Fredrick / Fred Wilhelm Gamer

Birthdate is per Gamer History/Feb. 1986.

Friedrich Gamer arrived in America at 16 (1861; New York Passenger Lists).

Fredrick's grandson, William R. Miles, Jr., wrote in Gamer History/Feb. 1986:

Fredrick moved to St. Joseph, Missouri, where other German people lived that established the footwear manufacturing trade with factories. Fredrick worked for John P. Fink Shoe Mfg. Co. . . . after a few years from 1861 to 1863 in the factory, Fred was sent out to the gold fields that were discovered in Helena, Montana in 1864. He arrived possibly in the fall of 1865 and set up a sample room at the local hotel, taking sizes and orders for footwear for individuals. He would then return to Missouri with a load of buffalo skins purchased from the Indians and enter the orders for shoes, which were delivered in about four months. In 1867 Fredrick established the Gamer Shoe Store in Helena, Montana, in partnership with John Fink, his father-in-law. {Daniel Gamer partnered with J.P. Fink in Montana prior to Fink's death in 1873; he then joined with Fredrick as "successors to J.P. Fink". See in MEDIA}. Fred bought the Helena, Montana, Fink Shoe store from the estate of J.P. Fink after his untimely death in 1873; he did so with the help of his brother, Daniel Gamer. They advertised their operation in January 1874 as "successors to J.P. Fink." Eventually there were Gamer Boots, Shoes, Leather and Shoemakers' Findings operations in Deer Lodge, Virginia City, Bannock, and Anaconda, Montana. The Butte store was established in 1879 . . . Fredrick also raised horses for the military. He got caught in the panic of 1893 and the depression of 1906-07. His ranch is now the Masonic Home for old people {in Helena, MT}."

Fredrick Gamer In the 1880 US Census for Helena, Lewis and Clark Co., Montana,

• Household Role Gender Age Birthplace
• Fredrick Gamer Self M 35 Germany. Boot and Shoe Dealer.
• Emma (Fink) Gamer Wife F 25 Missouri
• Milton A Gamer Son M 6 Montana
• Charles W Gamer Son M 2 Montana
• J[ohn Fredrick] Gamer Son M 0 Montana. married Sophia Schwab, 16 Jun 1906, Silver Bow, Montana
• Karren Andersdatter Other F 24 Norway

Daughter Sarah Emma Gamer (b. 1887/88) married Percy Holter, who died in 1908 at age 23. Sarah Emma later married Roger Louis Strobel.

Four of the Gamer brothers held a reunion in Helena, Montana in 1890: C. L. Gamer, of Chicago, Ill.; Dan Gamer, of San Jose, Cal.; Fred Gamer, of Anaconda, and Gus Gamer, of Helena, were all visitors in our town this week. Dan Gamer is a member of the Gamer & Jacky firm, of this place. The brothers have not all been together for a quarter of a century, and a merry meeting has been the result. -- The Helena independent, August 16, 1890, Morning, Page 2

Fredrick Gamer's early years are described at Montana RootsWeb: Frederick Gamer, History of the State of Montana, by Joaquim Miller, 1894:

Frederick Gamer, a prominent Helena businessman since 1868, is a native of Germany, born December 20, 1844. His father, Charles Gamer, emigrated with his wife and nine children to the United States in 1861 bringing with him $3000 in cash and purchasing a farm in the state of Illinois where he resided up to the time of his death, which occurred in 1872 {it was 1867} in the sixty-third year of his age. He was a man of high integrity and in religion was a Lutheran. Possessing a fine physique and great energy, his life was one of useful activity. He died suddenly of heart failure. His wife survived him three years. All of their children are still living.

Frederick was the fourth born in his father's family. He was educated and learned the shoemaker's trade in Germany and was seventeen years of age when they came to the United States. His first work here was in Chicago where he remained from 1861 to 1866. Then he went to Denver, Colorado where he worked for a year, clerking in a shoe store owned by J.P. Fink and Company. They sent him to Georgetown Colorado where he had charge of a store for them for a year. They then started the business in Helena, Montana and Mr. Gamer came and took charge of it for them. Later he acquired an interest in the firm and in 1872 his partners sold out to him. The brick block Mr. Gamer built in 1882 and in which he now manages his large business, No. 17 South Main Street, stands on the site where they first began operations in 1867, it having proved one of the best locations in Helena. In 1869 he established a branch store at Deer Lodge. He has also one at Anaconda and he now has a large store and business in Butte. In 1872 he built a residence in Helena, where he still resides. Eight miles from Helena he owns a section ofland which he has developed into one of the best farms in Montana, and where he is devoting some attention to the raising of fine Norman-Percheron horses.

