Charles Calvin Ziegler (1854–1930) was a

German-American German Americans (german: Deutschamerikaner, ) are Americans who have full or partial German ancestry. With an estimated size of approximately 43 million in 2019, German Americans are the largest of the self-reported ancestry groups by the Unite ...

poet from Rebersburg,

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...

. His native language was

Pennsylvania Dutch The Pennsylvania Dutch ( Pennsylvania Dutch: ), also known as Pennsylvania Germans, are a cultural group formed by German immigrants who settled in Pennsylvania during the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries. They emigrated primarily from German-spe ...

, and although he learned English in school, he wrote his poetry in the

Pennsylvania Dutch language Pennsylvania Dutch (, or ), referred to as Pennsylvania German in scholarly literature, is a variety (linguistics), variety of Palatine German language, Palatine German, also known as Palatine Dutch, spoken by the Amish, Old Order Amish, Old Or ...

. He is said to have been the most accomplished poet to write in that language, and may have written the only Pennsylvania Dutch sonnet on record.Reichard, Harry Hess.
Pennsylvania-German Dialect Writings and Their Writers: A Paper Prepared at the Request of the Pennsylvania-German Society
', pp. 303-312. Lancaster, Pennsylvania: Pennsylvania-German Society, 1918.

Background

Ziegler was born on a farm to a 39-year-old mother and an even older father. He had at least one older brother, Samuel, who moved to

Iowa Iowa () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States, bordered by the Mississippi River to the east and the Missouri River and Big Sioux River to the west. It is bordered by six states: Wisconsin to the northeast, Illinois to the ...

when Calvin was still young. When he was sixteen, Calvin went to join Samuel, eventually graduating the

University of Iowa The University of Iowa (UI, U of I, UIowa, or simply Iowa) is a public university, public research university in Iowa City, Iowa, United States. Founded in 1847, it is the oldest and largest university in the state. The University of Iowa is org ...

in 1878. He returned to Rebersburg and pursued teaching, but left again in October 1881 to study Greek and Latin at

Harvard Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...

. In 1884 he graduated magna cum laude and returned briefly to Rebersburg. He left for good in 1885, settling in

St. Louis St. Louis () is the second-largest city in Missouri, United States. It sits near the confluence of the Mississippi and the Missouri Rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a population of 301,578, while the bi-state metropolitan area, which e ...

. Ziegler published a volume of poems with a

Leipzig Leipzig ( , ; Upper Saxon: ) is the most populous city in the German state of Saxony. Leipzig's population of 605,407 inhabitants (1.1 million in the larger urban zone) as of 2021 places the city as Germany's eighth most populous, as wel ...

publisher in 1891, '' Drauss un Deheem'', helping spur a revival of Pennsylvania Dutch literature. Included in the volume in a set of nineteen poems devoted to his mother, who died weeks before his Harvard graduation. The volume was republished in Pennsylvania 1936, with some additional material.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ziegler, Calvin 1854 births 1930 deaths Poets from Pennsylvania University of Iowa alumni Harvard College alumni People from Centre County, Pennsylvania American people of German descent