Judge Jacob Kanzler
The Honorable Judge Jacob Kanzler - A Notable Portlander
Jacob Kanzler was born in Franklin county, Nebraska, October 23, 1879, and is a son of Henry M. and Mary Elizabeth (Koch) Kanzler, who are now residents of Kearney, Nebraska, where the father has been successfully engaged in the retail lumber business for the past forty-five years. Jacob Kanzler attended the grammar and high schools in Kearney and in the year 1900 entered the University of Nebraska, where he took a general academic course. In 1905 he entered Columbia University, New York city, where he studied law. Upon the completion of his law course he came to Portland, and in June, 1909, was admitted to the bar of Oregon. He thereupon engaged in the practice of his profession and gained recognition as a dependable attorney and has since held many offices of public trust and confidence.
He subsequently revisited Kearney, Nebraska, and was married to Miss Grace Julia Hamer of that city, daughter of Justice and Mrs. Frances G. Hamer (Mr. Hamer being a member of the supreme court of Nebraska), returning to Portland with his bride, where he has since resided. Two daughters have been born to the Kanzlers: Jane Hamer, a graduate of Washington high school, and Frances Hamer, who is attending the same school.
Jacob Kanzler is a republican; a member of the Oregon and Multnomah Bar Associations; Willamette Lodge, No. 2, A. F. & A. M.; Oregon Consistory, No. 1, Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite; Al Kader Temple of the Mystic Shrine; I. 0. 0. F.; Knights of Pythias and Loyal Order of Moose. He is active in the American Legion, and is a prominent member of the Veterans of Foreign Wars.
Shortly after the outbreak of the World war he felt the need of and became active in assisting to mould public opinion in behalf of military preparedness in this country, and, in the fall of 1916 he became secretary for Oregon of the National Military Training Camps Association, which was later instrumental in bringing about the establishment of the Reserve Officers' Training Camps. He attended the first of such camps, organized at the Presidio of San Francisco, and, in August, 1917, was commissioned a captain of infantry. He was assigned to the 361st Infantry Regiment (91st Division) at Camp Lewis, Washington, and went overseas with his regiment, where he saw service in France and Belgium, participating in the St. Mihiel drive, the Meuse-Argonne offensive, and the Lys-Scheldt drive. At the close of the war he returned to Portland and was honorably discharged. In July, 1919, he was commissioned a major of infantry in the Officers Reserve Corps of the United States Army, and on December 1, 1923, was commissioned a lieutenant colonel. He was one of the founders of the Reserve Officers' Association of Oregon and was for two years its president.
In 1919, shortly after his return from overseas, Governor Ben W. Olcott appointed Jacob Kanzler as the first judge of the newly created court of domestic relations of Multnomah county. He organized this court along such lines as would best serve the needs of juvenile and parental offenders and established the court's practice and procedure.
After presiding over this court for seven years, having during this time been elected to the office by the vote of the people, he resigned to become a vice president of the Northwestern National Bank, serving in that capacity until the bank retired from business in 1927.
He was later selected by Governor Isaac M. Patterson for the appointment of circuit judge of department Number 1, fourth judicial district at Portland, to succeed Judge George Rossman, who had been appointed a justice of the supreme court of Oregon. In 1928 Judge Kanzler's name appeared on the ballot as a candidate for the office to which he had been appointed and was nominated at the primaries to succeed himself for a period of six years.
Jacob Kanzler taking a rest while hiking beside one of his closest lifelong friends Willy Gruber
Jacob Kanzler has been deeply interested in public and civic work throughout his many years residence in Portland. In 1914 he became president of the Progressive Business Men's Club, taking an active part in the establishment of Portland's present public market, and for which he was given much credit. He served for six years as a director of the Waverly Baby Home and in 1915 was a director of the Portland Rose Festival. During that same year he served on the committee which built the trail from Multnomah Falls to the summit of Larch Mountain. Through this latter work he became interested in the recreational possibilities of the Columbia river gorge and initiated and executed the movement through which the federal government created Columbia Gorge Park as a public recreation grounds, consisting of fourteen thousand acres of land, extending for some twenty-three miles along the Columbia River highway and of which Eagle creek is the approximate center. Continuing his contact with governmental agencies and acquaintances he was influential in obtaining an appropriation from the United States forest service for a survey of the Mt. Hood Loop road. He also drafted the application for federal aid for this highway, it being the first application of its kind to reach Washington from any part of the United States under the Federal Aid Road Act.
