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Friedrich A. Meissner Letters
Compiled by Loren P. Meissner
Preface: What have we here?
My great-grandfather, Friedrich Adolf Meissner, was
born December 27, 1804 at Schonbach near Lobau in the Saxon Oberlausitz hill
country east of
At about age 19, Friedrich A. Meissner went to
On 23 Feb 1838, a son (her fourth child) was born to one Doris Sennewald, who seems to have been a close friend of F.A.M., and who was perhaps his mistress. F.A.M. may have been the father of this child, Georg Heinrich Sennewald or Meissner. At this time, Karoline was 11 years old.
In 1843, with the help of Georg Gerstenberg and others,
F.A.M. built a large brick house in Kummerfeld near
Doris Sennewald, now widowed, accompanied F.A.M. to
In June 1858, F.A.M. married Eva Dorothea Krauss (or
Krauss), a 21-year-old German girl who had come to
Daughter Dora (Dorathea) remained on the farm until her
death in 1946. August (the last surviving child) sold the farm, reserving the
plot where F.A.M., Eva, Carl, and Dora are buried. August and his wife
Some of the material was in diary form, but the most
valuable by far consisted of several books that contain copies of letters
written by FAM from about 1847 until his death in 1899. Much of the material is
in German, in old-style script handwriting. I was fortunate to obtain the
services of a well-qualified translator, Mrs. Martina Camphausen of
Martina Camphausen made a rough but generally accurate translation of the books of letters, and of some loose letters that were in the box as well. Her English language proficiency was quite adequate but, since I was paying her by the hour, we agreed that she should attempt only a quick translation with no attempt to polish the English text. In the following transcription, I have corrected a few of the most obvious translation errors but in the earlier parts I have made no attempt to eliminate the vestiges of German word order.
In March 1961, at the suggestion of Mrs. Stephen, I donated the box of papers to the Wisconsin State Historical Society. I also loaned the translations to the Society. The original papers, along with microfilms of the translations, as well as some other records (not donated by me) of FAM's public service in Wisconsin as Postmaster and Justice of the Peace, are now filed at the La Crosse Research Center of the University of Wisconsin.
The purpose of the present transcription is to provide better access to the letters that were written in German and translated by Mrs. Camphausen. In addition, some excerpts from the English language letters recorded in the same books, and some loose letters received by F.A.M. that do not appear in the books, are included here for continuity.
Here numbers in brackets <T123> refer to page
numbers in Martina Camphausen's translation. In case of any question concerning
the present transcription, these numbers may be used to identify the
corresponding microfilmed translation pages at
-Loren P.
Meissner Kensington, California 1999
FAM Letter Copies, Book 1: Apr. 1843 to Sep. 1865
Contract: H. Mohr, F.A.M., etc.
<T372> [Loose document.].
17 April 1843.
Under today's date the following building contract has been decided-carefully planned-between the gardener F.A.M. and the Master Mason Heinrich Mohr.
The mason obliges himself to construct the building according to a sketch or directions of the builder, and to do all the necessary work, and to be so far ready with this matter by Johannis [midsummer] of this year (1843) that the building can be moved into. The cellar and the "Wistenkuhle" are supposed to be ready latest in two weeks after 'Date', and the surrounding walls in four weeks after the signing of this contract.
<T373> F.A. Meissner obligates himself to pay to the Mason Mohr for the work done, to pay three [M?] four {SS?], in writing: Three Mark four [SS?] for each 1000 of red or loam stones used, for which Mr. Mohr also agrees to take over the worker's work, the preparing of the loam and chalk as well as cleaning and putting them in. Meissner has to buy all materials, and has to have them any time ready for use on the place.
Mr. Mohr can use the logs lying on the building ground for the necessary scaffolds, but only in case these won't be damaged thereby and made worthless for their original purpose.
Meissner does the construction of the basement according to Mr. Mohr's instructions, and Mr. Mohr makes him responsible for at least one year after the building is finished that the house won't have any tears or the place breaks down.
When the building is put up Meissner will pay Mr. Mohr half of the amount of the accomplished mason work, the other half is paid after all masonic works are finished on time and according to contract, including cleaning and jointing.
Michaelis of this year is the latest date when all mason works are to be finished, and the building is to be delivered. If this is not the case, the builder is entitled to have the building finished at Mr. Mohr's expense.
So done in
Kummerfeld, April 17, 1843.
H. Mohr,
Master Mason.
F.A.
Meissner, Joachim Huijldorn, Georg Gerstenberg.
1 [M?] received on June 6 of this year. M. Mohr.
On 23 Oct. 40 [SS?] paid according to receipt.
On March 25th, 3o [SS?] received. Mohr.
According to agreement the remainder was paid by two loads of peat.
[LPM Note: This house was occupied by FAM, and later by his daughter Karoline who married Georg Gerstenberg. The house was still standing in Kummerfeld and was occupied by descendants of Karoline when Loren Meissner Jr. visited there about 1974.].
=
From: G.F. Meissner; To: F.A.M.
<T370> [Loose letter. FAM immigrated to
From Uncle G.F. Meissner, Pirna, July 1, 1845.
To Friedrich
Adolph Meissner, Kummerfeld uber Hamburg near Pinneberg,; Franco Hamburg.
Dear Nephew. It was known to me, that my brother Ernest
Friedrich Meissner, who was minister in Schonbach, left two sons behind, also
that you both are supposed to be in
From us sisters and brothers Wilhelm Friedrich is still
alive and the Pilliteno Caren [Is this an official position?-LPM] in
I recommend myself to you and your wife (which I don't know), and remain your.
Uncle Friedrich Gotthelf Meissner, who loves you.
Pirna, July 1, 1845.
=
From: F.A.M.; To: Rupert Day.
[First letter in book] <Written in English.> Mr. Rupert Day, Woodwardsville, Essex Co., N.Y.
I ame waiting for som letters from Germane who will be
directet to Woodwardsville, please tell the postmaster to send him to West
Barnstable Mass wher i living now. I have a very good farm of 50 achers all
level no stones, and good soil, i have a good pair oxen and four excellent
cows. I planted two acres corn one acre Potatoes and seedet three acres
buckwheat, there is her a first rate market every produce sells for cash, hay
for 15$ at the barn, butter 25 cts and so vegetabilien and everything. Whe
living close on the road where the stage from
As we like the country so mutch we dont like the people as well as to Woodwardsville and talken oft from you and all our friends there please tell him all our best respect. I hope you will give me a answer lat me know how it goes there is anny body commen to Mr. Mullers farm, if it is a german tell me his name and contry. Is Andrew Stivens gone?
The season is very mutch back her, i hope you and your family all well, my best respect to your father the old working man.
Agreement: Peter O. Muller and F.A.M.
<T382> [Loose document.].
12 April 1843.
The rental contract between Peter O. Muller in
F.A. Meissner returns the rented farm, which is in Essex [County], with the improvements, stocks, and inventory listed in Attachment A, to Peter O. Muller and agrees to make no further demands to Peter O. Muller other than those that can be deducted from the said rental contract.
Peter O. Muller receives the furniture as well as the improvements, stocks, and inventory listed in Attachment A, which F.A. Meissner had rented, and declares hereby to have received his assets of $408.48 according to Attachment B, with interest. He receipts over the full amount and loses all demands to F.A. Meissner that could be deducted from the said rental contract.
The farm has to be vacated by F.A. Meissner by May 1, but has to be managed until this date with unselfish care for Mr. Peter O. Muller's interest.
Attachment A:
About three acres of cultivated land, in which 100 loads of dung were put in the year 1846.
An improved cow stable, which was also enclosed by a stone wall.
5,000 cubic feet of hay from which until May 1 the cattle will be fed.
4 tons of straw, more or less, some of which will be spread until May 1.
1 stack clover seeds, 50 bushels more or less.
All things there, 100 loads more or less.
Two cows; one black bull, two black ... [?]; three sheep; 18 hens & one cock; one dog and two cats.
One sled and box; one plow and two blades; one harrow; one harness; two yokes; two halters; one stirring wheel; one butt with ... [?]; one barn ladder; two flails; one stone fork; one bush ... [?]; four rakes; one basket for carrying things; five sacks.
<T383> One hay tree; two heuray [harrow?]; two hay forks; one scythe; one sickle; one grindstone; one honey wagon; two brushes; one curry comb; three curry combs for the cow; one rope; three pig bowls; one ... [?]; one iron rake; two potato rakes; four sowing boxes; one stretcher; one garden ... [?]; one axe; one hatchet; one saw; one saw stand; one ... [?]; three ropes; one iron ... [?]; one chisel; one drill; two nail drills; one hole drill; one measuring stick; one drilling bench; one ... [?]; one grindstone with two ... [?]; three boxes of iron nails; one milk pail; eight milk cans; one milking stool; one cream spoon; one ... [?]; three bill books.
One table; seven chairs; three benches; one washstand & bench; one washbowl; three meat tons [?]; four meat bowls; four ... [?]; eight bottles; one copper teakettle; two metal scales; two metal pots; one metal pan; one basket; one stovepipe five yards long; one big boiler; one water pail; four beds; two mousetraps.
Attachment B:
1845: Nov. 5: beer [?] $150; Nov. 16: one [?] $9; Febr. 32 [1846?] 32 tons of hay, Micks [?].
1846: Jan 16: hay straw micks [?] $42.76; April 6: {?} $150; April 12: Radcliff $12.67; Dec. 30: from the same $25.05.
1847: March 13, wood to 24,000 shingles: $3
F.A. Meissner; Mr. Peter O. Muller
=
From: Doris Sennewald; To: F.A.M.
<T371> [Loose letter. After living for "one summer and two winters " in upstate New York, FAM went to make arrangements for moving to Mass. William, the oldest son of Doris, went with him.]
From "Doris Meissner," Johanna Friedericka
Doris Runtzler Sennewald, b. abt 1812? To: Mr. F.A. Meissner, care of Mr.
Walter, n. 154 Wall St., New York City. Care of W. Peter Muller, Importing
Merchant,
Woodwardsville, April 16, 1847.
Dear sweet, good Father. In my thoughts I often give
you a kiss, and more than one. If I say 100, I don't say a lie. Only the
thought of embracing you soon in my arms can soothe my sorrow. So far I was
unable to sleep yet any night in peace, because I cannot have you in my arms.
It is a great reassurance for me to know you are all healthy and happy. My dear
good Papa, the children, and I speak the whole day of you. Now you must know
that I wrote every day something to you, dear sweet man. Boredom or impatience
or-I don't know how to name it-force me every day to write, but maybe if I
would know how you are I would not be so uncertain. You cannot imagine what is
always spoken here, one says we'll go to N.Y., the other: "We are ready
for
The weather is very changeable: Tuesday, the 6th: snow, hail, and rain. Friday, the 9th: bright sunshine. Saturday, 10th: awful snowstorm, so vehement, that we always think the house breaks down. Sunday, the 11th: it froze very hard, and around noon the sun came out. I have to tell you about our domestic life: we get up at five in the morning, feed the cows, Henry brushes the calves, and I do the same with the cows. My chickens are lazy, sometimes one, two, five eggs is the most we get.
Mr. Tortsch offered me his chickens; he sold already his cows, calves, and oxen.
On the 12th: we got again snow, and had to dig our way out to get to the stables. On the 13th: hard frost. Sun around noon which thawed a little bit. <T372> On the 14th: beautiful sunshine. Around four or five o'clock in the morning Trina got a cow [heifer-LPM] calf. We cleaned out the stable, and tied it there. I nearly entirely forgot that our little pig died on the 13th in the morning. All our care was in vain. It was all well till Sunday. When I called for it, it came running at once. Monday morning its legs were stiff, and so it was unable to walk any more.
Dear sweet Papa! You maybe wonder over my mixture. When I get impatient with my work I sit down and write a few lines, in order to talk to you for a few moments.
On the 15th: hard frost, also on the 16th. This morning old Mr. Day visited us, and said he could not remember in his 73 years that there was ever snow at this time of the year as now.
My dear good Papa. I received your letter on the 16th. You write that they want to have us all. That is sure good, but I think you will know best how it is there, and whether it will be best for us, to get land or not. If you won't get any it might be as well as good. Do what you think best. Maybe we can plant potatoes.
Give William the regards of us all. The children greet and kiss you. You wrote to kiss the children from you. I did it but your Henry did not want to. I am so happy that you are well-if I could only believe it. We are-God be thanked-also all well, only the food won't taste right to me.
Well, Papa, farewell, and don't forget to love your
=
From: F.A.M.; To: Christian Schmidt.
<T1> To:Mr. Christian Schmidt, Lower Red Hook, Dutchess Co, and N.Y.
Dear friend. You must not be mad at me, that I did not write yet to you about our new home, or better, "working-place," (as we are here on this earth to work. One has to work his whole life in order to live, until everything is finally over. When I was still at home I made plans and plans, but now I see only the little success, that arose from them.).
We arrived here finally May 15 after a long and hard journey, and had-as you can imagine-a lot to work. We have about two acres wheat, one acre planted with potatoes, and nine acres with different kinds of lentils sowed on them.
I am very satisfied with the farm, and it is the best
in the whole neighborhood. Altogether there are about 50 acres, 16 of which are
meadows bordering the garden. They are divided into parts with three to five
acres each. The soil is mostly loam without any stones. In the distance-from a
low sand hill one can see the ships in the ocean going by, and the stage from
In case you should once ever have difficulties with Mr.
Radcliff (one never knows, you know!), our house is always open to you. You can
take the railroad from
Please give my regards to Mr. Radcliff, and tell him that I often thought of him when I thought of the high cost of living, and I was glad for him that he was so successful.
My wife and children send their regards also, and we all would be very happy if you could once come to us.
=
From: F.A.M.; To: Karoline Gerstenberg.
To Karoline Gerstenberg.
I have received your letter, which I longed to see with impatience, and I saw from it that you went along with the fashion and got married. May your choice be a happy one.-I had always believed that a girl like Lina Meissner with such a beautiful house and business as I left to you, would get a husband with some money. Diligence and good will are not always sufficient. Your debts would have been paid up, and you would have had a carefree life. And your father would still have the hope of ever getting some land of his own and spend there his old days instead of always having to work for <T3> strange people. As easy as it is here to acquire land, one still needs always cash for it, and without money one can do nothing. I have changed my home this spring, and moved 400 miles closer to you. I only cultivate half of my farm. It is situated very near the ocean, and from a sand hill we can watch the ships go by in the distance.
We had a very bad time this spring: one box seed cost
[?], and one box potatoes $1. I know very well that I owe Mr. Gatiens nothing,
also I paid off Paul Schluter, but I cannot remember Heinrich Schluter any
more. Through the change of my situation the amount of money I want of you has
changed also. For this reason I enclose some lists, but you have to send it at
any rate still this fall or else it will arrive too late. As I wrote you
earlier-you have to send it to
I wish you and your husband a happy life.
With greetings, Your Father.
I hope my letter may reach you while you are still well and healthy. I nearly passed away during the last hard heat wave. I have already mowed nine acres and have still to mow 11 acres of wheat, while I had to mow in Kummerfeld not even a small meadow myself.
=
From: F.A.M.; To: Christian Schmidt.
<T4> To:Mr. Christian Schmidt-Lower Red Hook, Dutchess Co, N.Y.
You promised in your last letter to write to me again, as soon you would have received news from your mother. You must not yet have had this joy, as so far I have not heard from you again. We enjoyed hearing of the pleasure which your lover's letter caused, and we wish you from deep in our hearts that you may have the luck of embracing your lover 'in person.'.
So far the work was still always urgent, so that I often thought and sometimes spoke of you, but did not get around to write to you.
Besides me and my family, a Scotsman and a Dutchman are
the only friends around here. The Scotsman has a young wife and no children
yet, but expecting daily a newcomer. He has been a manager in his homeland. My
boss brought him here last winter from
You better hurry up and get yourself a wife. So you can start your own business, and you don't have to slave as you do now.
We have earned this summer not more but our food. This will you not surprise too much as you know how many mouths I have to feed, and we arrived only March 15th here. Everything I sowed and planted thrived quite well, only my potatoes were nearly all spoilt. I have sowed this autumn four acres barley and one acre wheat, and I hope to have some save money next year.
<T5> I could be satisfied with my present position if it would not be for the owner of the farm. He is such a wretched fellow, a hungry wolf in sheep skin, who always sneaks around and waits for an opportunity, but so far he could not find anything wrong yet.
We are all still well, and hope to hear soon the same from you.
Best wishes to you from my wife and children. F.A.M.
=
From: Doris Sennewald; To: Mr. Merkel.
To Mr. Master Weaver Merkel, Foreman in the Workhouse,
Braunstra?e 44 in
[from Doris Sennewald aka Mrs. F.A. Meissner.].
Dear Mr. M. As we still think so often of you and your
dear wife, and talk about you, we cannot believe that you have already entirely
forgotten about us, and we want to ask you through this letter to let us please
know all about you. Are you still well? How are Franz, Ernst, Franziska, and
Heinrich, and all the others, which arrived in the meantime, doing? Is the
workhouse still as it was? Is Mr. Dietrich still alive? And Mr. Schmesel and
Mr. Ludwig? How are Aunt Schmidt and husband, and Margraf with his young wife
and children? By the way, I would like to ask your dear wife to do me a favor,
and visit my sister Lina or Betty, and tell them how they can stand it to let
me go for such a long time without news from them. We have written to them a
year a go, and have not received an answer yet. Is that right? I would like to
know, too, how Mrs. Geisger and her little Luise are doing? We have heard a lot
about high prices and a famine in the inland. Did
We are luckily all healthy and well. Henry had the bad luck to break both his legs the first summer. He had to stay in bed for seven weeks, but now he is entirely all-right again.
<T6> William did not grow very much in height, but he is very strong. He has worked already very nice this summer. Minna [Wilhelmine-LPM] has grown quite a bit, and Lons [Leonore-LPM] is still the fattest of them all.
When we arrived in
The children go now to school. They speak already
English quite well; I also am doing pretty fine, and go along fine with it. The
weather here is nearly the same as near
Best regards from all of us to you and your dear wife. Have a nice time and gratify us please soon by writing to us.
Your friends in
... Although we did not make any more last year than
what we needed for ourselves (we arrived here only May 15th), we hope very much
to save some money this year. When we will have made enough money we want to go
west and buy us a place of our own. There one can buy 80 acres of the finest
and most fertile land for 100 dollars or 350 Mk, for what one has to pay only
one to two [Mk?] taxes per year. In the place we are living right now the farms
are as expensive as near
[Continuation on page <T8>]: Life is here so
different from that in
== Dear Sisters!
You will receive these few lines through Mrs. Merkel
which I asked to visit you and to let me know how you are doing, as I don't
have received any answer to our letter yet. Have you already forgotten your
sister? Let us please know how you are doing. We have moved to another place.
So please address your letter, if you write, to F.A.M., West B.,
=
From: F.A.M.; To: Christian Schmidt.
<T7> To Mr. Christian Schmidt, Red Hook, D. Co, N.Y.
