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Published in North America
Barth, Christian Gottlieb. Das Rubinenkreuz / Die Erscheinung / Weg hat Er allerwege. Drei Erzählungen für Christenkinder. New York: Kaufmann, n.d. 63 pp., col. ill.
Die Erscheinung (pp. 35-58) begins: “Am 12. June des Jahres 1675, gegen 10 Uhr morgens sah man in der jungen Stadt Hadley in Neuengland Männer und Frauen von verschiedenen Seiten her in würdiger Stille dem Bethause zuwandeln, denn es war Sonntag, und die irdischen Geschäfte ruhten, um wichtigeren Angelegenheiten Platz zu machen.” The story features a skirmish with Native Americans, and characters with names such as Whittlethorne, Russel, Whalley, and Mugglewhip.
Donated by Karyl Rommelfanger, 2011.
“Bei den Windmühlen.” Das Evangelische Magazin, vol. 22, no. 6, June 1890, pp. 346-350, ill.
Bound issues of Das Evangelische Magazin. Verlegt von Lauer und Mattill, Cleveland, Ohio. Redigirt von C. A. Thomas und R. Matt.
Includes images of windmills in the United States. On pages 349-50: “Die ‘Pilgerväter,’ welche von Holland nach Amerika kamen, brachten die Windmühlen hierher, und benützten dieselben zum dreschen und mahlen ihrer Brodfrucht. Unser Welschkorn lernten sie natürlich erst hier kennen, und zwar auf eigenthümliche Weise: Miles Standisch und etliche andere Männer füllten ihre Reisesäcke mit Zwieback und Holländerkäse, und machten sich auf den Weg, um das Land auzukundschaften. Sie fanden bald einen künstlichen Sandhaufen, den sie dann auch durchwühlten und auf Baumrinde stiessen; nach weiterer Forschung entdeckten sie, dass der Haufe hohl und inwendig mit Welschkorn ausgefüllt war: es war ein indianischer Keller. Ohne weiter daran zu denken, dass es gestohlen sei, trugen sie das Korn nach Hause; als der Indianer seinen Verlust entdeckte, fiel sein Verdacht sogleich auf die weissen Fremden, und als er bei ihren Hütten ankam, waren sie eben damit beschäftigt, das Korn zu mahlen. Der Indianer erhielt dann ehrliche Bezahlung für sein Korn. . . . Die weissen Frauen wurden das Kornmahlen müde, und indem sie nicht wie die Squaws der Indianer erzogen waren, und jeder Weisse bange war, seine Frau möchte ihm sterben, und andere weisse Frauen gab es nicht; so wurden Windmühlen errichtet.”
Crull, August, ed. Gott segne Dich! Eine Auswahl von Stammbuchversen, Neujahrs-, Geburtstags-, Paten-, Hochzeits- und sonstigen Segenswünschen. 2nd ed. St. Louis: Lutherischer Concordia, 1885. 187 pp.
From Wikipedia.de: August Crull (born January 27, 1845 in Rostock, died February 17, 1923 in Milwaukee; full name: Johann Friedrich August Crull) was a German-American Lutheran theologian, educator, and writer. Born into an academic family in Mecklenburg, Crull’s family immigrated to the United States in 1855. While the family first settled in New Orleans, August Crull attended Concordia College in St. Louis, Missouri, and Fort Wayne, Indiana. He then studied theology at Concordia Seminary in St. Louis, and was ordained in 1865. After one year as an assistant pastor in Milwaukee, he spent a year in Dresden seeking a cure for a sore throat. In 1868 he returned to the United States and worked as city editor at a German newspaper in St. Louis. —- From 1869 to 1871 he was director of a Lutheran High School, and from 1871 to 1873 pastor of a large Lutheran church in Grand Rapids, Michigan. In 1873 he was appointed Professor of German and French at the Concordia College in Fort Wayne. Here he taught for 42 years until 1915, and spent his retirement in Milwaukee. His first wife, Sophie, born Viewend, was the daughter of a professor in St. Louis, and three of his four children from that marriage died before him. His second marriage was to Katharina John of Milwaukee. August Crull was a distinguished hymnologist, publishing several English hymn books, some with his own translations of German hymns.He published a German grammar and edited a book of devotions, Das walte Gott, based on the writings of Dr. C. F. W. Walther, wrote many pedagogical works, and was editor of the Concordian, the German magazine for graduates of Concordia College.
