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Jewish Emigration from Bavaria to the Free States of America in the 19Th Century

Jewish Emigration from Bavaria to the Free States of America in the 19Th Century

Jewish Emigration from to the Free States of America in the 19th Century

33rd IAJGS International Conference on Jewish Genealogy lecture 2328 by Ekkehard Hübschmann

In the 19th century many thousands of people from emigrated to the USA. Why did they emigrate? How did they travel at a time when the transportation system in central Europe was changing at a breathtaking pace? In this lecture I will describe the official process of emigration in the : getting a birth certificate from the local church or synagogue and applying for an emigration permit and passport. A permit was provided only after the passage contract was presented to local officials. Laws protected the emigrants as well as their communities, in case the emigration failed and the those returning to Bavaria became welfare cases. Only contracts by officially accredited agents were accepted. What was the situation aboard the sailing ships. A wide range of records in German city or state archives tell a most interesting story of emigration. 1.0 The Location: Bavaria 2.0 Emigration 2.1 Reasons for Emigration 3.0 The Official Emigration Process in the Kingdom of Bavaria 4.0 Transport 5.0 The Situation Aboard of the Sailing Ships

1.0 The Location: Bavaria

1 Bavaria or Bayern as part of the Deutsche Bund = German League. 2. Bavaria 1838 During the a number of German states fought on Napoléon’s side. The Grand of Bavaria was one of them. In 1806 the French army defeated and Austria. Napoléon elevated the duke to , so Bavaria became a kingdom and gained more territories.

K:\ BOSTON \EMIGRAT .DOC 1 08.08.2013 New administrative districts were created. Following the French model they were named after rivers. In 1837 the names were changed to ones very similar to the present-day ones. karte

Oberfranken Upper Mittelfranken Unterfranken und and Aschaffenburg Oberpfalz und Regensburg Upper and Regensburg Schwaben und Neuburg and Neuburg Oberbayern Niederbayern Pfalz Palatinate

districts 1838

Most of the Jews lived in Franconia and Bavarian Swabia.

140 distribtion of Jewish communities in Bavaria blaue karte

2.0 THE EMIGRATION 2.1 The History of Emigration in Bavaria Initially emigration was prohibited in the Bavarian Kingdom. At the beginning of the 18th century the state considered landowning subjects to be a source of taxes. Emigrants were threatened with punishment and confiscation of their property. In the 1830s, however, the increasing number of people desiring to emigrate put the government under pressure. The state slowly accepted the right to emigrate. Between 1833 and 1837 when emigration had become a mass movement it was even called “epidemic”. The idea of welfare entered the minds of the

Bavarian government officials (POPP 1995:12).

Laws were enacted in the late 1830s to protect the travelling subjects from fraudsters. The state wanted to protect the travelers against – imposters who sold invalid contracts or tickets – imposters and thieves on the long journey, where the emigrants were easily recognized by their dialect or accent – the loss of all their money if they had to wait several weeks in the harbors for the right wind or for a ship to go aboard

K:\ BOSTON \EMIGRAT .DOC 2 08.08.2013 Emigrants were warned not to go to England. The crossing prices were indeed much cheaper there, but because they didn't speak the language they were easily cheated.

Until 1840 the Bavarian government didn't support emigration, it only tolerated it. Then the government saw a possibility to solve social problems––among others––at least partially. Poor village inhabitants were helped by financial support. Instead of paying the welfare costs until the poor person died, it was cheaper for the communities’ welfare agencies to cover his travel costs. However, the costs for a fully equipped farm worth more than 300 Guilders was beyond the possibility for the the authorities. In other words: welfare funds couldn't afford to pay for the farm in addition to the crossing. During the agricultural crisis of 1846/47 several Bavarian villages supported „their“ poor by 6 paying the crossing to America. )[WALKER 1964:75] I found files in the State Archive of concerning the emigration of prisoners who wanted or were encouraged to emigrate after ending their prison sentence. The directorate of the jail corresponded directly with the county office, where the detainee had his right of residence and asked it for financial help. There are at least three files in the City Archive of concerning: “Emigration of Released Convicts and Correctionarees to North America at Costs of the Poor Relief Fund” 1 . Not a few Jewish communities sent their impoverished Jews to North America. The one in Kissingen, Lower Franconia, for example sent the unmarried Regina Raab and her three children to the New World because it was cheaper to pay for the crossing than to support the little family for many years. 2 2.2 Bavarian Emigration