Dear friend. I have received your dear letter, and I
want to thank you very much for your friendly wishes towards the New Year. We
are all well, and live very happy in the circle of our family. I want to wish
you the same happiness of contentment at home. It is therefore my deepest wish
and best advice for you, that you may get married very soon. But that is not
easy to say. It all depends on good luck. The smartest one sometimes is cheated
most. I read from your letter that you cannot make up your mind, and I can
imagine very well how you must be feeling. In your last but one letter you were
so happy to have received a letter from your girl from
<T8> Did you not receive any letter from your mother, yet? You want to know whether you could find a job here. I am convinced, that-with or without wife-you would find an opportunity. The details cannot be decided in advance.
I have no use for Radcliff's farm as I have rented here for three years.
Best regards from my wife. We look forward to hear from you.
Your F.A.M.
=
From: F.A.M.; To: Christian Schmidt.
To Mr. Christian Schmidt, Red Hook.
W.B. February 4, 1848.
Dear Friend! I have received your letter of Jan 16. You probably have received mine at about the same time. We all were glad over your decision to look for a job around here. Your wish has been mine one, too, since a long time. I have already some prospects, but nothing for certain yet. As much as I have heard about salaries: $12 per month for a whole year, or $16 for nine summer months are normal, in the last year even 18 and $20 were sometimes paid. Please write to me as soon as possible, whether you will be coming for sure, and for which price I shall make a contract for you. I will then have it announced in the newspaper, and I am sure to find a job for you, as the Germans have a good name around here.
I am in not as bad a situation as you as I have a family, but I still long very much for a friend. One can never trust the Yankees-they always keep you in their minds. Therefore, dear friend, put your decision into reality. My wife and my children are all very happy that you are going to be close to us. Please give me soon an answer.
Best regards.
Sincerely yours.
=
From: F.A.M.; To: Karoline Gerstenberg.
<T9> To Karoline Gerstenberg, Kummerfeld near
March first 1848.
Dear Lina! I received your letter of April 1847 in the beginning of July and I answered it in August. You promised to send me different kinds of seeds and as these are of great value to me, I am very sad to see my expectations deceived. I have to believe that you neglected your promise or that at least you tried successfully not to answer my letter. Therefore I will not address this letter to you and I hope for an answer soon (it is too late now for the seeds!) in order to get rid of this uncomfortable business.
I have changed my home as you will have saw from my
last letter and my present address is:
When I have recovered a little and will have a better footing here, I am sure to have the opportunity to make business with you, which could be advantageous for both parts. You could sell here all the things you could not get rid of at home, like fruit trees and berry bushes are rare here. If I am receiving a satisfactory answer soon I might put up a big order for the autumn.
Best wishes to your husband and to all my friends.
Your Father Reim. [??].
=
From: F.A.M.; To: Johann Gottlieb Ullrich.
To Mr. Johann Gottlieb Ullrich in Ottsmarschen near Altona.
Dear Ullrich! The wish to hear from you and your family reminds me of my duty to write to you about how I am doing now and how I did in the past. First I want to ask you to forgive me for departing without saying goodbye to you and I am convinced, that you won't think bad of me when I remind you of my troublesome, even desperate situation at that time.
Our sea voyage was not too fast. It took us seven
weeks. But we felt very lucky to cross the ocean with our old ship and to
arrive at New York's harbor without accident, and the joy of entering the so
longed for country made us quickly forget all the troubles with which such a
journey is usually accompanied. N.Y. has grown a lot in the last years that it
is nearly impossible to reach its end by foot. <T10> Hundreds of buses
cover the main streets. Besides these, railway tracks in all directions with
hourly trains are there, and on the streets are such masses of people that one
who was used to move around in
The stranger feels entirely lost in such a town and I claimed myself very lucky to be able to leave that town after a 14 day long stay. A salesman of N.Y. gave me the management of his farm 200 English miles towards the north. The farm consists in 1500 acres, divided into smaller parts, 200 to 300 acres of which are cleared, but the remains are still forests. I received $300 as working capital and the net profit of the farm (after expenses for our food and the farm were deducted) was supposed to be divided between me and the owner. This seemed to me a pretty good contract, but the situation and conditions planned it different. The region was too cold, the soil too strong, and the market too far away. Woodwardsville was cleared very much 20 to 30 years ago, but since that time people moved away, the huts declined, as their former inhabitants moved westward. I stayed there for one summer and two winters and I was very glad when I was could say good-bye to this place again.
I now live in a cultivated region in the state
In springtime a lot of herrings come with the flood nearly to my door and in winter we catch in the ditches between the meadows. The main product here is corn [grain?-LPM]. I have four cows and two oxen and have to pay the half of everything I raise to the owner as lease. The milk of my cow and the vegetables I need are not included in this contract.
The state
Now, my dear Ullrich, please do me the favor and let me know very soon about you. Please send my regards to your sister, Madame Hasse and ask her in my name to write once to me. Please great my brother and Betty and tell them they should once write to me, too. Give them my address. I have written last summer to Kummerfeld, but I have received no answer yet. I know that Lina got married. How is business going?
Farewell and keep me as your friend in your memory.
=
From: F.A.M.; To: Christian Schmidt.
To Mr. Christian Schmidt, Lower Red Hook, Dutchess Co, N.Y.
March 6, 1848.
Dear friend! My expectations to hear from you after my
two long letters have been always disappointed (as often as I have asked at the
post-office!) and I just cannot explain your long silence. We are already
worried that something of bad luck might have happened to you. I have found for
you a job, which is in my opinion very good. <T12> The work is easy and
the payment about $150 per year and very secure; what the main point is.
Canisius Barrat is one of the richest men of this region and the job is generally
considered very good. He lives about five miles from my house in a little
friendly town,
=
From: F.A.M.; To: Senas D. Basset.
<Written in English.> Mr. Senas D. Basset Esq. Hyannis.
Sir. Mr. John Barker Crocker informed me you wanted to hire my friend and countryman Mr. C. Schmidt now at Red-Hook Dutchess Co., N.Y. I have written to him about it today and shall communicate his answer to you as soon as possible.
respectfully, your obedient servant.
=
From: F.A.M.; To: Senas D. Basset.
<Written in English.> Mr. Senas D. Basset Esq. Hyannis.
Sir! It is not my fault that you have to wait as long for a answer, i only received a letter by the yesterdays mail of Mr. Schmidt, by who he wreite my that he agreet to stay som time longer by his master-.
If Mr. Crockers creditors take posess of his farm after the court held to Barnstable in the beginning of next month i shall be myself without employment and i should estimate me very happy to work for you, as i ame a gardener of profession i hope i should suit you.
Respectfully your obedient servant.
=
From: F.A.M.; To: Christian Schmidt.
Mr. Christian Schmidt, Red Hook, D. Co, N.Y.
W.B. May 17, 1848.
Dear friend! Around the 6th of this month I wrote to you and told you that I found a job for you with a salary of approximately $150. In my opinion this is a very fine job. I waited for your immediate answer whether you were going to accept this offer or not, but 11 days have passed already since and I have heard nothing from you, yet. As I received no answer either to my last two letters I cannot explain your silence any more and therefore I am going to address this letter to the Postmaster of R.H. with the request to let me know whether you are still alive.
=
From: F.A.M.; To: Mss. Martha & Abigail Crocker.
<Written in English.> To:Mss. Martha & Abigail Crocker by theirs attorney Mr. R.F. Crocker.
Sir! I have the pleasure to hand you the account of boarding due to me by cancellation of the Knowen lease, and demand the value of, befor we proceed farther.
F.A. Meissner.
[bill shows $330.75 for board on trip and including 49 wks. six days @ $6; less $8 received May 10 1858].
=
From: F.A.M.; To: Mss. Martha & Abigail Crocker.
<Written in English.> Petition to Mss. Martha
& Abigail Crocker owners of a certain farm at
Honorable Ladies! The petitioner who rented your farm
at Great-Marshes for three years, following the first of May 1847, by a
agreement dated
-Notwithstanding the sowing time was past there was not work of any description done on your farm, the fences being down the cattle run at large over the hole promisse, the fields who has not received any manure in the last two years abundant with sorrel blackberry-vines and other briers.
-I began to work put as it was to late to do much for this season i worked for the following years. i understand very shoon that i has to do with a cold and sour soil, i layed my fields in ridges, ploughed three and four times to make the soil mellow and to enrich him by the influence of the atmosphere, i tok great care to make manure, for that purpose i fed all my hay what i could have sold to the cattle, i ditched the lower part of the orchard and carted the mud on the upper part, carted sand and clay, and clay on sand-soil, shortly, i dont worked like the common farmers in this country i used all the means of improved farming and all the help of my whole family, Ms. Meissner, two industrious boys and two girls (the later alone picket eight cart loads small stones up), we all worked steady and hard to accomplish our destiny.
One year has past, put on the very day as i was, one year ago, introduced to a wilderness, and the same farm who at this period could not support his laborer, shows a verry different view and promissed a tenfold increase.
If you will please to inspect your property you will find: near the house a small nice garden united with some other improvements, the fields will show you: four acres of Ry not surpassed on Cape-Cod, three acres of Oats, two acres of Corn, 1-1/2 acre with Potatoes, 3/4 acre prepared for Cabbage. The land has received 175 cartloads manure and from 30 to 40 loads more will be carted out in a few days.
Now i shall leave the farm leave all my work leave all my hope, after i expended my last cent for the support of my family and my self, at present where it is to late for a farmer, it is hard it is horrible!
-Why could i not stay to autumn if i may not stay till the expiration of my lease, it would by as well to your interest as to my own, perhaps Mr. Crocker calculates to have the harvest allone, but he will not be able to take care of the crops and you will lose more by waste as you will gain by this unfair way.
You may say we dont know anything about farming we commit the hole business to our brother, but he acts in your name, you will be, if not lawful but moral, answerable to his deeds, if you know that he is in your name to deprive a family of her earnings and dont hinder it you will be guilty your self.
But I shall never belief that you will consent to my ruin i ame told that you both very noble-minded ladies i pray to you let me remain to the first of November next let me have the harvest of my seeds the earnings of my labor. I shall I will not despair, if humanity is expired in som mens breast, she is preserved in females bosom.
=
From: F.A.M.; To: John Percival.
<Written in English.> Commander John Percival Dorchester Mass. [Note: Captain Percival appears in US naval history. A series of USN ships has been named for him.-LPM.].
W.B. May 28 [1848].
Sir! Only for a moment i had the honor to see you last summer by your visit at Mrs. Crockers farm, i ame a stranger in this country, but i feel confidence to you and take the liberty to pray you to further the enclosed petition to Mrs. Martha Crocker, and if it is not against your principle to support its desire. Mr. R.F. Crocker lead by som notion or by som bad consellors want to drive me of, against his one intereste, and you will act as well to his and his sisters profit if you can make understanding him his error, by this you will oblige a family who hope to you as to a father and will thank you as children.
=
From: F.A.M.; To: Mss. Martha & Abigail Crocker.
<Written in English.> To Mss. Martha & Abigail Crocker by theirs attorney Mr. R.F. Crocker.
Sir! I hereby give you notice that i shall not deliver up to you the thirteenth day of June next as requested by you that farm of which i ame in possession by a lease for three years following the first of May 1847, because you have not at present fulfilled the determination of the agreement to cancel this lease.-.
i reserve all my rights given to me by contract under Law but i ame very willingly to settle differences by mutual agreement.
I handed to you account of boarding som time ago of which account i annex a Copie West Barnstable June 6 1848 [Here intervenes an inquiry about some seeds shipped from Germany-LPM.].
=
From: F.A.M.; To: Ms. Martha Crocker.
<Written in English.> Ms. Martha Crocker,
W.B. June 19 1848.
I wrote a letter of petition to you dated May 28 which I am assured was delivered to you by Mrs. Percival, but all my hope of relief from you has been in vain. I have not received an answer. Your brother acts like a devil or insane in your name and if you don't hasten he will succide and blame your honor and wound your heart. I wish to know if you will grant my petition to stay until the harvest is done. I ame unable to writt any more, my mind is as much agitated that i ame sick and confined to bed, so Mrs. Meissner.
=
From: F.A.M.; To: Capt. John Percival.
<Written in English.> Capt. John Percival
Dorchester
W.B. June 19 [1848].
Sir, The kind answer of my letter to you, by Mrs. Percival make me belief that you will have the goodness to direct this letter to Mrs. Martha Crocker. As you will understand my situation you will excuse the trouble made by me to you.
=
From: F.A.M.; To: Capt. John Percival.
<Written in English.> Capt. John Percival
Dorchester
W.B. July 4, 48.
Dear Sir. Your letter, i recived, was a great joy for me my wife and childern, as you was [ill] we feeled much uneasy for your health, and are very glad now to see that you got better.
Your promiss to assist me to buy a farm i accept with a warm thankful heart, and as much as i know my self you shall not be decived, and if not great misfortune should happenen you shall not runn a great risk. Neither of this farms you mentioned to me will suit me very well, the price is to high and the territory to small, i ame most sure bitwin here and auttum to find a place what i shall call a good farm for about 1000 dollars, i want a good soil and as much land to keep a team and som other stock to make manure, i ame not anxious that i shall not prosper, Barnstable is such a good place for farming as i know any where, all produce sell high and som of the soil is productif if worked well, if you help me to the first, the soil, i with my family shall furnish the last, the work, and i ame sure that i shall be able to make a living and to pay interest for the capital, perhaps the first 2-3 years will go a little hard, because every farm you can buy cheap is in a poor condition but i am not affrayed i shall go over that. I feel very happy in my mind an mak calculationen for the best conduct of my farm in hope.
I have looked at a farm who will be sold at auction for debt in course of this summer, he is situated on Hay-Pond four miles from this place and five miles from Sandwich, thereon is a small dwelling house, a good barn and about 100 acre land, including 40 acres Woodland, the soil is good as the Weeds show who grow on, and a small orchard beared last year 30 bu. apples. It is supposed that this farm will sell very cheap. Besides this farm i have som other farms in view and shall tell you about as schoon as i know particulars.
Your good information about going to sea has cured my William perfectly, he works contented by our landlord Mr. Fish for boarding and seven dollar a month, Wilhelmine is very happy by Mrs. Bunsby, Leonore is by Mr. Nathan Schmidt, so my housekeeping is small, and i got my children all close by and see him every day.
I shall follow strict your advice about speaking my views to others, this place is a great place for tales. My wife and children greet you heartily. We dont know how we shall thank you, but you will understand our feelings, accept the best wishes for you and your Mistress happiness from.
Your obedient servant.
F.A.M.
=
From: F.A.M.; To: Capt. John Percival.
<Written in English.> Capt. John Percival
Dorchester
22 Aug 1848 [excerpt].
... Or should you advise me to go west? Perhaps 300 Dollars there would do as well as $1000 here, but by this I should lose many things I have procured this summer for my household.
=
From: F.A.M.; To: Dr. Robert Wesselhoft.
<T12, cont.> To Mr. Robert Wesselhoft,
Dr.-Brattleboro, Windham Co,
W.B. August 24, 1848.
About Sep 21st 1846 I took up my courage to introduce
myself to you by letter. I lived at that time still in Woodwardsville, Essex
Co, N.Y. Your friendly answer was a true holiday for me and my family. One can
only imagine this feeling, who has lived in this country in such a wilderness,
where only unknown sounds hit his ears and his few neighbors are unfeeling,
selfish people. I did not believe I could follow your advice and go west.
Therefore I traveled to N.Y. in the spring of 1847 to look around for a job as
a gardener. Here I got to know Betine Crocker, who rented his farm-situated in
The farm I rented is one of the best around here, although very neglected. Betine Crocker is a cheat, however, who always travels to N.Y., hires there immigrants, has them work for some time for him and cheats them for their salary with the help of the law. A letter of a German girl, who has a good name among all the neighbors, asks: is there no way at all how to get rid of this beast? He transferred his property to his two unmarried sisters. His creditors in N.Y. brought an action against him since years, which attacks the transfer as fraud. But he succeeds always in getting free through bribery.
The corruptibility and injustice of the law courts here in this state surpass all limits, so that it is impossible for somebody without means to get his rights. If one reads besides this in the newspapers all the quarrels and accusations of the opposite candidates for the election of president, so one cannot lose the thought that the American liberty is still far from its goal.
This summer-after the farm was worked up and taken care
for and we were filled with hope for a good crop, Crocker started a row with me
and I thought myself lucky to escape his hands by a meager comparison
[compensation?-LPM] (settlement). But at this occasion I made the acquaintance of
his uncle, Capt. John Percival, U.S. Navy,
But now to the main problem of this letter: my oldest
daughter, a girl of 14, had had her first monthly period nine weeks ago, but
only weakly, after this it did not occur any more. After this she suffered
often under nose-bleeding, since eight days she feels very sick. It started
with nausea, vomiting, and headaches, which passed quite well after the use of
some Schuler tea. She has, however, still continually a stomach ache, sometimes
weaker, sometimes harder, she looks very pale, is tired and helpless, has no
appetite, and is in a bad mood. The tongue seems to be all right and obviously
she has no fever. The doctors around here seem all to be only quacks. I am very
worried about my daughter's health and my wife joins me in my request to you to
give us your kind advice and help. Should you prescribe something, so could I
have it made in
=
From: F.A.M.; To: Capt. John Percival.
<Written in English.> Capt. John Percival
Dorchester
16 Oct 1848 [excerpt].
... Before you buy a place for me I wish to tell as I told you before, that I could not work a farm with success unless I could have the necessary stock or inventory.
=
From: F.A.M.; To: Capt. John Percival.
<Written in English.> Capt. John Percival
Dorchester
7 Nov 1848 [excerpt].
... I have got this morning the resolution of Henry Lawrenz that he will sell to me Beckers Neck for $1250 payable as you proposed.
=
From: F.A.M.; To: Karoline Gerstenberg.
<T14, cont.> To Karoline Gerstenberg in
Kummerfeld near
I answered your letter, in which you informed me about your marriage on August 1st 1847 and I told you that we moved to another place. You don't seem to have this letter of mine received, as your letter dated Nov. 28, 47, which I received only in May of this year, was still addressed to Woodwardsville. You wrote me in your letter that you mailed to me a barrel with seeds, which I have not received so far and I could not either find out anything about it, although I wrote already several times to N.Y. about it. I would have written a lot earlier to you, but I was never sure where I would be the next day. Your worry about us is unnecessary, because here there is nothing-even the emperor has no power.
<T15> If you have received a receipt by Slomann after having given him the barrel with the seeds and if you can write to me, by which ship and at what time you mailed them and to whom in N.Y. they were addressed to-I still might be able to find out about them. Otherwise they are surely lost. I expect your answer with the next steamboat so that I can still use the seeds next spring or else they have lost all of their value to me. The interest you owe me is 121 [S?]. I would like to know very much, how high our bill is and I ask you to let me know about it. I would like it best if you could pay me the capital. I thought earlier to make it easier for you and accept at least part of the money in goods, but the two attempts I tried took all my interest away. But still I would like to give it another try next autumn but only if you have the will of doing it promptly and well. I look forward with desire to your next letter, in which I hope to hear the news, how you are feeling, what your little son is doing, and whether you are happy in your new state. I was ailing nearly all summer long, but now I feel better, since the weather is cooler.
