Nils Otto Tank

Background

Nils Otto Tank was born near Halden in Østfold, Norway. He was the son of a wealthy politician and landowner. His father Carsten Tank (1766–1832) had been Minister of Finance on the governing council in Norway in 1814. His mother, Cathrine von Cappelen Tank (1772–1837) was the daughter of Diderich von Cappelen, a wealthy land-owner and ship owner. The manor house at the family estate, Rød Herregård, is now open to the public and operated by Østfold Museum (Østfold museene)

Tank was educated in various European universities. In 1813 Tank was sent to a school in Oslo and in 1818 to a Moravian School in England. In 1834, he moved to Christiansfeld, Denmark to live at the Moravian Church colony which dated from 1773.

Personal life

His first wife, Marianne Dorothea Frueauf (1804–1844) was born in Grosshennersdorf near Herrnhut in Saxony. Otto Tank and Marianne Frueauf were married in Herrnhut during 1838. Their daughter Marianna Fredericka was born in Suriname in 1843 and her mother died the following year. In 1849, Otto Tank married Caroline Louise Albertina van der Meulen (1803–1891) who had been born in Amsterdam, Netherlands.

Missionary

Rank was disinherited after his first marriage and his conversion to the Moravian faith. In 1842, Tank and his first wife left to become teachers and missionaries in the Dutch colony of Suriname. During that time, his daughter was born and his wife died. Tank's experience in Suriname ended on a bitter note. In colony such as Suriname, the economy depended upon slaves for the labor-intensive plantations of sugar cane, timber, coffee and other tropical products. It became increasingly clear to Tank that the treatment of the slaves in Suriname was intolerable. In 1847, he asked to be relieved of his duties in Suriname and returned to Europe.

Immigration

In 1850 the family migrated to the United States. Tank became acquainted with a Norwegian Moravian minister, Andreas Iverson. The Tanks traveled to Wisconsin near Green Bay where a group of Norwegian Moravian immigrants wished to form a settlement. Tank purchased a tract of nearly 1,000 acres on the west bank of the Fox River at Fort Howard.

Tank also acquired a fur trader’s cabin and rebuilt it as the historic Tank Cottage. He planned to establish a communal society. However Tank refused to grant title to land or adhere to the governing body of the Moravian Church. Personal differences soon arose between Tank and Reverend Iverson over leadership and the religious community elected to settle at Ephraim, Wisconsin.

Tank subsequently became associated with the Fox-Wisconsin River Improvement Company, but eventually lost heavily in the venture. He then turned his promotional activities to land speculations in Menasha and Manitowoc, and to railroad ventures, chiefly the Green Bay and Minnesota Rail Road.

Tank Cottage

Tank Cottage was located on the west bank of the Fox River. In 1850, Nils Otto Tank bought the building and added both wings to the house. It is reported to be the oldest existing house in Wisconsin.

In 1975 the building came down the river on a barge and became a part of Heritage Hill State Historical Park in Green Bay. The building is listed on the National Register of Historic Places (added 1970 - Building - #70000028).

Tank House

After the death of Nils Otto Tank in 1864, his widow Caroline Louise Albertina Tank remained in Wisconsin until her death in 1891. She lived at Tank Cottage in Green Bay principally on wealth inherited from her own family. In 1867 she donated a large collection of Dutch-language books to the State Historical Society of Wisconsin.

She also donated land to build the Clara Tank Home for Missionary Children in Oberlin, Ohio. Now known as Tank House, the building serves as a residential co-operative for students at Oberlin College. Additionally she donated park land to the city of Green Bay. She gave money to several missions in China as well as to American schools.