I actually discovered Frederick A Klatt in a March 1879 newspaper article in a Chicago newspaper about his Milwaukee playing card factory having a fire. Not recalling his name, or a Milwaukee playing card manufacturer in that era, I starting researching him.
The first thing that slowed me down was that there were THREE Frederick Klatts in Milwaukee during this time period. Unraveling these Fredericks wasn't too difficult. One turned out to be a shoemaker and another was a carpenter. Our Frederick appears in 1876 as a "Polisher".
Between 1877 and 1879 F. A. Klatt has a playing card factory at 528-530-532 Cedar Street, He has a business partner named Albert Wells Coe a local hardware store owner. Mr. Coe was not a successful store owner at this time having gone bankrupt during this time for $60,000 (about $1.7 million now). Albert will leave Milwaukee before long and move to Deadwood, South Dakota. He will be more successful there.
The first thing that slowed me down was that there were THREE Frederick Klatts in Milwaukee during this time period. Unraveling these Fredericks wasn't too difficult. One turned out to be a shoemaker and another was a carpenter. Our Frederick appears in 1876 as a "Polisher".
Between 1877 and 1879 F. A. Klatt has a playing card factory at 528-530-532 Cedar Street, He has a business partner named Albert Wells Coe a local hardware store owner. Mr. Coe was not a successful store owner at this time having gone bankrupt during this time for $60,000 (about $1.7 million now). Albert will leave Milwaukee before long and move to Deadwood, South Dakota. He will be more successful there.
Milwaukee Locations For Frederick; Yellow Arrow 1876 Residence, Green Arrow 1877 & 1878 Residence and Business Address. Green Arrow was the 1879 Business Address and the Black Arrow the 1879 Residence. No listing for 1880 & 1881. Blue Arrow was the Business and Residence Address in 1882. Red Arrow is his residence in 1883. The picture at the top of the page is Water Street, where he lived
March 1879
As you can see by the article the fire was not major. The card stock loss was $600 ($17,000) and would not seem to be one that would make the business fold. But, the business is not listed in the Milwaukee City Directory in 1880 or 1881. Then in 1882 it appears for just that year. The next year Klatt is listed in the directory as a painter.
1883 is the last appearance of Frederick in any record I can find. He was not listed in 1880 in the Milwaukee City Directory or the 1880 Federal Census. Even before his listing in the directory in 1876 I cannot find any proven listing for him anywhere.
What about the playing cards? What did they look like? I cannot find an ad or picture of them anywhere. Or even any collector that has a card or deck from this manufacturer.
I presented this question to well known playing card collector Phil Bollhagen of Wisconsin since this manufacturer was in his area. Here is his relpy;
Mon, 2022 Apr 18 at 8:33 PM
Hi Dave,
Never heard of this Milwaukee card maker, but now that I think about it, I did get into an antique shop which had a bunch of printing blocks with some unusual local maker I had never heard about. It could have been your card maker. I didn't buy the blocks because the owner wanted a couple of thousand dollars for them which seemed really silly to me. I'll see if the shop is still in business. It probably isn't as many antique shops went out of business because of ebay. Hard to find even a single deck of cards anymore. Will stay in touch.
Phil
1883 is the last appearance of Frederick in any record I can find. He was not listed in 1880 in the Milwaukee City Directory or the 1880 Federal Census. Even before his listing in the directory in 1876 I cannot find any proven listing for him anywhere.
What about the playing cards? What did they look like? I cannot find an ad or picture of them anywhere. Or even any collector that has a card or deck from this manufacturer.
I presented this question to well known playing card collector Phil Bollhagen of Wisconsin since this manufacturer was in his area. Here is his relpy;
Mon, 2022 Apr 18 at 8:33 PM
Hi Dave,
Never heard of this Milwaukee card maker, but now that I think about it, I did get into an antique shop which had a bunch of printing blocks with some unusual local maker I had never heard about. It could have been your card maker. I didn't buy the blocks because the owner wanted a couple of thousand dollars for them which seemed really silly to me. I'll see if the shop is still in business. It probably isn't as many antique shops went out of business because of ebay. Hard to find even a single deck of cards anymore. Will stay in touch.
Phil
UPDATE
In February 2024 I came across this biography of Klatt's partner A. W. Coe;
"History of South Dakota" by Doane Robinson, Vol. II (1904), pp 1362-1363.
ALBERT W. COE, one of the honored pioneers and prominent business men of the city of Deadwood, is a native of Madison county, New York, where he was born on the 14th of August, 1833, being a son of Albert E. and Mary (Bridge) Coe, both of whom were likewise natives of that county, the former having been born in the same ancestral homestead as was the subject. The ancestry is traced back in direct line to Roger Coe, who was burned at the stake in England, during the reign of Queen Mary. The original progenitor in America was Robert Coe, who emigrated to this country in 1634. David Coe was a lad of twelve years at the time of his parents' removal from Connecticut to Oneida county, New York, where he was reared to manhood. He married at the age of twenty-one years and thereafter removed to Madison county, that state where he engaged in agricultural pursuits.
