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Robert Frederick Wotke

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Robert Frederick Wotke

Birth	:	10 Sep 1866 Moravskoslezský (Moravian-Silesian), Czech Republic
Death	:	2 Sep 1939 Chicago, Cook County, Illinois, USA
Burial	:	Saint Bonaventure Cemetery, Columbus, Platte County, USA
Coordinate	:	41.4301630, -97.3406640
Description	:	From 1898 to 1902, Robert F. Watke (Wotke/Woitke)(September 10, 1866 - September 2, 1939) operated a grain warehouse in Farwell, Nebraska where he challenged the monopoly of the corporate grain elevator companies and the railroad companies. His plight and actions against the grain monopolies of the early 20th century became part of the testimony before the United States Senate hearings of the Interstate Commerce Commission in the fall of 1906 which gave increased protection to cooperative grain elevator operators and to the independent shippers who moved grain to market. Early Life and Career Watke was an ethnic German-American... Read More	From 1898 to 1902, Robert F. Watke (Wotke/Woitke)(September 10, 1866 - September 2, 1939) operated a grain warehouse in Farwell, Nebraska where he challenged the monopoly of the corporate grain elevator companies and the railroad companies. His plight and actions against the grain monopolies of the early 20th century became part of the testimony before the United States Senate hearings of the Interstate Commerce Commission in the fall of 1906 which gave increased protection to cooperative grain elevator operators and to the independent shippers who moved grain to market. Early Life and Career Watke was an ethnic German-American immigrant who was born in the Sudeten mountains in Römerstadt, Moravia, Austria (now Rymarov, Czech Republic) in 1866, the second child of Edward F. Wotke (Eduard Woitke) and Josefa Kosch Wotke (Josepha Kosch Woitke). His father was a weaver in Römerstadt before migrating to the United States in 1876, settling in Bellwood, Butler County, Nebraska with his wife, daughter, Anna Josephine Wotke (Woitke), and sons Robert and Fred Benjamin Wotke (Woitke). Robert began his career serving on the family farm with his father and brother. On April 19, 1898 at the age of 32, he married Anna Clausen at St. Paul, Howard County, Nebraska. At the time Clausen was the 18 year old daughter of German immigrants, Claus Clausen (1851-1933) and his wife Katherine Lassen (1861-1900) who immigrated to the United States before 1860 from Erfde, Schleswig-Flensburg, Schleswig-Holstein, Germany and then settled in Howard County, Nebraska in 1870. The couple moved to Farwell, Nebraska where he built a grain warehouse to serve the farmers as an independent grain commodities broker. Conflict with Grain Elevator Monopolies According to the sworn testimony given at the 1906 Interstate Commerce Commission hearing, Watke had established a grain warehouse at Farwell where he enabled local farmers to sell their grain without the additional tariffs imposed by the local agent of the grain elevator companies and the railroads that transported the grain to the Chicago Board of Trade. However, an incident occurred at Farwell in 1902 that illustrated not only Watke's plight, but also that of the local farmers. Henry Herbert Carr, of the commission house HH Carr & Co., a member of the Chicago Board of Trade, testified that the railroads discriminated against the farmers, not providing rail cars to transport their grain to market unless they went through a corporate grain elevator company. Speaking of Watke's operation in 1902, he told the commission: We had a man at Farwell, who was buying grain on track. He had a little warehouse, and he intended getting a site on the railroad there; consequently he built a little warehouse, and he hauled his grain across the road, across the track to the railway cars and loaded them and shipped them to me. He did this for a long time, and finally his competitors succeeded in driving him out of business. He had a car there on track for over forty days and the railroad would not pull it out, and finally they dumped that grain onto the track and took the car. After this incident, Watke had gone to the Chicago Board of Trade and had spoken to Henry Herbert Carr explaining that the local agent of Burlington and Missouri River Railroad was not allowing him to have access to rail cars to use to ship the grain from the farmers in the area. Since the agent would not give him a car to use, he cabbaged a car and with the help of the farmers loaded the rail car with grain. However, for forty days Burlington and Missouri River Railroad would not take the rail car to market, but instead demanded that Watke take the grain out of the car. After forty days, the railroad workers dumped the grain out of the rail car onto the tracks. Henry Herbert Carr testified that he had written the Interstate Commerce Commission, President Theodore Roosevelt, and the Attorney General of Nebraska, Frank N. Prout, about this incident. However, the Attorney General had not responded. When Carr inquired about the lack of response from Prout, he was informed "that they couldn't expect anything from down there, because his (Prout's) relatives were in the service of the railroad." Civil Disobedience The monopoly that had been created between the corporate grain elevator companies and the Burlington and Missouri River Railroad angered Watke because it raised prices for the farmers and put his own operation out of business. So Watke took it upon himself to burn down the grain elevators of the companies that were responsible for the monopoly in his area. Some time in mid 1902, it is alleged that he set the grain elevators at Farwell and Warsaw, Nebraska on fire. On Nov 7th, 1902, he set both the Barstow elevator and the E. G. Taylor elevator in Ashton, Nebraska on fire. The entire contents of 6,000 bushels of grain in the Barstow elevator was destroyed. In this last incident he was arrested and on Nov 22, 1902 was bound over to the district court on arson charges to which his wife, Anna Clausen had confessed that he had committed. However, on June 12, 1903 he was acquitted by a jury in Loup City, Nebraska that found him "not guilty" of the charge of arson. Anna filed for divorce in January 1903. While she remarried in 1908, Robert remained single the rest of his life. Commodities Trading at the Chicago Board of Trade However by 1911, Watke had proceeded to Chicago where he was an active trader or "speculator" at the Chicago Board of Trade. On November 4, 1911 he was mentioned in a news article in the New York Daily Tribune. As a speculator in the commodities market, Watke knew many of the grain brokers in Chicago. Because of this first-hand knowledge he was questioned by the investigators from the Interstate Commerce Commission regarding the dealings of the grain brokers in connection with their investigation into a "wheat ring" at the time. It appears that he continued commodities trading until a significant reversal that occurred sometime in 1916. Final Years At the 1920 census Watke was a watchman at the Chicago Stockyards, renting a room as a boarder. The 1921 Chicago City Directory lists his occupation as "motorman." Watke entered the Cook County Hospital on August 10, 1939 with stomach cancer. He died of the disease on September 2, 1939. At his death he was living at 424 Loomis Street in Chicago. His body was returned to Columbus, Platte County, Nebraska where he was buried at the cemetery at St. Bonaventure Catholic Church.

