The following biographical information was provided by Robert Colson, Jr.
Carl Giers' first employment in Nashville was as a conductor on the Chattanooga rail line, taking out the first regular passenger train to Murfreesboro. He began his career as a photographer in 1855 and photographed soldiers on both sides of that war. Most photographs that survive today of Confederate Generals were taken by Giers. In 1864 he was issued a pass by the occupying Union forces to go to Louisville and return, presumably to arrange for more photographic supplies to be shipped to his business in Nashville. A year later, he was issued a permit by the Union Army to pass on any road in and out of the city. The trust that the Union Army vested in him rested largely in with his brother, J.J. Giers, a North Alabama hotel/spa owner and former reporter with the Washington Post who was close friends with both Abraham Lincoln and his vice president Andrew Johnson. After the war, he was nominated to the Tennessee General Assembly's House of Representatives by both Democrats and Republicans and easily won his seat there. In 1873, he was served as a delegate from Tennessee to the world exposition in Vienna, Austria. On his was back, he had his photo taken in Munich, Germany. In 1876, Carl was instrumental in organizing Tennessee's exhibit for the U.S. Exposition in Philadelphia. A member of the Knights Templar, Carl died at age 49 after a painful illness in his home on Granny White Pike. While it is assumed that his wife was buried beside him, to this date, there is no record of the grave of his mother, Anna Gertrude Schmitz Giers, who lived with Carl and his family until her death somewhere between 1860 and 1870. Since Carl, along with his brother and mother came to America presumably to escape the Franco-Prussian Wars, it is quite possible that she went to live with J.J. in Valhermosa Springs, Alabama when the Civil War broke out to escape the Union occupation of Nashville and died there. While there is no headstone with her name on it in the family plot there, it is known that at least four graves exist there where the markers have either been destroyed by vandalism, or simply disintegrated due to weather and age.
The above information comes from known family history and research by James Hoobler, Senior Curator of the Tennessee State Museum for his two-volume "Images of America" books, Nashville From The Collection of Carl and Otto Giers.
*****
Carl Giers immigrated from Prussia in 1845. About 1852, he settled in Nashville TN where, in 1855, he opened a photography business. In about 1870 or so, Carl Giers and his wife, Pauline, adopted two children, Otto and Katie Burchartz.
Notes: Mr. Giers has the only grave marker with the Giers name on it in the area. At first look, his marker appears to sit alone in a large expanse of empty area which holds the unmarked graves of his family and friends. On closer look at the lot, there are two stones behind that of Mr. Giers that mark the plots of three of the Altmann family. Those two stones have sunk into the earth so that little is still visible on them. Mr. Giers date of death (difficult to make out on the stone) and the information in his short bio were obtained from various web resources.
Carl Giers' first employment in Nashville was as a conductor on the Chattanooga rail line, taking out the first regular passenger train to Murfreesboro. He began his career as a photographer in 1855 and photographed soldiers on both sides of that war. Most photographs that survive today of Confederate Generals were taken by Giers. In 1864 he was issued a pass by the occupying Union forces to go to Louisville and return, presumably to arrange for more photographic supplies to be shipped to his business in Nashville. A year later, he was issued a permit by the Union Army to pass on any road in and out of the city. The trust that the Union Army vested in him rested largely in with his brother, J.J. Giers, a North Alabama hotel/spa owner and former reporter with the Washington Post who was close friends with both Abraham Lincoln and his vice president Andrew Johnson. After the war, he was nominated to the Tennessee General Assembly's House of Representatives by both Democrats and Republicans and easily won his seat there. In 1873, he was served as a delegate from Tennessee to the world exposition in Vienna, Austria. On his was back, he had his photo taken in Munich, Germany. In 1876, Carl was instrumental in organizing Tennessee's exhibit for the U.S. Exposition in Philadelphia. A member of the Knights Templar, Carl died at age 49 after a painful illness in his home on Granny White Pike. While it is assumed that his wife was buried beside him, to this date, there is no record of the grave of his mother, Anna Gertrude Schmitz Giers, who lived with Carl and his family until her death somewhere between 1860 and 1870. Since Carl, along with his brother and mother came to America presumably to escape the Franco-Prussian Wars, it is quite possible that she went to live with J.J. in Valhermosa Springs, Alabama when the Civil War broke out to escape the Union occupation of Nashville and died there. While there is no headstone with her name on it in the family plot there, it is known that at least four graves exist there where the markers have either been destroyed by vandalism, or simply disintegrated due to weather and age.
The above information comes from known family history and research by James Hoobler, Senior Curator of the Tennessee State Museum for his two-volume "Images of America" books, Nashville From The Collection of Carl and Otto Giers.
*****
Carl Giers immigrated from Prussia in 1845. About 1852, he settled in Nashville TN where, in 1855, he opened a photography business. In about 1870 or so, Carl Giers and his wife, Pauline, adopted two children, Otto and Katie Burchartz.
Notes: Mr. Giers has the only grave marker with the Giers name on it in the area. At first look, his marker appears to sit alone in a large expanse of empty area which holds the unmarked graves of his family and friends. On closer look at the lot, there are two stones behind that of Mr. Giers that mark the plots of three of the Altmann family. Those two stones have sunk into the earth so that little is still visible on them. Mr. Giers date of death (difficult to make out on the stone) and the information in his short bio were obtained from various web resources.
The following biographical information was provided by Robert Colson, Jr.
