His Royal Highness the grandduke Friedrich Franz II demonstrated his
particular consideration for his cavalry regiment in 1868 by granting funds to
purchase a pack of hounds and the required grounds suitable for the chase for
his officers. his Royal Highness the grandduke, himself an excellent and
impassioned rider, was rarely absent from the rendezvous and the kill.
Lieutenant Bodo von Bülow, who helped purchase and train the pack of
harriers, lead at first the chases; at that time he was known in the world of
sport as one of the foremost race riders. In the race course at Hoppegarten, the
Antinous ditch is named in honor of his horse, Antinous.
Connected with the Hubertus Hunt was also the Hubertus-Steeplechase. The
grandduke, in his kindness, donated a prize of honor, which had to be won three
times by one and the same gentleman before it became his property. Two gentlemen
of the Dragoon-Regiment No.17 won that prize of honor: the Lieutenants Bodo von
Bülow and Harry von Boddien. The winner had, according to the example of the
old regiment, the obligation to present to the officers mess an oil portrait of
the horse. The money won from the prize was to pay for the portrait. Bod had a
portrait made of his horse, Antinous.
On Christmas day in 1870 in Chartes, Bodo received from his Royal Highness
the Grandduke, the Mecklenburgian distinguished service medal second class; and
on February 19, 1871, from His Majesty, the Iron Cross second class.
Bodo was a capable officer, well liked by everybody, carefree, always in good
spirit and of a friendly and appealing nature. As a young cadet in Potsdam, he
once was punished with detention for painting the town red; but he broke out of
his cell, climbed down on the gutter pipe, and appeared again at his parents’
home.
From his earliest childhood at the horse-breeding farm of Redefin he was
familiar with horses and grew up on horseback. His first horse, and the one that
ultimately became famous as the race and jumping horse Antinous, he had bought
as an old reject stallion at an auction for 80 Taler. He trained his racing
horses himself, as the first thing in the early morning hours, before taking
care of his military duties.
In spite of winning at the races, he could not afford in the long run the
inevitable high expenses of racing, not being independently wealthy. To
everybody’s regret he resigned on January 7,1873, a short time after
concluding his command at the military cavalry institute. He emigrated to the
United States in 1873, settling first in Quincy, Adams County, Wisconsin.
He married in Chicago on January 3, 1876, Henriette Wilhelmine Auguste Nethe,
and they returned to Quincy for several years. Their first child, Elisabeth
Minna Marie was born 1877, and Susanna was born in 1878, dying seven months
later. In 1879 they moved to Chicago, where Bodo took over a transport office in
that city. The 1880 census of Chicago lists Bodo as a Teamster, which was a
person who drove a team of horses.
Another daughter, Gertrude, was born in 1880 in Chicago, dying five months
later. Bodo’s first son, Werner, was born in 1881. He was named for Bodo’s
brother, Werner. In 1883 Carl was born, named for Bodo’s father. In 1887
Ernst was born.
The 1882 Chicago City Directory again lists Bodo as a Teamster, living at 701
N. Park Ave. In 1900 Henriette is listed as a widow at 378 Cleveland Ave., which
is where they lived at the time of Bodo’s death. Bodo had died on December 16,
1896, at age fifty-one.
The cause of death was Bright’s Disease, which he had had for three months,
and Uremia, a complication of Bright’s Disease, which he had for two weeks
before dying. There is no mention of war injuries in the records from Germany,
but family tradition states that his war injuries were a source of suffering and
poor health, and also contributed to his death.
At the time of Bodo’s death, Elisabeth was nineteen, and working as a
stenographer. In 1903 she married Harold Conduitt, and they lived in California.
Werner, the oldest son, was just fifteen. It was up to him to help support the
family. He got an apprenticeship at Juergens and Anderson Co. to learn the art
of diamond cutting. He married Elsie Jager in 1909 and settled in Chicago. Carl,
who was thirteen when his father died, was married to Marie Graves in 1906. They
stayed in Chicago. Ernst, the youngest, married around 1911 to Anna Stybr.
After most of her children were married, Henriette moved to California to
live with her daughter, Elizabeth, and lived out her life there, dying in 1928.
She and Bodo are both buried at Graceland Cemetery in Chicago, Illinois.
pdarling@bmt.net
