Jacksonville, Feb. 1854.

Dear Lina! I wrote last autumn to Karl, but as I received no answer I suspected that my letter got lost. Last month I wrote a letter to you and let this one follow, too, so that at least one of them will reach you. I told you in my last letter that we emigrated from Barnstable to Florida, that I nearly was always sick here, that Mrs. Sennewald, who was always a true friend and nurse to me, died, and that I am living now alone with Henry on a farm near Jacksonville. This time I want to tell you more about my place and the region here.

If you take the map into your hand you will see that Fl. is the most southern state of the U.S. and consists of a long peninsula. The climate is like in Italy, neither cold nor hot and is considered to be very healthy. On the East Coast, where the peninsula starts, the St. Johns River flows into the ocean and here is Jacksonville, the main harbor of this river, which is here as wide as is the Elbe below Hamburg. My property, 100 acres in one piece, three to four times the size of the Ado, is close to the river, seven miles below Jacksonville, four miles by the land way. Steam and sailing ships which come from and go to sea, pass continually. All land not cultivated yet is used as a kind of pasture for all, whereto everybody sends his marked cows, oxen, horses, donkeys, and pigs, where they run around wild and by which the farmer loses all the manure. I have about 25 acres fenced in as a pasture and we lead our cattle every night to the dung-yard. We feed our pigs always in the stable. We also fenced in this winter a piece twice as big as your garden with boards, so that the wild rabbits could not come in and eat all of the young vegetables and plants.

When I think back of Kummerfeld and the bad and long way to my heath and how often I wished at that time to have all my land in one piece, I have to confess that I have now everything what I ever hoped for and wished. Part of my land is full of beautiful oak trees and part of it pine trees. A piece of marsh land close to the river does not give good hay but so much litter as I can use.

There are no singing birds at all in the North of America, and I often thought sadly of your nightingales, but here in the South is a bird which has the voices of all the other birds together and is called a mockingbird and whom I nearly prefer to the nightingale. When we work in the woods or in the country, one of them sits nearly in every bush and sings to us. They sing all summer long and are silent only a short time in winter. Besides the mockingbird there are many beautiful flowers which grow wild.

But you will think, one cannot live alone from birds and flowers; and so I have to tell you, too, that from nothing comes nothing, but I can grow so much on half an acre as you on the soil of Kummerfeld and one can hardly find anywhere else a better …

 … market than here. Milk is sold for six [SS?] per quart and cabbage for nine to 12 [S?] per head. I would be very happy here if I would have somebody who would take part in my joys and sorrows. Henry is a good boy and the best help when I am sick, but he is no child any longer. We celebrated yesterday his 16th birthday and he can easily get the idea to look around in the world. Then I am all alone. I wish you could come with your husband and children over here.

Write me — honestly — how things are — and send me a Daguerreotype picture of you (I asked you for it already in my last letter!), without glass and frame you can easily enclose it in a letter. Farewell and write soon to

Your loving father.

 … nowhere peace and rest — travel is in his blood. All his thinking is directed toward the same thing. He wrote many a letter to you, but I don’t know whether he mailed them and whether you received them. He went to sea as a sailor and hopes his lucky star will lead him to you, if he is not there yet or had an accident. Last summer Ullrichs lived with Ehlers in Ruicel. Lene became engaged there to a Mr. Rosenbusch from Pinneberg. She visited me often. eight days ago the wedding was in the "Golden Angel" (hotel!) in Hamburg, where Uncle Ullrich now lives. He wants to remarry.

Pinneberg gets bigger every day. One new house after another is built, many factories, new stores and so on. Two new pretty houses stand there where once the old barn at the Geheimrat’s was. [Geheimrat = Privy Councilor — LPM.] In one of the stores lives the old Geheimrat’s servant. Here one can buy American dung (guano). It is supposed to be very strong. Aunt Lotte tried last year buckwheat and had a nice crop. Her Gustav is in San Francisco. He is doing well, never writes of being sick. Guano costs 10 [SF?] 100 lb., but it only needs to be spread very thinly and harrowed together with the wheat. We want to give it a try also this year.

Our business is moderate; there is little more to do with the seeds. There are everywhere seed stores and salesmen go from door to door. But it is better with trees and bushes. They have to make up for the interest and taxes. We also have to buy now nearly all our groceries and everything is so expensive, but we hope the next crop will be better. We had a nice spring. Snow is gone since March and last year we had still so much snow in April.

Dear Father and Henry:This noon (Easter!) I also received your second letter with the beautiful flower which Henry probably picked for me. We also talked already about that Henry is 16 years old, but still a delicate youth. Our Lord may keep him healthy and give him strength to assist you. I also will wish that Wilhelm Meissner [son of F.A.M. brother Karl] may soon come to your aid. He is a robust guy and has a good heart. But where might he be? I believe he went along to Spain.

He does not have the money to come straight to you; and his father, who has still money from the inheritance, won’t give him any.

