Lawyer of Charleston (Charleston Co.), S.C. Represented the county for two terms in the state's general assembly; member of the Confederate Army's German Artillery; and member of the Charleston City Council under T.T. Hyde. Also, officer in the National German American Alliance and active in the United Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in the South. Married Julia Pieper in 1882. Collection comprises material documenting John D. Cappelmann's numerous activities. Includes advertisements, church bulletins, invitations, tickets, and programs for balls, orations, literary society meetings, concerts, dances, baccalaureate exercises, recitals, and bicycle races. In addition, there are notices for events and general orders concerning the German Artillery, as well as information on other Confederate memorial events. There are also drafts of legislation for the General Assembly; copies of Charleston City Council minutes, local election campaign materials, bank organizing documents, as well as annual reports and other records regarding the Carolina Mutual Insurance Company, Parker Cotton Mills Company, and the Georgia State Building & Loan Association of Savannah. Charleston organizations represented include the Star Gospel Mission, and The Knights of Pythias; other organizations represented include the YMCA and the German University League. Topics of interest include the peace movement during World War I; the anti-German and anti-German American sentiment of the period; Lutheranism in the early twentieth-century South, especially regarding the Sunday School movement. The collection contains only a few personal letters written to Cappelmann; the majority of letters to him contain solicitations for monetary support, mostly to benefit various local and national Lutheran entities. A few items reference Cappelmann's children, John D., F. William, E. Henry, and Gertrude. Contains several items published in German, as well as a folder of biographical information. Only a few items postdate Cappelmann's death, and their immediate connection to the collection is unclear.
