two-cylinder car called the Gale, of which he believed there were only six ever made. The farthest his family ever got with that car was about fifty miles, likely to Vermilion, as they always had to change the tires from blowouts. The car never really did more than twenty miles per hour and was so noisy that people would come out to the road a block ahead of them just to see the vehicle. Automobiles were still something of a rarity back then and were really something to see. If they would encounter a horse along the way, it would shy and jump about, as it was not used to seeing such a thing. Shortly after the family sold this car, the new owner was driving it on Public Square where it backfired and blew up. Afterward, Mr. Wiebenson purchased a Rauch and Lang automobile.

Walter continued his account by remembering quite well their milkman who came every morning with his milk wagon and the same horse every time. This horse didn’t need to be driven at all. He knew the route so well that all the milkman needed to do was tell him to go, and he would move to the next stop.

He also remembered the iceman who came about twice a week. Families hung a piece of cardboard on the front of their house with a weight amount written in the corner, telling the iceman how much ice was needed. Here he’d carve off a piece of ice, lift it with his tongs, place it on his shoulder and carry it in through the back door, where it was placed in an ice chest. There were no electric refrigerators in those days. During the wintertime, Walter and his brothers would hitch their sleds to the back of the ice wagon and get a free ride down the street, after which they’d try to hitch a ride back by hooking up to another wagon.

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Left to right: Walter, Edward and John Wiebenson playing in front of their new home on Franklin. Courtesy of Dora L. Wiebenson.

Another fond memory from Walter’s childhood was a pony that he owned named Peter Pan. This pony was kept in the carriage house behind the Wiebenson home.

Located just across the street from the Wiebensons’ house on Franklin, as well as the former Tiedemann house, was Hemler’s grocery store. Here the family purchased all of their groceries, as it was convenient for them to simply walk across the street and do their shopping.

A sad and unfortunate fact throughout all of this was that Dora Wiebenson, like her sister Emma, had now developed diabetes. When Dora wrote to Frances in her last letter and mentioned someday being able to eat like other respectable people, she was referring to how diabetics needed to follow strict diets to maintain their health. At the time, this was about the only treatment available, though some spas in Germany claimed to also help. Just before taking such a trip to Germany in 1904, Dora wrote once again to Frances.

You are truly a sincere friend to remember me so kindly when I did not even write to your birthday. I thought of you just the same Frances and fully intended writing but have treated everybody the same. As a rule when I get through with my children I am quite tired and when they are in it is almost impossible to write nor read. They are a very lively set and enjoy quarreling immensely. I intended on calling on Theresa ever since she married and tried to see your mother yesterday but she had not arrived at her summer home but saw Miss Sharper—she is just the same. I have made hardly any calls this winter and those were in the immediate neighborhood. My health is better than it has been and hope to be entirely cured at Neuenahr near Coblenz.

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Left to right: John, Howard, Edward and Walter Wiebenson. Courtesy of Dora L. Wiebenson.

They seem to make a specialty of diabetes there. My trouble is not painful at all excepting dull pains in my legs. I am not fond of going out as talking tires me as much as anything. But am very much improved since last fall. Dr. Lueke, Mrs. Lueke, Elsa & Martha are going on the same boat and we have our rooms adjoining, so I anticipate a very pleasant voyage. I shall try to write you from Bad Neuenahr, Germany and hope to hear from you also. I expect to spend all of July there. We leave with the Noordam on May 31^st at 10 o’clock. After July I hope to travel through Switzerland and see the larger cities of Germany. Edward [her son] & my niece [Lillie Wieland] will accompany me. My niece is from Iowa, 19 years old and a very lovely girl. She is very much delighted. It is rather hard to leave Mr. Wiebenson and the 3 little ones. Mr. W will be at the house and the boys at a convent near Youngstown. They will be on a farm and all alone with the sisters so I guess they will be in good company and no harm will come to them. It is better to leave them now a little while than a little later for good. I think I shall be very busy this week getting the trunks packed and the house ready. I have been writing so much about my own affairs that I have not even told you I am so glad that you are perfectly well now, and I hope you will continue so, as I think you have had your share. Again I thank you for your kind letter. Remember me kindly to your husband and with love to you I remain.