Donated by Luanne von Schneidemesser, 2011.
“Fort keine Adresse.” Das Evangelische Magazin, vol. 22, no. 12, Dec. 1890, pp. 721-724.
Bound issues of Das Evangelische Magazin. Verlegt von Lauer und Mattill, Cleveland, Ohio. Redigirt von C. A. Thomas und R. Matt.
Possibly translated from an English-language story. Characters include Frau Simmons, her son Rutledge Simmons, daughter Elsie Simmons, and a clerk from the Dead Letter Office (“Unbestellbare Brief-Departement”) in Washington, DC.
“Die Geschichte von der Zollbrücke. Aus dem amerikanischen Revolutionskrieg.” Das Evangelische Magazin, vol. 22, no. 10, Oct. 1890, pp. 616-620.
Bound issues of Das Evangelische Magazin. Verlegt von Lauer und Mattill, Cleveland, Ohio. Redigirt von C. A. Thomas und R. Matt. — This story appeared in English in the May 8, 1894 issue of the Jefferson County Journal (Adams, NY).
Jauch, J. “Wunder der Vogelwelt. Eine naturgeschichtliche Studie.” Das Evangelische Magazin, vol. 22, no. 8, Aug. 1890, pp. 475-479, ill.
Bound issues of Das Evangelische Magazin. Verlegt von Lauer und Mattill, Cleveland, Ohio. Redigirt von C. A. Thomas und R. Matt.
Discusses birds worldwide, with some mention of Audubon. Includes some religious views, for example, p. 475: “Gross sind dein Werke, Herr, wer ihrer achtet, der hat eitel Luft daran. Ps. 111, 2. Und wenn die Wunder Gottes in irgend einem Theil der belebten Natur vor der anderen so recht zu Tage treten, so scheint dies in der Vogelwelt der Fall zu sein.”And p. 478: “Nun ist es eine merkwürdige Thatsache und ein kräftiger Beweis der allweisen Fürsorge Gottes, dass nicht alle Reize in einem und denselben Geschöpfen vereinigt sind, denn die Stimme der meisten Prachtvögel ist roh und abstossend; die herrliche Stimme ist meist anderen von Farbe minder schönen Geschöpfen verliehen.”
Kirchen-Gesangbuch für Evangelisch-Lutherische Gemeinden ungeänderter Augsburgischer Confession, darin des sel. Dr. Martin Luthers und anderer geistreichen Lehrer gebräuchlichste Kirchen-Lieder enthalten sind. xxii, 534.
St. Louis, Mo.: Concordia, 1894. pp.
Inscribed: Wilhelm Rahn, 102. Nort Klein, Topeka. —- Handwritten note inscribed at end of book, signed “zum andenken, dein Bruder, Carl Rahn, 1899.”
Donated by Luanne von Schneidemesser, 2011.
M., R. [Matt, Robert.] “Ein deutscher Osage-Häuptling.” Das Evangelische Magazin, vol. 22, no. 9, Sept. 1890, pp. 515-517.
Bound issues of Das Evangelische Magazin. Verlegt von Lauer und Mattill, Cleveland, Ohio. Redigirt von C. A. Thomas und R. Matt.
“Wenn man heutzutage von den Erlebnissen der weissen Ansiedler des Westens liest, dann legt man gewöhnlich das Buch weg, oder man warnt seine Leute, den Quatsch nicht zu glauben, weil leider so unglaublich viel über Indianergrausamkeit geschrieben wird. Natürlich sagen die Bücher selten etwas über die Grausamkeit der Weissen. Wenn wir aber eine Geschichte entdecken, welche von dem Leben der ersten Ansiedler handelt, und finden den Mann, der die Erfahrungen selbst erlebt hat und die Wahrheit seiner Erzählung mit lebenden Zeugen bestätigt, dann lesen wir die Geschichte mit grossem Interesse. Eine solche Geschichte haben wir für unsere Leser entdeckt und versichern sie, dass deren Wahrheit verbürgt ist. Wer weiss, ob nicht im jetzigen Staat Kansas noch ein Magazinleser ist, der sich an die Begebenheit erinnert? Wir lassen den Mann selbst reden: ‘Als meiner Eltern von Deutschland nach Amerika auswanderten, war ich etwa vier Jahre alt, und weil wir von Haus aus arm waren, zogen meine Eltern sogleich nach dem fernen Westen, denn mein Vater rechnete darauf, seine Familie von der Jagd zu ernähren, bis dem Lande die erste Ernte abzugewinnen sei. Wir liessen uns daher sogleich in der Nähe einer Indianer-Reservation nieder und lebten täglich im Verkehr mit den unterschiedlichen, halbcivilisirten Indianern, mit denen wir in bestem Einvernehmen standen. . . . Als Knabe kam ich täglich mit den Jungens der Indianer in Berührung, von denen ich das Fallenstellen und auch den Gebrauch der Wassen lernte. Aber was mir von weit grösserem Werth war, lernte ich auch, nemlich die Sprache der Osage-Indianer und der Shawnee’s, so dass ich mit Indianern beider Stämme ganz geläufig verkehren konnte.'” Relates an encounter with the Osage chief, Big Hill Joe.