Jacob Kanzler Monument on the Eagle Creek Trail
Jacob Kanzler took an active part in organizing the Portland Opera Association and the Portland Junior Symphony Orchestra Association. For many years he has been a member of the executive boards of both organizations. He is president of the Portland Fest Chor.
He is a director of the Portland Americanization Council; treasurer of the Portland Social Turnverein; chairman of the child welfare committee of the American Legion for the department of Oregon and of a similar committee of the Grand Lodge of Oregon, A. F. and A. M. In 1925 he was general chairman of the International Christian Endeavor convention held in Portland, and in 1927 acted in the same capacity for the convention of the International Fire Chiefs Association. He is a past president of the Oregon Christian Endeavor Union and is a member of Westminster Presbyterian church, Portland.
As judge of the circuit court of Multnomah county, Jacob Kanzler is held in high esteem by the general public as well as the legal profession, and his enviable record as lawyer, military officer and overseas veteran, banker, jurist and public-spirited citizen has gained for him the confidence and deep respect of the people of his city and state.
Source: "History of the Columbia River Valley - From The Dalles to the Sea - Volume III", published in 1928 by The S.J. Clarke Publishing Company, Chicago.
According to Richard D. Scheuerman in his book The Volga Germans - Pioneers of the Northwest, the Kanzler family was from Kolb, Russia. The first arrivals from Kolb came on the S.S. Donau in 1876. Among the families who arrived on the S.S. Donau, were Henry Bauer, George Henry Kanzler, Henry Rehn, Jacob Thiel Sr,. and Franz Scheibel, a member of the earlier scouting party who had been the school teacher in Kolb.
Jacob Kanzler’s father was Henry Michael Kanzler. Michael came to the United States in 1878 on the S.S. Wieland.
Among the Kolb group were several families who would later compose a portion of the Nebraska colony that moved to the Washington Territory in 1882.
Some of the Volga Germans of the Nebraska colony had considered moving to the Pacific Northwest as early as 1880. The Volga Germans wrote to J.E. Culbertson, the immigration agent for the Oregon Railway and Navigation Company in San Francisco, expressing their interest. The letter was forwarded to Henry Villard, owner of the railroad, who was pleased to see that many immigrants could be lured to the Pacific Northwest. The Volga Germans stated that they were discontented with the Midwest and were one hundred and sixty families strong. They stated that their wheat crop had failed for three years.
The Volga Germans received a favorable response from the railroad but it was not until 1882 that they decided to move to the Pacific Northwest. They traveled by train and were given temporary employment by the railroad constructing a line from American Falls, Idaho to Pendleton, Oregon.
Upon arrival in Pendleton some members of the party decided to go on to Portland although most continued north to Walla Walla.
Jacob Kanzler was a prominent member of the Multnomah County Circuit Court from about 1933 until his death. He was the Judge in the DeJonge Trial during the 1930s. DeJonge was a member of the 1934 waterfront strike, a card carrying Communist member. He was arrested at a Party endorsed protest on SW Alder. He elected to be tried seperately from others arrested at the same time and was brought before Judge Kanzler. A 10-2 vote convicted him of "Criminal Syndicalism". Although he was up for 10 years, Judge Kanzler showed leniency and gave him only a seven year sentence. in the end, U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice Charles Evans Hughes heard an ACLU appeal and overturned the conviction.
Family stories say that Jacob regularly played cards with Paul Canzler and some other German businessmen. Jacob was a member of the Portland Progressive Businessmen's Club in Portland which had many Germans in its membership.
Jacob lived in the Eastmoreland neighborhood and his daughter Frances Kanzler was a Rose Festival Queen in 1932.
Jacob Kanzler was active in the Zion Church teaching Sunday School and participating in Christian Endeavor. Judge Kanzler was very helpful to the new German-Russian immigrants settling in Portland. He died in 1940.
There is a monument to Jacob Kanzler on the Eagle Creek trail in the Columbia Gorge. The monument is less than a mile from the trailhead at the Eagle Creek fish hatchery. Jacob Kanzler was instrumental in the formation of the Columbia Gorge Recreation Area.
Home of Judge Kanzler in SE Portland. The photographs was taken in the 1920s.
Many thanks to Alexander Craghead for his help in finding information on Judge Kanzler.