Dora, Edward and her niece Lillie returned to the United States aboard the steamship Deutschland on September 22, 1904. Dora and her son Edward remained in Cleveland for a little less than a year and returned to Germany in August 1905. Joining them on this trip was Dora’s nurse, Agnes Payn, and one of her other sons, Walter, who later recounted their time in Germany quite vividly. Walter, as mentioned earlier, was considered to be quite weak and not expected to live beyond his early twenties. Dora and her husband believed that by bringing Walter to Germany, he, too, might be able to receive treatment for his ailment.

The four of them sailed on a small steamship named the Rhine. This crossing took ten days to make before reaching its destination in Bremen. Walter remembered the voyage as being quite an experience; he befriended many of the other passengers on board. He particularly remembered a coinoperated chair in the salon that would vibrate for about ten minutes. This was supposed to stop people from having seasickness but had the opposite effect on Walter. He was so sick after using it that he spent the next two days in his berth.

After reaching Germany, they continued on by train until reaching Neuenahr, where the spas were located. After a few months, they continued on to Frankfurt-On-Main. Walter remembered that he was enrolled in grade school there and was surprised to learn that the children were learning to speak English as early as first grade. Likewise, he, too, was learning German and picked up on it so well that eventually he was thinking in German. At first, Walter had some trouble fitting in, as he’d constantly be teased by the other students, who called him “dirty Englishman” and the like. This usually ended in a fistfight, until one day he was called into the principal’s office and told to stop fighting. Things seemed to settle down after that.

Their apartment was located very close to the zoo. Walter spent many hours watching the gorilla and was amazed at how intelligent it was. Also while in Germany, Walter befriended a boy named Fritz Horning. Fritz’s father was a longtime friend of Hannes Tiedemann and was in charge of a large food establishment that delivered food to various restaurants and hotels. Most likely, Hannes and Horning became friends while Hannes was living in Germany with his family during the late 1870s. Whenever the Wiebensons needed assistance, Horning was always there to help. Many years later, while Walter was serving in Europe during World War I, he often wondered if he’d run into Fritz, as they were the same age and Fritz was likely also fighting in the war—but on the other side.

Back in Cleveland, August Tiedemann and his family settled into their new home on Jennings, but for all that August had achieved in life, his health was declining. August smoked for years and lived a fast-paced lifestyle, which was catching up with him. In late 1905, August traveled to Germany, likely to the same spas in Neuenahr that his sister visited, to seek treatment for his weakening condition. Although these treatments might have helped for a short time, the effects were not lasting. While in Germany he visited his sister, spending the holidays with her and her sons.

August Tiedemann returned to the United States aboard the Amerika, landing in New York on February 20, 1906, where he took a train back to Cleveland and was reunited with his wife and two sons. This reunion lasted only two months.

On April 20, 1906, August Johannes Tiedemann passed away from arteriosclerosis, a condition he’d been suffering from for the past three years. The death occurred at his home on Jennings and was confirmed by W.H. Rogers, his physician. The Saxton Funeral Home made arrangements for the services that were held on Sunday, April 22 at 2:00 p.m. The following morning, his remains were cremated and returned to his widow. It would be thirty-five years before his ashes were interred at Riverside Cemetery. For the last few years of his life, he worked as the secretary and treasurer of the Beckman Company, a woolen manufacturer where his father, Hannes, served as director. He was also a prominent member of the Elks Lodge. August Tiedemann was forty-one.

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August Johannes Tiedemann, circa 1888. Courtesy of Dora L. Wiebenson.