It is not possible for me to send you my picture right away and to satisfy your impatience I will first send you a letter. It is also a metal plate and I will see how to make it possible to fulfill your request, because it is still too cold in the mornings and evenings to travel to the city with a small child, and without her the joy would be missing which shines out of her beautiful blue eyes. I also would like to have a picture of you two. Don’t be now mad with me. I will surely send it soon to you. Have some indulgence with your Lina, because — believe me — I have many a sorrow, but I married against my mother’s will. She herself made the first proposal, but you know how changeable she is, even if she wants only the best for me.

The advocate Kirchhoff does not live any more in Ütersen. He has got a job somewhere in the country. Mr. [Mrs.?] Mideen Egersendt will soon marry her servant J. Teede and will also soon have a baby. Her husband died four years ago and her oldest son died of pneumonia in the same hour as my Georg. Her second son, Hans Heinrich, will become a farmer and Mr. T. has to leave with her young husband. [?? Son will take over the farm, so she has to find another place to live? — LPM] Mrs. Wilke is a rich widow. Her husband died of smallpox.

Dear Father, take a good housekeeper or a wife, and console yourself hereby. There won’t be anything of us coming over. My children are small and my husband so proper — if you don’t have the joy, you don’t have the sorrow either. I don’t have any interest in the strange world, the long trip, and the treacherous elements. Give my regards to dear Henry.

I was 27 years old on Nov 12.

Your loving daughter Karoline Marie Eleonore.

End: April 26 [1854].

Mr. John B. & G. Hahn, No. 15 Avenue A, N.Y. 2.

J. May 29 [1854].

Caused by your circular which I received with the ‘Democrat," I want to ask you whether you can get a housekeeper for me. I live an hour’s way distant from J. on a own farm at the bank of the St. J. River and raise vegetables. My wife died nearly a year ago. My oldest daughter is about to get married; my other children are all grown up and have all left their father’s house with the exception of a boy of 16 years, who works with me on the farm. You therefore can see for yourselves that my household is only small (black workers have their own home), so that a girl of 14 years could manage it. It is often hard to find a new place for immigrants, who don’t understand and speak the English language yet, and one of them I would prefer most. I rather take at all a country girl, as girls from the city hardly ever get used to such a life.

I want a decent, moral girl, who knows how to knit, sew, and cook a little. I will give her $50 per year and she will have enough time to make her own clothes; she does not need so many in the country here anyway than in the city.

In my consideration this is a good offer; besides that I am going to pay her passage and include some lines. If this should not be sufficient, I am going to send you the money; you must however take the time and find a passage for her. I would have enclosed the money right away if I could not have been afraid that the girl — after you paid her the money — would reconsider it and not come and my money would have been wasted. Ships from and to N.Y. arrive and take off daily, but as many arrive only with ballast, they won’t be listed all in the newspapers. The usual …

 …  passage costs $10 to $12. You must take the trouble to find a passage and to help her with her departure. I include $2 for your possible expenses and will not fail to pay your bill for all the troubles you will have.

Respectfully ….

Mr. William Schlüter, Office of the N.Y. Democrat, N.Y.

Jackson, May 24, 1854.

I beseech you to put the enclosed $2 on my account for the ‘Democrat.’ In the beginning of the year your paper arrived regularly, but since a long time two or three issues come all together. No. 9 came with No. 14. This takes away all the value they have for me. I am convinced that you are not at fault, but the post office. A letter for which I waited with great desire took four weeks from Boston to down here. Everybody would rather pay more postage and have his things mailed to him properly.

Respectfully ….

The story which you edited now, I read already some time ago in and English paper.

Mr. A. Keilholz in Quedlinburg.

May 29, 1854.

This is an experiment, to find out whether it is possible to have you send seeds to me. Our best time for sowing is Sept. and only very fresh seeds grow in the warm climate here. This would make it necessary to mail the seeds already in the middle of August, at that time your crop might not be ripe yet. I enclose $2 in cash and I ask you to send me 1/4 lb. of big, round, Asiatic lettuce [seed]. I don’t mind if you include some tulip [bulbs ?] and carnation seeds, and I will pay gladly the double price if I receive the two first mentioned goods very fresh.

In case one young boy (gardener!) among your friends would like to try his luck in America, he should be glad to find a home with me, when he arrives here. Ships from N.Y. arrive daily here; the passage is $8 to $10. Florida has a wonderful climate — neither hot nor cold. Oranges and a big number of evergreen beautiful and nice smelling bushes and flowers grow wild here and ornament the forests. ….

Send the seeds to the following address:

Mr. F.A. Meissner, J., Fl., U.S. of N.A.

In order to have them shipped on to the Agent of Adams & Co., North American Express in Bremen.

Mr. John B. Hahn, Office of the N.Y. Democrat, (German paper), No 75 & 77 Chatham St., N.Y.

J., Florida, June 19, 1854.

