Preston County, West Virginia Biography of CHARLES ZELLER This biography was submitted by Valerie Crook, E-mail address: ********************************************** ***The submitter does not have a connection*** ********to the subject of this sketch.******** ********************************************** This file may be freely copied by individuals and non-profit organizations for their private use. All other rights reserved. Any other use, including publication, storage in a retrieval system, or transmission by electronic, mechanical, or other means requires the written approval of the file's author. This file is part of the WVGenWeb Archives. If you arrived here inside a frame or from a link from somewhere else, our front door is at http://www.usgwarchives.net/wv/wvfiles.htm The History of West Virginia, Old and New Published 1923, The American Historical Society, Inc., Chicago and New York, Volume II, pg. 574 Preston CHARLES ZELLER. The following account of the career of Charles Zeller will explain the grounds for the confidence and esteem in which he is held at Terra Alta, where for forty-five years he has been a resident, a sound American citizen, and a busy worker at his trade of shoemaker. Charles Zeller was born at Daetzingen, Oberambt Boe Blingen, about nine miles northeast of the City of Stuttgart in Wuertemberg, September 22, 1847, a son of Bernhard and Margaret Zeller. His father, who was a carpenter by trade, died young, leaving his widow and only child, whose name at christening was Carl August. Charles Zeller was required to attend the Government school until he was fourteen, and then began his apprentice- ship as a student of shoemaking. The arrangement provided for the payment to his master of fifty guldens, amounting to about one hundred and fifty marks. After learning his trade he went to Stuttgart, worked as a journeyman three and a half years, wages being about a gulden a week, and then returnedihome and after three weeks joined another young man and they pursued a real journeyman's existence to different portions of Southern Germany, including a portion of Bavaria and going on into Austria, where they worked for a time in a small country town. He also worked in Radolfzell in Baden, then went to Switzerland, and for three years was employed at Zurich. In 1871 Mr. Zeller sailed out of Bremen Harbor on a steam- ship which eighteen days later landed him at Baltimore. From there he went to Frostburg, Maryland, spending the winter, and in the spring located at Cumberland, where he remained working at his trade, for five years. The only English words he knew when be landed were good morning. He bought a German-English dictionary, but it proved of little benefit. He mastered the new language largely by actual practice among his new American friends. For the first few years he made progress slowly, since his associations were largely with German speaking people, but after coming to Terra Alta, where his business and social relations were largely with Americans, he picked up the language rapidly. Mr. Zeller came to Terra Alta in 1877, and from that year to the present has been the old and reliable, steady working and faithful shoemaker of the village and city. His business has undergone a marked change during his residence. For years he made boots and shoes for a large territory around the town, but his work is now altogether repairing. For many years he was the only shoemaker in the town, hence his acquaintance extended to all the old families and his efficient workmanship was an important factor in his popularity. Mr. Zeller has carefully laid away in his shop three hickory ham- mer handles, each showing deep indentations worn by his fingers as they gripped the handles, this wearing progress con- tinuing until new handles had to be substituted. Mr. Zeller took out his first citizenship papers in Cumber- land and finished the naturalization process at Kingwood. In 1880 be cast his first presidential vote for President Gar- field, and has voted with the republican party ever since. He served as a councilman of Terra Alta under Mayor Crawford. At Cumberland Charles Zeller married Miss Rosa Reichert, daughter of Valentine Reichert, of Baden, Germany, where Mrs. Zeller was born. Mr. and Mrs. Zeller have had seven children: Frank, a jeweler and merchant at Terra Alta; Maggie, wife of Ira Parsons, of Terra Alta; Theresa, at home; Alexander, a telegraph operator in the service of the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad Company at Terra Alta; Mary, who died in childhood, and Carl and Anna, still members of the home circle.