Gerhard Anton Eickhoff (September 11, 1827 – November 5, 1901) was a German-American journalist, editor, author, lawyer, United States Congress representative of New York City, United States Treasury auditor and New York City Fire Commissioner.

He was married to Louise Elisa Neuenschwander who immigrated from Switzerland to the United States. They were parents of lawyer Henry Eickhoff (January 17, 1856 – October 17, 1933) and two daughters and were also grandparents of lawyer Henry Eickhoff, Jr. (February 17, 1898 – August 12, 1954).

Early life in Germany and immigration to the United States (1827 – 1848)

Anthony Eickhoff was born in the rural hamlet Kaldewei, part of the village Benninghausen, Prussia, today suburbanized into Lippstadt, Northrhine - Westfalia, Germany.

His parents Caspar Eickhoff (1803 – 1867) and Maria Catharina Trockel (1803 – 1863) and their forefathers were peasants in the hamlet Kaldewei, born in serfdom to the Cistercian Cloister of Benninghausen (founded in 1240, secularized in 1804), but ultimately released from serfdom by the Grand Duke in 1809.

After his school education he started to work as a teacher in Lippstadt and publicized radical writings in pre-revolutionary Prussia until 1847.

In 1847 he decided to emigrate to the United States and boarded the ship Itzstein & Welcker sailing from Bremen on October 24, 1847 and arrived in New Orleans on January 6, 1848.

First profession and journalism (1848 – 1856)

His first employment was as deckhand on a Mississippi steamboat, later he became a teacher in a Jesuit school in St. Louis and studied law. Early he began to work as journalist, founder and editor of several German newspapers. In St. Louis, Missouri he was founder and editor of St. Louis Zeitung in 1848 and 1849. In Dubuque, Iowa he edited Der Nordwestliche Demokrat, later named Iowa Staatszeitung, from 1849 to 1850. In Louisville, Kentucky it was Der Beobachter am Ohio, edited 1850 – 1852. Finally he settled in New York City: he edited Die Abendpost in 1852 and New Yorker Staatszeitung und Herold from 1854 to 1856. He became naturalized in 1855 and practiced law.

Serving New York State, Congress and Treasury Department (1863 – 1889)

During the civil war he served as Commissary General of Subsistence for the State of New York troops, appointed in 1863. In 1864 he was elected to the New York State Legislature. In 1876 he was elected as Democrat to the 45th Congress as a representative of the 7th district of New York (March 4, 1877 – March 3, 1879), but was an unsuccessful candidate in re-election to the 46th Congress in 1878. Later he was Fifth Auditor in the United States Treasury Department from August 1, 1885 to May 17, 1889.

Serving as New York City municipality official 1889 – 1901

In 1874 he was elected coroner

Coroner

A coroner is a government official who* Investigates human deaths* Determines cause of death* Issues death certificates* Maintains death records* Responds to deaths in mass disasters* Identifies unknown dead* Other functions depending on local laws...

 of New York City until 1876. He became the Fire Commissioner of the New York City Fire Department

New York City Fire Department

The New York City Fire Department or the Fire Department of the City of New York has the responsibility for protecting the citizens and property of New York City's five boroughs from fires and fire hazards, providing emergency medical services, technical rescue as well as providing first response...

1889, re-appointed until 1896 and served as an Auditor of the New York City Fire Department from 1898 until his death in 1901.

Author

He is the author of a book about German Immigration to the United States in German language: In der Neuen Heimath, edited in 1884 for Deutsche Gesellschaft der Stadt New York / German Society of the City of New York, founded 1784, published in celebrating the centennial of the society.

Anthony Eickhof died on November 5, 1901 in New York City and is buried in Greenwood Cemetery.

Works

- In der Neuen Heimath: geschichtliche Mittheilungen über die deutschen Einwanderer in allen Theilen der Union; Steiger & Co., New York City 1st edition 1884, 2nd edition 1885; German

- Mexico. Aus einer Discussion in einem deutschen demokratischen Vereine zu New York; 1865, New York City Library; German

Sources

- Church records of the Catholic parish of Benninghausen, Germany, 1827

- Immigrant Ships Transcribers Guild, ship Itzstein & Welcker, 1848

- Biographical Directory of the United States Congress, 1774 - present

- The National Cyclopaedia of American Biography, vol. 25, page 383; vol. 43, page 418

- Journalism in California by John P. Young, San Francisco, 1915, page 263

- New York Times, November 7, 1901, page 9

- The New York Evening Sun, November 7, 1901

- Deutsch-Amerikanische Zeitungen und Zeitschriften, by Arndt and Olson, 1951

- findagrave.com