I received your letter of June 6, a little bit late as Henry forgot to ask for mail at the post office. I am very happy that you could fulfill my request so promptly. I enclose $15.00; $10 to $12 is the normal price for a cabin on the ships which pass here. I beseech you to send along for the three or four necessary dollars about 16 lb. of fresh cocoa beans and two to four lbs. of good black tea. I bought the first mentioned goods for about 1/. And the last for 50 cts. per lb. You have to take care that the beans are not moldy [?]. It should be easy for you to find a passage. The captains have often their wives with them and I would prefer at any rate a Yankee captain to an Irishman. You will be so kind as to inform me as soon as know yourself when and by what ship your subject will take off. It would be best if she gets off the ship at the St. Johns Steam Sawmill (the owners are Daniels and Sanderson). In the house close to the bank lives Mr. Gardiner with his family. Mrs. Gardener surely has the way to my house shown to the girl by one of her children. But she cannot leave her suitcases so long remain there on the beach or maybe if she prefers to go first to J., she best asks for the shoemaker Petting, who works in a hut on the place where there was a fire, close to the wharves. Hoping that the selected girl will be fitting to my wishes at least to some extent, we want to make her stay as comfortable as possible. ….

Mr. John B. Hahn, Office of the N.Y. Democrat, (German paper), No 75 & 77 Chatam St., N.Y.

Jacksonville, July 13, 1853.

To the latter..

In response to your letter of the 6th of last month, in which you told me you had found a housekeeper in the person of one of your wife’s relatives, I sent you on the 19th of the same month the wanted traveling expenses with $15, but did not hear till today whether you received my letter with the money or not.

The Democrat has again neglected its weekly appearance since No. 19. Mr. Gutman, who owns with Mr. Mode a ‘dry goods store,’ wants to order it and asks you to send the paper under the address of Mr. Joseph Mode, J. Fl. I tried to find some subscribers, but the general excuse is that the German papers arrive so irregularly that it would not pay off the trouble to order them. Hoping to hear more from you.

I remain ….

Mr. Gieffen, No. 77, [Bowery?], N.Y.

J., Fl., July 24, 1854.

I read an ad in the Democrat of the month of March, that you have German seeds for sale. As our time for sowing is much earlier I could make no use of your offer in the spring. Next month, …

 … however, we start here again to work in our winter garden, and as you probably have left some of your seeds, I ask you to send me a list of the prices and to cross out the kinds you don’t have any more available. Do you have or can you get N.Y. Shallot onions and at what price?

Mr. John B. Hahn, N.Y.

J. Fl. July 27, 1854.

I received your letter of the 16th on the 24th, but was unable to learn from it whether you received my letter of June 19 with the enclosed money or not. You say you could not find a fitting passage yet. I regret it very much. Only a few days ago a schooner went to N.Y., which had a very nice cabin and took a family of 12 persons for $100 along (mostly ladies). There is no steamboat going directly from N.Y. to Jacksonville, but steamers from Charleston and Savannah arrive two and three times a week here, which pass the ships from N.Y. on their way. Besides, I think a German country girl would not feel at home in a cabin of these big sea steamers among the American ladies with their black maids. I would have liked to learn the name, the age, and the former home of my future housekeeper. But maybe you want to surprise me. If it will be a nice one I don’t mind. Please send my regards to your wife and the relative whom I soon shall be able to meet.

Your ….

Messrs. John B. & G. Hahn, No 15 Ave A, N.Y.

Jacksonville, Sept 7, 1854.

I would like to know whether you forgot my request fully. If you are unable to execute it I ask you to send back the money I gave you. During this time many beautiful and big ships arrived here, but none of them brought the Miss along and I have received no letter either since the last one from July 16. While other places suffer under cholera, yellow fever, and others, we enjoy here the best health. We had — to be sure — a very warm summer, but I did not hear of a single case, where somebody died of sunstroke.

My best regards to all ….

Revrd. Dr. Rose, Pastor of St. Matthews Church, Newark, N.J.

Oct. 1, 1854.

Your Honor! I received yesterday your letter of Sept. 13. The cause of this delay is probably the unreliability of the regular post business …

 … as the yellow fever is now in Savannah. According to your letter, Mrs. Limburg seems to be willing to accept the offer I made her some time ago and she still is welcome to me with her two children, if she thinks that she can be happy in the country and has the good will to take over the duties and common work of a housewife.

Concerning the traveling expenses, I have to say: Having received no answer to my letter from the coroner, I wrote to a certain John B. & G. Hahn in N.Y. (which offered themselves to do all sorts of things by newspaper) and told them to find a German girl for me as my housekeeper. Shortly afterward John B. Hahn, who works also as bookkeeper in the Office of the N.Y. Democrat, answered that he found already a girl fitting as my housekeeper. She is a relative of his wife, arrived from Germany only a short time ago, and if I would send the traveling expenses for her, he as well as Mr. Schlüter (the publisher of the Democrat) would guarantee that the girl would travel to me as soon as she received the money. On June 19 I sent him $15; I had sent him already $2 some time ago and asked him — as the normal passage costs only $10 — to send some little things along for the remaining $5. Some time later I received a letter from J.B. Hahn saying he could not yet find a suitable passage. All my questions I wrote stayed unanswered. Considering that which happened, I would like you to make an attempt to get the money back from Mr. Hahn. I therefore include some lines to Hahn. I want you to use it for Mrs. Limburg’s traveling expenses. In case Mr. Hahn should be a cheat and refuse to give the money back, I should think Mrs. Limburg’s relatives can give her the travel money. It will hardly cost as much as the cost of living for one month in N.Y. The sooner she comes the better it is. Also it is now (in autumn) the best time to go south. Nearly daily ships go from N.Y. to J. which bring goods and take wood home. These make the trip often in four to five days. The usual passage is $10; children pay half and small children go free, but it might be possible as everything rose in price, that the passage got more expensive, too. The route by Savannah or Charleston by steamboat is closed now due to the yellow fever; we have here neither cholera nor yellow fever and enjoy generally a very good health.

