Oregon or Bust!

When I tell people I make documentaries for a living, I almost always get a raised eyebrow and an inquiry into how exactly I do that and are we hiring. My job includes a lot of behind the scenes researching. Researching a documentary is a little bit like being a detective minus the seedy office and scorned divorcees. Luckily, I get to do most of my research and "cold calling" from a nice clean office with hot coffee (a must for any NCTV17 employee).

The documentary I am currently working on is about the Stenger Brewery, which was in operation in Naperville from roughly 1856 to 1893. It was started by hearty, risk taking German immigrants who did not think twice of moving to America from Bavaria and starting a large brewery in a town that until they arrived mostly spoke English. Within 20 years they had a brewery production of 17,000 barrels a year. That's not as much as major breweries like Miller Brewing Company and Anheuser-Busch, but in the late 1800's, it was a big accomplishment. During the time of its operation, the Stenger Brewery was also the town's largest employer.

Back to my mode of research for the Stenger Documentary. I got turned onto my most recent "cold call" case by Don Wampach whose dedicated effort helped bring Stenger Beer briefly back to Naperville during Naperville's Seisquicentennial Celebration. (That was in 1981.)

When Liz and I talked to him a few months ago, he shared with us letters he had received in 1981from Stenger descendents across the nation. One especially attracted my attention more than the others. It was a letter from Marie Taubenkrau whose Grandmother was Anna Elizabeth Stenger She wrote in her letter that Anna Elizabeth had worked as an office girl in her father, John Stenger's, brewery. This was news to me. The trail was hot and I was on it. I looked up every Stenger in the Oregon area where Marie's letter was postmarked. Then I started to "cold call."

The first number I called was Marie's husband. He sadly informed me that Marie had passed away and that he knew nothing about the brewery, but that his daughter Ann Chick might be able to help me. He gave me her number. Two weeks later she sent me a picture of John Stenger no one in Naperville had ever seen before. There are a lot of Stenger descendents living in the Portland, OR area. They are all descended from John Stenger's daughter Mary and her husband Joseph Schamberger.

Thanks to my minor detecting skills, which includes my ability to talk to anyone for
l-o-n-g p-e-r-i-o-d-s o-f t-i-m-e, I've been told by other descendents I've tracked down of the Stengers that they have more family photos, an original keg card used to order beer from the Stenger brewery, a thermometer that was used in the brewery, and numerous memories and stories. Another one of these descendents is still living and happens to be 87 years old. She is the granddaughter of Anna Elizabeth Stenger whose father was none other than John Stenger, the great brewing brother of the Stenger Brewery. Evelyn is the oldest living descendent of John Stenger, and Liz and I will be flying out to Oregon this Thursday to interview her. While we are there, we will interview Ann as well as an historian from the Clatsop County Historical Society, Lisa Penner. We are excited to meet them all.

We aren't exactly sure why Joseph Schamberger decided to move to Oregon in order to further his brewing career (My personal theory is he got sick of Midwestern winters), or where the gold is that family lore proclaims John Stenger came back from the California Gold Rush with. But we hope to find some more theories if not answers. If you want to know what we find out, be sure to read this blog. We'll be posting live from Oregon.