Address your letter to W.B.,
Regards to your husband and to all good friends.
Your father.
=
From: F.A.M.; To: Capt. John Percival.
<Written in English.> Capt. John Percival
Dorchester
12 Nov 1848 [excerpt].
... I confess that the price for Beckers Neck is pretty high but this place has a great many facilities for improvements as it was clearly understood between us before, and I thought as it was your early home it would be some satisfaction to you, to see it flourishing again, and by this I would be enabled to give you some reward for your kindness bestowed upon me.
=
From: Capt. John Percival; To: Mr. Marsten.
<Written in English.> [Memorandum for Mr. Meissner to take to Mr. Marsten: ].
... If Mr. Meissner can be let off from the bargain with H. Lawrence and freed from prosecution for any damages for fifty dollars, I will send a check to your order for the same ... take the deeds of the Whitman place in Meissner's name if you see no objections. I see none, his being an alien will not affect the right of my money.... Percival.
=
From: F.A.M.; To: Secretary of the German Company in N.Y.
<T15, cont.> To the Secretary of the German Company in N.Y.
W.B. Jan 8, 1849.
Dear Sir! Mr. Whitman, the writer of that letter
[enclosed?-LPM], my neighbor, is a wealthy and respected farmer with wife and
four children, who has showed himself towards me very pleasing and unselfish (a
virtue which is rare with the Yankees). For this reason I would be very happy
if his wish (described followingly!) could be fulfilled. I think it to be a
very good opportunity for a fellow countryman just recently arrived here to get
to know the language and customs of this country. The salary-to be sure-is not
to high, but in boarding here washing and mending is included and Mr. Whitman
is willing to raise the salary according to the work next year. The Germans are
very highly respected here, and I dare to ask you to consider this when you
select a subject for this job. The route of the journey is as follows: To Fall
River by steamboat, there from to Middleboro by train, from there by Cape Cod
Branch R.R. to Sandwich and from there by stage to
<T16> My house is close to the road, only six miles distance from the next village, where it is best for the young man to get off and it will be a pleasure to me to introduce him to Mr. Whitman.
=
From: F.A.M.; To: Christian Schmidt.
Mr. Christian Schmidt, Lower Red Hook, N.Y.
W.B. Jan 8, 1849.
Dear friend! You have neither filled your promise and visited us last fall nor have you let us know a single word about you. You can make us no greater joy than to make up for both of these things.
We have had a lot of trouble last autumn and after that I was always ailing but everything got better again and we are all well again and have started the new year with merry hopes and plans. Through the support of a wealthy friend I now have my own farm and I am very happy about it. If this letter will reach you well and healthy, what we all hope for, so please come as soon as possible and visit us.
Best regards from my wife and children. Your friend.
=
From: F.A.M.; To: Capt. John Percival.
<Written in English.> Capt. John Percival
Dorchester
26 Jan 1849 [excerpt].
... People thinks the Whitman farm it too good for me and too cheap for you, and by some influence Mr. Whitman has backed out. I shall immediately take possession of Beckers Neck, and I shall have there less envy and more honor.
=
From: F.A.M.; To: Secretary of the German company in N.Y.
<T16, cont.> To the Secretary of the German company in N.Y.
Dear Sir! Around the 8th of this month my friend and neighbor Jonas Whitman wrote to you and informed you about his wish to employ a young German, age 17 or older and to give him for this year, that is from the time of his start till next January, a salary of $50 and boarding; and besides that to give him $5 traveling expenses. I accompanied this letter with a postscript saying that I know the Whitman family very well and that I believed this job to be very acceptable. I should be very surprised, that-if you received my letter-you should not have found a fitting subject for this job, as I know from own experience how lonely and helpless an immigrant feels-unaccustomed to the conditions here-and how he is longing for a desirable and secure place. Mr. Whitman asks at any rate for a speedy answer that he knows what to do. In case the ticket should cause difficulties there are ways to move these out of the way or in case you want more details, you can have all you want.-Respectfully.
=
From: F.A.M.; To: Christian Schmidt.
To Mr. Christian Schmidt, Red Hook.
W.B. February 4, 1849.
Dear friend! We have received your letter dated Jan 21
and have read it with great joy. It has been very cold here, too <T17>
but I think not as cold as at your place. I was at
Our farm does not have more than 27 acres, partly
marshes, and is situated close to the big road, which is of greater value still
to me as I think of raising mostly vegetables. It has a nice house; however, no
barn. It costs $1250.00. I wish you would decide to settle down around here. I
would not go back to the wilderness at any price. I can show to you a very
inexpensive farm, which I would rather have taken than my own one-if I would
have had free choice. It has besides 100 acre land with house and barn enough
wood for your own need and could be probably bought for $500. This farm is
ideal for sheep raising, which needs only little work and is very profitable
around here. Sheep can be easily sold for $2.00 apiece and the sheep here have
usually two lambs. If you would have enough money to buy the inventory, the
cost price could be paid in payments. There is still another precious farm in
the same condition as mine with the best soil for sale for $1800.00. I wish you
would visit us and I am sure you will like it here. We paid $3.33 per person
from
My children have grown a lot in the last years. They all look forward to your visit. Has Mr. Radcliff married a rich wife? Do you know some news about Woodwardsville? But you are supposed to tell us all this when you will visit us.
=
From: F.A.M.; To: Capt. John Percival.
<Written in English.> Capt. John Percival
Dorchester
6 Feb 1849 [excerpt].
... I feel much sorry, as your writing shows you are still unwell, to trouble you with business, and if I was not driven to by necessity I should not do so;.
-- my cow is dryed up ... you was willing to assist me with $150 more in getting under way, if you would please to send me about $50.
=
From: F.A.M.; To: Christian Schmidt.
<T17, cont.> To Mr. Christian Schmidt, Red Hook.
W.B. March 25, 1849.
Dear Friend! I answered your letter dated Jan. 21 on February 4, but so far our hopes are unfilled to see you at our house. Besides that we did not hear anything more from you. In case you have to give up the hope to visit us, I will pay back my small debt to you (which I planned to give to you when you came), as soon as I am sure that you receive my letters safely.
Best regards from us all.
=
From: F.A.M.; To: City Law-Court of Pirna.
<T18> [I.T. ?] To the City Law-Court of Pirna in
the Kingdom of
W.B. Mass. North-America.
I have been informed by my daughter's letter, dated Kummerfeld February 12, 1849, that my Uncle Friedr. Gotthelf Meissner in Pirna passed away, further on that a respectable Court of Law in Pirna visited the heirs and that on account of the Pirnaberger Authorities a curator was put up. For what use this unnecessary procedure was done I cannot understand, as the best and shortest way in my opinion is to inform us by letter.
My father was Ernst Friedrich Meissner, minister in Schonbach and a brother of the late Fr. G. Meissner [actually, a half-brother-LPM]. I have another brother Karl Friedrich, who, according to his letter (dated April 2, 1848) is still alive at present time and feeling well and is staying with Mr. de Ray in Utersen near Altona as gardener.
I take the liberty of asking your Honor very politely to put up an honest man, to whom I can give my authority, and I leave it to your judgement to find such a suitable one whom I safely can trust with my share of the inheritance and who will not waste it by unnecessary payments and unimportant things.
In case a certificate as it is used here should not be sufficient and something special should be mentioned on it, I ask your Honor to have the goodness of letting me know about it.
I would like also to bring to your attention the case for the interests of my brother and my cousin Karoline Zimmermann, formerly Moser. Grant me the permission to assure you my deepest respect.
Obediently ...
=
From: F.A.M.; To: Karl Friedrich Meissner.
Karl Friedrich
Meissner, in Utersen near Altona.
Dear Karl! I have received your letter of April 2nd 48, which you sent with Ulr. de Ray's letter and I was very happy to read that you are well. I have received a letter from Lina [daughter Karoline-LPM] some days ago, where she informed me (among other things) that our Uncle Friedr. Gotthelf Meissner in Pirna passed away and that the Court of Law visited the heirs. I thought if this would be the case you would have written this at least to me. Please let me know more about this, but please soon, whether you gave authority to someone, and to whom, and how much the inheritance might be. Are you still fine? How are Wilhelm and Marie? Please greet them and Betty from me.
<T19> Please ask Betty to ask Ullrich whether he has received my letter for Lina. I have moved again and fought so far against many troubles and was always ailing. But my future looks better now and with it my health, too.
Farewell and write soon to your.
Brother.
=
From: F.A.M.; To: Johann Gottlieb Ullrich.
Mr. Johann
Gottlieb Ullrich in Ottsmarschen near Altona.
Dear Ullrich! Did you receive my letter through Lina? Please answer me soon and let me know more, how everything is going in Kummerfeld, whether the smart people put now so much money back as I was supposed to do. As I heard, Mr. Parker is living on a farm now and you with him.
Best wishes your ...
=
From: F.A.M.; To: Capt. John Percival.
<Written in English.> Capt. John Percival
Dorchester
20 May 1849 [excerpt].
I still have pasture for one more cow which I wish to buy and probably will cost $30, so if it was possible I should like to have $50.
=
From: F.A.M.; To: Capt. John Percival.
<Written in English.> Capt. John Percival
Dorchester
30 May 1849 [excerpt].
I wish you would please to send me some money as I hardly know to get long any further without.
=
From: F.A.M.; To: Capt. John Percival.
<Written in English.> Capt. John Percival
Dorchester
10 Jun 1849 [excerpt].
I received your generous presents ... I am in want of a
grindstone ... My radishes sell well in
=
From: F.A.M.; To: Karl Friedrich.
<T19, cont.> Power of Attorney to Certificate for Mr. Karl Friedrich in Pirna.
W.B. Sept 4, 1849.
To all concerned:I, Friedrich Adolph Meissner, born in Schonbach in the Oberlausitz, later land owner in Kummerfeld in the Pirnaberg territory in Holstein, now living in West Barnstable in the County of Barnstable, State of Massachusetts, North America, hereby choose and give authority to the advocate Mr. Karl Friedrich in Pirna in the Kingdom of Saxony: to be my true and complete and legal manager in order to take care for my share of the inheritance of my late uncle, the merchant Friedrich Gotthelf Meissner, in my name and for me and for my profit alone.
And for this purpose (see above!) I hereby give full power to my mentioned manager to collect my inheritance, to sell land of my inheritance, to collect the cost price, to pay off mortgages, to make comparisons, to accept money out of the inheritance, to give receipts for accomplished work and to all other chores, which seem to be necessary and useful to my mentioned manager in order to do his duty as my manager-as complete and fully as I would have done all this myself, if I would be personally present. And I confess myself responsible to all deeds done according to this contract.
As a corroboration of this contract I have written all this by my own hand and signed and sealed.
Sept 4, 1849.
=
From: F.A.M.; To: City Judge Hering.
<T20> Mr. City Judge Hering in Pirna.
W.B. Sept 12, 1849.
I have received your pleasant letter of June 14, 1849 and have chosen among the two from you to me recommended gentlemen Karl Friedrich as my manager, as he is already the candidate for my brother's affairs and I hope to simplify this affair by doing so. I want to say my deepest thankfulness to you for your kindly given information.
With respect ...
=
From: F.A.M.; To: Karl Friedrich.
Mr. Advocate Karl Friedrich in Pirna.
W.B. Sept 12 1849.
You have been recommended to me by Mr. City Judge Hering as my manager and as you have already my brother's authority in this affair, and so I gladly put into your hands the care of my interests also, as this affair can be simplified by doing so. I hope the enclosed certificate may be sufficient. I had to translate it from English according to a pattern used here and I am not sure to have always used the right expressions, but it is done validly according to the laws here. I am convinced that you will accept the business trusted to you and will take best care for my interests.
I beseech you to give me an account of my inheritance in your expected letter and how big or small my legal share would be and also how soon I could expect some-partly-money from it.
I would like to know very much who among my relatives is still alive and is also included in the inheritance.
I ask you please for a speedy reply of my questions.
Very sincerely yours ...
=
From: F.A.M.; To: Karoline Christine Zimmermann.
To Karoline Christine Zimmermann in Spitzkummersdorf
near Aderwitz [?] in the
W.B. Sept 12 1849.
Dear Karoline! Once ago I have already written to you from this far-away country, but have not received an answer yet.
The last thing I heard from you was a letter which was sent to me about three years ago from Kummerfeld and in which you wrote that your husband froze his feet.
I have received the news about the death of our Uncle Friedrich Gotthelf Meissner and I hope and wish that the improvement <T21> of your conditions (caused by your share of the inheritance) might not come too late and you may still enjoy it with excellent health.
I am now four years in
We suffer this summer around here very much under dryness and you have to suffer still worse evils as I can see from the newspapers. I have a nice farm, a pretty house and garden, horses and cows and nothing would cause me more joy than to be able to see [you?] still once around me.
Send my regards to your husband and children and gratify me soon by your letter.
Your loving cousin, F.A. Meissner.
In W.B.-Mass., N.A.
=
From: F.A.M.; To: Karl Friedrich:
Post Script to Mr. Karl Friedrich:
In order to remove any doubt about my identity I
enclose my passport issued by the royal Government in Pinneberg, and if this
should not be sufficient, please write to Mr. Judge Advocate Kirchhof in
=
From: F.A.M.; To: Capt. John Percival.
<Written in English.> Capt. John Percival
Dorchester
30 Oct 1849 [excerpt].
I have a fine stock of cattels as any farmer in Great Marshes ... but I have no Stable to shelter him for the rough winter ... I dont know where else to call for a barn and I hope by your help I shall have one ... for $200.
=
From: F.A.M.; To: Capt. John Percival.
<Written in English.> Capt. John Percival
Dorchester
12 Nov 1849 [excerpt].
I didn't know that you were sick ... I shall try to provide some temporary shelter ... with about $25 to buy boards.
=
From: F.A.M.; To: Capt. John Percival.
<Written in English.> Capt. John Percival
Dorchester
30 Dec 1849 [excerpt].
My harvest on this place I value ... at $40.50 ... the land will in due time produce crops worth $300 ... the first two years I shall have a hard bargain to make a living, but I shall not lose courage.
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From: F.A.M.; To: Publisher of New York Democrat.
<T21, cont.> To the Publisher of the New Yorker Democrat Newspaper, printed in the German language at N.Y. City W.B. Jan 14 1850.
Dear Sir! In case there should still exist a German newspaper with name (mentioned above!) and this letter should reach the hands of the publisher, I would ask you to have a specimen copy sent to me in order to enable me to find out about the price and the right address and to make my decision afterwards. In expectation to have my request granted,.
I remain, respectfully ...
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From: William Meissner; To: F.A.M. and Doris Meissner.
<T374>
From William Meissner (Sennewald) [Loose letter.].
Dear Father and Mother! I have arrived in
[Page 374 continued below:see Sept 15 1850.].
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From: William Meissner; To: F.A.M. and Doris Meissner.
<T373>
From William Meissner (Sennewald) [Loose letter.].
Address:Mr. F.A. Meissner,
Dear Father and Mother! I came Monday evening to Capt. Percival's house and found him in a good mood. The first thing he said was that he wrote already a letter to me and invited me to his house, because the ship has to be unloaded still and will start to be loaded again on the 22.
On the next morning he wanted to go with me to the ship
owners which we wanted to see and who live in
Capt. Percival asked me whether I was naturalized. I said no. Then he said he wanted to go with me and have my name put on record. He also wanted to know whether Father is already a citizen. I said he will probably be one next spring. Now I would like to know whether Father wrote my name also down, if not, I cannot become a citizen without being naturalized myself.
I would like very much-if Father and Mother would be so kind-to send me my stuff in a bag, but not the straw sack. I will write again before I take off.
Please write soon again. I hope everything is going well as always until I will come back. My regards to all of you. Your loving son, William Meissner.
To Father and Mother.
[Note on outside:] Direct the bag with William's
clothes to the care of Mr. W. Noyes, Hanson Square Depot,
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From: F.A.M.; To: Capt. John Percival.
<Written in English.> Capt. John Percival
Dorchester
18 Feb 1850 [excerpt].
I am glad that you are disposed to help me to a barn and I am willing to give you a mortgage thereon.
[There follow some lengthy explanations that he wants to postpone the interest payments (about $400) for four years and is getting worried about losing all his labor if payment is demanded too soon-he hopes he can pay all the interest and begin on the principal in a few years, but meanwhile is converting hay to manure instead of selling it, and is otherwise looking to the future improvement of the farm rather than the immediate prospects.].
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From: F.A.M.; To: Theodor des Arts.
<T22> Mr. Theodor des Arts,
W.B. February 1850.
Your Honor! In a German newspaper I have read your name
listed as Consul of Hamburg. Although I am a born Saxon, my stay of 20 years in
the very close neighborhood of Hamburg has made this city to a second home of
mine and therefore I take the liberty to ask you whether you could take care
for my letters to Germany for a small compensation. I will probably trouble you
not more than twice a year (or three times!), but I would like you-every time I
send letters for Germany to you-to tell me by a few lines that you have
received my letters. It is so uncomfortable if one waits 1/2 year and longer
for an answer and then even has to hear that the letters did not arrive at all.
The post offices in this country are so unsafe, that only a short time ago a
valuable letter of mine got lost between here and
Respectfully ...
=
From: F.A.M.; To: Karoline Zimmermann.
To Karoline Zimmermann in Spitzkummersdorf by Aderwitz
in the
Dear Karoline! I am now already four years in
As I heard our uncle in Pirna has died and we are among the heirs. Did you already receive anything and how much do you suppose we can expect from it? I would like very much to hear more details from you about this. Who is your attorney of power?
But please before all, tell me how you were during this
time when I did not hear from you. How many children do you have? Girls or
boys? How old are they? What do they learn? I have learned about so many things
lately that I lost all these details from my memory. I cannot make this letter
entirely free and you will have to make yours free again to
<T23> Is anybody of the relatives still alive? Send my wishes to your husband and children. I would be very happy if I could see you-and I live in the conviction that your love and friendship for me follows me even to this far-away country. Should somebody have troubled himself so much and have written something bad about me, please don't be misled by that and continue believing in the friendship of your ...
Address your letter to:Mr. F.A. Meissner, W.B.,
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From: F.A.M.; To: City Judge Hering.
Mr. City Judge Hering in Pirna in
W.B. May 6, 1850.
Your Honor! I received your dear letter, dated June 14, 1849. Following it I made a certificate for Mr. Adv. K. Friedrich and mailed it around the middle of Sept., last year. I enclosed in the letter my passport which I had received in Pinneberg before my departure as well as a letter for Mr. K.F. and one for my cousin Karoline Zimmermann and some lines to your honor, which contained my thanks for the information you gave me so readily. I had addressed this all to Mr. Karl Friedrich. But as I have received to this day no sign yet about the arrival of my certificate nor an answer from my cousin, I have to believe that the whole parcel is lost. I therefore wrote another certificate and addressed this time the letter to Mr. Judge Dir. Hermann Schneck. I enclose the certificate in your letter with the request to give it to Mr. Judge Dir. And I hope and wish that I might be luckier this time.