Immediately following August’s death, Dora returned to Cleveland just in time to attend her brother’s funeral services. She remained for a month before going back to Germany. Hannes and Henriette accompanied her on the return trip to Frankfurt-On-Main and stayed there until August 23, when they boarded the U.S.-bound steamship Blücher in Hamburg.

As the holiday season of 1906 was approaching, Edward Wiebenson made plans to travel to Germany and spend Christmas with his beloved Dora and sons Edward and Walter. He’d recently been promoted to the position of vice president of the United Banking and Savings Company. In preparation for his voyage, he obtained letters from the U.S. Department of State, U.S. Senate, Cleveland police chief and Tom L. Johnson, mayor of Cleveland. All letters were addressed to any foreign parties whom Wiebenson might encounter on his travels, introducing him and asking that any assistance he might need be given to him.

Dora was anticipating the arrival of her husband, whom she’d not seen since her brother’s funeral. The Christmas holiday was the perfect time for a reunion. Recent letters from Dora indicated that her health was improving. There were hopes that at the end of Mr. Wiebenson’s visit, his wife and children would return home with him to Cleveland.

In Frankfurt-On-Main, Germany, while preparing for the arrival of her husband in a couple weeks, Dora thought it a fine evening to take in a show with her son Walter. Her eldest son Edward and her nurse Agnes Payn were sightseeing in Dresden. Dora and Walter went out on the evening of December 2 and visited a theater that was located across from the railroad station. There, they took in a vaudeville-type show.

About halfway through the show, which Walter was enjoying, Dora excused herself to use the ladies’ room, leaving her son in his seat while she was gone. On her way to the ladies’ room, while walking down some steps, Dora tripped on her dress and fell down the flight of stairs, fracturing her hip.

Walter remained in his seat, watching the rest of the show, wondering why his mother hadn’t returned. It wasn’t until the show ended and the theater cleared out that two men approached him and escorted him to where his mother was waiting in an ambulance. There were no modern hospitals in that town, so Dora was taken back to their apartment. The ambulance wagon had iron wheels, and as it moved across the cobblestone road, it aggravated Dora’s injury, which only added to her suffering.

Once back at their apartment, several doctors came in and did what they could, which wasn’t much. Edward and Agnes were contacted in Dresden and arrived early the next day. An infection set in, and with Dora’s compromised diabetic condition, there was little to be done but make her comfortable. Dora Louise Wiebenson, Hannes Tiedemann’s only surviving child, died two days after her fall in Frankfurt-On-Main, Germany, not even eight months after her brother August had passed. She was thirty-five.

Not knowing what to do in a case such as this, Agnes Payn contacted Mr. Horning, who at once made contact with Mr. Wiebenson back in Cleveland and sent word of the tragedy. From there, Mr. Horning made the arrangements for Dora’s body to be returned to the United States.

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Dora Louise Tiedemann Wiebenson, circa 1890. Courtesy of Dora L. Wiebenson.

With Dora’s remains stowed in a casket in the cargo hold, her sons Edward and Walter and nurse Agnes Payn boarded the Kaiser Wilhelm II on December 16, 1906, in Bremen and arrived in New York on December 22, where Mr. Wiebenson was waiting to meet them. They boarded a train and returned to Cleveland, where funeral services were held. Dora was buried at Riverside Cemetery only a few feet north of the Tiedemanns’ burial plot. Shortly after, the remains of her infant son, Albert, were removed from the Tiedemann plot and re-interred beside her.

Two items of importance occurred in the months following Dora’s death. In January 1907, Hannes Tiedemann stepped down as president of the United Banking and Savings Company, at which time his son-in-law, Edward Wiebenson, succeeded him. Although no longer president, Hannes remained on the board of directors and was at his desk nearly every day. The other event that occurred came on February 5, with Hannes Tiedemann changing his last will and testament. Now that his children were deceased, amendments needed to be made. His will, in brief, stated the following:

2) Bequeath to the West Seite Frauenverien, which maintains a home for the elderly, $4,000 to be paid eighteen months after my death.

