Early Immigrants to South Dedham: German-born

Jacob Felt (c. 1822-1857). Lot 189

Peter Wagner (c. 1823-1862)      Lot 185

Johanes Hurst (1838-1862)         Lot 184

Charles H. Hensel (1823-1862)   Lot 182

William Killian (c. 1825-1864)     Lot 154

By the mid-19^th century, South Dedham had become home to a few furniture makers. The largest, Willard Everett & Company, which had its beginnings as a small shop, built a large three-story factory in the center of South Dedham village. It specialized in mahogany and black walnut furniture, and, at its peak, employed more than three hundred workers. According to historian Bryant Tolles, “During the heyday of the firm, Everett furniture gained a reputation for excellence and was sold all over the United States, West Indies, and South America.” A second successful business, Haley, Morse & Boyden, was located near the railroad tracks on Railroad Avenue. That firm made mahogany extension tables and, according to several sources, was known as the first makers of rubber roller clothes-wringers in the country. While Everett’s was larger in scale, Haley, Morse & Boyden managed a furniture store over the original Norfolk County Railroad Depot near their shop. The success of these concerns brought the first influx of immigrants to South Dedham as talented artisans and wood carvers from southern Germany sought employment there. When a spectacularfire destroyed the Everett plant in 1865, that enterprise relocated to Boston. Haley, Morse & Boyden, ceased operations shortly thereafter.

Willard Everett & Co.

Left behind in Old Parish Cemetery, however, are five graves bearing witness to the lives of these early immigrants. Jacob Felt, Charles Hensel, Johauss Hurst, William Killian, and Peter Wagner were each born in Germany. Felt, Wagner and Killian were cabinet makers, Hensel was a varnisher, all likely employed either at Everett’s factory or the Haley, Morse & Boyden shop. Johauss Hurst was a barkeeper, a business and occupation common within any immigrant population. All died in South Dedham and were interred near one another in Old Parish Cemetery.

Jacob Felt died on December 27, 1857 of typhoid fever, a bacterial infection that is caused by the Salmonella Typhi bacteria. It is spread through contaminated food or water; symptoms include a high fever, headache, and fatigue. According to Dedham death records, he was 35 years old. The names of his parents were unknown.

Partial gravestone of Jacob Felt

On August 17, 1862, apparently while swimming in one of Tiot’s many waterways on a hot summer day, Peter Wagner, 39, and Johanes (John) Hurst, 25, accidentally drowned. Records note that Wagner was born in Luxemburg to Tean and Maria Wagner and that he was single when he died. Hurst, also single, was born in February of 1838 in Germany, and his parents, listed as George and Catherine, still lived there.

Peter Wagner Gravesite restoration by OPPV

Hurst gravestone fragment remounted by OPPV

Hurst gravestone fragment

Charles Hensel gravesite restoration by OPPV

Charles Hensel, who was born on February 16, 1823 in Germany, had become a United States citizen in October of 1860. On November 2, 1856, he married Mary Miller, also a German immigrant, and on April 28, 1862, they had a daughter Mary Emma Hensel. A varnisher by trade, Charles Hensel died on December 1, 1862 of tuberculosis. His widow left South Dedham and remarried.

On February 27, 1864, William Killian died from tuberculosis too. The disease, then often called consumption, was the scourge of both the native-born and immigrant during the nineteenth century. Killian was born in Germany, was married, and 39 years old at the time of his death. His occupation was cabinetmaker. That is all we know about him.

 William Killian gravestone before and after OPPV restoration.

These five men were interred with gravestones marking their graves, clustered fairly close together at the top of Old Parish Cemetery’s highest hill. At some later date, all were damaged by vandals.

William Killian’s stone was repaired in 2019. Peter Wagner’s memorial was found on its side near the Washington Street gate. It was brought back up to the top of the hill and installed on a granite base in 2022. The gravestone belonging to Charles Hensel was broken into three pieces. It was unearthed in 2019, reassembled in 2023 and re-set in a base in 2024. A fragment of the Hurst stone was found in the cellar at Highland Cemetery. A new base was made and the stone fragment was reset in 2024. The remainder of Jacob Felt’s stone has not been found.