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I was first introduced to
Balthasar (also Balthazar) Best by his great grandson, Bill Lasswell, almost
two years ago (2003) on the battlefield at Gettysburg. My grandson, Eric, and I had
just parked near the Pennsylvania Monument on our auto tour and had walked
across the road to the tableau describing the actions of the 1st Minnesota
when an older couple approached us. The man said he had noticed that my
license plates were from Cuyahoga County. He told us how his great
grandfather, Balthasar Best, who had fought with the 1st Minnesota had
survived a shipwreck in 1850 somewhere off the shores of Cuyahoga County when
he was just a boy. Mr. Lasswell then asked if I might know anyone named
Kleinschmidt – the name of the family that took the young Balthasar in when
he managed to reach shore. I told him that I didn’t but that I
would do some
research when I got home on the shipwreck and the Kleinschmidts.
Several weeks later I visited
the library at the Western Reserve Historical Society to see what I could
learn about shipwrecks in 1850, the Best family and maybe even the
Kleinschmidts. Using some of the same sources I once used in finding my German
ancestors’ arrivals in this country, I found a record of the Best family –
mother, father and eight children leaving Darmstadt in Germany and arriving in
New York in early June 1850. I then found a record of the wreck of the
steamer, G.P. Griffith – actually a fire that burned it to the water line
– some 220 yards off the coast of what is now Willowick on June 17, 1850. It
would prove to be the ship the ill-fated Best family had taken from Buffalo to
reach Toledo. I was unable to find anything on any Kleinschmidts.
The burning of the Griffith
was one of the worst maritime disasters on the Great Lakes killing almost
everyone on board (286 dead of about 300 passengers – mostly immigrants.)
The victims were buried in a mass grave on the beach which is now park of the lake.
There’s an Ohio Historical Marker in a Willowick park at E.305 and Lakeshore
Blvd. commemorating the Griffith and its passengers. (Although no one knows
for sure why the Griffith ignited, a new oil used on this trip was considered
to be a possible cause.) I sent the Lasswells copies of what I had learned of
the Griffith and the Best family. I received a note back thanking me for my
help and telling me my information was almost 100% new to them. I continued my
research on the Internet and at the Cleveland Public Library.
Balthasar’s father, Jacob,
was a doctor who on the advise of another doctor brought his family here in
pursuit of the American dream. One that would die for all of them but
Balthasar in Erie’s waters. Twelve-year-old Balthasar survived somehow
making it to shore where he was taken in by a German family. This family
however treated him poorly and a new friend of his – Jacob Kleinschmidt –
had his family offer him a home.
Balthasar moved to Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin in 1856 where he learned the trade of cabinet making before
moving to Winona, Minnesota in 1859. There he learned the trade of sash and
door making. At age 23 he enlisted into Company K of the First Minnesota
Volunteer Infantry Regiment on April 29, 1861. (A clerk at that time dropped
the “h” in his name and recorded it as, “Baltasar.” I’ve also seen
it spelled as “Baltassar.”) He was 5’6”tall with gray eyes and brown
hair. His childhood friend, Jacob, also enlisted – believed to be Company A
of the 37th Ohio Infantry in September 1861. (Jacob would die in battle the
following year.)
 Baltasar kept a diary of his
war years. He would fight in twenty battles during his three years of service,
including Chancellorsville, Gettysburg and Bristol Station. He had his gun
shot out of his hands at Gettysburg during the regiment’s famous charge on
July 2nd against Wilcox’s Alabama’s Brigade when the rebels wounded or
killed 170 of 300 Minnesotans. Some records say he was wounded at Bristol
Station. (He never mentions a wound so it may have been slight.) He mustered
out on May 5, 1864. (His diary is in German and is now being translated into
English by Ewald J. Hausdorf, a former military attaché for Austria. My
contribution to his work is a picture of the Griffith Historical Marker which
he asked to send.)
Having barely survived a
shipwreck, the cruelty of his first foster family and three years of action in
the Civil War, he returned to Winona still looking for that great American
dream. He would soon find it. He married Francisca (Fanny) Salentine another
German immigrant, in Winona soon after his return. They left Minnesota for
Iowa in 1872, first to Tama City where they ran a restaurant and then in 1873
to Traer where they had their only child, Minnie, in 1876. He first put up a
building where he ran a restaurant and then another building where he and his
wife ran a restaurant and hotel – “Best House.” He would later add a
grocery store and a dry goods store to his enterprises.
Balthasar – or simply “B”
as he was affectionately known was a member of the Salley G. A. R. Post in
Traer and he attended several reunions of veterans of the First Minnesota
Infantry. He said he had developed rheumatism after the Battle of Gettysburg
and the rigors of the war – especially troublesome, he said, when standing
picket duty in wet weather. He eventually lost the use of both legs due to
rheumatism. Fanny and B died in 1909 and are buried in Traer. His obituary
said he was one of Traer’s most notable residents, one of her most widely
known citizens, one of her most successful businessmen and one of the bravest
yet most tender hearted men.”
Author's Note: After sending the Lasswells more of my research along with copies of several papers that
reported the Griffith disaster in Cleveland, I received this note:
My mother and all of our
family were amazed and thrilled to read a contemporaneous account of the
Griffith demise. My mother is 97. She was five when Balthasar died.
Especially during his last year, my mother spent much time watching and
visiting with him. All of his life he wanted to know the cause of the fire.
My mother told me that Balthasar related to her that his father had gathered
the whole family on the deck, said a brief prayer and told them to jump.
Thank you,
Bill Lasswell
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