The generosity of Ernst W. Flender was told in the last note. Here is more about the man, taken also from the Germanna Records.
Mr. Ernst W. Flender was born in Siegen in 1888. He studied in Germany, Switzerland, France, and England before he came to New York in 1915. He founded the Argentine Trading Co., which specialized in exports to South America. Following World War I, Mr. Flender accepted a responsible position with the private banking firm of C. B. Richards and Co., and rose rapidly to general manager of the firm in 1923. In two more years he was a managing partner. He built up the investment division and the Stock Exchange business while liquidating the banking divisions. In 1956, he became a limited partner, and in 1964 he went into full retirement.
He and his wife, Emily Gallagher, whom he married in 1928, were the parents of two sons and a daughter.
How he came to be associated with the group that became known as the Germanna Foundation was told in the last note. It could be said that had it not been for him there would have been no Germanna Foundation. His extreme generosity toward a group of people whom he hardly knew was the means which helped the Foundation get started, and to hold an important piece of real estate from the original Germanna tract. His guidance was important.
At the start of the Germanna Foundation, he hardly knew any of the details about the emigrants from Siegen. However, due to his efforts, much more was learned about the histories of the families in Siegen. He found that he was a cousin to some of the emigrants. His work was a contribution to the work of B. C. Holtzclaw, who wrote the book " Ancestry and Descendants of the Nassau-Siegen Immigrants to Virginia, 1714-1750 ."
Mr. Flender asked for nothing for himself, and was motivated solely by his personal satisfaction at seeing the memory of the Nassau-Siegen emigrants preserved along with their original home site.
As Dr. Charles Herbert Huffman, the first President of the Foundation, stated, "The Trustees, the membership, and especially myself, are deeply appreciative and most grateful for Mr. Flender's personal interest, for his mature counsel, and for his continual promotion and generous support of the purpose and objectives of the organization."
It would be of interest to know the later history of Mr. Flender and his family.
(25 Jun 01)
We gratefully acknowledge the work of John Blankenbaker who published over 2,500 Germanna History Notes via the Germanna-L@rootsweb.com email list from 1997 to 2008. We are equally thankful to George Durman (Sgt. George) for hosting the list and republishing the notes via rootsweb.com.