I must be afraid to tire you out by my long letter. My best regards to Mrs. Limburg and her children. Please accept the assurance of my respect.

Devotedly, your ….

Mr. John B. & G. Hahn, No. 15, Avenue A, N.Y.

As you did not fulfil your plan to send a housekeeper to me and all my letters to you stayed unanswered, I request that you pay the money which I sent you as traveling expenses to Dr. Rose in Newark ….

[P.S.] I remembered to mention, as the mail delivery is so slow and unreliable here: In case Mrs. Limburg is able to arrive here before she receives another letter from me, she can get off the ship at the St. Johns sawmill, which is about four miles below J. and can ask for Mrs. Gardiner, the wife of the inspector, who lives close to the bank, for my address and have it shown to her by one of her children. Or — if she wants to go to J., she should ask for the shoemaker Petting, whose working-hut is near the wharves.

Oct 8, 1854 [Inquiry about my letter of May.].

Revrd. Dr. Rose, Pastor of St. Matthews Church, Newark, N.J.

Nov. 8, 1854.

Five weeks passed already since I answered your letter on account of Mrs. Limburg, but I did not hear anything from you or her. I must be nearly afraid that your health got worse and keeps you from writing, but I should believe there would be still somebody else who can write a few lines to me. I included a money order for $15 in my letter which I asked you to collect and use for the traveling expenses for Mrs. Limburg. In case you made no use of it, I ask you to send the paper back. If I don’t receive an answer within 14 days, I have to believe that Mrs. Limburg does not want to come and I won’t feel myself bound any more to my promise.

Revrd. Dr. Rose, Pastor of St. Matthios Church, Newark, N.J.

Dec. 20, 1854.

Your Honor!

I have received your letter with the enclosed note. I liked it also that Mrs. Limburg did not come according to your mentioned conditions and circumstances. Maybe she would not have fitted in here, either. I was more interested to find a friend than a housekeeper. I find people for my work here, too, but the German tongue touches the heart, therefore I tried to get a fellow countrywoman. I enjoyed it to have met you at this occasion.

My grandfather was minister of the church in Schönbach in Saxony and held still a sermon on his 81st birthday. My father followed him in the same profession, but died young. Replying your good wishes for Christmas and the New Year, I remain ….

Mr. M. Schlüter, public notary, No. 75 & 77 Chatham Street, N.Y.

Jacks., Dec. 25, 1854.

In spring I received with the ‘Democrat’ an announcement of Mr. John B. & G. Hahn, in which these gentlemen offered themselves for commission deals. As you accompanied this announcement in your paper with your recommendation, I feel myself entitled to ask you for information about these men. I asked these men to find a housekeeper for me by a letter, in which I enclosed $2. I mailed the same day $2 for your ‘Democrat.’ Shortly afterward I received a letter written on business paper of the ‘Democrat,’ in which Mr. J.B. Hahn indicated in your name to have received the $2 and told me in a postscript, as he is bookkeeper of the ‘Democrat,’ he uses the occasion to tell me that he found already a girl for me. She is a relative of his wife and so on. If I would send money for her traveling expenses she would come at once. "We," I quote, "as well as Schlüter will guarantee you that the girl at once after your answer will depart; concerning the money you will be safe," unquote. June 19 I mailed a letter with $19 to Mr. Hahn. I sealed the money in presence of the postmaster. The promised housekeeper, however, has not arrived up to the present day, neither has the money been sent back to me. I therefore want to ask you whether the gentlemen Hahn are cheats, which I would believe at once if he were not working in your office. Therefore I am willing to believe that it is caused by a negligence inexcusable for a business man. It is also strange that I received no answer to two letters, in which I also enclosed $2 and which I asked Mr. Hahn to mail for me.

Respectfully ….

To Karoline Gerstenberg in Kummerfeld near Hamburg.

Dec 27, 1854.

Dear Lina! Also my last hope to hear from you at least for my birthday has been deceived. I received your letter, which you wrote on Easter, in May and answered it at once. I waited till October for answer — in vain. Then I wrote again to you and asked you fervently to answer me, but my expectations were not filled. If you would have had an accident, I should believe your husband would have informed me about it. I know that all your time is taken up by the care of your husband and children, but I still believe that you could spare 1/2 hour for your father. I cannot explain your long silence unless my letters to you have been burned.

