Oscar Neebe - Early Life

Early Life

He was born on July 12, 1850 in New York City to German immigrants of French Huguenot origin from Kassel, Germany. He had two brothers, Conrad Neebe, who moved to Boston and Louis Neebe, who moved to Chicago. The family went back to Hesse so the children could be educated in Germany. They returned to the United States in 1864. Neebe worked for a time manufacturing gold leaf and silver leaf in Brooklyn, but quit because of his health.

In 1866, he moved to Chicago, where he had a hard time until he was finally hired as a waiter in a saloon. The saloon was frequented by workers from the nearby McCormick reaper works, and it was here that he learned of the worker's plight of workers and how they were exploited. He also learned of the 8-hour working day movement. In 1868, he started working as a cook on the boats carrying iron ore across the Great Lakes. However, he soon resigned and returned to New York City.

There he became an apprentice tinsmith and later worked making milk cans and oil cans. He lived in tenement housing. In 1871, he heard his first speech by a communist party member.

In 1873 Neebe moved to Philadelphia, where he married Anna M. Monsees. They would have three children. In 1877, Oscar moved his family moved back to Chicago. He worked in a manufacturing plant, but was fired for daring to stand up for his fellow workers. The same year he joined the communist party. Neebe was mostly unemployed during the next two years. In 1881, he and his brother Louis opened a yeast business.

It was on his visits to bakeries and breweries that Neebe became interested in the labor movement. He also became the office manager for the Arbeiter-Zeitung, a German-language workers' rights newspaper edited by August Spies and Michael Schwab.