Anthony Waldman House - The Mystery of The Jacob Amos Store

The Mystery of The Jacob Amos Store

After Shingles, Jacob Amos is listed as the next occupant of the stone house in the 1858-9 St. Paul City Directory (the content of which was compiled prior to May 1858). Amos was a stonemason from Hesse Darmstadt, Germany, where he was born in 1824. Amos and his sometime business partner Christian Rhinehardt constructed numerous other limestone structures in Uppertown, including 202 McBoal Street (Martin Webber House, 1867). Jacob and his wife Elizabeth were married in Franklin County in southeastern Indiana on April 19, 1852. Elizabeth (née Seidenthaler) was born in Ohio about 1834. They had two children in Indiana (Jacob, b. 1852; George, b. 1855) before moving to Minnesota Territory by 1856, where their first daughter (Louisa) was born in 1856. They had five more children in St. Paul (Rosina, 1858; Phillipp, 1862; Frank, 1865; Charles, 1866; Ida, 1874). The first record of Amos in St. Paul is his listing in the 1856/7 City Directory as a “mason” living on Bluff Street, two blocks south of the stone building.

Intriguingly, the 1858-9 City Directory describes the stone building where Amos and his family were living as a "store." This is the earliest documentary evidence (corroborating the clear architectural evidence) that the Waldman House was not always or solely a residence. However, the Directory makes no mention of what kind of store it was, and there is no cross-listing for any store at that location in the business section of the Directory. None of the state or federal censuses ever describe Amos' occupation as anything other than a stonemason. So, given the implausibility that Amos chose the worst economic crisis of the period to experiment in retail trade, one is compelled to conclude that the "store" description in the Directory may not be accurate. The Directory's use of the term may reflect nothing more than the compilers’ conjecture based on the building’s obvious (former) storefront appearance. Moreover, given the chaotic economic times, it may have been difficult for the Directory's compilers to decipher the building's current use (especially if its owner declined to pay for a fuller listing). The building is listed as vacant in the federal census of 1860, and its ownership changed twice that year before being purchased by Waldman. While it is only a guess, it is possible that Amos was the stonemason for the stone addition to the wood frame structure originally on the lot, and then occupied the building with his family after it fell vacant following the Panic—perhaps in lieu of Fuchs' payment for his work.

In February, 1862, shortly after occupying the stone house, Amos enlisted as a private in Company E, 5th Infantry Regiment Minnesota. He was promoted to the ranks of Sergeant (April 2, 1862), 1st Lieutenant (August 2, 1863) and Full Captain (February 9, 1865), before mustering out at Fort Snelling on September 6, 1865. As a member of the 5th Minnesota, Amos participated in the Siege of Corinth, Mississippi (May 26–30, 1862); the Battle of Corinth (October 3–4, 1862); Grant’s central Mississippi campaign (November 1862-January, 1863); the Siege of Vicksburg (May 18-July 4, 1863); and the Battle of Nashville (December 15–16, 1864), among numerous other campaigns. After the war, the 1870 and 1880 censuses list Amos and his 9 other family members living in the same small, one-story house at 57 Banfil Street (the house remains today at 276 Banfil).