1.PeterMadsenKling, born July 24, 1855 in Apenrade, Denmark; died November 25, 1922 in Indianapolis, IN. He was the son of 2. LaudsPetersenKling and 3. EllenMaria PedersdatterMadsen. He married (1) DorotheaCharlotte WilhelminaCasper September 25, 1879 in St. Louis, MO. She was born October 25, 1859 in St Louis, MO, and died February 24, 1948 in Ypsilanti, MI. She was the daughter of Frederick Wilhelm Casper and Charlotte Heidelberg.
Notes for Peter Madsen Kling:
The Danish Demographic Database http://ddd.sa.dk/DDD_EN.HTM
Kling, Peter Madsen, Landmand, 15, S. Charles, 495, 3/30/1871, , -, Slesvig, USA, , I6971K0913
Damm, Jørgen Joh., Landmand, 19, S. Charles, 496, 3/30/1871, , -, Slesvig, USA, , I6971D0511
Subject:
Kling family tree
Date:
Sun, 4 Jun 2000 12:27:23 -0400
From:
"Chris Kling" <nostatic@coastalnet.com>
To:
<gawne@together.net>
Dear Daphne:
I do not recall if I sent you this article about Peter Madsen Kling. If I have, please forgive the redundancy. If I haven't, well, I think you'll be glad to have it.
I was reviewing ROOTSWEB, and found your entries for KLING, Child A, Child B, Child C, and Child D, and realized that this article may help fill in those blanks for you.
The article, I believe, was compiled by Rasmus (Robert) Sorensen Kling, Sr. and sent scattered to the Klings that he had addresses to. I have added addendums and changes in red where he had them footnoted.
I hope that this helps you.
Chris Kling
Peter Madsen Kling was born in North Schleswig in Reis Township near town of Aabenraa Denmark, July 24, 1855. According to data in a family hymnal, he was the son of Larutiz Petterson Kling and Ella Madsen, both of whom were born in the same district, and the grandson of Antoni Kling and Peter Madsen.
As a boy he worked in the fields with his mother. One day a Gypsy approached them, asked a favor for which he would tell their fortune. He told Peter Madsen Kling that he would not stay there but would cross a great body of water (ocean), that he would not stay on the coast when landed, but would travel some distance inland, that he would marry a girl who lived where there was an iron fence around a large house, but the she did not live in the big house, but in a smaller one there. (According to Peter Madsen Kling’s wife, the house in which she lived when she met her future husband is in St. Louis, MO, and is a small one in back of a large house, and the lot is surrounded by an iron fence).
His father was a wagon maker and had a shop across the street from the family house. The family also had a barn and some animals. German soldiers were sometimes billeted in the barn and paid Peter to buy needles with which they broke blisters on their feet. (They wore no stockings on their feet but wrapped their feet in a style similar to the US soldiers of WWI and wore high top boots over the wrappings.
As related by Peter’s sons Milton Casper Kling, and Wilbert F. Kling,
When Peter was 16 years old, his mother sent him to the United States so he would not have to serve in the German army. Peter had no particular objections to the German army himself, and had worked in Germany one year. However, his father was killed while serving with the German army - or by the German army, and his mother was determined that her children would not be taken for service. He was ticketed for St. Charles, Missouri, when he left Denmark and sailed via Christiana, Norway, to Portland, Maine, arriving in 1870/1871. From Portland, he traveled via Montreal, Detroit, and St. Louis to St. Charles, Missouri, where he worked for two years in a country wagon and blacksmith shop.
In 1873 he went to St. Louis, MO, and worked on wagons, carriages, and busses, and then took up car building and became foreman in the Browne car company. At the organization of the St. Louis Car Company, he was manager and salesman and developed and expanded the original plant at Broadway Avenue until it was necessary to relocate at Baden to take care of the increased business.
According to the Elizabeth Daily Journal, in 18?? He went to Germany to instruct the Germans in assembling streetcars which had been manufactured by the St. Louis car company, of which he was by then the Superintendent. In a conversation the Kaiser boasted that the German army was better than the US army, that it was better trained. Peter Madsen Kling said "Yes, but Americans can shoot!" playing up the European idea of the way Americans had conquered the Indians. The Kaiser promptly challenged him to a shooting match. When he offered him a choice of weapons, Peter arranged to have his own gun among those used at the match. When offered a choice of weapon, he selected his own gun and won the match.
When he left the St. Louis Car Company in 1900, the employees presented him with a silver tray, the latter engraved with a picture of a streetcar. The family home was moved to Elizabeth, New Jersey, where father Peter Madsen Kling was associated with the John Stephenson Company as manager from August 21, 1900 to August 1905. When he left to become manager of the American Steel Car Works in Pittsburgh, PA. employees presented him with a gold watch, chain and charm set.
Peter Madsen Kling went to the Brooklyn Rapid Transit Company in 1909, however, the family was maintained in Elizabeth, NJ until 1914 when they moved to Laconia, NH where Peter Madsen Kling operated the Laconia Car Company and manufactured railroad cars used by the US Army in WWI. In 1910 the family moved to Indianapolis, IN where he was associated with the Indianapolis Body from 1919 - 1920 and engaged in several independent enterprises.
On September 25, 1879, he was married in St. Louis MO, to Dorothea Charlotte Wilhelmina (Minnie) Casper, daughter of Johann Frederick Wilhelm Casper and Charlotte Heidelberg. Their children were: Louis August, Frederick Madsen, Peter, Wilbert, Raymond, Ella Anne, Mabel Ida, Elmer, a son, and Milton Casper.
A correction was noted by grand-daughter Dorothy A. Kling on July 25, 1971: Peter Madsen Kling had ten children,
Louis August Kling, born 3-14-1881
Frederick Madsen Kling, born 10-3-1882
Peter Madsen Kling, Jr., born 6-22-1884
Wilbert Frederick Casper, born 7-11-1885
Raymond John Kling, born 12-23-1887
Ella Anna Kling, born 11-11-1889
Mabel Ida Kling, born 6-5-1893
boy (premature) 4-1896
Elmer Kling (stillborn) 4-22-1900
Milton Casper Kling, born 9-5-1902
In Europe, Peter Madsen Kling learned to speak Danish, German, Swedish and Norwegian. English was added to his languages, of course, and he was supposed to have learned Italian, French and Spanish. For a while, he was excise commission of Elizabeth, NJ.
Trap shooting was his favorite sport, and he frequently won first place in tourneys. All of his children also participated in this sport at one time or another. In ____ he won a silver loving cup, now in possession of the Louis A. Kling family, a beautiful gold medal valued at approximately $1,000.00 was won for ??. It is now in the possession of Wilbert Frederick Kling and Mrs. Peter Madsen Kling.
Towards the end of his life his health failed, a stroke or a softening of the brain making him a semi-invalid and he died November 2?, 1922. He is buried in Rose Hill Cemetery, NJ, in a plot, which it is said, was given to him in return for his help in securing materials for construction of a crematory in the cemetery, the only crematory in NJ. The material was the grates for the furnace.
He was a 2nd degree Mason, taking two degrees in ST. Louis. He did not proceed further because he was criticized for having a Roman Catholic employee, and he did not want business influenced by fraternal relations - only by merit. He later claimed to be an atheist.