Whereas some one hundred thousand Europeans emigrated to North America in the 18th century, in the 19th century thez numbered almost 40 Million. It is estimated that about 20,000 to 25,000 Jews left Bavaria in the period 1840–1871. 3

1 Auswanderung entlassener Sträflinge und Korrektionäre nach Nordamerika auf Kosten der Armenkasse, Staatsarchiv Bamberg 2 Toury, Jewish Manual Labour and Emigration, S. 59 zit. nach Brinkmann 2002:## 3 Monika Richarz, Jüdisches Leben in Deutschland: Selbstzeugnisse zur Sozialgeschichte 1780–1871, Stuttgart 1976, S. 28.

K:\ BOSTON \EMIGRAT .DOC 3 08.08.2013 The first Jewish immigrants in cities like Detroit, Portland, Oregon or Atlanta came from Bavaria 4

2.3 REASONS \\ 2.3.1 Pull Factors stories of returned soldiers – literature – letters

It is well-known that the sovereign of Hessen-Kassel sold about 13,000 soldiers to England, who had to fight in the American Revolutionary War (1775–1783). Less known is that other monarchs followed the Hessian example, as did Margrave Carl Alexander of Brandenburg- and Brandenburg-Bayreuth. He sold 2400 soldiers to England. After the peace of 1783 only a small number returned to Franconia. Many settled in North America––the first Franconian settlers. Let’s not forget the deserters. The settlers sent letters home telling about the excellent conditions and possibilities in the New World. The few returnees also brought stories back home. The diary of Johann Konrad Döhla from Zell in for example is not only an important source about the Revolutionary War, but also a source for the first dreams about that faraway country, America. Letters and books were both read by Jew as well.

2.3.2 Push Factors Large Population and Poverty By the 1830s the population decrease caused by the famine of 1770 and the Napoleonic Wars had evened out. The general economic situation in Europe, however, was not only influenced negatively by a large population, but by natural catastrophies. TAMBORA Crop failures and famines: One of the last great famines in modern times was caused in 1816 by an event far away from Europe, in the other hemisphere. The largest and deadliest eruption in recorded history was the explosion of the volcano, Mount Tambora, on the Indonesian island of Sumbawa on the 10th and 11th of April 1815. It was the world's greatest ash eruption since the

4 Tobias Brinkmann, Von der Gemeinde zur „Community„: Jüdische Einwanderer in Chicago 1840–1900, Osnabrück 2002, 49

K:\ BOSTON \EMIGRAT .DOC 4 08.08.2013 end of the last Ice Age. The eruption created global climate anomalies that included the phenomenon known as “volcanic winter”: 1816 became known as the “Year Without a Summer” because of the effect on North American and European weather. Agricultural crops failed and livestock died in much of the Northern Hemisphere, resulting in the worst famine of the 19th century. WHEAT PRICES BAUARBEITERLÖHNE The potato blight caused disastrous crop failures in 1844 and 1846. The impact this had on the Irish population is well known as the Great Famine. But also in the German States thousands of people suffered from hunger and died. The famine in South Germany in 1846 in particular caused an increase in migration to North America. 5 This increased migration from Germany, however, is seen by researchers as having been caused primarily by the ever-increasing reduction in farmland in certain areas of Germany. Thus, the amount of farmland per farm in the Palatinate, in Lower Franconia and Upper Franconia fell to a very small size at that time (HAMAROW 1989:23). What is known in Britain as gavelkind , a system of land tenure, under which the land was divided equally among sons or other heirs existed here as well. And just in those three German regions the rate of emigration was very high. During times when even craftsmen earned hardly enough money for themselves, they could not marry and establish families. The authorities would not even give them permission to marry and take up residence. There were large numbers of illegitimate children at that time. In North America they did not need such permissions, they could marry and could earn their own living. The Jews were not economically isolated. When the Christains were threatened by poverty so were the Jews. And if people got caught up in a maelstrom of emigration this happened to the whole population. There was, however, one reason for emigrating which concerned the Bavarian Jews alone.