In case my first certificate should still have arrived-against my suspicion-the success of it should make me believe, that my interests are not in the best hands and I put it up to your discretion whether you want to keep back the second certificate-in such a case. You have to this or the other my full agreement.
Finally I want to thank you again deeply for the kindness you showed to me and I hope you fulfill my request mentioned above.
=
From: F.A.M.; To: Judge Hermann Schneck.
To the judge of the Court Mr. Hermann Schneck, Pirna.
W.B. May 6, 1850.
Your Honor! By making you through the enclosed certificate to my attorney of power, I flatter myself not only with the hope that you will accept the job I asked you for, but also that you will soon inform me about the arrival of my letter and to give me at the same time a short survey of the inheritance, how big or small my share would be, <T24> and when I could look forward to receive at least part of the money. Besides that I would like to know who of my relatives are still alive and are heirs also.
=
From: F.A.M.; To: Karoline Gerstenberg.
To Karoline Gerstenberg, Kummerfeld near Altona, near Pinneberg. [Not mailed!].
W.B. May 4, 1850.
Dear Lina! I have received your letter of Feb. 12, 1849 and I would have answered you a long time ago if I would not have been so vexed at your behavior while my uncle passed away. These days some of your earlier letters fell into my hands and the feelings showed in them caused me to write this letter. I hope that it will reach you and your husband and little family in good health and if you will continue as you started you will still come to wealth.
I was very happy to read in the papers that this summer
steamboats will go from
=
From: F.A.M.; To: Karl Meissner.
Mr. K.F. Meissner in Utersen near Altona.
W.B. May 6, 1850.
Dear Karl! I have received your letter of April 2, 1848 and was very happy not only to hear from you but also that at the present time all of you are well and so far everything is going fine.
Accidentally I have heard that our uncle in Pirna has died and we all are probably among his heirs. I just cannot understand that you did not let me know about that. I wrote for that reason already last year to you, but received no answer. I believe they have made in Kummerfeld the plan to cheat me for my inheritance. Please let me know whether you received already something, how much we have to expect, who your attorney of power is and whether you are satisfied with him.
Give my regards to Ullrich and tell him that I have written already several times to him but did not receive any answer. I ask him to write to me how business is going in Kummerfeld. Send my regards to Betty, Wilhelm, Mana, and Aunt and write soon to your brother.
F.A.M.
=
From: F.A.M.; To: Ferdinand Karck.
<T25> Mr. Ferdinand Karck, Consul of
W.B., May 7, 1850.
Your honor! I received your friendly lines with the
kind permission to be able to send my letters to
It will be comfortable to know that you will mail the letters, when you have opportunity, too.
=
From: F.A.M.; To: Dr. W. Wesselhoft.
Mr. W. Wesselhoft, Dr.-No.
W.B. April 28, 1850.
Dear Doctor! If you look back in your journal Oct. 12,
1848, you will find my daughter Wilhelmine marked down. [Now in 1850, she is
almost 16 years old-LPM.] Her (sickness) trouble was that her period was not
going right and she complained always about stomach ache. We made then the
water cure after the prescription of your brother and you gave her a little
white powder against the stomach ache. After the use of this powder the aches
were entirely gone and all the troubles got better. As the water cure seemed
too fussy during the cold weather we interrupted it. The patient felt better
all winter long, and in springtime of 1849, I believe it was April, the period
started again all by itself. The patient had it two or three times very hard
and felt at that time unusually well and full of strength, but with the
beginning of the warm weather the period got weaker and weaker and stayed off
entirely at the end. The patient became again weak and complained again much
about stomach and headache. Like in autumn of 1849, we asked for the advice of
Dr. Leonhard in
The patient seems to be unable to drink water. This might be caused by the water itself as we live here in a flat marshy region. The patient has to sustain fully of milk as it causes vomiting. I believe now to have told you all about the state of the patient and we look full hope towards your answer ...
=
From: F.A.M.; To: Dr. W. Wesselhoft.
Mr. W. Wesselhoft, M.D. in
W.B. May 12, 1850.
Dear Sir! Wilhelmine took all the powders you sent her according to your prescriptions. Yesterday she took the last of it, but so far we can see no improvement in her feeling. The patient gets about two or three times a day a rising heat in her face, one or the other ear turns fire red and becomes burningly hot. At that time the headache is worst, although she never gets entirely rid of it. When it is very bad and I put my hand on her head I can hear her blood beating in her head, at the same time her feet and hands are cold and freezing shudders run through her. During these attacks the patient is usually very weak, but in the times between she is quite gay.
May 17, 1850.
As it was just about the time when the patient was supposed to have her period, I put off mailing the letter in order to wait whether there would be a change in her feelings by the period. But the period has stayed off already several days and the patient felt very miserable and weak during these days. The headache is very bad, but the raising heat seems to be less. The patient complains about continuing stomach pressure and a pain above the stomach, but below her breasts. Hands and feet are always cold, at worst during the heat wave in her head. Arms and legs are weak and without strength, little appetite; the patient was constipated for the last days and we gave her therefore an enema Tuesday evening, <T27> Wednesday morning and evening, which she all kept and Thursday morning we gave her a soap pill; a bowel movement followed. The patient sleeps little and then only restlessly at night. During the day she is mostly in a state-half awake and half asleep. Now I don't know anything else to add but the question, when you will send medicine and whether we should stop giving it in case the period should come in the meantime or after the use of the medicine.
=
From: F.A.M.; To: Dr. W. Wesselhoft.
Mr. W. Wesselhoft, M.D.,
W.B. July 4, 1850.
Dear Sir! We have used all of the medicine according to prescription. The patient has the menstruation regularly but very weak and was generally better, but sometimes still very sick with head and stomach ache. The warm baths prescribed for her and which we gave her from time to time seem to trouble her-she was always nearly lifeless in them-but altogether she feels better and has more strength. The heat in her head leaves her sometimes for a day, another day it appears even two or three times. She still has a continuing headache and stomach pressure. People who have seen her while she had the heat in her head believe she has a tendency for tuberculosis, but I console myself with the fact that she has no cough. We look forward to your advice.
=
From: F.A.M.; To: Judge Hermann Schneck.
To the Judge Dir. Hermann Schneck in Pirna Your Honor:
In March of this year I sent a certificate, in which I nominated you as my attorney of power in the inheritance of my late uncle, the former Friedrich Gotthelf Meissner in Pirna, to the Judge Dir. Hering in Pirna. I asked him to give it to you. But as I have received no answer from you nor from Mr. Hering I must fear that it did not arrive. I ask you therefore urgently to answer me at once after the arrival of my letter and to let me know whether you received my certificate, whether you would like to accept my offer in this affair, how the state of this affair is right now and which steps I have to redo to further my interests.
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From: F.A.M.; To: Pirna City Law Court.
<T28> To the City Court of Law in Pirna.
W.B. Aug 12, 1850.
To Judge Dir. Hering in Pirna:
Your Honor! Your pleasant letter of June 18, 1849 reached me well and around Sept. 4 1849 I made a certificate for Mr. Advocate C. Friedrich and mailed it. But as I received no answer and was afraid that it got lost I made in March 1850 another one and that time for Judge Dir. H. Schneck. I addressed it to your Honor with the request to give it to Mr. Schneck, but as I received no answer to this letter yet I don't know how to explain it, and take therefore the liberty to address these lines again to your Honor with the urgent request for news about the certificate and the present state of the inheritance. I preferably would like to know how much my share would be. With the same letter I sent a question to Judge D.H. S. and I look with desire forward to an answer to my letters.
Your devoted ... F.A. Meissner.
Care of Mr. Ferdinand Karck, Consul of
Postscript: The signer of these lines refuses before your court to accept any steps undertaken from anybody but me and by my attorney of power in the affairs of my late uncle, Fr. G.M. in Pirna.
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From: F.A.M.; To: Mr. de Ray.
Mr. de Ray,
Utersen near Altona .
W.B. Aug. 12, 1850.
Your Honor! The last news I heard from my brother K.F. Meissner, was a letter, which your nephew brought with himself to N.Y. I have written since this time already several times to him and requested urgent answers but in vain -. As he worked with you as a gardener and enjoyed your sympathy, you will please excuse my liberty to write to you and ask you to let me know his present address or in case he is still working at your place-please give him the enclosed letter and tell him to answer me at once.
Respectfully Your F.A.M.
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From: F.A.M.; To: Administration of the Pinneberg Territory.
[I.T. ?] To the Administration of the
W.B. Aug 12, 1850.
Your Honor! The signer, not personally known to your Honor, was a former land owner in Kummerfeld, where he has still his home rights (is still citizen) and where his daughter has now his belongings-a fortune of 1000 Cour. Mark. As I have reason to believe that my present stay is kept secret by my family and from an unknown reason, I take the liberty to tell it to you with the request to supervise my interests, fastened to my fortune, which my daughter has right now to my very probably soon to-be return.
F.A.M.
W.B.,
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From: F.A.M.; To: Ferdinand Karck.
<T29> To Mr. Ferdinand Karck, Consul of
W.B. Aug 12, 1850.
Your Honor! I request again your kindness and want you to mail the enclosed letter with the earliest mail. I ask you to put the postage on them. I have received no answer yet to all my letters you were so kind to mail in March as little as to all my earlier ones. I don't know any more how to explain it. I enclose $2, which I believe to be enough for postage.
My best thanks for your kindness.
=
From: F.A.M.; To: Ferdinand Karck.
To Mr. Ferdinand Karck, Consul of
W.B. Sept 5, 1850.
Your Honor! On Aug 13 of this year I mailed a letter to
you containing three letters for
=
From: F.A.M.; To: "Water Cure."
<Written in English.> To "The Water Cure."
Sep 17, 1850 [Concerning Wilhelmine's chronic illness.].
=
From: Karl Meissner; To: F.A.M.
<T374> From Brother Karl Meissner [Loose letter.].
By the ship Gutenberg.
Address: Mr. Friedrich Adolf Meissner in
Utersen, Sep. 15, 1850.
Dear Adolf. I surely received your three letters, but would have liked to save you the postage as I don't know anything to write which could be of use to you.
Your first letter-despite the fact that it cost 21/-was welcome because it said you are still alive and quite well. There was a P.S. for Mr. Ullrich in it and so I had the letter sent to him by Marie, but received no answer from anywhere.
You inquire about an inheritance in Pirna. All I know about it is this: A long time ago a letter was read to me in the courthouse of Altona, saying that Mr. Friedrich Gotthelf Meissner had died in Pirna and that I had a share in the inheritance as son of his half-brother, the late minister Mr. Ernst Friedrich Meissner in Schonbach. I therefore had to make a certificate to an advocate in Pirna. For this purpose Mr. Karl August Friedrich in Pirna was proposed to me, whom already you and all the other relatives made to their attorney of power. There was no cause for me to write therefore to you, as I was told that you had already a certificate made, too. The advocate Held in Altona asked 10 [S?] for the certificate but wanted to give me credit until I would get my share, but so far he received no answer yet form Pirna. After having received your 2nd letter which also cost 21/ I wrote personally a letter to Mr. Karl Aug. Friedrich in Pirna, which I mailed personally at the post office in Altona on June 11, A.D., but received no answer either. Now I got your 3rd letter about this matter from a man, but I can give you more information as I know myself.
When I was still in
Otherwise I surely would like to know how you are
doing. Betty, Aunt and Marie live in Altona, Wilhelm [Karl's son-LPM] is with a
gardener, Mr. Petersen, in
Your brother, Karl Friedrich Meissner .
=
From: F.A.M.; To: Ferdinand Karck.
<T29, cont.> Mr. Ferdinand Karck, Consul of Hamburg, N.Y. [Loose letter.].
W.B. Sept 17, 1850.
Your Honor! On Aug 13 of this year I mailed a letter
containing three letters for
=
From: Karl Meissner; To: F.A.M.
From Brother Karl Meissner [Loose letter.].
Address: To Mr. Friedrich Adolf Meissner in
Utersen, Oct. 19, 1850.
Dear Adolf, After having mailed by the ship Gutenberg on Oct. 1 A.D. a letter to you which contained nothing of importance, only the announcement that I had received your letters but was unable to give any information about the inheritance in Pirna, I received on Oct. 5, a letter from the advocate Friedrich in Pirna, of which I send you a copy:
To the gardener, Mr. Karl Friedrich Meissner in Utersen.
According to your honored order, I took care for your
rights in the inheritance, which your uncle, the merchant Fried. G. Meissner
left behind. The whole inheritance consists in about 8000 [Thalers?] and is
divided into two parts. One part belongs to the full blooded race and the other
to the half-blooded sisters and brothers of the deceased. The first part is
double the size of the 2nd one. From the latter side six people exist, namely
the heirs of six half-blooded brothers and sisters; You, then you compete with
two brothers, one of them, Fr. A. Meissner, is in
Respectfully I sign, yours, Friedrich, Advocate.
== Pirna, Oct. 1, 1850.
According to my calculation we both have to expect 1/54 of 8000 [M?] Saxon currency. This would be about 370 [M?] and after deducting all expenses 300 [M?] about should be left. As I cannot give a distinct information about Ernst I left the letter unanswered. If you know something about it then do it yourself.
It is all the same here. Nothing changed. I would be glad once to hear again how you are doing.
Your brother, Karl Friedrich Meissner.
=
From: F.A.M.; To: Capt. John Percival.
<Written in English.> Capt. John Percival
Dorchester
10 Nov 1850 [excerpt].
... my harvest turns out very scanty ...
=
From: F.A.M.; To: Karl Friedrich.
<T29, cont.> To Mr. Karl Friedrich, Advocate in Pirna.
W.B. Nov 12, 1850.
I have received your letter-dated Oct. 1st 1850-on Nov. 6. I cannot understand how you as a business man could put off so long an answer to my letters and caused to me so many unnecessary expenses and troubles. I sure cannot call this done in my interest?
Concerning the death of my brother Ernst Friedrich I
can tell you this: He died in the year 1824 or 25 in the little
<T30> (Our cousin Mrs. Buchel in
I am not interested in having money sent to me only partly. I hope that my information enables you to bring this affair clear and please let me know how much I am to receive from you, in order to write a check for you, as it seems to me to be very unsafe to collect money in cash.
Respectfully, F.A.M.
=
From: F.A.M.; To: Judge Hering.
To Mr. Hering, Judge Dir. in Pirna.
W.B. Nov 12 1850.
Your Honor! I have received your kind answer on Nov 6 and I cannot omit to see my deepest thanks to you. Also my attorney of power, Mr. Friedrich the advocate, has given answer to me-only and alone caused by your and Mr. Schneck's visit to him, as he writes himself. The information I gave Mr. Friedrich about the death of my brother will enable him to prove it validly and to clear the situation. As your Honor recommended Mr. Friedrich to me I am convinced that my little inheritance will go to safe hands. I want to thank you once again for your lines.
Respectfully ...
=
From: F.A.M.; To: Ferdinand Karck.
Mr. Ferdinand Karck, Consul of
W.B. Nov 12 1850.
Through your kindness I have received a letter from
Pirna on Nov. 6 of this month. I have to receive from there a little
inheritance of nearly 200 [Thalers?] and want to ask for your advice whether it
would be better for me to have it sent to me in cash-in money or silver-or
whether it would not be better to make a bill of exchange of it and whether it
is possible to do so through your negotiation. I mean it to do it by this way:
I write a money-order saying that my attorney of power is to pay the amount to
you or your orders and you pay it to me then here in N.Y. (Please excuse my
inexperience in things of commercial matter.) Please be so kind as to mail the
enclosed letter with the next
=
From: F.A.M.; To: Karoline Gerstenberg.
To Karoline
Gerstenberg in Kummerfeld near Hamburg.
W.B. Nov 12, 1850.
Dear Lina! I am sure you are very well or else I should think you ever remembered your father and would ask once how he is feeling. -.
I would like you to send me for next spring the following items. If you can mail these things in the beginning of March by a <T31> sailing ship or in the beginning of April by a steamboat, I am sure they will arrive here still on time.
[Order list:...].
I expect that you will answer this letter after arrival, that I will know whether I can count on it. Give my regards to your husband and your children.
Your father ...
[P.S.] Please write the following address on all boxes or barrels, which you will send to me: Mr. F.A. Meissner, Care of Mr. Ferdinand Karck, Consul of H., N.Y. Besides that write "Garden Seeds" on the barrel with seeds, and on the others write "Trees," "Shrubs," or "Plants" according to what they contain.
Please enclose with the seeds some price-"Courants" [current prices?-LPM], a Booth's Tree Nursery Catalog and one about carnation seeds from the place where Bielenberg and the other gardeners of Altona received their wonderful carnations from in the last years. I sure would like to have some.
I am most interested in the things I underlined, especially pear seeds, carnations, and Stocks seeds. As you have to buy these I will compensate you for your expenses during the next summer if you need it badly, but I believe that you must be rich already as you surely save everything which I might have wasted.
=
From: F.A.M.; To: Capt. John Percival.
<Written in English.> Capt. John Percival
Dorchester
16 Dec 1850 [excerpt].
... The barn has cost $1299.90 .... I am very much
obliged to you for your kind offer to make your house my home in case I should
come to
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From: F.A.M.; To: Capt. John Percival.
<Written in English.> Capt. John Percival
Dorchester
19 Jan 1851 [excerpt].
... I am very sorry that you feel so much troubled about getting William a place, but I hope you will remember that it was your own kindly offering we accepted.... I have put in the farm 201 loads manure and the harvest calculated at a fair price amounts to $126.80, a sum about triple as last year but still a very discouraging result ... my earnings of the past year have not sustained our wants, I have only procured what was necessary on food and some coarse clothing and there is still a debt of about $25 to pay for. I rejoice in having a good barn and shall use every effort to make up the deficiency of the last year; how far I shall be successful I do not know. I wish you would assist me with about 500# Guano, that is as much as it wants for manuring an acre of land, but I don't intent to increase my liabilities with if you could not do it for your satisfaction to see me getting a living on a farm where nobody else could I shall not want it, because I dont know if I could ever pay for.
=
From: Doris Meissner; To: P.H. Kierulff.
<T31,
cont.> From "Doris Meissner" [Johanna Friedericka Doris Runtzler
Sennewald].
To:[brother-in-law] Mr. P.H. Kierulff, Carpenter, Bukenbreitengang, Platz No. 22, Hut No. 3, Hamburg.
January 1851-W.B.,
Dear Sister! After having mailed our last letter in January 1848 to you, we received your and Mr. Merkel's letter-dated Dec. 1847, we also received your letters from August 1848.
We are still living in W.B., where we sent our last letters from and as our situation is still much the same, only we all become some years older and so we put off always writing to you.
July 25 of last year we received a letter from Wilhelm [her brother, F.W. Runtzler: see <T40>-LPM], in which he wrote that he arrived safely in N.Y. and that all of you were well and healthy when he left. We answered him at once but never heard from him again. If you know what became out of him and where he is now, let us please know about it and his address.
[Her children:-LPM] Wilhelmine was ailing a lot during the last years but is better in this winter. Leonore is working since last autumn and weighs 146 lb. William weighs 180 lb. and wants to go to sea in spring. Henry goes to school and we all are well and healthy. We suffer no want of anything, but we could not save anything either. Before one knows the language and the <T32> situation here it is very hard and I am afraid Wilhelm will have a rough time at first, but this will go over.
