A Family Affair at Fort Adams
Guest Contributor - Caroline Albright
Fort Adams, Newport, Rhode Island. Providence Public Library Digital Archives
The Feller Family: Life in Burgebrach and the Bamberg Region
Before immigrating to the United States from Germany, Georg Feller (1844–1928) and Margaretha Dennert (1849–1889) lived in the small town of Burgebrach in the district of Bamberg.[1] They got married in the parish of Thüngfeld, most likely St. Bartholomäus Church, before raising their growing family in rural farming communities.[2] Over the years, records place the family in Büchelberg, Mönchherrnsdorf, and Schlüsselfeld, which are all small communities within a short distance of one another in Burgebrach, Bavaria. Most of their children were born in Büchelberg, where the community gathered at the Kapelle Mariä Heimsuchung, the town’s parish church.[2,3] One son, Louis, was born instead in Mönchherrnsdorf, home to the parish church of St. Ägidius.[3,4] Churches like these fostered communities across small villages in Bavaria in that era.[5]
Musical Tradition
Nineteenth-century Bavarian parish life revolved around the church and music.[5] St. Bartholomäus, in particular, had a long and well-documented tradition of church music that carried on well into the modern era.[2] Although no surviving records indicate that either Georg or Margaretha were professional musicians, the communities where they lived were deeply rooted in Catholic religious life (and, therefore, sacred music), and three of their sons would eventually go on to become professional musicians.[5]
These musical environments may have provided the brothers with their earliest exposure to organized music before they eventually entered military bands in the United States.
Leaving Bavaria
By the late 1800s, life for people in rural Bavaria was growing harder to sustain. Wages were low, industries that had once supported village economies were declining, and agricultural conditions across the region were poor.[5,6]
Although the surviving records do not state exactly why Georg and Margaretha emigrated, their family's experience closely matches broader patterns of rural Bavarian migration during the 1870s and 1880s.[6] Their 9 children were all born in Bavaria between 1877 and 1882 before the family immigrated to New York around 1887.[7,8]
Arriving in America
Like many Bavarian emigrants, the Feller family likely completed a multiple stage migration. First, they traveled from their villages near Burgebrach to one of Germany's major ports. By the 1880s, expanding railway networks connected rural Bavaria with ports in Bremen and Hamburg, making transatlantic migration far easier than it had been only a generation earlier.[6,7]
After crossing the Atlantic, the family didn’t initially settle in Rhode Island. They stayed in New York City before moving north to Mount Vernon in Westchester County, NY. By the late 1880s, Georg was working as a carpenter in Mount Vernon while supporting his growing family.[7,9]
Mount Vernon and First Musical Careers
Mount Vernon became an important stepping stone in the Feller family's American story.[9] During the late nineteenth century, the city attracted many German immigrant families who established churches, singing societies, social clubs, and brass bands. Army bands actively recruited immigrants, particularly Germans, because they often arrived with strong musical backgrounds shaped by church music and civic bands.[10,11]
Three Brothers, One City
Remarkably, all three Feller brothers followed similar paths once in the US.
John George Feller Sr. was born in Büchelberg in 1877 and immigrated with his family as a child. He enlisted at Fort Slocum, New York, on April 27, 1899, at age twenty-one.[12] He served with the 7th Artillery Band, later spending time at Fort Adams in Newport.[13] In 1901 he married Helen Anderson, a Scottish immigrant, in Newport, where their son John George was born in 1903. Although trained as a cabinetmaker and carpenter, John's military service led him to become a prolific bandsman. He passed away in 1928.[14]
John Feller’s U.S. Army discharge certificate
Louis Julius Feller was born in Mönchherrnsdorf in 1880. Like his brother, he came to the US and enlisted at Fort Slocum on April 27, 1899, joining the 7th Artillery Band.[15] He served in the Spanish American war before moving to Newport, where he became a member of the band at Fort Adams for 6 years, eventually serving as a corporal.[15,16] He married Mary A Wilson on March 16, 1904 in Fall River, MA. They had two sons in Newport, RI. Beyond military service, he also performed as a musician at the Opera House and with the Naval Station Band before later working at the Armed Services YMCA. He remained in Newport for the rest of his life and received full military honors at his funeral in 1950.[16]
Newport Daily News article from Mar. 28, 1950, announcing Louis Feller’s death
Conrad Feller, the youngest brother of all nine children, was born in Büchelberg in 1882. He enlisted in the Coast Artillery and spent approximately twenty-six years as a musician with the band at Fort Adams.[17,18] His repeated reenlistments and promotion to sergeant demonstrate a long and distinguished military musical career. Conrad died in 1928 while receiving treatment at Walter Reed Hospital in Washington, D.C.[19]
Newport Journal Weekly News article from April 13, 1928, announcing Conrad Feller’s death
If the family settled in Mount Vernon, why did all three sons end up building their lives in Rhode Island?
Military service provides the most convincing explanation. After enlisting at Fort Slocum, the brothers were assigned to the 7th Artillery Band, which was stationed at Fort Adams in Newport.[20] The military bands at Fort Adams were highly respected, and the Feller brothers became elevated to prominent musical figures in Newport.