The Jew Edict of 1813 A very strong push factor for Bavarian Jews was the Emancipation Edict known as the “Jew Edict”. Launched on June 10th 1813 it granted Jews throughout the whole kingdom of Bavaria, freedom of religion and with acceptance of citizenship, their legal status improved significantly. 6 The duties of

5 Hamerow, The Two Worlds of the Forty-Eighters, in: Charlotte Brancaforte (Hg.), German Forty-Eighters in America, New York 1989, S. 22f. Hamerow weist auf die Relation von kleiner Anbaufläche und Auswanderung hin. Zit. nach Brinkmann 2002:6. 6 Stefan Schwarz, Die Juden in Bayern im Wandel der Zeiten, Munich-Vienna 1963, pp. 177-183.

K:\ BOSTON \EMIGRAT .DOC 5 08.08.2013 the Jews were (among others) to adopt a distinct family name and to swear allegiance to Bavaria. 7

All Jews had to be registered in the so-called Judenmatrikel or 'Jewish Register'. To be exact, only the heads of families were registered. On a specific date all Jews of one place had to gather in the county office or synagogue to take the oath of allegiance.

“We swear to eternal, allmighty God, Adonai, a civil oath, and make thereby the affirmation that we obey the constitution and the laws, and that we want to be loyal to the King, so help us eternal allmighty God Adonai, without malice and caveat.”

After taking oaths all Jews undersigned personally with their newly adopted name. The Jew Edict also said that Jews were allowed where they already lived, but not in other places. The number of Jewish families were limited for each place. That number depended on the size of the place; for example, Kissingen in Lower Franconia had 45 Matrikelstellen or register numbers or register positions. In Middle Franconia for ex. 2711 Jewish families were allowed to live in 74 places. Only in four places was the number over 90: from with 122 families to the extreme exception of Fürth with 537 families. So 20 % of the Middle Franconian Jews lived in Fuerth. In the biggest place, the city of Nürnberg, no Jews were allowed to take residence, nor were they allowed in four other imperial towns in Middle Franconia (at that time Rezat District). In Upper Franconia the number of families in some bigger places were for example Bamberg 69 Bayreuth 80 Burgkundstadt 78 90 In Lower Franconia in the City of Würzburg only 31 families were allowed. In neighboring Heidingsfeld there were 183 plus an additional 30 families beyond the Matrikel number

(ROSENSTOCK :255-264).

These registrations weren’t inheritable. A Jew could only become a resident in his homeplace (where he was born and brought up), by applying to the local authorities. Only if his application was granted could he einrücken auf this Matrikelstelle , as the term meant: to “move into” the position . If another Matrikel number became vacant by the death of a Jew without off-spring one of is brothers had the chance to get it. In this way two sons of a family could become resident––it was very seldom that

7 Some more information about the Jewish registration in Bavaria can be found in: Bavarian State Archive in and the Genealogical Society in Franconia (eds.), “Jewish Registers 1813-1861 for Middle Franconia” edited in 2003 as a CD-ROM-edition. In the introduction Gerhard Rechter s.A., the director of the State Archive in Nuremberg until 2012, explains the system of registration in the short chapter “The Jewish Edict of 1813” (page 6–7). The complete article can be found at www.geepeetee.de/literat/Rechter_2003.pdf .