Carl Giers' first employment in Nashville was as a conductor on the Chattanooga rail line, taking out the first regular passenger train to Murfreesboro. He began his career as a photographer in 1855 and photographed soldiers on both sides of that war. Most photographs that survive today of Confederate Generals were taken by Giers. In 1864 he was issued a pass by the occupying Union forces to go to Louisville and return, presumably to arrange for more photographic supplies to be shipped to his business in Nashville. A year later, he was issued a permit by the Union Army to pass on any road in and out of the city. The trust that the Union Army vested in him rested largely in with his brother, J.J. Giers, a North Alabama hotel/spa owner and former reporter with the Washington Post who was close friends with both Abraham Lincoln and his vice president Andrew Johnson. After the war, he was nominated to the Tennessee General Assembly's House of Representatives by both Democrats and Republicans and easily won his seat there. In 1873, he was served as a delegate from Tennessee to the world exposition in Vienna, Austria. On his was back, he had his photo taken in Munich, Germany. In 1876, Carl was instrumental in organizing Tennessee's exhibit for the U.S. Exposition in Philadelphia. A member of the Knights Templar, Carl died at age 49 after a painful illness in his home on Granny White Pike. While it is assumed that his wife was buried beside him, to this date, there is no record of the grave of his mother, Anna Gertrude Schmitz Giers, who lived with Carl and his family until her death somewhere between 1860 and 1870. Since Carl, along with his brother and mother came to America presumably to escape the Franco-Prussian Wars, it is quite possible that she went to live with J.J. in Valhermosa Springs, Alabama when the Civil War broke out to escape the Union occupation of Nashville and died there. While there is no headstone with her name on it in the family plot there, it is known that at least four graves exist there where the markers have either been destroyed by vandalism, or simply disintegrated due to weather and age.
The above information comes from known family history and research by James Hoobler, Senior Curator of the Tennessee State Museum for his two-volume "Images of America" books, Nashville From The Collection of Carl and Otto Giers.
*****
Carl Giers immigrated from Prussia in 1845. About 1852, he settled in Nashville TN where, in 1855, he opened a photography business. In about 1870 or so, Carl Giers and his wife, Pauline, adopted two children, Otto and Katie Burchartz.
Notes: Mr. Giers has the only grave marker with the Giers name on it in the area. At first look, his marker appears to sit alone in a large expanse of empty area which holds the unmarked graves of his family and friends. On closer look at the lot, there are two stones behind that of Mr. Giers that mark the plots of three of the Altmann family. Those two stones have sunk into the earth so that little is still visible on them. Mr. Giers date of death (difficult to make out on the stone) and the information in his short bio were obtained from various web resources.
Carl Giers' first employment in Nashville was as a conductor on the Chattanooga rail line, taking out the first regular passenger train to Murfreesboro. He began his career as a photographer in 1855 and photographed soldiers on both sides of that war. Most photographs that survive today of Confederate Generals were taken by Giers. In 1864 he was issued a pass by the occupying Union forces to go to Louisville and return, presumably to arrange for more photographic supplies to be shipped to his business in Nashville. A year later, he was issued a permit by the Union Army to pass on any road in and out of the city. The trust that the Union Army vested in him rested largely in with his brother, J.J. Giers, a North Alabama hotel/spa owner and former reporter with the Washington Post who was close friends with both Abraham Lincoln and his vice president Andrew Johnson. After the war, he was nominated to the Tennessee General Assembly's House of Representatives by both Democrats and Republicans and easily won his seat there. In 1873, he was served as a delegate from Tennessee to the world exposition in Vienna, Austria. On his was back, he had his photo taken in Munich, Germany. In 1876, Carl was instrumental in organizing Tennessee's exhibit for the U.S. Exposition in Philadelphia. A member of the Knights Templar, Carl died at age 49 after a painful illness in his home on Granny White Pike. While it is assumed that his wife was buried beside him, to this date, there is no record of the grave of his mother, Anna Gertrude Schmitz Giers, who lived with Carl and his family until her death somewhere between 1860 and 1870. Since Carl, along with his brother and mother came to America presumably to escape the Franco-Prussian Wars, it is quite possible that she went to live with J.J. in Valhermosa Springs, Alabama when the Civil War broke out to escape the Union occupation of Nashville and died there. While there is no headstone with her name on it in the family plot there, it is known that at least four graves exist there where the markers have either been destroyed by vandalism, or simply disintegrated due to weather and age.
The above information comes from known family history and research by James Hoobler, Senior Curator of the Tennessee State Museum for his two-volume "Images of America" books, Nashville From The Collection of Carl and Otto Giers.
*****
Carl Giers immigrated from Prussia in 1845. About 1852, he settled in Nashville TN where, in 1855, he opened a photography business. In about 1870 or so, Carl Giers and his wife, Pauline, adopted two children, Otto and Katie Burchartz.
Notes: Mr. Giers has the only grave marker with the Giers name on it in the area. At first look, his marker appears to sit alone in a large expanse of empty area which holds the unmarked graves of his family and friends. On closer look at the lot, there are two stones behind that of Mr. Giers that mark the plots of three of the Altmann family. Those two stones have sunk into the earth so that little is still visible on them. Mr. Giers date of death (difficult to make out on the stone) and the information in his short bio were obtained from various web resources.
Inscription
Carl C. Giers
Born in Bonn
on the Rhine
Prussia
April 28, 1828
Died
May 24, 1877