Albert W. Coe, who was the third child in order of birth, was reared to the study discipline of the home farm and secured his education in the common schools of the locality and period. Upon attaining his legal majority he set forth to seek his fortunes in the west. He located in what is now the city of Chicago, where he remained until 1856, when he removed to Milwaukee. Wisconsin, as one of the pioneers of the Cream City. and there continued to make his home for nearly thirty years—until the time of his removal to what is now the state of South Dakota.
Mr. Coe was one of the charter members of the Milwaukee board of trade and was for a number of years prominently identified with the commission business, after which he engaged in the hardware business, in which he there continued until 1883, when he came to South Dakota and located in Deadwood, where he has since maintained his home. Here he became associated with J. K. P. Miller in the grocery business, of which they continued for some time, then disposing of the enterprise and engaging in the real-estate business, of which the subject assumed control upon the death of his honored partner. He has since been identified with this line of enterprise and has been concerned in many important transactions and assisted materially in the developing of the great resources of this section of the state. Mr. Miller, with whom he was so long associated, was the promotor and builder of the Deadwood Central Railroad and the Deadwood street railway, while Mr. Coe was secretary of both companies during the building of both systems, while after their completion he held the office of manager until the properties were sold. Mr. Coe is at the present time a member of the Business Men's Club, of Deadwood, and also the Mining Men's Association, while he is a member of the directorate of the Franklin Hotel Company and the Masonic Benevolent Association. He is one of the prominent and honored members of the Masonic fraternity in the state, and is at the present time treasurer of the lodge, chapter and commandery with which he has affiliated, while he has attained the thirty-second degree in the Ancient Accepted Scottish Rite and is also affiliated with the Ancient Arabic Order of the Nobles of the Mystic Shrine. In 1897 he had the distinction of serving as grand master of the Masonic grand lodge of the state, and he is at the present time president of the South Dakota Masonic Veteran Association, having been a Mason for more than forty years.
"History of South Dakota" by Doane Robinson, Vol. II (1904), pp 1362-1363.
ALBERT W. COE, one of the honored pioneers and prominent business men of the city of Deadwood, is a native of Madison county, New York, where he was born on the 14th of August, 1833, being a son of Albert E. and Mary (Bridge) Coe, both of whom were likewise natives of that county, the former having been born in the same ancestral homestead as was the subject. The ancestry is traced back in direct line to Roger Coe, who was burned at the stake in England, during the reign of Queen Mary. The original progenitor in America was Robert Coe, who emigrated to this country in 1634. David Coe was a lad of twelve years at the time of his parents' removal from Connecticut to Oneida county, New York, where he was reared to manhood. He married at the age of twenty-one years and thereafter removed to Madison county, that state where he engaged in agricultural pursuits.
Albert W. Coe, who was the third child in order of birth, was reared to the study discipline of the home farm and secured his education in the common schools of the locality and period. Upon attaining his legal majority he set forth to seek his fortunes in the west. He located in what is now the city of Chicago, where he remained until 1856, when he removed to Milwaukee. Wisconsin, as one of the pioneers of the Cream City. and there continued to make his home for nearly thirty years—until the time of his removal to what is now the state of South Dakota.
Mr. Coe was one of the charter members of the Milwaukee board of trade and was for a number of years prominently identified with the commission business, after which he engaged in the hardware business, in which he there continued until 1883, when he came to South Dakota and located in Deadwood, where he has since maintained his home. Here he became associated with J. K. P. Miller in the grocery business, of which they continued for some time, then disposing of the enterprise and engaging in the real-estate business, of which the subject assumed control upon the death of his honored partner. He has since been identified with this line of enterprise and has been concerned in many important transactions and assisted materially in the developing of the great resources of this section of the state. Mr. Miller, with whom he was so long associated, was the promotor and builder of the Deadwood Central Railroad and the Deadwood street railway, while Mr. Coe was secretary of both companies during the building of both systems, while after their completion he held the office of manager until the properties were sold. Mr. Coe is at the present time a member of the Business Men's Club, of Deadwood, and also the Mining Men's Association, while he is a member of the directorate of the Franklin Hotel Company and the Masonic Benevolent Association. He is one of the prominent and honored members of the Masonic fraternity in the state, and is at the present time treasurer of the lodge, chapter and commandery with which he has affiliated, while he has attained the thirty-second degree in the Ancient Accepted Scottish Rite and is also affiliated with the Ancient Arabic Order of the Nobles of the Mystic Shrine. In 1897 he had the distinction of serving as grand master of the Masonic grand lodge of the state, and he is at the present time president of the South Dakota Masonic Veteran Association, having been a Mason for more than forty years.