——. “Die Eagle Cliff Post.” Das Evangelische Magazin, vol. 22, no. 6, June 1890, pp. 350-353.
Bound issues of Das Evangelische Magazin. Verlegt von Lauer und Mattill, Cleveland, Ohio. Redigirt von C. A. Thomas und R. Matt.
An English-language version of this story appeared in the Los Angeles Herald, April 7, 1907, copyrighted by James Elverson. [URL: http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn85042462/1907-04-07/ed-1/seq-32.pdf — See MKI P2011-21].
The towns Eagle Cliff and Graniteville are mentioned in the story, as well as No Man’s Gulch and the name Jed Prouty.
——. “Lottchen’s Bibelvers.” Das Evangelische Magazin, vol. 22, no. 9, Sept. 1890, pp. 542-545.
Bound issues of Das Evangelische Magazin. Verlegt von Lauer und Mattill, Cleveland, Ohio. Redigirt von C. A. Thomas und R. Matt.
This story appeared in the Aug. 15, 1889 issue of Bible Echo and Signs of the Times (Melbourne, Victoria) and is attributed to Sarah B. Kenyon, in Christian Union. See MKI P2011-22.
Translation of “Betty’s Verse,” by Sarah B. Kenyon. Includes original introductory comments in German.
——. “Warum Eben Higgins dankbar war.” Das Evangelische Magazin, vol. 22, no. 11, Nov. 1890, pp. 644-648.
Bound issues of Das Evangelische Magazin. Verlegt von Lauer und Mattill, Cleveland, Ohio. Redigirt von C. A. Thomas und R. Matt.
Thanksgiving story, possibly translated from English, featuring Ebenezer Higgins and his wife Rachel. “‘O Mann, es wäre ja gar nicht Danksagungstag ohne Truthahn, und zudem habe ich unseren bereits fett gemacht, und die Preisselbeeren, Fleischpasteten u. s. w. sind auch bereit. So haben wir es immer gehabt, Eben, ob das Haus voll war, oder ob wir allein waren.”
——. “Die Wunder des amerikanischen Westens.” Das Evangelische Magazin, vol. 22, no. 8, Aug. 1890, pp. 450-454, ill.
Bound issues of Das Evangelische Magazin. Verlegt von Lauer und Mattill, Cleveland, Ohio. Redigirt von C. A. Thomas und R. Matt.
“Der Adjunktus ist ein Deutscher dessen Wiege mitten im Schwarzwald drinnen stand, und denen spricht man das Deutschthum bekanntlich nicht bald ab; wenn er aber weiss, dass unser Adoptiv-Vaterland Wunder bietet, die ihm kein anderes Land gleichbieten kann, dann geniert er sich auch nicht, dieses frei und offen zu sagen, und diese Wunder in Wort und Bild zu verherrlichen und zu rühmen, und das verdient vor Allem der sogenannte Yellowstone National-Park von Nordamerika.”
——. “Zur Garfield-Feier.” Das Evangelische Magazin, vol. 22, no. 7, July 1890, pp. 425-429, ill.
Bound issues of Das Evangelische Magazin. Verlegt von Lauer und Mattill, Cleveland, Ohio. Redigirt von C. A. Thomas und R. Matt.
