June 9, 1904. 



THt AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



405 



us, we wish to say that we did not expect to be consulted in the mat- 

 ter of the appointment received by Mrs. Berthe; nor could we possiljly 

 h&ve accepted the position had it been tendered to us. So the only 

 '• soreness " or " personal feeling " there is must exist whoU.v in Mr. 

 Virgin's imagination. There isn't a bit of either in us about Mrs. 

 BeriJe's appointment. 



Now, the proper thing for Mr. Virgin to do is to send us at least 

 two gentlemanly apologies. One tor writing at all as he did, and the 

 other fpr putting it on a postal card. In rather sharp contrast is the 

 following taken from a letter that came in the same mail that brought 

 Mr. Virgin's card: 



" Your editorial reply on the Mrs. Berthe matter on page H?'.; is 

 fine. Say, wouldn't you have rather a lively time of it if you were 

 expected to go up to Minnesota, down to Florida, and to all other 

 places between, before you dared to say you had never heard of a cer- 

 tain bee-keeper?" 



( 



Sketches of Beedomites 





C. THEILMANN. 



On May 20 we received the following concerning the death of our 

 old friend, C. Theilmann, of Wabasha Co., Minn.: 



Deak Mk. York :— I here send you the sad news of father's death. 

 Our parents are both dead now, and our home is very empty, as you 

 may well know. Two brothers and one sister are married; one 

 brother and myself are, or were, at home with our parents. 



Father passed from earth to the Better Land on May 30, after being 

 confined to his room and bed for three weeks, with urinary and blad- 

 der trouble, combined with heart failure, which had troubled him 

 more or less for many years, although he could always attend to his 

 bees, of which work he was very fond. 



A year ago in April mother died, since which time father's sick- 

 ness became gradually worse, so that he often wished that death would 

 but release him. He was up and around, and could look after liis 

 bees, until three weeks before his death, when he was taken sick. 



Father was born in Germany, and came to America in 1S,54. He 

 married Angola Schocke, Nov. 13, ISoti, and settled on their homestead 

 in the spring of 1S57, where they stayed until death called them home. 

 Five children were born to them, three boys and two girls, all of whom 

 survive. 



Father was a model bee-keeper, and had been in the business for 

 many years. Yours respectfullj'. 



Miss Mart Thbilmann. 



We were sorry to learn of the death of Mr. Theilmann. We felt 

 that we knew him quite well, as we met him a number of times when 

 he came to Chicago. He was indeed a sturdy German, conscientious, 

 and of high moral character. Our sympathy is extended to the be- 

 reaved children who are left to mourn the loss of faithful and devoted 

 parents. 



The following biographical sketch of Mr. Theilmann appeared in 

 the American Bee .Journal for Feb. 17, 1898, but it is just as interest- 

 ing now as then, and shows what Mr. T. had done in bee-keeping as 

 well as in other lines of usefulness: 



The subject of this sketch was born June 6, 1833, in Kieselbronn' 

 near Vforzheim, in Baden, Germany. His ancestors escaped the mas- 

 ■ sacre of what is called " The Cruel Bartoloma Night in France,'' and 

 found safety across the river Rhine, in Baden. 



Mr. Theilmann attended common school from his 6th to his 14th 

 year, besides one winter term in his 20th year, in a drawing school at 

 Pforzheim ; otherwise he stayed at home and helped his father to work 

 his land until he came to America. He landed in New York in April, 

 1854, after a voyage of 42 days. He rambled for two years, going to 

 Albany and Buffalo, N. Y. ; Cleveland, Columbus, and Cincinnati, 

 Ohio; Louisville, Ky. ; Memphis, Tenn.; and to New Orleans, La., 

 where he worked on a sugar plantation, got sick, and nearly died with 

 yellow fever; when recovered he went to Shreveport, La., Pittsburg, 

 Pa., then to St. Louis, Kansas City, and Council Bluffs, and back to 

 St. Louis, Mo. In June, ishi'i, he started for Minnesota, and took up 

 .a government claim in Wabasha County, on which he still lives. 

 During all his rambles he earned enough to make his living ami pay 

 his way, as he had given nearly all the money he brought with him 

 from Germany to a distressed friend, when he landed at New Y»rk. 



In the fall of 1856 he was married in St. Louis, and took his wife 

 to his new home in the wilderness, among the Sioux Indians, wolves 

 and rattlesnakes, though they have never done any harm to them. A 

 cat, that came to them, was the first domestic animal they pos-sessed 

 for many months. Speckled trout in the creek were plentiful, :i? the 

 Indians would not eat them. 



The first year Mr. T. had to carry his provisions on his back from 

 Wabasha (13 miles), making the round trip in a day, sometimes with- 

 out his dinner. 



In 1857 he hired four yoke of oxen and a 24-incb breaking plowof 

 some of his nearest neighbors three miles away, and broke up the first 

 six acres of Bis claim in two days, -ill alo7i>- : and paid for the outfit 

 with 1" days of 14 hours each, or .50 cents a day, mowing grass for hay 

 by hand The boys and young men of to-day would say, " I wouldn't 

 do that;'' l>ut many of them would get along far better if they would. 