K:\ BOSTON \EMIGRAT .DOC 6 08.08.2013 three sons could do so. Sometimes a widow without hiers offered her Matrikelstelle in excange for a life annuity. All applicants had to prove that they had an occupation and could earn enough for their own living and their future family. One had to go through the same process to get the permisson to marry. All other sons of a Jewish family had only three choices: 1st they could try to establish residency elsewhere through combination of their marriage and taken over their father-in-law’s business. – 2nd they had to live with their parents or other relatives as bachelors forever. Or 3rd they could emigrate to North America. Jewish daughters married within the community or in far away places or they emigrated to North America as well.

In 1845 a group of 200 Bavarian Jews on their way to North America passed through the city of Mainz. A Jewish-German paper reported, these emigrants “drew a very bleak picture of the situation of the Jews in Bavaria; the only choice is to suffer or to emigrate”. 8

In Bavaria „left of the Rhine“, i.e. the P a l a t i n a t e , however, the Jew Edict could not be executed. After being occupied in the 1790s by the French and having officially been part of France since 1801/03 the Jews in this district benefited from liberal French laws. Even after the Napoleonic occupation the laws remained valid.

3.0 The Official Process of Emigration in the Kingdom of Bavaria

3.1 Bavarian Laws As we have heard, in 1837 the number of immigrants to the USA was so high that the Kingdom of Bavaria enacted laws to regulate emigration. AGENTEN Since the late 1830s only accredited agents were allowed to sell contracts for the sailing companies. The agents required to make a deposit of 5000 fl. with the government––an amount which only wealthy businessmen could effort. In Upper Franconia for instance there were only four agents in 1840. FOLIE + KARTE

State-Licensed Agents in Upper-Franconia 1840 Agent prof. residence hauptagent in expedient in Felbinger, Johann Kauf- Bayreuth - Slomann, Robert Gottlieb mann M. Hesslein, Moritz Kauf- Bamberg Schlichting, Nürnberg Heineken, H. mann Sigm. August

8 Der Orient, 28.5.1845, zit. nach Brinkmann 2002:4.

K:\ BOSTON \EMIGRAT .DOC 7 08.08.2013 Agent prof. residence hauptagent in expedient in Kolb, Johann Georg Kauf- Bayreuth Kurr, Johann Fr. Nürnberg Lüdering u. Comp. Bremen mann Wilmersdörfer, Hirsch Kauf- Bayreuth Wenz, Joseph Ludwigs- Wichelhausen, Bremen Maier mann hafen Jakob

306_ 1848_1246.jpg INTELLBLATT

The accreditation was announced in the official gazette. the Royal Bavarian Intelligence Paper, which had a special edition for each of the 8 districts.9

In 1848 the agency for the shipping company Hamburg-Amerikanische-Paket-Fahrts-AG (Hamburg- American Parcel Passage Corporation) was granted to Moritz Heßlein, who in 1840 was with Heiniken. Either he changed from Heineken to this one or he was now licensed for both.

To all district police authorities of the governmental district. (conc. Emigration to North America.) In the Name of His Majesty the King. The businessman Moritz Heßlein in Bamberg was granted permission to run an agency for the crossing opportunities to North America for the Hamburg-American Parcel Passage Corporation in Hamburg, whereof the above mentioned authorities are to be put into knowledge. Bayreuth, on November 2nd, 1848. Royal Government of Upper Franconia, Chamber of Interior. von Stenglein, President.

Sometimes such applications were refused. In 1852 and 1853, during an emigration peak, Nathan Raphael Löwenberger, merchant in Bayreuth, wanted to become a district agent for a agent in Nuremberg and a shipping company in Bremen. The Chamber of Interior at the Government of Upper Franconia rejected it because there were already six agents for Bremen. Löwenberger brought forward more and more arguments but finally an authority in Munich refused without further substantiation. 10

9 The Königlich Bayerisches Intelligenzblatt für Oberfranken for exampple resp. Royal Bavarian Intelligence Paper for Upper Franconia, the o fficial announcement paper for Upper Franconia was published every Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday in numbers of 8 pages on average. 10 Stadtarchiv Bayreuth 9091: Gesuch des Kaufmanns N.R. Löwenberger um die Erlaubnis zur Übernahme einer Auswanderungsagentur

K:\ BOSTON \EMIGRAT .DOC 8 08.08.2013 Since 1862 concessions were issued without any restrictions. In the following decades more than

500 agents existed, especially in rural areas (POPP 1995:16). Almost all of them worked as subagents for the main agents in the bigger places.