What began as military assignments eventually became permanent homes. John got married in Newport, Louis built a lifelong career there, and Conrad served at Fort Adams for more than two decades. Meanwhile, their widowed father Georg remained in Mount Vernon and later New York City, where census and family records reveal his residence.
The Feller family's story illustrates how one immigrant generation laid the foundation for another. Georg and Margaretha left small Bavarian villages seeking greater opportunity, while their sons found professional careers through military music that differed from Georg’s carpentry business and their paternal grandfather’s work as a brewer in Bavaria. Their journey from rural Bavaria to New York and from Mount Vernon to Fort Adams reflects both the broader German immigrant experience and the important role military bands played in shaping American musical life during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.
About our Guest Contributor
Caroline Albright is a senior at Tufts University majoring in Economics and International Relations with a focus in Europe and the former Soviet Union. She minors in French and History. She is fluent in German and is a tutor and teaching assistant for German language courses at Tufts. Combining her interests in history and German, she conducted summer research to contribute to the Historic Music of Newport’s mission to preserve the city’s rich music history.
References
1. “George Feller, New York State Census, 1925.” New York, U.S., State Census, 1925. New York State Archives. Accessed 26 July 2026. Ancestry.
2. “St. Bartholomäus (Thüngfeld),” Wikipedia. Accessed 26 July 2026, https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/St.Bartholom%C3%A4us(Th%C3%BCngfeld)
3. “Kapelle Mariä Heimsuchung (Oberpeischlach),” Wikipedia. Accessed 26 July 2026. https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kapelle_Mari%C3%A4_Heimsuchung_(Oberpeischlach)
4. “Maria Heimsuchung (Bühl).” Erzbistum Bamberg: Marienwallfahrtsorte. Accessed 26 July 2026. https://marienwallfahrtsorte.erzbistum-bamberg.de/grossraum-nuernberg/buehl-maria-heimsuchung/index.html
5. “Kingdom of Bavaria: Chapter 4,” The Civilization Archive. Accessed 26 July 2026. https://thecivilizationarchive.com/civilization/kingdom-of-bavaria/chapter/4
6. “Causes and Effects of Emigration from Germany (1870s–1880s).” German History in Documents and Images. Accessed 26 July 2026. https://germanhistorydocs.org/en/forging-an-empire-bismarckian-germany-1866-1890/causes-and-effects-of-emigration-from-germany-1870s-1880s
7. “Hamburg Passenger Lists, 1889, p. 1236.” Hamburg Passenger Lists, 1850–1934. Staatsarchiv Hamburg. Accessed 26 July 2026. Ancestry.
8. “New Surge of Growth.” Library of Congress: Immigration—German. Accessed 26 July 2026. https://www.loc.gov/classroom-materials/immigration/german/new-surge-of-growth/
9. “1900 U.S. Federal Census, Military and Naval Population, Fort Adams, Newport, Rhode Island.” Twelfth Census of the United States, 1900. National Archives and Records Administration, microfilm T623. Accessed 26 July 2026. Ancestry.
10. “Slocum Historic Overview.” Westchester County Archives. May 2008. Accessed 26 July 2026. https://davidsisland.westchesterarchives.com/index.php/archive/downloads/doc_files/Slocum_Historic_Overview_05-2008.pdf
11. Bungert, Heike. “The Singing Festivals of German Americans, 1849–1914.” American Music, vol. 34, no. 2 (2016): 141–168. Accessed 26 July 2026. https://mki.wisc.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/1100/2022/11/americanmusic.34.2.0141.pdf
12. “Register of Enlistments in the U.S. Army, 1899.” U.S. Army Register of Enlistments, 1798–1914. National Archives and Records Administration, microfilm M233. Accessed 26 July 2026. Ancestry.
13. “U.S. Army Service Record for John Feller, discharged 14 January 1901.” U.S. Army, Register of Enlistments, 1798–1914. Bureau of War Records, National Archives and Records Administration, microfilm M233. Accessed 26 July 2026. Ancestry.
14. “Death of John G. Feller.” Newport Mercury (Newport, RI), 30 Nov 1928, 1. Accessed 26 July 2026. Ancestry.
15. “U.S. Army Service Record for Louis Feller.” U.S. Army Register of Enlistments, 1798–1914. Bureau of War Records, National Archives and Records Administration, microfilm M233. Accessed 26 July 2026. Ancestry.
16. “Louis J. Feller Dies, Spanish War Veteran.” Newport Daily News (Newport, RI), 28 Mar 1950. Accessed 26 July 2026. Ancestry.
17. “Register of Enlistments in the U.S. Army, 1903.” U.S. Army Register of Enlistments, 1798–1914. National Archives and Records Administration, microfilm M233. Accessed 26 July 2026. Ancestry.
18. “Return of 7th Band, Coast Artillery Corps, February 1915.” U.S. Army Returns from Military Posts, 1806–1916. Record Group 94, National Archives and Records Administration. Accessed 26 July 2026. Ancestry.
19. “Two Deaths.” Newport Journal Weekly News (Newport, RI), 13 April 1928. Accessed 26 July 2026. Ancestry.
20. “7th Air Defense Artillery Regiment.” Wikipedia. Accessed 26 July 2026. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/7th_Air_Defense_Artillery_Regiment