The biography of Carl Steckelmann, a trading agent for Tomlinson and Company of Liverpool, England, is intriguing. An 1895 Indianapolis newspaper article notes that he “was born in Halberstadt, near the Hartz mountains, in Prussian Saxony” [Germany] in 1863. At some point in his youth, he came to the United States with his family. An account in the Indianapolis Journal relates:

“When eighteen years old he [Steckelmann] determined to go to Africa as an explorer. His father was opposed to the idea and sent him to visit an uncle, hoping his mind would be diverted into other channels. He was not to be turned from his purpose, and in 1884, four years later, he went to Liverpool. A trading house of that city promised to employ him upon his arrival in Africa if his services were needed. He landed at Mayumba. Some of Bishop Taylor’s missionaries took an interest in him and he joined them in building houses and aided them in other ways. A year later a young man employed by one of the English trading houses [Tomlinson & Co.] died and his place was given to Steckelmann. From that time on he was actively engaged in African trade and worked his way upward until he became head of the firm.”