Richard Veenfliet
Richard D. Veenfliet | |
---|---|
Born | August 2, 1843 Wesel, Prussia |
Died | August 20, 1922 Vineland, New Jersey, United States of America |
Richard Veenfliet (August 2, 1843 – August 20, 1922) was an American commercial artist known for illustration-figure, genre, and landscape. Today, Richard Veenfliet is perhaps best known for his postcards.
Early life, family and education
Richard Veenfliet was born on August 2, 1843, in
Soon after the family arrived in Detroit, and in the company of a companion, Carl Post, a friend of similar thought and character, they began to explore the country toward the Saginaw River. The Veenfliets then became one of the founding families of Blumfield Township, Michigan. Many Native Americans lived in this part of Michigan and, perhaps unique to its time, the two groups were friendly and lived peacefully together. In fact, they often had to work together. While the primeval forest of Blumfield was very beautiful, it often proved to be hazardous and full of unexpected hardships.
The Veenfliets named Blumfeld Township after Robert Blum, also a political offender, who was shot in 1848 by the King's soldiers for daring to take the part of his oppressed fellow men.[2]
The Veenfliets, along with Rudolph Diepenbeck, were advocates for immigration. They established and manned offices in New York City and Detroit, from which they sent promotional pamphlets abroad.[3] They were also liberal in their religious views.[4] The beliefs of the Veenfliets often reflected those of Robert Blum and, by extension, the period of Romanticism.
Veenfliet attended school in Blumfield,
Civil War
A picture of
Both Richard and his brother Fred were part of the
Richard Veenfliet's brother Fred died in the Battle of Nashville, December 15, 1864, when rebel General John Bell Hood surrounded and attempted to capture the city.[1][4]
Post Civil War and World War I
After the war, he worked as a laborer, salesman and architect. In 1884, he moved to New York City, where he took a job as a foreman of the art department with Frankmann Bailey & Blanpy.
It is highly likely that Richard Veenfliet had to register as German and report to county court during World War I, as records have confirmed his younger sister Augusta's registration. This was a time in which many Americans were angry and suspicious towards German-Americans, and during the course of the war the government registered nearly half a million "enemy alien" civilians and interned nearly 6,000. Unfortunately, many states have not released these records and thus cannot be confirmed.
Richard Veenfliet was a member of the
References
- ^ a b c Mill, James Cook (1918) History of Saginaw County, Michigan: Historical, Commercial, Biographical, Volume 2
- ^ "Blumfield Township". Blumfieldtwp.org. Retrieved June 6, 2017.
- ^ Ziegler-McPherson, Christina (2017) Selling America: Immigration Promotion and the Settlement of the American Continent, 1607–1914
- ^ a b Portrait and biographical record of Saginaw and Bay Counties, Michigan : containing biographical sketches of prominent and representative citizens, together with biographies of all the governors of the state, and of the presidents of the United States.Chicago: Biographical Pub. Co., 1892.
- ^ "Search For Soldiers - The Civil War (U.S. National Park Service)". Nps.gov. Retrieved June 6, 2017.
- ^ "Forsythes' Auctions, LLC: Cincinnati Auctions". Forsythesauctions.com. December 30, 2012. Retrieved June 6, 2017.