We cannot advise Kierulff to come over here. At least as a cabinet-maker he will have no future. The furniture here is very, very cheap and are all made square. In case little Lina should be still unmarried and has the wish to come over here, she can have a much better life here and with little ease and little work in a week she can make $1 that is three F eight S [maybe: F = franken, S = shilling-M. Camphausen]. She can come to us and we will accept her kindly and find a job for her. When she arrives at N.Y. she only has to go to the Consul of Hamburg, who knows us and who can tell her how to find us best, but she needs Meissner's address.
Give our regards please to sister Karoline, brother Heinrich, your husband and children, and please let us know about you soon again. Give your letter to Norbert Slomann instead to the post office and address it to F.A.M., W.B., Mass. N.A.
=
From: F.A.M.; To: F.C. Merkel.
To Mr. F.C. Merkel, Weavermaster in
W.B. Jan 1851.
Dear friend! After having mailed our last letter in
Jan. 1848 to you we received your letter of Dec. 1847 and also your
letter-dated Aug 1848, which we read with great pleasure. You surely did not
believe at that time that the agitations in
We are still in W.B. from where we wrote last. We
have-to be sure-enough to live but cannot save anything yet. Doris is still
sometimes homesick for her friends in
The social life here is miserable; one does not find
some good friends together sitting over a glass of punch. The so-called
Temperance Societies are so powerful that nobody is allowed to drink in public
brandy, wine, or beer, as this is looked upon as a shame, but they drink
henceforth more and more secretly. Sanctimony is here a big virtue. In public
life many things-to be sure-are better than in
It will be a great joy to us to hear from you and your wife and children. We hope all of you are well and healthy and we ask you to greet all friends from us. We greet all of you very much.
In case you think of sending once some of your children over here, send them before they are entirely grown up, so that they can go still to school for one or two years. They learn then the language better and get better used to the life here.
I wish you could [see-LPM] what guy William grew up to
be, and all the others speak English very well, too. That is just what keeps
the most Germans from being successful-namely not knowing how to speak English.
Besides this it is easier here at any rate than in
If you write us, please send your letter to Robert Slomann instead through the post office and address it as above to.
Your friend ...
=
From: F.A.M.; To: Capt. John Percival.
<Written in English.> Capt. John Percival
Dorchester
2 Feb 1851 [excerpt].
... Now as spring is at the door it would be a waste of time to cart clay ... if you intend to spend some $15, as it seems by your letter, to help me get along I think it would be to the best advantage to spend it on Guano ... but you may do as you feel disposed to.
=
From: F.A.M.; To: Capt. John Percival.
<Written in English.> Capt. John Percival
Dorchester
19 Mar 1851 [excerpt].
... yesterday we had some high tides ... a large hole is broken in the dam, all my swamp was under water as well as a great deal of the tillage land round the edges of the marsh. ...
=
From: F.A.M.; To: Ferdinand Karck.
<T33, cont.> Mr. Ferdinand Karck, C. of H. in N.Y.
W.B.,
Your Honor! According to a letter of my attorney of power in Pirna I am supposed to receive so far-after all expenses were deducted-money in the amount of 153 [Th?] 19 [NGC?] three [R?]. I therefore use your kind permission and ask you to send this little sum to me. For that reason I enclose a money order. I hope you inform me when you have received the money. Maybe I come personally to N.Y. to receive the money from you.
I would like to mail the letter to Mr. Friedrich at the
same time as the money order. I would like to ask you to send the other letters
which are only friendship letters with a
=
From: F.A.M.; To: Karl Friedrich.
Mr. Karl Friedrich, Advocate in Pirna in
W.B. Mass, March 24, 1851.
153 [Th?] 19 [NGC?] three [R?].
Please pay to Mr. Ferdinand Karck or to his orders, in Saxon currency, one hundred and fifty-three Thalers 19 [NGC?] three [R?].
F.A. Meissner.
<T34> To Mr. Karl Friedrich, Advocate in Pirna.
Following your letter of February 21, 1851 I have written with the date of today a money order for Mr. Ferdinand Karck, C. of H. in N.Y. and I request from you to pay my assets (153 [Th?] 19 [NGC?] three [R?]) after being shown the money order.
If you could send to me by Oct. 13 of this year the amount of 100 [Th?] for my left-over assets in the value of 127 [Th?] 11 [?] and the interest due, I would be willing to give it to you or sell it for this amount. But it must be understood that I have no more expenses and red tape, besides that I don't want to have anything to do with a third party. I therefore want you to send me a cheque you made in your own name for this amount which is payable Oct. first of this year-with one word-that you will guarantee that 100 Thalers will be paid to me for Oct. 13 of this year without any extra expenses. If you cannot arrange this affair that way I want you to introduce me to my debtor and to arrange it that way that I can to receive by money order yearly the amount due to me. For that reason it is necessary for me to know the time of the payments.
=
From: F.A.M.; To: Karl F. Meissner.
To K.F. Meissner in Utersen near Altona.
W.B. March 24, 1851.
Dear Brother! I have received your letters from Sept. 15 and Oct. 19, 1850 and I was happy to hear that you are still alive and well. I have in the meantime received already a couple of letters from my attorney of power in Pirna. According to the last one, which I received yesterday, part of my inheritance is paid out and the remainder is supposed to be paid in 10 yearly payments-what a red tape! I am still well and doing fine so far. Please let me know from time to time how you are doing.
With friendship, Your brother.
=
From: F.A.M.; To: Capt. John Percival.
<Written in English.> Capt. John Percival
Dorchester
17 Apr 1851 [excerpt].
... The "water cure" is helping Leonore and we will soon start it on Wilhelmine-we have delayed as she has been improving. Leonore was sick when she went to work for a neighbor but when she came home got well after five weeks of the treatment. ...
In my last I wrote you about some high water but we had it still higher ... about 1/4 acre of my best garden ground which I had manured very high and planted with early vegetables are washed away.
=
From: F.A.M.; To: Ferdinand Karck.
<T34, cont.> To Mr. Ferdinand Karck, C. of H., N.Y.
W.B. April 28, 1851.
Your Honor! On March 25 of this year I mailed a letter
through you which contained a money order to my attorney of power in Pirna in
the value of 153 [Th?] 19 [NGC?] three [R?] which I asked you to collect for
me. At the same time I enclosed a letter for Mr. K. Friedrich, Advocate in
Pirna, and several letters for
=
From: F.A.M.; To: Ferdinand Karck.
To Mr. Ferdinand Karck, C. of H., N.Y.
W.B. May 27, 1851.
I have received your Honor's letter telling me that my
seeds and plants have safely arrived from
Respectfully ...
=
From: F.A.M.; To: Ferdinand Karck.
Mr. Ferdinand Karck.
W.B. June 16, 1851.
I have received your kind letter of June 5 as well as
the trees etc. from
W.B.
100 [Thalers].
Please pay to Mr. Ferdinand Karck or to his orders in Saxon currency, One hundred Thalers.
F.A. Meissner.
To Mr. Karl Friedrich, Advocate in Pirna.
=
From: F.A.M.; To: Karl Friedrich.
<T36> Mr. Karl Friedrich, Advocate in Pirna.
W.B. June 16, 1851.
I have received your letter of May 2, 1851 and following it I made a money order for the amount of 100 Thalers, which I still have to get for Mr. Ferdinand Karck. I request that you kindly send the money and I want to thank you for fulfilling my wish concerning my remaining assets.
I sign ...
=
From: F.A.M.; To: Capt. John Percival.
<Written in English.> Capt. John Percival USN
W.B. Jul 6 1851.
Dear Sir, Your generous offer to release me from my obligations to you, viz.: a note of $1500.00 and a note of $230.00 with interest, by paying you no order before the first day of April next One Thousand Dollars, I accept with the greatest gratitude, I will pay you the money as required, and am your-.
=
From: F.A.M.; To: Ferdinand Karck.
<T36, cont.> Mr. Ferdinand Karck, C. of H. in N.Y.
W.B. July 8, 1851.
I have received your letter of June 18 with the good news that my money order was paid and I ask you to write out a cheque for me in the amount due, that is $95.00, which I can easily sell here to one of the grocers which do their shopping in N.Y., or-if you prefer and believe that there is no risk of loss to have it sent by mail.
Respectfully ...
=
From: F.A.M.; To: Karoline Gerstenberg.
To Karoline
Gerstenberg in Kummerfeld.
W.B. Aug 7, 1851.
I have received your letters from Jan first and March 30 as well as the trees, shrubs, plants, and seeds.
The trees and shrubs were all dried out and would not have had much value anyhow as they were not packed well at all and were bound only together like a bundle of bushes. The shrubs seemed to have been put so wet into the barrels that they all but a few were spoilt. It is sure a miracle that the seeds are still mostly OK, as you did not even pack them either in a little box by themselves.
I have read with great joy the assurances of your love in your letter of Jan. 1 and I would be still more convinced about them if your deeds would agree with your words. How come that you took so little consideration for my wishes concerning the trees and shrubs?-How come that you did not announce me the death of my uncle in Pirna right away? -.
As I have left my former home again and don't know yet the end of my wandering, address please your letters as follows: Mr. F.A.M., Care of Mr. F. Karck, C. of H., N.Y.-in case you feel still moved once to write again to your father -.
=
From: F.A.M.; To: Ferdinand Karck.
<T37> Mr. Ferdinand Karck, C. of H. in N.Y.
W.B. Aug. 7, 1851.
I have received your Certificate of Deposit at the Mechanic Bank in N.Y. for the amount of $95 and I thank you very much for it. I ask you to mail the enclosed letters with a Hamburger ship or the next German ship and to put postage on them.
Respectfully ...
=
From: F.A.M.; To: Mr. Rufus Day.
<Written in English.> Mr. Rufus Day.
29 Aug 1851 [excerpt].
... do you still own that white mare ... when is the
next court in your county, as I have been thinking about to get naturalized
then. [See <T74>: "1854, May 23, F.A. Meissner became a citizen.]
William my oldest boy has gone to sea on a trading voyage to
=
From: F.A.M.; To: G.F. Wurdeman.
<Written in English.> G.F. Wurdeman, Aiken,
12 Sep 1851 [excerpt].
... have read some remarks in the Boston Almanac ...
would like to inquire about
=
From: F.A.M.; To: Ferdinand Karck.
<T37, cont.> Mr. Ferdinand Karck, C. of H. in N.Y.
W.B. Oct 13, 1851.
I received your letter of Aug. 26 with the enclosed deposit paper of the Mechanic Bank for $70 and I thank you for the prompt and kind execution of this affair and I would like to ask your help and advice in another affair, if I can be sure not to bother you too much.
I surely want to emigrate to
Besides this I would like to get naturalized before
going to
Letters from
Most letters from
=
From: F.A.M.; To: F.C. Merkel.
[<T37>,
cont.] Mr. F.C. Merkel, Weavermaster, Brauerstra?e No. 44 in Hamburg.
W.B. Jan [18]52.
Dear friend! If you and Mr. Kierulff have received my letters from Jan. 1851, you will know that at that time we all were well with the exception of Wilhelmine (who is better right now, too), so that we all started the new year in good health, what we wish all of you, too.
We are about to leave for the South and think of
traveling in a few days. We have never heard again of brother Wilhelm, who
wrote to us 1-1/2 year ago that he had safely arrived in N.Y. Please give my
regards to sister Karoline and write and tell them to know Wilhelm's address in
case they have it. Please, give my regards to your wife and children and to all
friends,
F.A.M., care of F. B, Consul of H.,
=
From: F.A.M.; To: Ferdinand Karck.
<T38> Mr. Ferdinand Karck, Consul of
Enterprise, Orange Co. [
You will have saw from the few lines, which I wrote to
you in a hurry about 10 days ago from
Here very good land for $1.25 per acre can still be
bought, but the region is nearly not cultivated at all. The few farmers living
here get their income by raising fruits and cattle. An ox costs $10, a cow with
calf $8, but everything else is sinfully expensive, is brought here from N.Y.
over
=
From: F.A.M.; To: Charles J. Schonheit.
Mr. Charles J. Schonheit,
Dear Fellow-countryman! I have received your friendly letter and my belongings, and I would have answered right away by the returning steamboat, if I would not have been absent at that time. I thank you best for transport of my luggage, and include $1 for the expenses you had.
I send to you at the same time by steamboat some trees, shrubs, and plants (my Georginen [?], and potatoes got frozen) as well as a package with 100 grains of vegetable seeds in 10 different kinds and 110 grains of flower seeds in 12 kinds. The trees and shrubs are for you as well as much of the seeds as you can use. The remaining seeds I would like you to sell, I take back what is left, and 1/3 of the money I give to you for the sale. If you could send me two water pails and 12 lb. Of green coffee by writing on the bill for the seeds with the next boat, I would be very pleased. I leave it up to you to make a price for the seeds. The seeds are fresh and raised by myself. - .
I could not so far find a place to buy that I liked, and therefore rented something for the time being. When I will be living <T39> on my own land and be lived in a little more, it would be my greatest joy if you would visit us.
For the continuance of your friendship asks your ...
=
From: F.A.M.; To: Ferdinand Karck.
Mr. F. Karck, C. of H., N.Y.
I mailed you a letter containing a money-order for $40.00 and the request to send me provisions for it on Feb. 16. As I have received no answer yet I take the liberty to ask whether you received my letter and cheque. My luggage arrived safely and well.
Respectfully ...
=
From: F.A.M.; To: Charles J. Schonheit.
Mr. Charles J. Schonheit,
Dear friend! I would like you very much to send me by the next boat two perfect mosquito nets, not too short and narrow for twin beds for $1.00 per piece, and I will send you the money right away. I can buy them here for the same price but we believe you to have better ones. We would prefer green.
=
From: F.A.M.; To: Winterhoff Piper & Karck.
To Mr. Winterhoff Piper &
I received your letter of March 12 on March 30, and the
goods arrived April 6, however all my writing seemed to have missed its purpose
- to buy things cheaper - because the flour - to be sure - seems to be very
good so far we checked it, but the coffee for 12-1/2 cents per lb. is very bad,
not only the look of it, but also the taste. In the meantime, I bought coffee
as good as the one from N.Y. for eight cents per lb. <T40> here in
Respectfully ...
=
From: F.A.M.; To: Morris Keil.
Mr. Morris Keil,
May 4, 1852.
I am sorry that I bothered you with the berries, but I
still have to learn first what people eat here and what not. In the
=
From:
Wilhelm Meissner [son of Karl Friedrich Meissner].
<Loose letter-Translated by M.C.>.
Mr. Fried. Adolph Meissner,
Missent and For. from
Altona, May 11 1852.
Dear Uncle, You will be happy to hear some news from
Now I want to tell you, how I came all along - because
Father writes always only so little. - In the autumn of 1847, Hans and I left
the aunt. Hans went to work on a farm and I went to my mother, therefore I
worked till spring in
Dear Uncle, I would like you to tell me, how things
look where you are, as I intend to go to
Best regards from all families
Your impatient nephew, Wilhelm.
=
From: F.A.M.; To: Morris Keil.
<T40, cont.> Mr. Morris Keil,
May 18, 1852.
I want to thank you very much for your information about the place of Col Hollow. I cannot say yet anything in detail about it but maybe later I would ask you for your kind negotiation.
=
From: F.A.M.; To: F.W. Runtzler.
Mr. F.W. Runtzler, Care of Mr. C. Bartels,
June 15, 1852.
Dear Brother-in-Law! As we did not hear anything from
you again after your first letter, which we received in
We left
We all would be very happy to hear from you again. Best wishes to you, your wife, and children. .
Your ...
<T41> In case the "Homestead Bill" which is right now in the Senate should become a law, every family can from now on get 160 acres of Government land free.
=
From: Doris Meissner and F.A.M.; To: J.H. Runtzler.
Mr. J.H.
Runtzler in Dronnewitz in Mecklenburg.
June 15, 1852,
Dear Brother! Your letter which we received by last mail made us all very happy, and I could nearly be mad with Jette that she kept it away from us for so long. It is nearly a year since you wrote that letter, and you surely waited in vain for our answer for a long time. We read with much regret about your eye diseases. I have been quite well during all that time. However, Lore and Mina have the cold fever ["chills and fever" = malaria? - LPM] since eight days. William is at sea since more than a year, and at the same time as your letter arrived did we receive the first letters from. He is well, and doing fine.
Meissner will inform you about the wanted subjects as land etc. We would all be very happy if you would decide to come over here, and still more if you would settle in our neighborhood. At any rate we hope that you won't behave as unbrotherly as Wilhelm who lets us know nothing about him. We traveled through N.Y. in January. How much would we have liked to visit him if we would have only known where he was.
Now my dear brother - farewell, and write please soon to us.
Best regards to you, your wife, and children from.
Your sister Doris.
== [from FAM to J.H. Runtzler: ].
To my unknown friend! I try to answer your questions as well as I can.
All uncultivated land is divided into
"townships," six miles long and six miles wide; every township is
again divided into 36 sections, one mile long and one mile wide; every section
into four quarter-sections, 1/2 mile long and 1/2 mile wide or 160 acres. Every
quarter section is again divided into quarters each of which contains 40 acres.
These 40 acre lots are the smallest quantity of land which can be bought from
the Government, and cost $50 or $1.25 per acre. ($1 is three fr. eight sl. In
The prices of cultivated land are not easy to define: $20, $50, and $100 per acre, but generally cultivated land should be called exhausted land. The American sows and plants as long as the land will produce something, and then <T42> he tries to sell his farm to a stupid guy, and looks around for a fresh piece of land, which is still full of strength. It is not very often used to lease land, but often it is cultivated only by half [Reference to share-cropping? - LPM].
In
But the longer I lived there and the more the German
stupidity passed, the more I realized that I had to work only for the rich man,
who had loaned me the money to buy the farm, and then I thought how to become
independent. One cannot receive any more Government land for $1.25 per acre in
the Northern coastal regions, and in order to get it I either had to go to the
South or to the West. The true immigrants go to the West (there is the best
land!), but the products are very cheap, and cannot be brought to the market on
same places. Besides these regions are very unhealthy. I therefore decided to
go South, and that is to
If you take the map of
The St. Johns River is a beautiful big river, bigger
than the Elbe, on which every week a steamboat drives 150 miles up to
<T43> One can still find here very good land for
$1.25 per acre, but the best places are in big demand. The climate here is one
of the best of the world, it is warm but moderated by sea winds. In the forests
grow oaks, maples, cypresses, palm trees, magnolias, oranges, and many other
evergreen bushes and trees.
The corn I planted beginning of May is now ripe as well as the potatoes, which I will plant again now and a 3rd time in October. Since middle of May we have ripe watermelons. My neighbor told me that he took off 40 melons from one plant during the year. Another neighbor, who lives here now six years, has planted about 40 orange trees, and sold last summer fruits for $400, and believes to make this year as much, too.
Wine will be one of the main products in a few years -
it thrives excellently here. If you want to come over with your family, and
want to settle down here, you must take off from
Please, give my regards to your family, and I hope to meet you soon in person. I remain your ...