3) To my hired man Heinrich Bühning, $5,000, provided he remain in my employ until my decease.

5) To my wife, Henriette M. Tiedemann, $50,000 in lieu of all claims to my estate in accordance with agreement made by her February 10, 1898.

6) To my daughter-in-law, Ella E. Tiedemann, my real estate in Lakewood purchased from Henry Beach, that it remain in the name of Tiedemann as long as any descendants of that name survive and that it continue to be called Steinburg.

7) To my son-in-law, Edward Wiebenson, my real estate in Lakewood purchased from Martha Fry.

10) 4/6 of my estate to my trust to be bequeathed to my six grandsons [followed by lengthy directions on how and when it was to be paid].

11) I nominate Edward Wiebenson, Charles Rauch and E.S. Cook executors of this my last Will and Testament.

Hannes continued on as best he could throughout that year and attended to his duties at the bank. The sudden loss of both of his children was a very hard blow, yet he remained as strong as he could in the face of such despair. By Christmas 1907, things might have looked like they were returning to normal. Nothing could be further from the truth.

Just after the holidays, Ella Rauch Tiedemann felt she needed a vacation and decided to purchase a railroad ticket that would take her on an excursion to Florida. The Collver Special ran annually and originated in Cleveland under the direction of David Jay Collver. It departed the station in Cleveland at 12:25 p.m. on Monday, January 6, 1908, and began its long trek south. The following afternoon, just shortly after 3:00 p.m., the train was located near Hiram, Georgia. They were running somewhat behind and were moving at a fast rate of speed, attempting to make up the lost time. While crossing the Copper Mine Creek trestle, the engine jumped the tracks and careened into the shallow gully. The coal tender was tossed onto the cab of the locomotive, instantly killing the engineer. Following the tender, the baggage car was tossed into the ravine followed by five Pullman cars. Nearly thirty people from Cleveland were listed as injured. Among them was Ella Tiedemann. She was treated for her injuries in Atlanta, where she remained for a couple days before returning home.

The news of the accident reached Cleveland within a day, and Hannes Tiedemann found himself in an upset condition at the near loss of his daughter-in-law. That would have been too much for him to bear. Ella Tiedemann was back in Cleveland within a few days, and that Thursday found Hannes Tiedemann at work in his office at the United Baking and Savings Company, where he first began to feel somewhat under the weather and slightly weaker than he normally did. Even at that, he continued on and was at his desk on Friday and Saturday.

After finishing work on Saturday afternoon, he returned home to Lakewood and thought it best to take it easy the rest of the evening. The following morning, on Sunday, January 19, 1908, he found it much harder to get around and likely returned to bed. At 3:15 that afternoon, his wife Henriette at his side, Hannes Tiedemann passed away from arteriosclerosis, the same disease that had taken the life of his son August just two years earlier. He was seventy-five.

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Hannes Tiedemann’s headstone at Riverside Cemetery. Photo by William G. Krejci.

The death of Hannes Tiedemann, while coming as a surprise, was something that his co-workers at the United Banking and Savings Company were unfortunately becoming accustomed to. Over the last year, two other bank officials had also died unexpectedly. Vice President John Meckes passed just ten months earlier, and Chairman of the Board of Directors Russell A. Brown had also recently died.

At the time of his death, Hannes Tiedemann was one of the most recognized and well-respected financiers in Cleveland. He was known for his philanthropic services to the community and his warm and inviting personality, especially toward fellow Germans. He also served on the board of trustees at Riverside Cemetery for years. His passing was mourned by many.

Funeral arrangements were made with the McGorray Funeral Home, and services were held at his house on Lake Avenue at 2:00 p.m. on Wednesday, January 22. From there, the funeral processed its way to Riverside Cemetery, where Hannes Tiedemann was interred that afternoon beside his beloved wife, Louise.