Henry and I are still living together in peace in Florida. William is at sea, Wilhelmine in California, Eleonore works in a household —.

We have had an unusually hot and dry summer and also an early and cold winter. Already in the middle of Nov. the potatoes, beans, and Georgians [?] froze, but since a few days the weather is again warm and comfortable. Caused by the bad crops and the Turko-Russian war, flour and wheat is very expensive, but we have good and cheap meat. We buy usually (since we had the cold weather) every 14 days 1/4 oxen meat [a beef quarter? — LPM], what weighs only 80 to 100 lbs., the lb. for three cts. Now and then we also shoot a wild pig, so that we live nearly entirely on meat. Henry sometimes says, "If they would only know in Kummerfeld how beautiful inexpensive meat we have!".

When we go up in the morning around six o’clock (the sun rises now at seven and sets at 5), one of us fixes breakfast, usually tea with beefsteak, cereal with syrup, while the other takes care of the oxen, cows, and pigs. After breakfast we both start working. At noon we rarely take the time to fix us something. In the afternoon one of us drives usually a load of wood to town, and when he comes home, the other has cooked a nice supper, coffee with roast or meat, sweet potatoes, rice, and so on. After supper we read the paper, mend our socks, or visit a neighbor. We usually put down our dirty bowls and plates so long, till all the clean ones are used of. Then we spend one evening doing dishes. Henry washes and I dry them. Nobody surpasses us in this region in baking white bread. The neighbors often say that they want to send their wives to us in order to learn how to make bread.

We both are well and fine, but all summer and autumn long we raised nearly nothing on account of the weather. We hope now for spring. This morning a young sow had six merry piglets (a birthday present), five sows and a boar. They will be all raised for breeding. These little pigs could have again six pigs next fall and so on and on. If only things don’t happen to me like the girl with the milk-pot [in a fairy tale]. Some days ago we bought a wild bull, whom we teach now to pull and he is doing pretty good. Two years ago I bought two. After having them caught and tied with ropes we put the yoke on. They both went really wild, they bit, hit, tore, and raged. Next morning they had broken their necks. One hit me on my foot. I had to lied down lame for four weeks and had terrible pains.

But that’s enough for now. We wish that all of you celebrated Christmas as healthy and well as we, but a little bit merrier and that you may step into the New Year in the same way. We thank our Lord for His grace that He let us travel till here and ask Him to give you and us His protection farther on.

Your loving father!

What ever became of Wilhelm Meissner? [son of brother Karl]

To the Postmaster of Pinneberg.

Dec 27, 1854.

As my two letters (I wrote one in June and the other in October) to my daughter stayed unanswered, I take the liberty to ask you to give the enclosed letter and all the following letters from now on to my daughter personally. Please let me know through my daughter whether you can remember the two letters mentioned above going through your hands. Hoping you won’t mind my request I sign ….

To Mrs. Weber from Gotha in Saxony, Care of Henry Bick, No. 139 & 141, Liberty Street, N.Y.

Dec. 30, 54.

I read in the paper that you intend to visit your husband. I certainly don’t know you at all — your profession, your conditions, etc. …, but I want to make you an offer: In case you should be unable to find your husband or you want to take a job as a housekeeper until you have found him, my house is open to you. My wife died two years ago and only my youngest son, a 16 year old boy, is still with me. I have a farm of my own close to town and raise vegetables for the market. I was moved to make you this offer by the wish to have a fellow countrywoman around me and maybe to do her a favor. I cannot pay you very much but you will find a friendly reception. If you would like to come, please do so right away. We have no winter here, only weather like in autumn. Nearly daily ships go from N.Y. to J. The passage is $10 to $12, which I will pay you back. In J. you best ask for the boat maker Petting, a German who lives close to the wharves. He will gladly show you the way to me. Best wishes to you from.

Your unknown friend ….

Postscript to Lina’s letter:

Jan 7, 1855.

When I was carrying the letter above to the post office, I received your letter of Nov. 15. My poor Lina, how hard an ordeal you had to go through in the last years. How patiently you carry your burden, how you try to excuse Gerstenberg. One day he will be sorry to have forfeited his happiness in such a way. What else does he want? He has a young, pretty wife and healthy children, the greatest happiness there is in this world, and what does he do? Always fights with my poor Lina.

Don’t lose your courage, dear Lina. Look upon me as your friend. But you have to write more often to me, at least every quarter year a letter, do you hear? Maybe times will get better. Believe me, I have a hard life too. When we returned again from Enterprise to Jacksonville I owed $40. Now we recover again a little. If only Henry’s mother would be still alive, my dear, faithful friend, the thrifty housewife, but she sleeps under the green lawn in the little flower garden before my door. As long as one owns a precious thing one does not realize its value. Henry is now my only consolation. I have changed a lot, too. I am not only shaken by the long sickness, but also changed to the better. Only very rarely a cuss word comes out of my mouth any more.