=
From: Doris Meissner; To: P.H. Kierulff.
To:Mr. P.H. Kierulff, Carpenter, Bukenbreitengang, Platz No. 22, Hut No. 3, Hamburg.
Dear sister and brother-in-law! We have received your
letter, and learned from it that all of you are well and healthy. We went 1000
miles to the South, and live now in
Henry, Lore, and Mina have since eight days the cold fever but are better now. We have also received letters from William. He is well, and thinks of coming home in October. We did not hear anything yet from brother Wilhelm. I ask you to mail right away the enclosed letter to brother Heinrich but you first have to put down the full address.
We give our best regards to all of you, and to sister Karoline and Merkels.
Your sister...
=
From: F.A.M.; To: Mr. Leonhardt.
<T44> To Mr. Leonhardt, Judge and Advocate in Pinneberg.
Your Honor! In case that you are still alive and feeling well, I take the liberty to ask you whether you would not like to buy my property in Kummerfeld, which belonged first to me and now to my daughter - in which case I ask you to let me know how much you are willing to pay. If you don't feel like accepting the offer, I would like to know whether you would take over the notice and collection of it. In one or the other case please include in your answer a scheme (sample) of the papers I have to fill out for this purpose.
You saw from the address above that I live now in
Expecting your kind answer, I sign ...
=
From: F.A.M.; To: Winterhoff Piper & Karck.
Mr. Winterhoff Piper &
The extraordinarily wet, unhealthy summer did not only throw me and my family down for the whole summer - the more as we still had to fight with the unaccustomed warm climate, - but also the youth of every house and every family is sick. This kept me from my plan,-the business with the moss -. I therefore include your assets of $10 in cash. I ask you to inform me about the receipt of the money and to let me know whether I still have to pay some postage charge.
Would it not be possible to sell sour oranges instead of lemons? They are big and beautiful and full of juice.
== Certificate for Ferdinand Karck in N.Y.:
To all concerned:I, F.A.M. in Jacksonville in the County Duval in the State of Florida in the U.S. of N.A., former land owner in Kummersfeld in the territory Pinneberg, have chosen, put into power and have made by the present witness, that Mr. Ferdinand Karck, Consul of Hamburg in N.Y. is my true and legal attorney of power in order to give notice, take off, and to give after being given like money, a valid receipt for me and in my name and for my profit, "One Thousand Courant Mark" / Courant M 1000 / with interest, which my daughter Karoline Gerstenberg, formerly Meissner, owes me and which are as <T45> a mortgage on the property in Kummerfeld in the territory Pinneberg, which formerly belonged to me and now to Mrs. Gerstenberg.
I give and be responsible to my attorney of power mentioned above all power and right to do and execute all and every deed, act, and thing whatever it might be, which is necessary in this affair as much as I would do or like to do if I personally would be present. I state myself responsible to everything that my mentioned attorney of power or his representative do or have done legally.
As affirmation of the contents above, I have personally signed and sealed it. Jan 10, 1853.
Signed and sealed in presence of ... F.A.M.
=
From: Doris Meissner; To: William Meissner (Sennewald).
Dear William! We received your letter of Nov. 1, 1852 some days before the 20th, at what time you intended to go again to sea. A letter from us would not have reached you any more in time, therefore we did not answer you. We wrote, however, at once to Mrs. Fuller, as you had sent us her address, that you would hear it from her in case you should be still there, whether some letter arrived for you or not. We received your letter to Leonore and your questions to the Postmaster of Enterprise, today.
We left
We live now close to
We accept with great joy the proposal you wrote about
in Leonore's <T46> letter, to leave Father and to come to you. But as we
spent all of our money for the trip, the long sickness, and to buy the land, we
ask you to send us as soon as possible traveling money. The passage from here
to N.Y. costs only $12 per person on a sailing ship. This would be $48 for four
persons as we cannot leave Henry behind. It will cost at least the same from
N.Y. to
We wish you good health and hope you will write soon again and send the money for the trip.
Your loving mother, D.M. [It didn't happen. She died in July of dysentery, and William ?? (later) - LPM].
=
From: F.A.M.; To: Ferdinand Karck.
Mr. Ferdinand Karck in N.Y.
I include a certificate in your name with the request
to give it to a member of your house in
I hope that you will fulfill my request and that you will accept the certificate I made for you.
I would be very pleased if you would get through with this business in a hurry, so that my daughter has ample time to get the money or has things arranged with me.
=
From: F.A.M.; To: Winterhoff Piper & Karck.
<T47> To Mr. Winterhoff Piper &
On Nov. 9, I wrote a letter to the gentlemen A.B. Allen
& Co.,
I have left
Respectfully ....
=
From: F.A.M.; To: Mr. Merkel.
Mr. Merkel,
Weavermaster, Brauerstra?e No. 44 in Hamburg.
Dear Friend! I told you in my last letter that we
wanted to go to the South. (We received your reply last summer.) We did this,
too, and left
J. is at the mouth of the St. Johns river and is the
main
Meat, wheat, and wood is cheap; vegetables are very
expensive. A piece [head? - LPM] of cabbage costs here six to 18,3 in
We received last summer a letter from Kierulff and J.H.
Runtzler from
We ask you to greet Kierulff & family, sister Karoline, and all the other friends, especially your wife and children, and hope that this letter may reach you in good health. Your friend ....
You would gratify us very much if you would send this
letter to Mr. J.H. Runtzler in
=
From: F.A.M.; To: C.M. Jackson, M.D.
Mr. C.M. Jackson, M.D., German Medicine Store,
As we have to pay here for everything two and three times the amount, I request you to send me, for the enclosed $, Quinine by mail and please, mark how many grains. I use now your bitter thing and hope it might do me good.
Respectfully,.
=
From: F.A.M.; To: Mr. F.W. Thomas.
<T49> Mr. F.W. Thomas,
I have read in the
Respectfully ....
=
From: F.A.M.; To: Publisher of N.Y. German Democrat.
To the Publisher of the N.Y. German Democrat.
Sept. 25.
Dear Sir! About two months ago I lost my wife [d. 17 Aug 1853], who died of dysentery. I am therefore in need of a housemaid. Should I find a fitting one by your negotiation, I am willing to pay you $5.
I am near to 50 years old and live with my son, a good
boy of 16 years [almost! (George Henry, b. Feb 1838)], near
We live here in an eternal spring; while you in the North have the winter before your door, we sow and plant here, now for winter and in January for the spring. In the middle of summer we rest.
I would like it if you would send me some issues of your paper as well as some lines as answer.
I shall have to mention that weekly packet boats and
other ships go from N.Y. to
=
From: F.A.M.; To: Mr. Isaac Swart.
<Written in English.> Mr. Isaac Swart,
[A plea for Mr. Swart to urge Wilhelmina to come back to F.A.M., and going into great detail about her health and her "Christian duty" to her parents, and how good a life she would have if she came back.].
=
From: F.A.M.; To: W. Schluter.
<T49, cont.> Mr. W. Schluter, Office of the N.Y. Democrat.
Oct 17, 53.
I received your two letters from the first and third as well as two samples of your weekly paper. I enclose a letter from J.G. Myers (signed by him), who lives in J. very close to the Stone shipyard and is known to most ship captains which pass by and to whom the person you send can go. My wagon is usually every day in town, too. I don't doubt that the girl will have difficulty finding a passage without this security. Daily ships from N.Y. arrive as you can see from the enclosed slip.
I must ask you that you take as much care as possible not to send down here an immoral person. I promise to treat her well and pay her a good salary.
I will order your weekly paper starting on New Year, and will take care to send you the money for it in time. A friend of mine gets the N.Y. States Paper, but I don't like it very much as it is much for the slavery.
=
From: F.A.M.; To : Karl F. Meissner.
<T50>
Mr. K.F. Meissner, Utersen near Altona.
Oct 17, 1853.
Dear Brother! What are you doing? Are you still alive? I was during the last two years nearly always sick and often nearly dying. Only since about two to three weeks my strength returned, so that I can attend to my business. This puts me far behind, but I did not suffer want of anything yet.
Mrs. Sennewald is dead today nearly two months. After a short, eight days long sickness, she passed away - seemingly without pain - in the arms of her children. She was a true friend and nurse to me and until her sickness was well and healthy. Henry is with me and the two girls work in households.
I am living since two years in
I own 100 acres of land - all in one piece, four miles
away from J., the main
I have enough land but I need more hands to work. I have heard through Wilhelm who wrote me once, that your wife died. Please, answer me as soon as my letter arrives and let me know not only what you are doing but also how everything is in Kummerfeld. You could do me a favor and go there and greet Lina for me and tell her to send me one of her boys or rather come herself with husband and children, if they don't come along too well at home. Wishing that my letter will reach you in good health, I remain ....
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From: F.A.M.; To: J.C. Merkel.
Mr. J.C.
Merkel, Weaver Master, Brauerstra?e No. 44, Hamburg.
Dear friend! By doing so I fulfill my sad duty and announce you the death of our dear mother. She died of dysentery after being only eight days sick, seemingly without any pain, on August 17 of this year. I have never seen so far a human being going so tenderly to sleep, not even the slightest move betrayed her death. She was a faithful friend and nurse to me and a loving and caring mother to her children. She was during the last time unusually well and healthy, so that we were very surprised <T51> by her sudden death. After having buried our mother, I, Henry, and Wilhelmine got the same disease and had to lie in bed for four weeks, but now we are again well.
William is at sea. He had visited us shortly before his mother's death. We received news that he was shipwrecked but he and the other crew members saved themselves to a small island. However, he is weakened so much by a long sickness that he believes he won't be able to return to sea.
Please, be so kind and send this letter to Kierulff and to the other relatives. I have been put so far behind in my business by my sickness and the hard loss of our mother which I miss everywhere, that I have little spare time to write a letter to everyone. Best greetings to you from your friend ....
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From: F.A.M.; To: W. Schluter.
Mr. W. Schluter, Office of the N.Y. Democrat.
Last week I was again surprised by one of your weekly papers. I was very glad about as I was very interested in the story which it contained. Since I sent you a money order for the passage of a house-keeper I did not hear anything more from her.
Hoping soon to hear from you, I remain ....
After having written these lines to you, the following plan came to me: I namely have so much beautiful land, only not enough hands to do all the work. I therefore would like to get a participant. There are many German gardeners near N.Y., the rent of land is high and the price of vegetables low, but here it is just the other way around, a bundle of onions costs $2, one bundle potatoes $2, one head of cabbage 18 cts., and so on.
Would you please, therefore, be so kind as to put the following ad in one of your papers which is suited best for this purpose and to send me a bill for it.
"A German gardener and owner of a farm close to J.
in Fl. Looks for a companion for raising vegetables (what is extraordinarily
advantageous here, for instance one head of cabbage for 18 cts.). A man with
family with about 100 Taler is preferred. Please write to F.A.M.,
"My farm is situated four miles distant of J. at
the
"The inventory, wagons, plough, and other working tools as well as oxen, cows, and pigs, will be taxed [evaluated? - LPM] before the start of my companion, and by paying half of their value he will be accepted as co-owner. After the contract is put out of date these things will be taxed [evaluated?] again, given back to me and I will pay half of their value to the leaving partner, or we might decide on another way to settle this business.".
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From: F.A.M.; To: Emma Thompson.
<Written in English.> To Mrs. Emma Thompson,
Nov 1853 [Asking her to come as housekeeper.].
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From: F.A.M.; To: Karoline Gerstenberg.
<T52, cont.> To Karoline Meissner, married
Gerstenberg, in Kummerfeld near
Jan. 1854.
Dear Lina! It is already a long time since I heard from you and your desire to know how your father is doing does not seem to be very big. I often thought of you and would have written already earlier if my pride would not have detained me from it. I believed it to be the duty of a good child to take care for his father, but we don't want to talk about it any more.
Two years ago, we emigrated from
In the middle of last summer when we all got a little better, Mrs. Sennewald got dysentery and died within eight days and we could hardly bury her, when I, Henry, and Minna got the same disease, only Leonore stayed well. Since about two months we are all well enough to look after our business.
Mine and Lore serve in households in
My house is in the middle of the farm, partly planted
with beautiful pine and oak trees. I have here 100 acres of land. The region is
generally considered to be very healthy, and the climate is very comfortable.
In winter we have only slight night frost and in summer the heat is scarcely as
high as in N.Y. or
I have written to Karl in autumn, but did not receive any answer yet. A letter from you where you honestly tell about your situation and conditions will please me very much (but no lies, please!). Once I heard the news that you are not happy with your husband and that he treats you badly and so on. I will hope that your conditions improved. If you answer, please include a "Daguerreotype" picture; without glass and frame it sure will be easy to put it into a letter. Take your youngest child in your arms when you have your picture taken.
Write also in which year and on which date you were
born. Did you give my name to any of your children? Do the apple trees bear
fruit which I planted? In a sowing mill, 1/4 hour from my house away, a German
works among others. He is the son of a cow and pig herder in the region of
Henry usually drives a load of wood to town daily. This takes half a day and he receives a dollar for it. (All the money we had was used up by our sickness and even put us into debts.) The remaining time we use to improve our place and take care for a vegetable garden. Raising vegetables is here very profitable. One acre planted with cabbage and priced with only 12-1/2 cts (often it costs 18 and 25 cents) would product cabbage in the value $1000. It is easy to write it down on paper, but first fertilizer has to be made and the land has to be fenced in and the cabbage takes time to grow, too. If we only stay healthy we will make up for the lost time, but I must confess I nearly lost all my lust for life. My courage is broken. I don't see for what purpose I am living and laboring, only in order to die? - .
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From: F.A.M.; To: Karoline Gerstenberg.
<T54>
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
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 <T55> 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.
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From: Karoline Gerstenberg; To: F.A.M.
Kummerfeld, April 5, 1854.
Dear Father, I received your dear letter and picked it up myself from the post office. I was very happy about it, but I regret that you are all so sick. If you will have the fever again, have Henry put a rusty axe or iron over your bed for five days. That helped me once; maybe it will help you also. When the doctor came on the 5th day, the fever was gone and did not return.
I surely wanted to write sooner but I had no courage to trust my thoughts to the paper. Coming May 25, three years ago, my oldest died, my Georg Adolf died of an infection in his head. He was sick for three weeks, but there was no help. Where God does not help, all human help is lost. Three doctors were unable to do a thing. The headache increased day by day. He complained day and night; "Don't you want to get better, you old stupid head!" was always his exclamation. But the last week he lay unconscious, mouth and eyes closed. The morning before, he had opened his beautiful brown eyes and looked at all of us as if he wanted to say farewell. Then he closed them and never opened them again on this God's earth. After six days the Savior, the Angel of Peace came - death. This was very hard for us. But some time afterwards when I was going to write you about it you sent me a letter which took away all my courage to write. A little nut tree is growing on his grave. The trees I planted won't grow right.
All my other children - heaven be thanked! - are well and that is already a great happiness even if I don't have much otherwise. I don't ask too much from life anyway and it still can get better and only if it is easier to bear. Around here many children are sick and died, two or three in a house, all of scarlet fever. Hans Hurula's children (he was our former worker) all died but here behind the Odo the disease has not been yet. Heinrich is 5, Wilhelm three years old, and the youngest, a girl called Maria Louise, is nine months old.
The apple trees behind the ditch had much fruit last summer. It was a pleasure to see them; even the old tree was full. You could have had a few loads full; we did not have so much in many years. The fruits were cheap but wheat was expensive.
Uncle Karl was here with his letter. He wanted to write
soon again, but the letter maybe did not come over. Marie lives with her
father, since the old Aunt Magelsen is dead. They are both happy and contented.
Uncle Karl seems to recover. Wilhelm was last summer with us, but he has
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
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
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
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 Utersen. 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.
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From: F.A.M.; To: Mr. O'Donnell.
A letter to Mr. O'Donnell, Coroner of the 19th Ward, N.Y., G. Limburg, N.Y., May 3 [1854].
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From: F.A.M.; To: John B. & G. Hahn.
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 <T56> 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 miss to pay your bill for all the troubles you will have.
Respectfully ....
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From: F.A.M.; To: W. Schluter.
Mr. William Schluter, Office of the N.Y. Democrat, N.Y.
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
Respectfully ....
The story which you edited now, I read already some time ago in and English paper.
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From: F.A.M.; to: Mr. A. Keilholz.
Mr. A.
Keilholz in Quedlinburg.
May 29, 1854.
This is a try in order to find out whether it is possible to have seeds sent to me by you. 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
Send the seeds to the following address:
Mr. F.A. Meissner, J.,
In order to have them shipped on to the Agent of Adams
& Co., North American Express in
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From: F.A.M.; To: John B. Hahn.
<T57> Mr. John B. Hahn, Office of the N.Y. Democrat, (German paper), No 75 & 77 Chatham St., N.Y.
J.,
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. ....
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From: F.A.M.; To: John B. Hahn.
Mr. John B. Hahn, Office of the N.Y. Democrat, (German
paper), No 75 & 77 Chatam
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 ....
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From: F.A.M.; To: Mr. Gieffen.
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, <T58> 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?
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From: F.A.M.; To: John B. Hahn.
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
Your ....
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From: F.A.M.; To: John B. & G. Hahn.
Messrs. John B. & G. Hahn, No 15 Ave A, N.Y.
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 ....
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From: F.A.M.; To: The Rev. Dr. Rose.
Revrd. Dr. Rose, Pastor of St. Matthews Church,
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 <T59> as the yellow fever is now in
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
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 ....
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From: F.A.M.; To: John B. & G. Hahn.
<T60> 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
=
From: F.A.M.; To: The Rev. Dr. Rose.
[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.
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From: F.A.M.; To: Karoline Gerstenberg.
Oct 8, 1854 [Inquiry about my letter of May.].
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From: F.A.M.; To: The Rev. Dr. Rose.
Revrd. Dr. Rose, Pastor of St. Matthews Church,
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.
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From: F.A.M.; To: The Rev. Dr. Rose.
Revrd. Dr. Rose, Pastor of St. Matthios Church,
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 Schonbach
in
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From: F.A.M.; To: M. Schluter.
<T61> Mr. M. Schluter, 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 Schluter 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, did not arrive till the present day, so little as the money has 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 would not be 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 ....
=
From: F.A.M.; To: Karoline Gerstenberg.
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 other but my letters to you have been burned.
<T62> Henry and I are still living together in
peace in
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 did ever become from Wilhelm Meissner [son of brother Karl]?
=
From: F.A.M.; To: Postmaster of Pinneberg.
<T63> 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 ....
=
From: F.A.M.; To: Mrs. Weber.
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 ....
=
From: F.A.M.; To: Karoline Gerstenberg.
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.
<T64> 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
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.
=
From: F.A.M.; To: Mr. R.A. Witthaus.
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.
<T65> Ships from N.Y. arrive nearly daily here. 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 ....
=
From: F.A.M.; To: Mrs. Caroline Weber.
Mrs. Caroline Weber, No. 396,
Feb. 19, 1855.
When I read your summons some time ago in the papers, I
thought you had just arrived from
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 ....
=
From: F.A.M.; To: Consul of Saxony in N.Y.