Mr. Gamer in 1862 united with the Methodist Church and became a charter member of the church in Helena of which he has ever since been a most devoted member and pillar. Mr. Gamer's married life has been a most happy one. April 9, 1872 he married Emma M. Fink, a native of St. Joseph Missouri. Their family consists of four sons and two daughters, all born in Helena and named: Milton A, Charles W.John F, Walter, Ada M. and Emma.Mrs. Gamer is also a most efficient member of the Methodist Church.

In 1899, the Brand Book for the Montana Stock Growers' Association published Fred Gamer's brand.

Also in 1899, Fred. Gamer, "the oldest shoe dealer in the state" [of Montana] entered voluntary bankruptcy (Feb. 14). The National Bankruptcy News, p., 172. It was "thought that the assets will enable the estate to pay the creditors in full."

Per Gamer History/Feb. 1986, Frederick was run over by a street car in Anaconda, Montana in 1911. He is buried at Forestvale Cemetery, Helena, MT. FindAGrave.

The four sons of Fred. Gamer, along with Fred's history, are discussed in A History of Montana, Volume 2, by Helen Fitzgerald Sanders, Lewis Publishing Company, 1913, pages 1007-1008.

The papers of the Gamer Shoe Company are held by the Montana Historical Society Research Center Archives, Helena, Montana; see at Guide to Gamer Shoe Company records 1864-2002 (bulk 1890-1965). The "historical note" says:

Frederick Gamer, a pioneer of the state and at one time one of its wealthiest citizens, was born in Germany, December 30, 1844. His father, Karl (Charles) Gamer, immigrated with his wife and nine children to the United States in 1861 and purchased a farm in Illinois. Fred came to Chicago in 1861 when he was 17 years old, where he became a clerk in a shoe store. In 1866 Fred Gamer moved to Denver and started working for J. P. Fink and Co., who owned shoe stores in Denver and Helena. Gamer moved to Helena in 1868, shortly afterward buying the Fink business.

Gamer Shoe Company, owned and operated by Frederick Gamer, opened its door in Last Chance Gulch (Helena) in 1868. The store was one of the first of its kind. In 1869 Gamer opened a branch store in Deer Lodge, followed later with stores in Anaconda and Butte. The business continued to prosper and in 1882 Mr. Gamer built the Gamer Block at 17 South Main Street, Helena. Although initially very successful, Gamer suffered business reverses and eventually had to take a job in Anaconda as a weigh-master at the smelter.

Fred Gamer married Miss Emma M. Fink on April 9, 1872. They had four sons, Milton A., Charles W., John F., and Walter, and two daughters, Ada, and Sarah. Gamer was a charter member of the Methodist church organization in Helena. He was one of the founders of the Montana Wesleyan University, and for many years was treasurer of that institution. He served the people of Helena in the city council and on the school board. On January 21, 1911 Mr. Gamer was instantly killed when struck by an Anaconda street car while attempting to cross the street. (See also in Montana, Its Story and Biography (1921), page 1122, which also states "He was one of the early Montanans, having driven an ox team from Salt Lake City." Entry on Roger Strobel.)

In 1947, William “Bill” R. Miles Jr., Fred Gamer’s grandson, bought the store in Butte from the estate of Fred Gamer’s Sr.’s sons. From the one store in 1947, Bill enlarged the company with the purchases of Carlson’s, Gaber’s, and Naturalizer stores.

In May 1906, Mr. J. Fred Gamer and Mrs. Sophie Gamer founded the Gamer Confectionery, in Butte, which soon became famous for its candies. They disposed of their interest in the confectionery in 1944.