3.2 The Bureaucratic Way Wheather a Bavarian subject wanted to travel abroad or to emigrate, he had to apply for permission. The application was made with the county office (since 1837 Bezirksamt) for people living in the countryside or for those in the city with the municipality.

Several documents and certificates were necessary: – birth certificate from the parish or the rabbinate – the public announcement in the Royal Intelligence Paper, the official journal. – the right of residence had to be certified. If the applicant intended to come back, he had to declare that he wished to keep this right. – a certificate from the political community that there are no reservs – Militärentlassungsschein: a certificate of release from the army – Schulentlassungsschein: a school leaving certificate – emigrants applied not only for the permission to emigrate but for the „Entlassung aus dem bayerischen Untertanenverband“, the release from the Bavarian subject union. If all necessary documents were presented, if no office had any objections and--in case of the public announcement––if no third party had any claims, the municipality sent the file to the Chamber of Interior at the District Government in Bayreuth, Ansbach, Augsburg or Würzburg. The Chamber checked the case and finally granted it. Concerning the right of residence and the release as a Bavarian subject, the Chamber issued a deed and informed the municipality about it in writing, including the committment to deliver the document to the emigrant. – Now the “Passage Accord” / travelling or crossing contract had to be presented to the local authority. If that was indeed issued by a licensed agent, a w a r n i n g was read aloud to the emigrant: “Then the applicant was made aware of the dangerous and daring side of the enterprise further to the report of the Royal Bavarian Consul in New York dated January 2, 1841, of the announcement of the

K:\ BOSTON \EMIGRAT .DOC 9 08.08.2013 German chairman in New York dated January 18, 1841 and of the fact that only highly industrious, hard-working and thrifty people have hope to find earnings and advancement, that those people could well find opportunities for breadwinning and earning in the own country without the inconvenience, troubles and dangers of a long journey and without putting themselves at the uncertainty of finding accomodation and employment, which moreover can be bought only by consumption of already existing assets or at least of a large amount hereof.” If the emigrant confirmed his wish by to leave by signing the protocol, the passport and the above mentioned deed were given to him.

A typical application is the one of Hayum Lichtenstätter or Lichtenstadter from , nowadays Ansbach county, Middle Franconia. On 25 Nov 1853 the County Office in Leutershausen recorded: On the present day appeared 1 the non-married cap maker Hayum | Lichtenstätter from here further 2 his father Moses Lichtenstetter as well | from here The former states: according to the credential of the just handed over certificate of the district rabbinate Ansbach | I was born on 04 May 1834 and | I have duly learned the cap making craft. According to postal message of my sister | in New York much brighter conditions present themselves for my future existence | in the North American Freestates | than at home [ That‘s a classic example of a pull factor!] and this affirmation | induced me to the decision | to emigrate officially to there. | No obstacles ought to barr my | intention because I possess the | necessary travel funds | and I have no obligation to discharge | to anybody. | Over and above I hand over | a certificate of the local city administration with the enclosure | that my father is willing to | vo u c h for me. I plead therefore, the permission to emigrate | to North America may be granted | to me with omitting public | announcement . Moses Lichtenstetter declares: I am absolutely convinced | that my son has ... no debts, | but none the less I assume liability | for him regarding eventual claims | towards him, by approving | his emigration withal. Read aloud and signed.