To the Consul of
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
=
From: F.A.M.; To: J.B. Hahn.
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. Schluter, 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 <T66> you I wrote to Mr. Schluter. 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
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.
=
From: F.A.M.; To: William Schluter.
Mr. William Schluter, 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.
=
From: F.A.M.; To: Ferdinand Karck.
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. Schluter, 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 ....
=
From: F.A.M.; To: J.B. Hahn.
<T67> 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.
=
From: F.A.M.; To: Karoline Gerstenberg.
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
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 Lubsdor and one lot pointed
Windelsteiner. Put the seeds into small capsules into a letter and give or mail
it to Robert Slomann in
=
From: F.A.M.; To: Ferdinand Karck.
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 ....
=
From: F.A.M.; To: Fr. Meissner.
<T68> Mr. Fr. 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
kept back now, which have a particular shape, as the same in the region of
As I have no friends in
Respectfully ....
=
From: F.A.M.; To: Ferdinand Karck.
Mr. Ferdinand Karck, Consul of
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 <T69> you, to tell him at the same time that you want to meet his demands for me.
=
From: F.A.M.; To: Ferdinand Karck.
Mr. Ferd.
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 ... .
=
From: F.A.M.; To: Rev. Mr. Frier.
<Written in English.> Revd. Mr. Frier,
Clyattville,
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.].
=
From: F.A.M.; To: Ferdinand Karck.
<T69, cont.> 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 ....
=
From: F.A.M.; To: Karoline Gerstenberg.
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
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
=
From: F.A.M.; To: Mr. Daniels.
<Written in English.> Mr. Daniels, St. Johns Mill
near
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.
=
From: F.A.M.; To: Ferdinand Karck.
<T70, cont.> 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 had 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
=
From: F.A.M.; To: Karoline Gerstenberg.
<T71> 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 ....
=
From: F.A.M.; To: Ferdinand Karck.
Mr. Ferdinand.
Jacks., Dec., 1855.
Today I have the pleasure to send you a small box of
May peas by steamer
=
From: F.A.M.; To: Ferdinand Karck.
To the above.
Jan 10, 1856.
I want to inform you by these lines that I have received your letters with the $10 enclosed. I want to thank you deeply for your kindness, and wishing you a Happy New Year, I sign.
=
From: F.A.M.
<Written in English.>.
July 27, 1856 [First letter from
=
From: F.A.M.; To: Karoline Gerstenberg.
[<T71>, cont.].
Aug 3, 1856.
Dear Lina! I have received your letter of January and was very happy about it. You have passed silently over my questions about the place and the money. I can very well imagine the cause of it, but trusted you with a little bit more honesty.
We [FAM and Henry-LPM] have moved again, as you will have learnt from the address. The southern climate had such an unnerving effect upon my spirit and body, that I hardly had the strength any more for my decision to move again. After having tried out the North, the East, and the South, we traveled to the 'Promised Land,' the West of America. The trip by steamers and trains took us four weeks. It is today exactly two weeks, that we arrived here. We built us during this time a cabin and made about 4000 lbs. of hay.
<T72> A small valley on the roots of a mountain, which is the origin of a beautiful creek, is our present home. We have beautiful oak trees, wonderful meadows, and the best soil you can imagine. Corn, wheat, barley, and oats thrive all well, (not to forget the beautiful water, which clear as crystal and cold as ice bubbles out of the mountain). On top of the mountains is a wonderful pasture for thousands of sheep.
The region was inhabited by red Indians still only a few years ago. Daily emigrants, coming from the old States, pass our door; first comes a big wagon, pulled by four oxen, covered by a sheet, with the most necessary household articles and the children. The man pushes the wagon and behind him the other family members follow with the cows, pigs, and sheep.
As we had to sell everything and the trip was very expensive, we look forward to hard times. We still have to have broken this autumn six to eight acres of land (it costs $4 per acre), we have to build a house and to split three to 4000 oaken boards, as all the planted land has to be fenced in [diagram], and we have to live off an empty pocket until the next crop. But we don't lose our courage for that reason.
As I am living now again in a moderated [cooler]
climate, I would like to have again some seeds from you, but they have to be
fresh and you have to mail them still before the
Give my regards to your husband and children.
Your ...
I want to have from the things listed below only these you have the opportunity to collect the seeds yourself. I am especially interested in the things I underlined.
=
From: F.A.M.; To: Wilhelm Meissner.
[1856].
Dear [nephew] Wilhelm. I learned from one of Lina's letters, that you arrived again at home and that with a stiff leg.-In case you should be still interested to come to this country, you can here easily acquire a small farm of your own by being industrious and thrifty. As you have been already at sea, you could easily come with a ship to N.Y. and you could not only pay your passage, but make some money besides. It would be best if you would bring a wife along. You can stay <T73> with me for the time being. The trip from N.Y. to here will cost about $30 per person. If you want to come over, I will write more details. Give your father the best regards from your uncle.
=
From: F.A.M.; To: Karoline and Georg Gerstenberg.
[1856].
Dear Lina! I hope you received my letter of the beginning of August, in which I sent you an order for seeds. I just thought in the meantime that it would not raise the expenses much to have me sent a box with shrubs and trees at the same time. The following things are about all I want to have ...
Dear Gerstenberg. I have asked Lina to send me some seeds and others and I wanted to ask you to help her selecting and packing them. The seeds have to be packed probably alone for themselves into a box or barrel, the Georgines and shrubs into a second one between dry moss and you can put the potatoes loosely on top in order to fill up the barrel. I can sort them out again afterwards.
Besides these I would like you to pack another box, about four feet long and three feet high and wide, with fruit trees and bushes. Please cut hard into the roots and cut off the wood from all kinds of things with roots, like roses and bushes, with the exception of one or two inches. Dry the moss and press it as hard as possible. You can modify my list according to the space in the box and your supply. It would be good if you would dig holes into the box, as the things get easily hot on the ship.
Mark the boxes F.A.M., 1, 2, and 3, and send them to Mr. F. Karck in N.Y. Write some lines to him, whereby you tell him the contents of the boxes (on account of the Customs!), namely: No. 1 = one box white seeds, No. 2 a box with plants, No. 3 a box with shrubs. If the freight is not too expensive by steamboat, I would like you to do so. The postage from N.Y. to here costs four cents (that is more than 2 ?) per lb. You will therefore understand that all unnecessary weight has to be avoided.
I would like to write more but our work is so urgent, that we have no time, we are just building our house, I have already dug out the cellar. I hope that you and all your dear ones will receive this letter in good health. We are living now in a beautiful, healthy region, and have the best soil. I wish I could send you about 10 acres of it. Farewell, and fulfill the request of your ...
=
From: F.A.M.; To: Messrs. Comstock, Terre, & Co.
<Written in English.> Messrs. Comstock &
Terre & Co.
23 Feb 1857 [excerpt].
... The Indian wigwams remain still in the woods but the inhabitants are nearly all gone. ... I send you a list of seeds ... You will oblige me if you spare me some paper for bags because I want to sell some of them seeds to my neighbors; and them Dutch hoes I can't get here, so I wish you would get me a couple without handle so that you can put them in the box with the seeds. ... [Send] c/o Henry Meissner, American House.
=
From: F.A.M.; To: Miss Sallie Stafford.
<Written in English.> Miss Sallie Stafford,
Mar 8, 1857.
Dear Miss. My newspaper tells me that you are to become a mother without having a husband, or a father for your child; now if you are what I fancy you to be, if you have a zest for country life, think you could love and would like to marry a man of 50-you may become both. At home your misfortune will always be a stain on your fair character but here you may go for a widow and nobody would know.
=
From: F.A.M.; To: Henry Meissner.
<Written in English.> Henry M.-Muscoda
27 Mar 1857 [excerpt].
... I wish you would come home [by] the First of May.
=
From: F.A.M.; To: Henry Meissner.
<Written in English.> Henry M.-Muscoda
6 Apr 1857 [excerpt].
... If you dont come home all our work we have done already on the farm would be lost and I should have to go and hire me out myself ...
=
From: F.A.M.; To: Ferdinand Karck.
<T74> April 6, 1857.
Mr. Ferd. Karck, C. of H. in N.Y.
Dear Sir! I just received a letter from my daughter,
dated
I moved out of
In case you have opportunity to give advice about the choice of a region to one of our countrymen, you can confidently send him here. I have tried the North, the East, and the South, and would have gone to the West much earlier if I would not have read and heard so much about the fevers there. This is true for the great 'Prairies," too, where there is no wood and water. Therefore nearly all of my neighbors left all the other regions. We have wonderful springs, which never freezes in winter and in summer is cold as ice. We have enough wood for fire and fencing and very good soil. The yield is 20 to 40 bushels wheat per acre, 50 to 75 bushels corn, and the same with barley, and two to 300 bushels potatoes. But these things will have little interest for you.
Assuring you my deepest respect I remain your devoted ...
=
From: F.A.M.; To: Henry Meissner.
<Written in English.> Henry M.-Muscoda
17 Apr 1857 [excerpt].
... I am glad that the seeds have arrived ... it would be as well for you to come ... and carry the box for your trunk ... everybody is asking for you and wants to know when you are coming home. I expect you positive not later than the first of May ...
=
From: F.A.M.; To: Mr. J.B. Elston.
<Written in English.> Mr. J.B. Elston,
17 Apr 1857 [excerpt].
Dear Sir. I want my son Henry Meissner who is to work for you to be home as soon as possible at latest the First of May, I cant get along this spring without his help ...
[Several pages cut away.].
=
From: F.A.M.; To: Sallie Stafford.
<Written in English.> Sallie Stafford,
Aug 16, 1857 .
My dear friend: Only a few days ago I wrote to you and again I have the pen in my hand for the same purpose-don't you think I am foolish. I have a great mind to burn your first two letters but I shall have to preserve them to cool me off when I am getting too warm.
As it is the only way I know of to make you acquainted with myself, I will write my own biography for you, if you will have patience enough to read a very long letter.
I was born on the 27th day of December 1804, in the
The young mechanic when he starts on his first journey
sings: [German words, followed by English translation: ] "I will travel to
Now I must tell you before I resume my narrative: In Europe there are three distinct classes of society, the Lower, the Middle, and the Higher. The first mentioned comprises Workmen, Peasants, and Mechanics. In my native state this class can all read and write. The second class is composed of Lawyers, Preachers, Doctors, Merchants, and of the farmers and all learned and well educated men. The higher class is formed of the Nobility up to the King. Money gives little or no rank but distinguished men of the second class are freely admitted in the circles of the upper class.
My grandfather [Christian Friedrich Meissner,
1721-1802] was Pastor on the Church (Lutheran) of the village. My father
[Ernest Friedrich Meissner, 1764-1817] followed his father in office in the
same Parish but died when I was about 10 years old [actually 12 y 5 m-LPM]; two
years later my mother [Juliane Eleanore Seidel, abt. 1768-abt 1820; see
<T206>] died also. I was placed in the care of an uncle who was Gardener
to the King of Saxony.
After I had got through with my schooling another uncle
of mine who had made his fortune as a Merchant wanted me to follow his
vocation, but after two years trial I could not stand it longer-his office was
like a prison for me. I urged so long on my Guardian till he placed me in an
Institution where farming was taught as a science. When I was about 19 years
old [1823?] I went to
My means was only small-I went to gardening and soon attracted the attention of Mr. Booth & Co., seed growers and merchants (see supplement no. 1). I was placed as head gardener in their large establishment. After a few years I established myself (see supplement no. 2). I bought a small farm, planted a nursery, and raised garden seeds. I toiled hard and succeeded well. I planted a large orchard, I built a new house 72 feet long and 52 feet wide (80,000 bricks was used so) [This is the house in Kummerfeld that is probably still standing-LPM] and may have now reaped the fruit of my labors and dwelled in comfort, but owing to some dissatisfaction, the idea took hold of me to start for America again. My first born daughter Karoline married a young man [m. Georg Gerstenberg 1 Aug 1847] who was gardener with me. I put her in possession of my property.
I left with my wife [some mystery here-LPM] and four
children William, Wilhelmina, Leonore, and Henry, and arrived the second time
at
Trying to please my wife, who didn't like the
wilderness, and finding an opportunity I went to Cape Cod
I had heard and read several times of the mild and
healthy climate of
In January 1852, we left for
As the summer approached the guests from the hotel left, the landlord shut up the house and left also. People told us we would soon get the fever and cautioned us to move off from the lake to the pine woods, but our residence with the view over the clear water of the lake was so pleasant, our health so good, that we did not heed their good advice. I had planted several acres of land with corn and vegetables. In the evenings a great fire of pine knots was lit; the neighbors assembled, stories were told, the girls would sing, till after midnight when the air got cooler we all went to seek rest.
This happy time lasted till about the first of June [1852] when my misfortune commenced. One by one was taken down with the fever. In a while we got so far reduced that we could not get our self a drink of water. (One farmer who lived alone in the woods had got down by the fever, seeing in four weeks not a living soul, and had to crawl all the time on his hands and legs to a spring to get a drink of water.) We ate quinine by the pound; moved to another location but there was no help-sometimes we would get clear of the fever for eight or 14 days but it always returned. After living about a year in this way I went down to Jacksonville and bought a farm four miles below the town on the St Johns River; the tide water and the fresh sea breeze made it a healthy location. I moved my family there and soon all got better except myself who was troubled by the fever a half year longer.
I planted my farm with vegetables for the
In a few days after, Myself, Wilhelmine and Henry were taken down by the same complaint, which in the Southern climate is contagious and generally fatal. My place was four miles from the city and as there was a great deal of sickness prevailing the doctor could not well attend to us so four or so of my friends hired a house in town and moved us there. We were very sick; the doctor visited us twice every day, young ladies watched the nights and gave us medicine and cooling syringes-in my fever dreams they seemed to me like angels. Leonore kept well all the time and stayed with us. In about four weeks Henry got enough better to go to the farm but Wilhelmine was not strong enough and stayed with Leonore in town.
In the next house to us in town lived a Mrs. Ryan, with
family. Her oldest daughter was married to a printer who edited a paper but had
left and gone as a volunteer against the Indians. Not finding his death by the
enemy he took his life himself, owing to jealousy. There was another married
daughter in the house who had left her husband, three or four younger children,
and a boy of about 19 years. Mr. Ryan was in
Wilhelmine [b July 1834] fell in love with young Ryan
and as I was opposed to their union because he was a mean boy and of very
unsteady habits she left with the Ryan family for
I sold my farm for a mere trifle, and went for a time
with Henry to a plantation [Sammis?] making gardens. (Some time when I have
nothing else to write I will give you a description of a Southern plantation,
if you have not got tired of reading my scribbling.) In June last year [1856]
we left for the West. From
We went by steamboat over
Next we built a shanty, made some hay for winter use,
and commenced building a house. After this, with the aid of some neighbors, was
finished, purchased a stove for 30 dollars and some household goods and stores.
My means was nearly exhausted. My journey from
As spring came on I wrote Henry to come home but he wished to stay, without giving any reason. (The neighbors think he has got a sweetheart there.) I may [might] have written again or I may [might] have compelled him to come home but I felt too proud for the one and I would not do the other.
Now if you know how I have loved this boy your heart would tell you how his desertion has grieved me, but love asks no pay. I loved him-my love paid of itself.
I don't wish to be dependent on my children. Since I
came here I have gained health and strength. I feel at least 10 years younger.
I have not been so well before since I came to
I have hired land of my neighbors; my crops are very promising. I shall raise more than Mr. Russell, who has a large family to support. I have built me a new home, I may raise me a new family-.
Dear Sallie, these lines were written for you and not for the eye of a stranger. I have told you what I think to be the truth. It has given me pleasure to let all the past travel once more through my memory. Judge mild [do not judge harshly], I know very little about you. You have not given me an explanation of your first letter; I shall not ask one. It is my one aim always to believe the best of everyone till I am forced to the contrary. Why should I not believe the best of you, whose friendship I am seeking. I believe you are good; all I ask is don't convince me otherwise.
After reading this long letter I feel rather reluctant to send the same off. I shall wait for another letter from you; I think you have hardly given me a right to believe that you take enough interest in your new found friend to justify my confidence.
Yours truly,.
=
From: F.A.M.; To: Sallie Stafford.
<Written in English.> Sallie Stafford,
30 Aug 1857 [excerpt].
... all your objection you have made and all you are going to make can be overcome if we unite our effort. If your health is feeble, I never liked strong stout women ... the first part of your last letter says no , the second part creates hope again ...
[Pages cut ... after cut page, obviously to Sally: ].
=
From: F.A.M.; To: Sallie Stafford.
<Written in English.> Sallie Stafford,
Dec 1857 [excerpt].
... light of a guardian, I have never known a woman who could raise a man.... I am now convinced you love B., and I cannot see any wrong in it-if he is unworthy of your affection that is not your fault. If I knew him I would do all in my power to make him repent and lead him back to his duty ... good by dear friend.
[More pages cut.].
List of Dates:
[<T74>, cont.] 1804, Dec. 27, Friedrich Adolph
Meissner, born in Schonbach in the Oberlausitz in the
1805, Dec. 2, Johanna Friederike Doris Runtzler born
near
1834, July 20, Wilhelmine born.
1836, June 18, Leonore born.
1838, February 23, Henry born.
1832, February 24, William born.
<T75>.
1845, Sept. 1, Departed from
1845, Oct. 20, Arrived in
1845, Nov. 14, arrived in Woodwardsville,
1847, May 15, arrived in West Barnstable [
1852, January 24, arrived in
1853, August 17, Mother [J.F. Doris Runtzler] died.
1854, May 23, F.A.M. became a citizen.
1854, May 27, Wilhelmine departed for
1826, Nov. 12, Karoline Marie Eleonore born.
1855, End of May, Leonore departed for
1855, August 24, to Sammis.
1856, January 1, [Should be 1857-LPM] Henry left my house.
1856, June 19, Left
1856, July 19, Arrived in
=
From: F.A.M.; To: Effie Krauss.
<Written
in English.> Effie Krauss.
May 31, 1858.
Dear Effie, let me call you Dear, if I am not dear to you, you have already become so to me. When I did see you the first time I thought you was a pretty good looking girl, since I have got better acquainted with you I do believe you are a true hearted and noble-minded woman. But I am not going to write a love letter, I wish to commit some reasonings and arguments to your consideration.
Suppose that your sentiments are favorable to the wish I have expressed to you, circumstances would prevent a consummation of the same probably late in the fall. [In fact they were married 3 June, three days after the he wrote this letter.-LPM].
Now I wish you to consider that the summer is the time where the farmer has to lay stores up for the winter. With your assistance in my household I could earn nearly double than what I can alone. I don't care so much for myself, I shall always have enough. I say this because I would like to provide you a comfortable home. There is another thing to be considered, if you stay where you are now and allow me to come and see you I ame affraid I may fall so much in love to you that my visits may become to frequent and I may neglect my work all together.
It seems nearly impossible for me to stay all summer allone, and would I not make a bigg fool of myself if I was going to spend my time in courting and when I was to grasp the prize, see it perhaps snatch away by som more favored candidat.