 Mr. Theilmann kept on working and improving his claim, and 

 after awhile bought a cow and a yoke of oxen. Boys and girls were 

 born, until there were five in the family. They grew up rapidly, and 

 soon helped their father and mother. The country settled up rapidly, 

 a school district was formed, and school was held in a primitive log 

 house first. 



In 1860 the Indians disappeared, just a little while before the .\ew 

 Ulm massacre, and never came back. In 1863, Mr. T. raised over 1100 

 bushels of wheat on 35 acres of land, of which ;;00 bushels were sold 

 out of his granary for jtSOO ; he has also had wheat in succession for 17 

 years on a 16acre piece, and never had less than 25 bushels per acre, 

 and up to 45 bushels without the least fertilizing. 



In lsi'i9 Mr. T. found a bee-tree in his woods, and took it home; 

 from this and two more swarms he found he started his bee-keeping, 

 transferred them to frame hives, Italianized and increased them to 74 

 colonies. In 1S71 he lost all but 4 colonies, but by May, 1872, he 

 hunted and found 15 colonies in trees and rocks in his vicinity ; this 

 gave him a start again. For nine years after this he tried all kinds 

 of wintering methods without satisfaction, until in 1882 he built a 

 bee-cellar all underground, which stood the test, and since then his 

 losses have been very light in wintering, and they have averaged him 

 an income of about $1000 a year. 



On Jan. 25, 1885, one of his bee-repositories, in which 87 colonies 

 were w intering, burned down, but fortunately he had 100 colonies in 

 two other bee-cellars. He started the season of 1885 with 90 colonies, 

 which he increased to 170, and produced 6500 pounds of very fine 

 honey, which sold for from 15 to 20 cents per pound. 



The season of 1889 was the best with him, 185 colonies, spring 

 count, producing 25,000 pounds of comb honey. His honey crop and 

 bees sold that year amounted to about S2500. The best from one col- 

 ony and its increase he ever got in one season was five good swarms 

 and 600 pounds of honey ; this was in 1872. 



A car-load of the honey crop of 1890 was sent a Chicago commis- 

 sion man, who has tried to swindle him out of it for the past 18 

 months; it is still in court. 



The season of 1897 was almost a total failure, getting 1700 pounds 

 of honey from over 200 colonies. 



In 1877 a railroad was built from Wabasha to Zumbrota, with a 

 station on Mr. Theilmann's land. Mr. T. saw the opportunity, and 

 laid out a village, calling it Theilmanton ; it is now a village of about 

 100 inhabitants, with nearly all the conveniences farmers generally 

 need, and it is quite a a big shipping point for grain and stock. Mr. 

 T. also built a warehouse and grain elevator, which is the handiest 

 and most substantial building on that line of the road. It works 

 wholly automatically, without machinery of any kind, from the farm- 

 er's load to the cars. The grain can be weighed going in, also going 

 out, without shoveling or other hand work except moving a light 

 lever. Mr. Theilmann planned it himself, and prepared the drawings 

 for it. The warehouse and the station agency were run by him for 

 five years, when he sold it and went West on a trip to California and 

 Oregon, and he got interested in medical lakes and healing mineral 

 waters in Washington, 16 miles west of Spokane Falls; also in gen- 

 eral mercantile at the Lake. He was the first bee-keeper that took 

 two colonies of bees from Walla Walla across the Snake Kiver as far 

 north as Medical Lake. The bees were left in care of his oldest son, 

 George; they did fairly well for five years, or until Mr. T. sold out 

 there. 



In the meantime the farm and bee-culture were carried on at the 

 old homestead, and Mr. Theilmann is satisfied and contented that he 

 can not find a better place in the Union for his taste than what he has, 

 especially after seeing Texas and some other Southern States three 

 years ago. 



Mr. Theilmann's farm now consists of over 700 acres of land, 

 some of it rather rough, but good pasture for his bees, cattle, swine, 

 and fine-bred French Percheron horses; with substantial buildings for 

 all of them, also a good house for himself, wife, and two children, a 

 boy and a girl. Two sons and one daughter are married, and have 

 homes of their own. 



Mr. Theilmann learned enough in the drawing school to make his 

 own plans and drawings for many structures he has built on his own 

 land, and otherwise, to almost perfection in handiness, work-saving, 

 durability and comfort. He has also caused a nice little church to be 

 built at Theilmanton, in which to worship and give thanks to the 

 Giver of all good things for what we receive from his Fatherly hand. 



A Friend. 



Honey as a Health-Food is the name of a 16- 

 pag-e leaflet {3'/ix6 inches) which is designed to help in- 

 crease the demand and sale of honey. The first part is 

 devoted to a consideration of " Honey as Food," written 

 by Dr. C. C. Miller. The last part contains " Honey-Cook- 

 ing Recipes" and " Remedies Using Honey." It should be 

 widely circulated by every one who has honey for sale. It 

 is almost certain to make good customers for honey. We 

 know, for we have used it ourselves. 



Prices, prepaid— Sample copy free; 10 for 20 cts.; 25 

 for 40 cts.; 50 for 70 cts.; 100 for $1.25; 250 for $2.25; 500 

 for $4.00 ; 1000 for $7.50. Your busine.«!S card printed free 

 at the bottom of the front page, on all orders for 100 or 

 more copies. Send all orders to the Bee Journal office. 