My poor brother is now entirely alone, too. Did Marie die of consumption, too? It seems to me that I am not supposed to receive much of happiness on this earth. The best years of my life are over. If I would have started 30 years ago there where I am now, I maybe would have had success. Maybe Henry will be more successful. He is industrious and thrifty. If he stays that way and will find once a good life, he might become happy.

Mr. R.A. Witthaus, President of the German Co. in N.Y.

Jan 8, 1855.

Dear Sir! I saw your address from a German newspaper, which mentions everywhere your efforts to soothe the accident, when the ship "New Era" broke apart. I know from experience how hard it is for a newcomer to find place to go to, and as I need a housekeeper, maybe you can find a fellow countrywoman for me. As your company — if I understand right — is a sort of reception place, and so I am doing her as well as me a favor.

I own a farm (100 acres) in J. My good wife died two years ago and only my youngest son, a lively 16 year old boy, is still at home and works with me on the farm. We raise vegetables for the market. The region is healthy (we never had cholera or yellow fever here!) and the climate is nice. My peas are in blossoms. Several young Germans work around here, who all would like to raise a family, but they need wives. The work in my house is light. I would like best an orphaned girl, 12 to 18 years old, which I would like to accept as my daughter.

Ships from N.Y. arrive here almost every day. The passage is $10 to $12 and takes about four to five days. I will gladly pay the passage and a good salary. If you should be able to find a woman or girl, who would want to come here, please be so kind as to let me know about it.

Respectfully ….

Mrs. Caroline Weber, No. 396, 12th Street, N.Y.

Feb. 19, 1855.

When I read your summons some time ago in the papers, I thought you had just arrived from Germany and how unhappy you must be feeling in this big, strange city, if you were unable to find your husband. I therefore wrote to you and offered you a job in my home. You lived at that time still in the ‘Hambacher Castle.’ I don’t know whether you received my letter. Now I read in the papers that you did not find your husband yet. Maybe he is already dead for a long time. Last summer many Germans passed away everywhere. You live now with your two children in No. 396, 12th Street. I hope my letter will reach you at this address.

In case you are unable to find your husband, I will renew my former offer. Come to me with your children (I am born Saxon, too), we will receive you friendly. You can take over my household (My good wife died two years ago). If you have no money for the trip, I will send it to you. Write me a few lines, even if you have located your husband, about what I would be very happy. I enclose an envelope with my address. All you have to do is to enclose your letter. Best regards to you from your unknown friend ….

To the Consul of Saxony in N.Y.

Feb. 19, 1855.

As I don’t know your name, I write these few lines to you under the address above. I would like to ask you — if your other business and affairs allow to do so — to do some small business in N.Y. for me. I own here a farm, where I raise vegetables and need something from there now and then. Expecting your kind reply, I sign ….

F.A.M. from the Kingdom of Saxony.

Mr. J.B. Hahn, No. 123, Bowery [?], N.Y.

Feb. 25, 1855.

According to your letter of Feb. 7, you seem to feel hurt by my letter to Mr. W. Schlüter, but as I had not the pleasure to know you personally, I could only judge by the circumstances. However, I will be pleased to change my ideas about you at any time. After having written several letters — which all were unanswered — and waited besides that for another half year without hearing from …

 … you I wrote to Mr. Schlüter. I will have it undiscussed whether this betrays so big a folly as you seem to indicate. A short time ago I received an answer to one of my letters, which you were so kind to mail for me to Germany and I inform you now about it for your justification. Adams & Co. have an agent in J. I am sorry that your relative could not make up her mind earlier to go and so I missed the pleasure of meeting you more intimately.

Respectfully ….

She would not have felt as lonely as you were afraid of, as there are here several married and unmarried young Germans and I like to see friends at my house. My neighbors, farmers of here, have grown-up daughters.

Mr. William Schlüter, N.Y.

March 12, 1855.

I received your bill by last mail. In case Mr. Hahn did not mail the money yet back to me, as he promised in his letter after his return to do so at once, I would like you to keep back the $2.50 I owe you and have Mr. Hahn send the remaining amount to me.

Mr. Ferdinand Karck, N.Y.

April 16, 1855.

Since receiving your last letter, nearly a full year passed. Hard sickness and death in my family hindered me at that time to answer you. Later on I received a letter from my daughter which moved me to leave this affair in peace.

As I am still in your debt I would like you very much to collect a little debt in N.Y. for me. Some time ago, a certain John B Hahn offered himself in an ad in the N.Y. Democrat to take care for commission deals. I ordered him to find a German girl or housekeeper for me. He answered at once that he had found a fitting person, a relative of his wife; if I would send the traveling expenses he would guarantee that she would come at once, after having received the money. I sent $15 to him. I had sent him $2 already some time ago. After having waited for a full half year and neither a housekeeper nor answer to my letters arrived, I wrote to Mr. W. Schlüter, publisher of the Democrat, for whom Mr. Hahn worked at that time as bookkeeper. I received then a letter from Mr. Hahn, in which he promises to send the money back at once. In case Mr. Hahn should refuse to pay you, I ask you to keep the letter in the meantime for me, which I enclose. Respectfully ….