K:\ BOSTON \EMIGRAT .DOC 10 08.08.2013 [genuine signature:] Hayum Lichtenstaedter Moses Lrottsdter 11

Thus, these emigration files contain much g e n e a l o g i cal information. In the application itself relatives are mentioned. Usually it is the father who supports the journey or the emigration, sometimes it is the mother (if she is a widow) as in the case of Sophie Blumenfeld, emigrating in 1846. Heinrietta Willmersdörfer, daughter of the agent H. M. Wilmersdoerffer, intends to emigrate to the state New York together with her fiancé the merchant-to-be Lazarus Rosenfeld from Uhlfeld. He had taken residence in Offenbach, Grand Duchy of Hessen, which makes the case more complicated for the authorities, but more interesting for the genealogists. More genealogical data are in the certificates, primarily in the birth certificate. In that of Hayum Lichtenstadter the name of his mother is mentioned: Babette. That this much genealogical information can be obtained from emigration files it is worthwhile inquiring if there are such documents for your ancestors in one of the German archives. In cities they are stored in the city archive. If your ancestors lived in the countryside the files would be stored in the state archive of that area like Bamberg, Nuremberg or Würzburg.

The CONTRACT The Contract 350

Passage contract for the crossing from Bremen to Baltimore on the sailing ship Gulnare (Captain Watts) leaving on September 15th this year. ... For a crossing fee of 160 Guilders Catharina Sengenberger from Grünbaum [will get] sufficiant and good food, space for each person incl. the usual luggage of 20 cubic feet. The earnest or forfeit money of 5 Guilders per head serving to secure the places been paid with five guilders cash and property. Mr. Fred. Jacob Wichelhausen in Bremen, ship owner and charterer, former Consul of the United States of North America, takes care of the timely and prompt boarding, and to him is to be paid, by presenting the contract, the remaining amount as well as the commutation and hospital fee which is demanded in America. Bayreuth, August 18, 1840.

11 Whereas the name Moses is well legible, the family name is hard to decipher as Lichtenstaedter. Compare a) Jew Registry of Middle Franconia, district matrikel 1635, Moses Mathes now Lichtenstadter; b. 1783, Schutz 28 Feb 1831; b) Taking residence file Leutershausen No. 617 Moses Matthes (1803-31)

K:\ BOSTON \EMIGRAT .DOC 11 08.08.2013 Agent for Emigration to the United States of North America. Hirsch Meyer Wilmersdoerffer

4.0 Transport 4.0 Transport Bremerhaven: In the late 1820s the mouth of the Weser near Bremen was so full of sand that the Magistrate of the City of Bremen decided to build a new harbor some 60 km to the north. In 1830 the new “Bremer-Haven” was opened. ||At the same time emigration increased more and more. Bremen attracted more emigrants than other cities. According to Bremen laws the ship owners had to provide food and water for the whole passage. This was one reason for the good reputation Bremen had. Two other reasons were ... – that the size of the 'tween decks of the ships from Bremen met the minimum dimensions specified by US laws. – and that the passenger death rate on ships from Bremen was lower then on the ones from Hamburg.

4.1 Travelling in 1837

Around 1837 the usual means of transport was the wagon––both for Jews and non-Jews. The Schramm family from the Protestant village of , Upper Franconia, emigrated after two years of preparation. Their storz provides a very good example. On Monday, July 10, 1837, nearly everyone in Plech who could walk accompanied the Schramms to the edge of Veldensteiner Forest where the final, tearful farewell took place. The Schramms traveled in a wagon especially designed for the long journey in order that from town to town only the coachman and the draught animals had to be changed. The first stops on the trip, which Georg Schramm meticulously noted down in his diary, were (July 10) and (July 11 and 12 at his brother’s home). Then the journey continued via - Karolinenhöhe to - (July 13 and 14), via Hildburghausen and Schleusingen to St. Kilian-Erlau (July 15), via Suhl, Zella- Mehlis, Oberhof, Schwarzwald and Ohrdruf to Schwabhausen (July 16), via Gotha, Westhausen and Bad Langensalza to Mühlhausen-Ammern (July 17), via Dingelstädt, Leinefelde, Breitenbach, Worbis, Wintzingerode and Teistungen to Duderstadt (July 18) and via Katlenburg-Lindau, Hammenstedt and Northeim to Einbeck-