Kanzler Links:
http://www.rootsweb.com/~nebuffal/wwi/66.htm
http://www.rootsweb.com/~neresour/OLLibrary/Journals/NMGR/Vol04/nmgrp002.html
Koch's Kolumn
by Dr. Raymond P. Koch - from the Chronicle Unserer Leute July/August 2004
Many years ago I met a niece of Judge Kanzler and we exchanged letters on genealogy as her grandmother was a Koch from Kolb.
A full generation before our people became professionals the Kanzler brothers had college educations and became college graduates with one brother, Reinhold Kanzler becoming an M.D. and practicing here in Portland.
Judge Kanzler was a youth leader in the Zion Congregational Church and also led groups on hikes in the Columbia River Gorge.
I have mentioned the bronze plaque dedicated to him on the Eagle Creek Trail for his efforts in developing support for its construction.
His niece, Sarah K. Hammerstrom, sent me the translation of the last letter received from Russia by the family. It was sent to the judge by a cousin and translated by the judge's daughter many years later for the surviving family members who no longer read or spoke German.
Frances Kanzler Chadwick was a Rose Festival Queen on the 1932 court from Washington High School and had even gone to Germany to study before World War II.
She was 81 or 82 in 1996 when Sarah relayed the following translation to me:
Burnoje, U.S.S.R.
Nov. 8, 1934
Honored friend, Jacob Kanzler:
Some time back I received from my sister, Anna Elizabeth Pfenning, your letter which she had from you. From this letter one can understand you are not quite clear about our relationship. I wish to explain it to you. Our father's name was Jacob: he was the brother of your father, Michael. Our father died in the year 1915. I do not know when your father died. After the death of my father there remained: two brothers and two sisters.In the year 1930 the entire fortune of my brother Heinrich was confiscated; he was exiled to North Russia for five years of hard labor. His family which consisted of two grown sons and a sixteen year old daughter and his wife were exiled to a barren region in the Ural Mountains. There they all died of hunger and privation except the youngest son. I do not know whether he is still alive, as we have had no news in past six months. My brother Heinrich also died in the Nordeno.
As far as I am concerned read the following: I was a school teacher in my home town from 1908 until 1931. In that year everything was taken from me and I was transplanted to East Russia-Kasakston. I have seven children that are all living at the present time. The eldest is 21 years old, the second 13, and the youngest is four years old. Here I got a job as a bookkeeper and earn at present 250 rubles a month so that I and my family are able to live. To be sure life is very expensive, particularly food for example is 12 rubles the kilo, butter is 25 rubles the kilo, and flour this year is 15-18 rubles for 16 kilo.
But in the previous year it was 60-70 rubles. In the past two years many people have died of hunger. The situation is now improved but one cannot eat and satisfy his appetite with bread alone. You probably have heard much of this already. In our home town only a quarter of the people remain--many have died, the others have been moved and some sent to labor camps.
My sister, Anna Elisabeth has been a widow since 1922. She has five children. I helped her in the intervening time, but still I can not save her entirely and she has asked you for help.
I thank you very much for the help you have given my sister. Uncle Konrad, together with his children and Uncle George all starved to death. In a word, our relationship has nearly died out in Russia. Our economic success served to be our undoing. If it is not hard for you, I do request you to reply to this. I do not ask for help, because I can manage. If others of our friends such as Fred Benzel, Konrad Benzel, Konrad Kanzler, and Johannes Kanzler come to you, so greet them for me and let them read this letter.
Adieu, Farewell, Greetings to your whole family, brothers and other friends.
George d. Jacob Kanzler
This letter is typical of those received by our grandparents until correspondence ceased at the request of those in Russia who were categorized as capitalist spies if they received mail from outside of Russia.
Census figures for the village of Kolb indicated a marked drop in population from before World War I because of resettlement to other parts of Russia and the emigration to the Americas.
After the Communists took charge deportations, shootings, starvations, etc., became the fate of many, and the population plummeted.
In my grandparent's relationship they received word of many heart breaking incidents involving brothers, nieces, nephews, and uncles. It mattered not which village they inhabited: they paid the price for being an ethnic minority that had attained earlier success beyond that of the rabble following the Red Banners.
Reading this letter brought back memories of stories related by my grandparents and their friends, and it was painful to recall these elderly men and women relating what they knew of the fate of relatives in Russia.
My heart went out to them then, and it does once again as I remember their hopes for being reunited with loved ones in the Hereafter.
Raymond Koch, DMD
President, Oregon Chapter AHSGR