• Gustave John Pauly

Gustave John Pauly

15 February 1855 - 15 December 1911

Gustave John Pauly (GJ) was born to Christian [unknown] and Wiebke (Ohm). GJ always gave Minnesota as his birthplace. Three years later GJ's parents had a daughter, Caroline Catherine "Carrie".

What happened after Carrie's birth is unclear. Something happened because GJ and Carrie were adopted by rural Minnesota families. Carrie was adopted about 1859 by John Mann and his wife Catherine Joanna Myers who lived near Chaska, Carver Co. MN.

GJ was adopted by John and Anna Maria (Caster) Pauly sometime around 1860 near Chanhassen, Carver Co. MN. The Paulys had settled in the Carver County area along with other Luxembourgers.

Before 1865 the Pauly family moved to Minneapolis where John became successful in the cooper trade supplying the burgeoning industries. GJ was involved with church youth activities and by 1880 was in the hardware trade in Bishop Ireland's colony in De Graff with his uncle Gustave Caster.

A few years later GJ married his childhood choir mate Amelia Young. He moved back to Minneapolis and entered the banking business as a co-founder of the Hennepin Savings and Loan Association, which later merged with the First Federal Savings and Loan Association of Minneapolis. Today (2011) the successor company is Wells Fargo.

GJ became quite successful in business. He and Amelia raised a large family in the higher social circles of Minneapolis. Their children were trained as musicians and thespians. Two of them were sent to Europe for training, perhaps in the hope to match the stupendous success of Amelia's cousin Dame Emma Albani, one of the foremost divas of her time.

GJ succumbed to kidney disease at the age of 56. He left his fortune in the hands of a trusted friend, John, who embezzled it, leaving the Pauly family without their fortune at the eve of the Great Depression.

GJ is buried near a fine monument with the name "Pauly" at a high place in St. Mary's cemetery in Minneapolis.

Most of what we know about GJ and Carrie's origins are found in Carrie's baptismal record at St. Mark's Catholic Church in Shakopee, MN. A portion is transcribed below:

2.                       1859/60                                   3.                       1859/60

Nro.   Dies    Dies       Nomen Baptizati     Nomen Parentum         Nomina Patinorum Nomen Servatus Annotations
     Baptism Naturatat

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   7   1 Nov.   6 Mar     Carolus Thomas       Thomas Ohm [lt?]             Carolus Basler         [inecclesia?]
                1859           Ohm            Magdalena Basler              Catharina Mann
   8     "      24 Dec Carolina Catherina  Christian Baptist/Joannes Mann    Clara Letzel
                1858           Mann              Wipke Ohm
               adopdata [sic] a Joanne et Catherina Mann

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We know little about GJ's parents Christian and Wiebke. Thomas Ohm, possibly Wiebke's brother, immigrated in 1848 or 1849. The Ohm family is Danish and Prussian. No record of Thomas and Wiebke exists in the 1840 Danish census, said to be completely transcribed, so perhaps they were in Prussia by this time.

George Pauly and Susanne (Pauly) Holden
December, 2011