K:\ BOSTON \EMIGRAT .DOC 12 08.08.2013 Salzderhelden (July 19). Thus followed one stopover after the other — the last stretch from Bremen on the river Weser — until the emigrants finally arrived in Cuxhaven on August 10. There on August 14, 1837, when at about nine o’clock in the morning a favorable wind arose, the ”Caecilie & Sophie” put out to sea. She was a Danish ship more than 30 years old with two masts instead of the originally promised year-and-a-half old three-master. ... On board [of the brig], according to the passenger list handed down to us, were 98 German emigrants.« (Heinz

STARK , George Schramm – an American Pioneer from Upper Franconia. In: Hamm, Margot/Henker, Michael/Brockhoff, Evamaria (eds.), Good Bye Bayern, Grüß Gott America. Auswanderung aus Bayern nach Amerika seit 1683. – Ausstellungskatalog. Augsburg 2004).

4.2 Travelling in 1849 Eleven years later the rail net was so advanced that the emigrants from Bavaria could take the train almost entirely from any station of the King Ludwig South-North Rail to the harbors in the north. Whereas the journey by wagon lasted 30-32 days––not to mention the expenses for the coachmen, the draft animals, the food and the accomodations, travel by train lasted only 9 days including a lay-over of five days in Bremen. It took only 3 days from Upper Franconia to Bremen. At that time, in September 1849 there was still a gap in the rail net in , where the travellers had to take the carriage from Plauen to Reichenbach for 5 hours. There was no rail yet between Bremen and Bremerhaven. The trip by riverboat on the river Weser lasted from 10 o'clock in the morning until 7 o'clock in the evening of the next day . The passengers had to wait for vacant seats on the boat, and thus was the reason for the of 5 days lay-over.

K:\ BOSTON \EMIGRAT .DOC 13 08.08.2013 5.0 On Board the Sailing Ships 5.1 Images describing the Crossing

P1020288 Close quarters and poor sanitary facilities were conducive to disease. Spoiled food and bad drinking water only made matters worse. There was no doctor on board. The death rate on ships from Hamburg was 1.8 percent between 1854 and 1858 and 0.4 percent on ships from Bremen.

P1020289 There was no remedy for sea-sickness. When ships were caught in storms, the sanitary conditions were almost unbearable image: From: Wander, K.F.W. Auswanderungs-Katechismus. (The Emigrant's Catechism). Reproduction, 1988.

P1020290 When seas were rough, passengers were not allowed to come up on deck.. image: Initiativkreis Erlebniswelt Auswanderung Bremerhaven e.V.

P1020305 When the weather was good passengers spent time up on deck with music and dancing presenting a welcome change. image. deutsches schiffahrtsmuseum

P1020306 When storms rose at sea passengers had to leave the decks. For steerage passengers that could mean days without fresh air or daylight. image. deutsches schiffahrtsmuseum

P1020307 For hundreds of passengers the cramped quarters in steerage were dining hall, dormitory and lounge in one. image. deutsches schiffahrtsmuseum

K:\ BOSTON \EMIGRAT .DOC 14 08.08.2013 P1020308 The crossing to America on board an emigrant vessel could take anywhere from six to 12 weeks. The passengers, usually from rural areas and accustomed to hard work, had nothing to do on board. Boredom ensued.

P1020309 The long crossing in cabin class was far more comfortable than in steerage. Passengers had more room, greater privacy and, above all, fresh air.

5.2 Report of the Crossing in a Letter to Home Letter from Johann Konrad Dietel from Oswego, Illinois dated 30 Nov 1849 to his mother in Upper Franconia Letters are a very import source of information. Johann Konrad Dietel emigrated in 1849 with a small group of relatives in 1849. On 30 November he writes from Oswego, Illinois, to his mother Margaretha Dietel and his siblings in Kleinlosnitz, Upper Franconia. In this letter he gives an account of the crossing.

