GOTTSCHALL, SAMUEL
(1800–1898)
was a member of a family of schoolmasters that made fraktur and owned land in the Franconia Mennonite settlement of Montgomery County, Pennsylvania. His father,Jacob, was a Mennonite preacher and bishop who had taught school for a while, leaving behind books of musical notation that he produced with his students. AmongJacob’s eleven children, four apparently taught school in Pennsylvania. Two of the four, Martin (1797–1870) and Samuel, seem to have made fraktur in the schoolsthey taught, that were located on their property. Because the brothers rarely signed their work and both used heavy applications of gum arabic, telling their work apartis no easy task; but the richly saturated colors and strong imagery have made it highly desirable to collectors. Neither brother married, and they worked together assuccessful millers after their teaching days were over. Samuel was also a weaver, and his weaver’s record book and his weather diary have survived. It is on the basisof these records that it has been possible to identify Samuel Gottschall’s work.
See also
Fraktur; German American Folk Art;
Pennsylvania German Folk Art; Religious Folk Art
.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Hollander, Stacy C., et al.
American Radiance: The Ralph Esmerian Gift to the American Folk Art Museum.
New York, 2001