Mr. J.B. Hahn, No. 18, Bowery, N.Y.

J. Florida, April 12, 1855.

I ask you to pay the fifteen dollars I sent you to Mr. Ferdinand Karck or to his order.

Continuation of Lina’s letter: April 14 [1855].

I have not received the things from N.Y. yet, but I want to finish the letter up, that I can mail it as soon as they will have arrived.

The winter has now passed. The pasture is full of grass. After having lost a cow and an ox, the bad luck seems to take a rest for right now. We have wonderful lettuce (5 cts. per head), radishes (5 cts. per bundle), peas ($1 per ‘spint’ [pint?]), asparagus, carrots (2 cts. per piece), and cabbage (12 cts. per head).

I have only a few left from the trees and plants you sent to me to Barnstable. A fire red honeysuckle blossoms for four weeks already so bright, as I never saw before. The only vine I still have made a 16 foot long shoot last summer. Henry has a peach tree, which is only one year old and blossomed already.

May 3:I close the letter as I don’t want you to wait so long. May our Lord help, that your next letter does not announce another misfortune. If you can answer me at once, I would like you to send me one lot Asiatic lettuce, two lot big round Magdeburg cabbage, 1/2 lot early black-red cabbage, one lot medium sized hard German or Lübsdor and one lot pointed Windelsteiner. Put the seeds into small capsules into a letter and give or mail it to Robert Slomann in Hamburg and ask him to put it into the mail sack of the earliest ship going to N.Y. Stick the enclosed stamps on the envelope, one for each ‘lot.’ [‘Lot’ was a German weight — M. Camphäusen. … About one oz, more or less—LPM.] If I should make use of the seeds, it is necessary for me to get them in August. Last date is the beginning of September.

Mr. Ferdinand Karck, N.Y.

May 28, 1855.

On April 16 of this year I sent you a few lines and included a money order for $15 for Mr. Hahn, which I asked you to collect for me. Having received no answer yet, I would like to ask you whether Mr. Hahn has paid the money to you and I would to ask you to send it to me by mail (after having deducted the amount I owe you).

Respectfully ….

Mr. Fr. Meissner, 169 Front Street, N.Y., Box 3028 [Maybe a box intended for F.A.M. was sent to another person named Friedrich Meissner?].

J., May 28, 1855.

I received your kind letter. The gentlemen W.F. & Co. informed me about it some time ago and offered themselves to take care for this affair for me, but I did not hear any more about it. The small box with the Daguerreotypes has been sent to me by Adams Express. Only the shovels are missing now, which have a particular shape, as the same in the region of Holstein, where they are used to dig out the roots of the trees (Here they are used to dig up the small palm trees) and I hope they will be of good service to me.

As I have no friends in Germany I could turn to, I take liberty to ask you to remind Mr. Schmidt of them occasionally. I am a farmer, own a farm near J., was born in Schönbach in the Oberlausitz, where my father and grandfather were ministers. I have not found my name in America anywhere, with the exception that I read yours a few times in the German letter list. It would be a pleasure for me to extend our acquaintance.

Respectfully ….

Mr. Ferdinand Karck, Consul of Hamburg in N.Y.

July 3, 1855.

In spite of all the search, it is impossible for me to find your letter in which you billed me for your expenses. I remember, however, very well that I read it, when I wrote my last letter to you and that your expenses amounted to $4 and a few cents, so that they should be paid by $5.00. I want to thank you for your kindness you bestowed upon me at any time and if wind and weather allow it (as the fisher is used to say, from which the farmer is as much dependent as they,) I will try to fill your table next Christmas with the favorite dish of Hamburg — young May peas. Asking for your further sympathy, I sign ….

If I would not be afraid to appear immodest, I would like to make again use of your kindness. I namely received in February of this year three shovels from Hamburg with the ‘Copernicus’ [ship?] and as I did not want to trouble you with this trifle I addressed them to Mr. Jos. Grive, who was the agent for the ‘Jacksonville Packets [boats? — LPM],’ at the time I ordered the shovels. When the shovels arrived, the ‘Packets’ had gone out of business. Mr. Jos. Grive transferred the care of things to Mr. U.T. Schmidt. You can learn the details from the enclosed letter which I ask you to either send it to Mr. S., or — if it’s not too much trouble for …

 … you, to tell him at the same time that you want to meet his demands for me.

Mr. Ferd. Karck, N.Y.

Sep. 3, 1855.

I answered your letter of June 18 on July 5, and included some lines to Mr. W.F. Schmidt & Co. As I have had a reply neither from you nor from Mr. Schmidt, I take the liberty to ask you whether you received my letter.

Respectfully … .

Revd. Mr. Frier, Clyattville, Lowndes County, Georgia.