Now I want to describe to you the ship and our journey on it. Our ship on which we came was called “Emigrant”, the captain “Andressen”. It was almost new, the three masts were almost as high as German maypoles ... It was about 140 feet long, 30 feet wide and 40 feet high, whereas 15 to 18 were under water and it covered a distance of 30–40 German miles a day at good wind––regardless of the heavy cargo of 400 load, i.e. 12,000 centner (hundredweight). ...

In the lowest room sand is loaded, in the second room there were the trunks of the passengers in the middle. In the front and in the back the necessary wood for the kitchen beside the big barrels containing water and food are kept. Then there was the steerage, the space for the passengers, where on both sides above and below the bedsteads were attached and beside these the trunks of food are standing. The bedsteads were numbered, 4 men had the same number; When it was time for meals, the ship's cook shouted No. 1 or No. 48 (there were that many numbers) Get meals! Get coffee! Get water! Get tea! Finally there was the deck on top, on which there were the cabin, the kitchen, sheep-, geese- and chicken coops in the middle. Spare masts were lying up there as well. The number of the passengers in steerage was 192, in the cabin 18 men, from German lands and having all

K:\ BOSTON \EMIGRAT .DOC 15 08.08.2013 kind of professions; furtheron 17 sailors, 2 mates, 1 captain, 3 ship's cooks, therefore a total of 233 men. A little child of a family whos father was from Hannover region died during the crossing on 13th Oct. and after 5 hours it was buried in the sea. We had no storms, hence we sailed so fast––in 32 days––across the great sea, which happens very rarely. However, occasionally we had strong but good winds, so that the water of the big clashing waves was thrown on deck (it drains again through openings), the sea waves boomed often terribly, turned on top into blueish-green and left behind a thick white soap foam. That comes from the strong salt content. On the first day of our sailing from Bremerhaven we all had to vomit, steerage was a real pigpen, and all corners were full of vomit; one couldn't stay there due to the smell, not walk nor stand due to the slipperiness of the floor; from the enduring rocking of the ship gets everybody so sick, that the food in the stomach must come out. It is truly hell. There is no appetite to eat and drink and it takes about 2 or 4 weeks until the body got accustomed to it, then it improves well. Great caution is necessary when the ship rocks up and down, so that one doesn't suffer damage by falling. Therefore everybody has to hold on tight, if he doesn't want to be thrown around like a rolling stone. The food trunks and passengers were bumped against each other, so one thought they would collapse into pieces. There was very often a big rattle and rumbling in steerage and on deck, so that many made jokes about it. However, not every day was as bad as that; the last days our ship went calmly without any rocking on the sea. The ship’s food was basically very bad; every day there was immensely fatty pig or beef grease being so salty, so that one hardly wanted to taste it; coffee and tea was worth nothing either, peas and beans also had an unpleasant taste, only the pearl barley and rice were good, if it wasn't oversalted; there were potatoes almost at every lunch, for each man often only one or two. If we hadn't taken with us dried bread and roasted flour and noodles, with which we four men prepared soup in the morning and evening, we would have starved, but it sufficed. As far as water is concerned, every passenger got less than a pint [half a liter] per day, and the food was so salty that everybody wept of thirst. On 21st Oct. we saw for the first time in the far distance American land and at 9 o'clock in the evening we reached the island Städt Neuland [probably Staten Island], where the first time the anchors were set. The other day the doctor checked the state of health of the emigrants. When this was over, an approaching ship from New York took our ship within 2 hours to the debarkation harbor. Laundry is difficult during the shipping; the sea water doesn't dissolve the soap and to dry it is bad as well; one has to bind it to the ship's ropes, where it gets black again, little things like handkerchiefs one can wash if necessary. So it goes on a ship.

K:\ BOSTON \EMIGRAT .DOC 16 08.08.2013 Dr. Ekkehard Hübschmann

An der Kirche 7 D-95499 fon +49 9203/688 086 fax +49 3212 / 102 4929 www.geepeetee.de

K:\ BOSTON \EMIGRAT .DOC 17 08.08.2013

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