Content Description. Collection documents the history of Gamer Shoe Company and the Gamer family. The collection is organized into three series:

Series 1: The Gamer Shoe Company records contain the bulk of the collection. The records include general correspondence (1877-1999) primarily from professional contacts; financial records (1874-1981) including account books, balance sheets, financial worksheets, invoices, receipts, and trial balances; legal documents (1878-1986) including deeds, mortgages, contracts, and labor agreements; organizational records (1899-1905) including corporate minutes and bylaws; and miscellaneous advertisements, letterheads, samples of shoe packaging, and radio announcements.

Series 2: The Gamer Confectionary records consist primarily of financial and legal records (1907-1909, 1944) including financial sheets, stock agreement, and an agreement regarding not permitting or allowing the sale of wine, beer, or liquor of any kind to be sold at Gamer Confectionary. The series also contains a brief history of Gamer Confectionary.

Series 3: The papers of the Gamer family include Gamer family genealogical materials; family correspondence; and financial and legal documents (1866-1944) including receipts, land records, and Fred Gamer’s insurance policy.

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A great-grandson of Fredrick Gamer wrote at http://daughternumberthree.blogspot.com/2014/09/the-real-story-of-g...:

My mom was Elsie Jane Gamer, and was the only child of Walter and Stella Gamer. She was born in Butte in 1922. Her father and his brother, Fred Gamer, founded "Gamer's" in the early 1900's at a different location than you show in your blog. I believe Gamer's was started between 1905 and 1910. Fred's wife was nick-named "Babe." She and Fred had no children and she took an active role in the management of the business and was very well known in Butte.

Gamer's was both a restaurant and a confectionary, making wonderful cakes, ice-cream and candies. My grandmother, Stella Gamer, told me that the chocolates were dipped so that the little swirl of chocolate on the top would be unique for each flavor of candy and provide the clue to what was inside. The restaurant catered to the miner's ethnic backgrounds and made the famous pasties, which are meat-pies beloved by the Welsh miners. When I was a kid, my mom still had some of the glass soda straw/spoons from Gamer's. They were tubes of glass attached to a pastel glass spoon at the base of the straw. And we used salad forks through my childhood that were engraved with the same "Gamers" trademark that you see on the top of the candy box in your photograph. That was a registered trademark.

In late 1932 the original Gamer's caught fire. There was a paint business next door and the fire originated there and spread to Gamers. My mother remembered my grandfather walking out of the store with the cash register in his arms and going back in for the big marble slabs used to form so many kinds of candy. The establishment was destroyed. During the holiday season of 1932, the famous Gamer's candies were all made in the basement of Fred and Babe's house and they apparently had very substantial sales from that temporary location that season.

My grandfather, Walter Gamer, died very tragically in March of 1933. My mother was not quite 11 years old. My grandmother sold her share of the business to Fred and Babe and eventually moved to Billings. Fred and Babe relocated the business to the site you visited and which you show on your blog {see Gamers Cafe in Butte}. Fred ran the store until his death in 1949 at which time the business passed from the Gamer family.

Bruce Shepperd was originally the ice-cream maker at Gamer's. When the Gamer's interest in the business was sold, Mr. Shepperd started "Shepperd's Candies" where he continued to make some of the original Gamer's recipes. I remember going into his store in 1971 and buying the peppermint "chews" which were like pieces of a candy cane but chewy and delicious. Gamer's recipe for Almond Roca was sold to Brown & Haley who still market it in the famous pink cans. My mother's cousin has all the documents pertaining to the sale of that recipe.

My great-grandfather, Fred Gamer, came to Montana in territorial days to sell shoes to the miners and prospectors. He settled in Helena and had four sons and two daughters in that order. The older two sons were welcomed into the shoe business. The younger sons must have felt the shoe business was adequately staffed so Fred and Walter headed to Butte where they founded Gamer's. The shoe business continued for decades in Helena, Butte, and Great Falls as "Gamers Shoes" operated by Bill Miles, the son of Ada Gamer Miles one of the sisters.

I hope you find this interesting. Butte is a wonderful old town and when my mother was a child it was a prosperous and bustling city. Gamer's was an institution known by everyone in the greater Butte area.

David Greger
Portland, Oregon