10 Oct 1855 [excerpt].

Dear Sir, You remember, I hope, the German who you was pleased to pay a visit … I wish you would please to introduce me to your wife and daughter Sarah Ann with who I have not the pleasure to be acquainted. Miss Dowling tells me that you have plenty wool and Mrs. Frier, your daughters Miss Sarah and Mary know how to spin and knit the same. The winter is approaching and the stockings for sale in town are not worth buying, so I take the liberty to ask you if not Miss Sarah or Mary will take the trouble to knit for myself and my son Henry some good stockings … I enclose Four Dollars. [Sent apparently but delayed in mail — probably received finally.].

Mr. F. Karck, N.Y.

Jacks., Oct 22, 1855.

On Sept 22, I took liberty to remind you of my letter of July 5. I did not hear from you nor from Mr. W.F. Schmidt, to whom I enclosed some lines in your letter, since that time.

Mr. Schmidt & Co. offered themselves to take out a little package, containing three spades or shovels for me from the Custom House, and I asked you to compensate Mr. S. for his expenses which he had while doing so. As I found your two lost letters concerning the certificate I sent to you again, I can tell you exactly the expenses you billed me for:

Expense for the notary, $1.50; Consul $2.00; Postage, $0.60; Other postage, $0.40; [Total: ] $4.50.

Hoping soon to hear from you again, I sign ….

To Karoline Gerstenberg.

Oct. 22, 1855.

Dear Lina! As I have heard from somebody that you expected your delivery in May, and as your letter made me wait too long, I was worried already very much about you. I was therefore the more surprised to see that everything went fine and I hope that your children will have come safely past the whooping cough. I have had this autumn again two ugly fever attacks. The last one keeps me still in my room. Henry suffered too, but not as bad.

I finally received your picture. Freight and expenses amounted to 20 [F?] in your currency. I have not received yet the spades from N.Y., although I wrote already about 20 letters on their account.

I received your last letter in the middle of Sept., and as a long lasting heat wave and drought had ruined all my cabbage, your seeds came like from Heaven. German and Magdeburg cabbage …

 … did well, the lettuce did not come [up] at all and the other kinds only very weakly. I am curious how big the Cretan cabbage is going to be. Your picture is a great joy for me, but I would not have recognized you on the first look. However, the longer I look at it now, the more familiar it seems to me. One can read from your son’s face how surprised he is about it all. I would like to send you our pictures, but there is no photographer here and beside—I want to recover first a little.

You did not get me right about the stamps. I concluded that you would make letter and seeds into a small package and to put on a stamp for every ‘lot.’ The letter alone would have needed only one stamp. I received it however without further expenses.

So James Booth died. You did never mention anything about Heidenes either as little as you mention your husband. If your son would not prove the contrary, I should believe you won’t have one any more. What is the name of your oldest son? I can find his name in no letter. [Heinrich, b. abt. 1849? — LPM].

You don’t seem to want to make use from my offer to look upon me as your friend. You don’t mention anything about your family life. Is the place still in your husband’s name and how are you able to make a living and pay the interest? Already 10 years have passed since I left Hamburg and we never talked about business. Does my money still stand there where it stood, did you take on a greater mortgage, or did you pay part of it off, do I lose some of my rights if I demand no interest? I would like to know very much about this and I ask you to get the information for me, if you yourself don’t know about it.

Mr. Daniels, St. Johns Mill near Jacksonville.

25 Oct 1855 [excerpt].

… I will sell you my farm for $500 — viz., $400 I owe on a mortgage, $14 interest, [$86 otherwise: ] my little part for my improvements.

Mr. Ferdinand Karck, N.Y.

Jacks., Nov. 19, 1855.

I have received your letter of Nov. eight and I am very obliged to you for the trouble you took, to learn something about my package. Concerning the alleged expenses of Mr. Schmidt, I cannot understand very well in what they should consist. If Adams & Co. accepted the package, they have to pay also the freight and Custom House taxes and as Mr. Schmidt, after having made the offer to take care for the things, left me entirely in uncertainty about it all, I feel myself at no rate obliged to him. Would you please [be] so kind as to send me my assets of $10 in S. Carolina money by mail, and credit the cents for the postage expenses you had a short time ago.

Continuation of Lina’s letter, November [1855].

I just heard from N.Y. that the shovels got lost in the Custom house. — I have planted already 1000 plants from the cabbage seeds you sent me and I have at least still the same amount.

The enclosed printed piece of paper is from a medicine which has often helped me. You should be able to get the prescription for it from Dr. Jessen. Hufland was a famous German doctor, and probably Mr. Jessen has his writings and the prescription in them. You would do me a great favor by doing so, but the names of the single ingredients have to be written down clearly and the quantity has to be shown not by the usual Dr. signs but by distinct words.

Although I don’t have much to spare, as my continuing sickness has put me far behind, I cannot miss the pleasure to make you a small joy for Christmas — for every one of you — and for me, too, namely the thought how happy your children will be. Farewell, your Father ….

Mr. Ferdinand. Karck, N.Y.

Jacks., Dec., 1855.

Today I have the pleasure to send you a small box of May peas by steamer Carolina to Charleston, care of steamboat agent, and I ask you to have them called for in the steamboat office in N.Y. Wishing you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year, I remain ….