The only way I can see to serve our (?) [sic] interest is if your family would consent to come and live with me, your Brother [Henry Krauss, later Crouse] thinks of going away soon, you will be all allone in the woods, my house will give you better comfort and your Father could raise more Potatoes here then there. You would have a better chance to find out my faults and if you think them not so bigg and consented to be my sweet dear Effie, my dear beloved wife I would like to have your Parents settled near by.
There is some good Government land still here or I will Henry let have one half of my preemption. If you think my offer acceptable let Father and Henry come down as sooner as better and we will take it over and if you think my happiness worth of any consideration I shall expect you in their compaine.
Allow me to call myself your Friend.
Marriage Contract [proposed?].
<Written in English>.
Articles of Agreement made the 00 day of Month, AD one thousand eight hundred and fifty eight between F.A.M. of the one part and E.C. of the other part.
The said F.A.M. and E.C. have agreed and by these presents do agree to become husband and wife together and copartners in all real estate or personal property owned by either partie at present, or acquired thereafter, and do hereby promise to be governed by the following articels.
1. Each of said parties shall give his personal attention and devote his time wholly to the mutual interest and shall use his best skill judgement and discretion in promoting the profits and well fare of ther household.
2. Neither of said parties shall assume any pecuniary liability either in his own or in the name of both for the accommodation of any other person nor sell any real estate without the written consent of the other party.
3. In case of death of one of the parties the remaining party shall be the sole owner of the whole real and personal property and no relation of either partie shall have a claime on the same. In case of Death of both parties the propertie shall go to the children if any originatet of this marriage and no children acquired by either party either before or thereafter their marriage schall have a claim on their mutual property.
[There is no evidence that any such contract was actually agreed and signed by both F.A.M. and E.C.].
=
From: F.A.M.; To: Karoline Gerstenberg.
[<T75>, cont.] Mount Pisgah, Monroe Co., Wisc.
Nov 20, 1858.
Dear Lina! Only a few days ago I received your letter of March. You will find the cause of this by reading my letter.
Last year (1857) was a very good year (as I told you in one of my last letters), everything grow in abundance. Last spring the bushel barley and the bushel potatoes cost 125 cents, in autumn 25 cents.
The last winter was very mild. It rained nearly all the
time, which made me so bored and melancholic, that I nearly could not stand it
any more, when I sat alone in my house in the evenings. The rain splashed on my
windows and no living soul was near me. I felt tired of my life and wanted to
die. Finally I decided to get married again, but I found no opportunity till spring
came, when a German family from
But the spring was as wet as the winter. After taking care for my fields and garden I got sick. Since July 1, I am lying in bed since eight weeks on my back. I could not eat anything during <T76> this time. I was nothing more but skin and bone. Nobody believed in my recovery. After this time it got a little bit better but it still took me 14 days, until I could do a few steps around the room. If my wife would not have nursed and treated me so full of love during this time I am sure I would not be alive any more.
In July I received a note from the Express Company in
We live from corn and some pork. I was lucky to slaughter a pig this autumn. Coffee, tea, sugar, etc. are entirely erased from the list of necessary things. I had to pay 100 cts. for the package, which I had to borrow. I am still to receive some money for the seeds I sold in spring, but nobody has money to pay.
If you look at the map you will see that
I am very happy about the fruit seeds and other seeds you sent me and I am curious to see how big cabbage I can raise. If you won't be impatient I would like to ask you to collect again some seeds for me next summer. I am especially interested in strawberry seeds, also in Steirlander strawberries, Plattfriesische and Dutch potatoes (seeds, not bulbs), as well as in all sorts of plants and shrubs. This will cause you no expenses, only some troubles. If I want something else besides this and will have the money for it I am going to write you again in summer. You have to send it at any rate in autumn. It will be too late in spring.
My health is again well and you can read from the preceding letter that I did not lose my <T77> courage yet and am full of plans for the future. Only I miss the youthful strength.
I hope this letter will reach you in good health. We send our regards and I remain your loving father ...
== To
Heinrich Gerstenberg [son of Karoline, b. 1849?]:
I was very glad about your little letter and I would be still happier if you would come over here. But you don't have to wait until you are grown up. It is there harder to get used to the type of living, work, and language here. If you are industrious and properly, you can earn yourself a nice farm as by Kuhlmann's or Mr. Yehlers, but you have to build the houses yourself.
Give my regards to your brothers and write me in your next letter when each of you was born.
Your Grandfather ...
=
From: F.A.M.; To: Sallie Stafford.
<Written in English.> Sallie Stafford,
4 Dec 1858 [excerpt].
Dear friend, ... I was married the third of June last to a woman of German birth and American education who came here from Ohio with their parents a short time previous. My somwhat hasty choice has proved quit a happy one, my wife is twenty one years old, she has a very good heart, is pretty good looking, and speaks well English.
I am very desirios not to lose the likeness of my daughter with her little boy which I have send to you and I shall ask the favor (I think it is the last) of you to send the same back to me.
If this letter should meet no answer, I shall have to write to your Postmaster to obtain som information.
Yours truly.
=
From: F.A.M.; To: Karoline Gerstenberg.
[<T77>, cont.] March 15, 1859.
Dear Lina! Last Nov. I wrote you a letter and I hope you received it. But as I received no answer I want to repeat the most important things.
Last summer was here very wet, unfruitful, and unhealthy. I was very sick and weak for two months, that I was unable to do a thing. I recovered only late in autumn, but I am very well now. You know from my former letters that Henry left me and I wrote in my last letter that I could not stand life alone any longer and that I got married again. If you won't become impatient I will include a list of seeds I want you to send me this summer ...
Several of the seeds above you sent me already last summer, but I don't know yet what will come up. Please write to me when you receive this letter, as I would like to know how you are doing. Give my regards to Karl and let me know how he is doing and whether he is still working for Le Roy [de Ray?-LPM] as a gardener.
If you are interested I am going to tell you more about
our life here. As you know, I am living in the state
=
From: F.A.M.; To: Edward Kullmann.
To Mr. Edward Kullmann, Publisher of the Madison Newspaper, Madison, Wisc.
Mt. Pisgah, Monroe Co., Wisc., Nov. 10, [1859].
Dear Sir! I read in your paper an appeal to philanthropes for a certain widow Erndle. You state yourself ready to accept contributions for her. You maybe can do more for her and secure a decent living for her, if you want to take up the small trouble and do the negotiations.
I have a neighbor, his name is Friedrich Schultz, about
35 years old, the owner of 80 acres of land, house, oxen, cows, and pigs, has
no debts, is a decent, industrious man and widower. He is willing to take Mrs.
Erndle with her children as a housekeeper, assumed that she has interest in
this job, and he will probably marry her, when he gets to know her more
intimately. Would you please inform Mrs. Erndle and send her answer to me and
let me know more details about her situation. If she agrees I am going to have
Schultz give me a written assurance. Mrs. Erndle is supposed to come by train till
You must not be surprised about this <T79> proposal and think there is something wrong somewhere. The man has a good name, a nice appearance and a friendly character and enough to eat. German women are rare here, however, and he does not want an English one.
Expecting a kind reply, I sign ...
=
From: F.A.M.; To: Robert Henning.
Mr. Robert Hennig,
Dear Sir! My daughter wrote from Kummerfeld near
I learnt besides that, from my daughter's letter, that
you tried to collect the mentioned inheritance behind my back-but without
success, as it-consisting of property-is not allowed to go abroad, but an heir,
who was at the time of death of the testator in the
Now I would like to hear from you, whether there is
such a law, and how I can claim the inheritance as the husband of the heiress.
I am living in this country since 1845 and am citizen of the
=
From: F.A.M.; To: C.F. Adae, Esq.
C.F. Adae,
Esq., Cincinnati, O.
M.P. M.C. W. Nov. 14, 1859.
My wife Elise, formerly Mithofen from Vurel in
Oldenburg, who is presently living in Kummerfeld in Holstein, writes me that
her cousin Hans Wilhelm Detlev Wiedersprecher, also from Oldenburg, had died
some years ago in Hermann, Missouri and that he left a fortune of about $16,000
for which she is coheiress (my wife's father, mother, and sisters and brothers
are all dead). She has tried in vain to receive the inheritance. Now the U.S.
Consul of
I found your address as Consul of Oldenburg in a German paper. <T80> I therefore take the liberty (as both the testator and the heiress are from Oldenburg-I am a born Saxon!) to ask you: whether there is such a law in the U.S. or in Missouri and how I as the husband of the heiress and citizen of here, can claim the inheritance, as I was living here already during the time of the testator's death. Asking a kind reply, I sign ...
=
From: F.A.M.; To: Karoline Gerstenberg.
To Karoline
Gerstenberg in Kummerfeld near Hamburg.
Nov 15, 1859.
After having waited for a long time without result I received your letter a few days ago. Did you not receive my letter from last spring? I asked you to answer me. I can get over it that the bastard brood Heinrich and his sisters and brother left me, but it hurts me very much that my only daughter neglects me so much. If it would not be for this silly inheritance I maybe would not have heard from you for a long time.
I wish you would not have disturbed my peace by your
inheritance affair. A lot of worries, troubles, and expenses are for sure, but
the success as uncertain as hitting the jackpot. Until I have heard more
details about the inheritance I want to tell you about my present life. You
always think we here in
Just imagine you move with everything into your darkest heath, presumed no land there is cultivated yet. There you can build yourself first a cabin. Then you go to the forest close by and fell trees for a log house. Before you even have finished it, it starts to snow. Next year you rent some land for potatoes too, root the bushes and shrubs besides in the heath, and have about an acre ploughed. The next spring, after you have taken care for the neighbor field, [imagine that] Gerstenberg gets sick and is lying half dead in bed for eight weeks. You are busy enough to take care for your sick husband. When he is finally better he is so weak that he is unable to work through the whole autumn. During this time, the pigs have dug up your potatoes and winter is before your doors again. Fortunately the forest is not far away, <T81> so you have no want of firewood. A new spring comes (1859) and with it new hope and lust for life. If you can imagine all this you know my beginning in Wisc.
Now I want to tell you about this last summer. April was nice and warm, but May was so wet cold, that the time for seeds and plants was put off until the end of this month. I planted the acre of land which I had cultivated near my house, with potatoes and garden vegetables, and borrowed a piece of land from my neighbor besides. I took everything what I could scrape together and bought a cow for $20, which was supposed to calve in a few weeks. It looked for the young grass near the creek, got stuck by her feet on a soft spot, fell head over heels into the water, and drowned.
May 21: Beans, cucumber, and other tender vegetables froze so that I had to start sowing again.
May 28: We had a strong hail shower, which killed everything the frost had left.
June 4: We had a hard night frost. Cucumbers, beans, pumpkins, potatoes, and corn froze; the two last ones sprouted again from the root. The leaves and young sprouts from the oaks and other wild trees were black.
June 16: Mild hoar frost, which did no harm to me.
July 26 & 27: Frost in the night, but with little harm.
Aug. 1: After a very long drought rain came; the potatoes and vegetables which nearly all were dried up grew again fresh and strong.
Sept. 2: Hard frost at night. Corn, potatoes, and many other things which were in the best growth, were entirely ruined.
When you read the above things you must not believe that the region here is so cold. This was a very unusual year. Wheat, barley, rye, and oats grew excellently.
I am very well and have again bought a nice cow for $23 and two calves for $9 this autumn. Times are still very bad; money is nearly not existing at all. There is only trade and exchange of things. I am sometimes surprised about myself how I survived. I always had enough <T82> to live till now. If I would have understood how to manage with so little I would be nearly rich. But what is money good for? One cannot eat it and cannot take it along in one's grave either.
The seeds you sent me last summer have all arrived well. As you have had a little daughter again I have to believe you still have a husband. I nearly doubted it as you never wrote about him. I am glad that you are all well.
You ask me to take over your inheritance affair, without informing me more about the details. I have written to Robert Hennig. He answered me shortly that he had heard of a Widow Meissner and that he would only [supply] more details if I would send him $10.
If you want me to take over this affair I will do it, and will pay you half of everything I will be able to get-after the expenses are deducted, naturally.
In order to enable me to act successfully I have to know:
1. How is your mother related to Detlev Wiedersprecher?
2. Who are the co-heirs?
3. Has your mother given a certificate to Robert Hennig or somebody else, and what papers did she send to him?
Then you have to mail me the following papers:
No. 1 is a copy of the inheritance and certificate. Your mother has to sign and seal there where I marked it by pencil, in the same way you and Gerstenberg have to sign as witnesses also. Then your mother has to go to a public notary and he has to put down about the following things and has to sign his name and put down his seal. You must not forget either to put the date in.
No. 2 is a marriage certificate. As the name in the parish book is incorrect you have to get two witnesses who are signing the paper and a notary has to make an oath, maybe Ullrich and Bruhmann.
No. 3 is a revocation of a certificate made earlier.
=
From: F.A.M.; To: Mr. W. Voigt.
<T83> Mr. W. Voigt, Capital Brewery,
Dec. 18, 1859.
I have received your letter of the 13 of this month.
After having talked again with Schultz, I can reply that he has the doubt to
make expenses and troubles to himself by a trip to
=
From: F.A.M.; To: E.C. Angelrodt.
Mr. E.C. Angelrodt in
Dec. 18, 1859.
About four weeks ago I wrote a letter to Mr. C.F. Adae
in
My wife Elise (from whom incidentally I have heard
nothing for years) born as Mithofen in Vanel in the Oldenburg, writes to me
from Kummerfeld in Holstein, that her cousin Hans Wilhelm Detlev
Wiedersprecher, also from Oldenburg, died in Hermann, Mo. some years ago and
that he left a big fortune to which she is co-heiress. As it seems, she tried
without success to ask for that inheritance, and therefore addresses me. The
U.S. Consul in
1. Is there a law in the
<T84> 2. Which claims can I make and prove as the husband of the heiress, as I was here in this country at the time of the testator's death.
3. What do I have to do to prove my claims?
4. Do you know more details about this inheritance?
=
From: F.A.M.; To: Mr. Jacob Rubin.
Mr. Jacob Rubin,
I heart from your cousin and our both friend John Wenhen, that you intended to make yourself a house in the country. If you still have the plan, I would like to inform you of an good opportunity how to acquire a beautiful piece of land very inexpensive.
I have a farm of 160 acres, which has the following situation [sketch map showing parcels 1, 2, 3, 4, and creek]. As you can see the road and creek goes through the middle of this land, which would make two beautiful farms. 80 acres are enough for each of us and I could give therefore half of it, that is No. 1 & 2. That is without doubt the better half. As I live on No. 4, I have to take No. 3 & 4. No. 1 is beautiful, plain plowing country and No. 2 is the best wood lot in a circle of six miles, where there would be no more piece of wood if I would not have guarded it since three years and for which already many are lurking.
There have been some sales made lately, land without wood and water for five Taler per acre. I will sell you these both 40 acres for $150. My preemption is valid till the beginning of March. If you are unable to scrape all the money together and pay me only $50, we can keep the land another year for you, if you give John the order. You better keep in mind, you will receive wood and beautiful, clear water, which never freezes in winter and is cold as ice in summer, good pastures, beautiful plowing land, and you can build your house directly at the Sheck [?] river road. You cannot find a piece of land with all these advantages around here.
I am sorry that you don't know me closer, [so] that you will know I am no cheat. But you easily can convince yourself if you ask Krahenbuhl.
Expecting a reply soon, I sign ...
=
From: F.A.M.; To: Land Office Commissioner.
<Written in English.> Commissioner of the General
Land Office,
Jan 1860 [excerpt].
... People save their own timber and skim some Government [land] entirely, thereby making it worthless. ... You will perhaps say this is none of my business, the reason is I wish to protect some Govt. land adjoining my farm till I can enter the same.
=
From: F.A.M.; To: W.J. Slater.
<T85>
W.J. Slater, Esq., Hermann, Mo.
Jan 30, 1860.
I read your address in the Hermann paper and I want to know whether you know some details about the inheritance of Hans Wilhelm Detlev Wiedersprecher who died several years ago and whether you can be my attorney in my claims as heir to this inheritance or whether you are already engaged in this affair by another party. Looking forward to a speedy reply I sign ...
== [Addendum to same letter? (compare Nov 14, 1859)].
My wife writes me from Holstein: "My cousin Hans
W. Detlev Wiedersprecher died a few years ago in Hermann, in the state of
=
From: F.A.M.
<Written in English.> [Other letters concerning
claims for uncle's inheritance in
=
From: F.A.M.; To: Newspaper in Hermann, Mo.
To the Publisher of the Paper in
M.P. M.C. W. Oct 9, 1860.
Dear Sir! Some years ago a certain Detlev
Wiedersprecher died in Hermann and left an important inheritance behind, which
was claimed by his heirs in Germany (as I heard a short time ago!), but there
is still a lawsuit about it going on. You would do me a big favor if you would
let me know whether there is still time to prove a claim to said inheritance
and could you tell me somebody there who would take over this affair. My wife
is first cousin to said Wiedersprecher and I was at the time of his death in
=
From: F.A.M.; To: Karoline Gerstenberg etc.
To daughter
Karoline Gerstenberg, brother Karl Meissner, grandson Heinrich Gerstenberg, and
son-in-law Georg Gerstenberg (in or near Kummerfeld).
M.P. M.C. W. Oct 9, 1860.
Dear Lina! I received your letter from spring and read it with great joy. I hope that the Hugter (?-M.C.) which you had while writing the letter, did not turn into a bad disease.
As you will be most interested in the inheritance affair I will tell you first all about it I know. After much red tape I learned that Robert Hennig died which slowed the affair down-I hope to the best of our interest. I have received my and your grandparents' marriage certificate, but in order to have power to act I need the certificate that I sent for you to sign.
We had an excellent summer. My health is well. I am
feeling stronger than when I left Kummerfeld. I have together with only an old
man mowed and dried 20,000 lb. of hay, and in Kummerfeld I could not even mow
my meadows. My cattle is doing excellently, and I wish you and your husband and
children would be here. What a nice farm we would establish! Not a single one
of the <T86> primroses did come up; the carnations and other things did
fine. If you have collected this summer shrubs and plants seeds for me please
send it like your last letter with a
Send it as soon as possible. I hope that this letter may reach you as well as it leaves me. Your Father ...
==
Dear brother Karl! If you are still alive so let me please know how you are doing. I am well and doing fine. Enclose a letter for me in Lina's letter, please.
Your brother ...
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Dear Heinrich! I have received your little letter, which you wrote to me more than a year ago, and I read it with great joy. I have also answered it, but my letter got lost as your mother told me. As you surely have learned how to write even better in the meantime, I would be glad to receive again a letter from you in which you tell me all about you, your brothers and sister, your garden, and so on. [Heinrich, b. abt. 1849, was about 11 years old at this time.-LPM.].
My best regards from your loving ...
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Dear Gerstenberg! As I would also like very much to
hear about you, I am going to tell you something about here: It is stated that
this year about 300 millions bushel wheat were raised in Wisconsin (1 bushel
weighs 60 lb.), in whole America about 180 millions bushel.-[Compare the
following with F.A.M. letter to Karoline March 15, 1859-LPM.]