Wellsburg man reflects on family’s bakery
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WELLSBURG -- The story behind a 71-year-old Wellsburg bakery is one of many true tales of immigrants who came to America with very little but found success through determination, hard work and support from family and friends.
Michael Traubert said his grandfather, Wendel, was about 16 when he left Germany for the United States. He doesn't know specifically why Wendel's parents sent him overseas alone at such a young age. But he theorizes they "wanted to prevent him from becoming cannon fodder" in international conflicts involving Germany that culminated in the Franco-Prussian War, which resulted in thousands of casualties.
The war aside, Traubert said he respects his grandfather's "gumption. To travel from Germany to a new country where he didn't speak the language and never see his father and mother for the rest of his life. I think it took a special kind of guts to be an immigrant becoming an American citizen."
In 1872, Wendel arrived in Pittsburgh, where he took night classes to learn English before moving on to work at Schaeffer's Bakery in Wheeling. Traubert suspects the baker's own German heritage opened the door for Wendel's apprenticeship there.
While at Schaefer's, Wendel met his future wife, Agatha "Aggie" Beiter of Wellsburg, who was working as a clerk for the bakery. The two were wed in 1880, and a year later, opened their own bakery on land at 333 Charles St. provided by Aggie's parents and with $800 sent by Wendel's parents in Germany.
The contribution would have been a small fortune at the time, Traubert said, and he doesn't know how the farm couple came up with it.
In "A History of Brooke County," local historian Nancy Caldwell wrote that the bakery was part of a two-story building that also included six dwelling rooms. The rooms gradually were filled with several children born to the Trauberts.
A wood-fired brick oven was built for the bakery by local masons William and Robert Nicholls and, Traubert believes, was key to the business' success. Proponents of such ovens say because of the way they conduct heat, they produce bread that rises more fully and is more moist.
Traubert noted wood paddles were used to lower the dough onto the brick.
"There were no pans involved at all," he said. "From what I've heard, when it was fired by wood, the flavor was out of this world."
Traubert said the bakery also produced apple pies, soft ginger cookies and other treats. He added young visitors who accompanied adult customers usually received a free cookie.
Eggs and other materials for the bakery came from the family's farms along Washington Pike, while the flour was produced by two local mills: Waugh's on Bethany Pike and Pfister in the Cross Creek area, he noted.
Traubert said a newspaper of the day reported an ice cream parlor was added to the business in January 1884. He said the timing might have been bad, as it was one of the area's coldest winters, but it appears the addition was well received anyway.
Traubert said the bakery used a horse-drawn wagon to deliver its product to stores and residents. Though later replaced by a few trucks, it was dusted off and brought out of retirement for Wellsburg's Independence Day Parade in 1941.
Wendel and Agatha's children often helped them at the bakery, and three were involved in operating the business after it moved to 1125 Charles St.
When the bakery closed in 1952, the Wellsburg Masonic Lodge bought the building and has met there since.
The original bakery at 333 Charles St. was torn down years ago, but Traubert hopes in a small way to carry on the legacy.
He has been learning to bake in hopes of passing on the skill to younger members of the Traubert family and won a blue ribbon for his bread at this year's Brooke County Fair.
(Scott can be contacted at wscott@heraldstaronline.com.)