frequently asked questions (FAQ):

Where is Robert Frederick Wotke's memorial?
Robert Frederick Wotke's memorial is located at: Saint Bonaventure Cemetery, Columbus, Platte County, USA.
When did Robert Frederick Wotke death?
Robert Frederick Wotke death on 2 Sep 1939 in Chicago, Cook County, Illinois, USA
Where are the coordinates of the Robert Frederick Wotke's memorial?
Latitude: 41.4301630
Longitude: -97.3406640

Family Members:

Parent

Edward Frederick Wotke

(1833 - 1917)

Josefa Kosch Wotke

(1837 - 1935)

Spouse

Anna Clausen Wotke Ehlers

(1881 - 1952)

Siblings

Children

Edward Frederick Watke Sr.

(1899 - 1984)

Flowers:

Nearby Cemetories:

1. Columbus Cemetery
Columbus, Platte County, USA
Coordinate: 41.4267883, -97.3406677

2. All Saints Catholic Cemetery
Columbus, Platte County, USA
Coordinate: 41.4346800, -97.3331200

3. Roselawn Memorial Park
Columbus, Platte County, USA
Coordinate: 41.4371986, -97.3317032

4. Grace Episcopal Church Cemetery
Columbus, Platte County, USA
Coordinate: 41.4362000, -97.3551500

5. Old Saint Joseph Cemetery
Butler County, USA
Coordinate: 41.3738800, -97.3519300

6. Saint Joseph Cemetery
Butler County, USA
Coordinate: 41.3508800, -97.3407100

7. Calvary Cemetery
Platte County, USA
Coordinate: 41.5106010, -97.2624969

8. Richland Cemetery
Richland, Colfax County, USA
Coordinate: 41.4599991, -97.2138977

9. Bellwood Cemetery
Bellwood, Butler County, USA
Coordinate: 41.3450012, -97.2549973

10. Saint Patricks Cemetery
Platte Center, Platte County, USA
Coordinate: 41.5032997, -97.4452972

11. Jackson Cemetery
Duncan, Platte County, USA
Coordinate: 41.3946991, -97.4822006

12. Saint Stanislaus Catholic Cemetery
Duncan, Platte County, USA
Coordinate: 41.3926000, -97.4962000

13. Pleasant View Cemetery
Butler County, USA
Coordinate: 41.3093987, -97.3118973

14. Christ Lutheran Cemetery
Columbus, Platte County, USA
Coordinate: 41.5544000, -97.2825000

15. Shell Creek Baptist Cemetery
Platte Center, Platte County, USA
Coordinate: 41.5692000, -97.3887000

16. Saint Pauls Lutheran Cemetery
Columbus, Platte County, USA
Coordinate: 41.5728200, -97.3062500

17. Catholic Cemetery of Presentation Church and Saint
Bellwood, Butler County, USA
Coordinate: 41.3369000, -97.1683000

18. Saint Mary Cemetery
Osceola, Polk County, USA
Coordinate: 41.3233580, -97.5124280

19. Saint Johns Lutheran Church Cemetery
Polk County, USA
Coordinate: 41.3427940, -97.5421140

20. Streeter Cemetery
Platte County, USA
Coordinate: 41.5988998, -97.4085999

21. Saint Andrews Catholic Church Cemetery #1
Osceola, Polk County, USA
Coordinate: 41.2923500, -97.4891000

22. Gruetli Cemetery
Monroe, Platte County, USA
Coordinate: 41.4290000, -97.5810000

23. Saint Andrews Catholic Cemetery #2
Osceola, Polk County, USA
Coordinate: 41.2787000, -97.4822000

24. Saint Johns Lutheran Church Cemetery
Columbus, Platte County, USA
Coordinate: 41.6225000, -97.3873000