UPDATE: You must physically visit this location to be able to log this as a find. Virtual visits are not allowed.
George Frederick Bayer was born on 27 Sep 1800 in Karlesruhe, Baden, Germany, and emigrated to the United States in 1830. He married Catherine Krecker in Philadelphia on 6 Jun 1831 [1] and soon established himself as a music teacher:
At an early age he showed remarkable musical talent. He was sent to a music conservatory in Germany and graduated with honors.... Bayer's musical talent was soon recognized. He could play every known musical instrument with "great clarity" and was a widely recognized church organist. He played in many of the large churches in Philadelphia. [2]
In 1837 he was sent West by the German Settlement Society of Philadelphia, an organization created to establish a colony in the United States where the language, traditions and heritage of German immigrants would be preserved. His task was to secure land for the colony, and in 1837 he purchased 11,300 acres in the Frene Creek valley for $15,612. The hills that surrounded the valley and the abundance of wild grapes no doubt reminded him of the Rhine River valley in which he had been born.
The Society set about making plans for the new settlement:
Anxious to begin on what they expected to become one of the largest cities in the United States, the Society modeled the layout of the colony on that of Philadelphia, including a ten-foot wider Market Street in their optimistic plan. Selecting the name of Germany's national hero, Hermann (Arminius in Latin), who defeated the Roman legions in 9 A.D. seemed a fitting symbol for the great dream their new settlement embodied. [3]
The Bayers—George, Catherine, and their children William, Caroline, Rosalie, and Carl Heinrich—set out for the colony late in 1837, but George became ill and was forced to spend the winter in Pittsburgh. Meanwhile, several other families arrived at Frene Creek in mid-December. Instead of a rural Utopia, they were confronted by a harsh Missouri winter, and were forced to depend on other residents of the area—notably, a widow named Polly Phillips and a family named Hensley [2]—for survival.
By the time the Bayers arrived in the spring with 280 other settlers, the original group of pioneers were a disgruntled lot. Bayer had been appointed general manager for the colony, which would require him to survey the land, act as land agent for new settlers, and arbitrate disputes, and his delay (for which there had been no explanation sent to Hermann) had left them feeling abandoned. His tasks—he was also to set up a school and serve as the schoolmaster—were more than one person could reasonably handle, and letters of complaint were sent back to the Society in Philadelphia.
In October of 1838, he was relieved of his duties. Five months later, on 18 March 1839, he died of a "broken heart", having failed to live up to unreasonable expectations. He was buried in the southeast corner of the city cemetary, and "directions were given that one one was to be buried within 75 feet of his grave." [3]
In 1986, as part of Hermann's sesquicentennial celebration, George Bayer was cleared of all charges against him by a court of inquiry. A bronze plaque was placed next to his gravestone, displaying the words which have by now become worn and very hard to read. To claim a find for this virtual cache, email to me the third word of the third line of his epitaph (not the third line on the plaque). Do not post it in the logs, even if encrypted.
[1] http://members.aol.com/KrecJ/jpk40-1.htm
[2] "Official Program" for the Hermann Sesquicentennial, 1986. Author and publisher unknown.
[3] http://www.ktis.net/~refranke/Hermann/hermann.htm