“Der sogenannte Gräberschmückungstag, d. i. der 30. Mai, war bestimmt zur Einweihung des Garfield Denkmals in dem prachtvollen Lake View Friedhof zu Cleveland, Ohio. Manche unserer Leser haben vielleicht das thurmartige Gebäude schon gesehen, wenn sie auf der Eisenbahn, besonders der ‘Nickel Plate’ durch Cleveland gefahren sind. Das Monument steht gerade an der Stadtgrenze östlich auf einer schönen Anhöhe. In Verbindung mit der Feier wollen wir zuerst eine kurze Geschichte der Entstehung des Garfield-Monumentes geben.”
[Montfort, Thomas P.] “Shorty Brown’s Sonntagschule. Eine Geschichte aus dem Goldgraberleben.” Das Evangelische Magazin, vol. 22, no. 8, Aug. 1890, pp. 483-486.
Bound issues of Das Evangelische Magazin. Verlegt von Lauer und Mattill, Cleveland, Ohio. Redigirt von C. A. Thomas und R. Matt.
Translation of a humorous story of life in a mining town, originally written in English by Thomas P. Montfort.
Nathusius, Marie. Die Botenfrau. Erzählung. St. Louis, Mo.: Eden Publishing House, n.d. 64 pp.
Illustrated cover. Missing back cover. Inscribed “Willil [sic] Louis, Landon [sic], Wis., Dec. 1901.”
Donated by Karyl Rommelfanger, 2011.
Nommensen, B. P., editor. Evangelisch-Lutherischer Krankentrost. Milwaukee: B. P. Nommensen.
Herausgegeben von Pastor B. [Bendix] P. Nommensen, 1231 Kinnickinnic Avenue, Milwaukee, Wis.
Erscheint vierteljährlich und kostet pro Jahr 5 Cents.
Prayers and songs to comfort the sick.
MKI owns: 1. Jahrg. Nr. 1, July 1898 (2 copies); 1. Jahrg., Nr. 2, Oktober 1898 (2 copies); 1. Jahrg., Nr. 3, Januar 1899 (3 copies); 1 Jahrg., Nr. 4, April 1899 —- 2. Jahrg., Nr. 3, Januar 1900; 2. Jahrg., Nr. 4, April 1900 (2 copies) —- 3. Jahrg., Nr. 1, July 1900; 3. Jahrg., Nr. 2, Oktober 1900 (2 copies); 3. Jahrg., Nr. 3, April 1901; 3. Jahrg., Nr. 4, August 1901 —- 4. Jahrg., Nr. 1, Januar 1902; 4. Jahrg., Nr. 2, April 1902; 4. Jahrg., Nr. 3, August 1902 (3 copies); 4. Jahrg., Nr. 4, Oktober 1903 —- 5. Jahrg., Nr. 4, Oktober 1904 (3 copies) —- 6. Jahrg., No. 1, Januar 1905 (3 copies); 6. Jahrg., No. 2, April 1905 (3 copies); 6. Jahrg., No. 3, Juli 1905 (2 copies); 6. Jahrg., No. 4, März 1906 (4 copies).
Donated by Christel Haeck, Concordia Lutheran Theological Seminary Library, St. Catharines, Ontario, Canada.
Pajeken, Friedrich J. “Von Indianern verfolgt. Ein Abenteuer in den Rocky Mountains.” Das Evangelische Magazin, vol. 22, no. 8, Aug. 1890, pp. 455-462.
Bound issues of Das Evangelische Magazin. Verlegt von Lauer und Mattill, Cleveland, Ohio. Redigirt von C. A. Thomas und R. Matt.
Friedrich Joachim Pajeken (born 1855 in Bremen; died 1920 in Hamburg) spent two years on “Hollers Ranch” in the Bighorn Mountains and wrote several stories based in the American West.
“Polly Pinkham.” Das Evangelische Magazin, vol. 22, no. 11, Nov. 1890, pp. 684-685.
Bound issues of Das Evangelische Magazin. Verlegt von Lauer und Mattill,
Cleveland, Ohio. Redigirt von C. A. Thomas und R. Matt. — English-language versions of this story were found online in publications after 1890, attributed to A. C. Stoddard, in the Western Journal of Education.
Thanksgiving story translated from English, featuring Polly Pinkham of Tinkersville and Governor A. [Andrew] Colburn.
“Sarah Bush, Abraham Lincoln’s gute Stiefmutter.” Das Evangelische Magazin, vol. 22, no. 12, Dec. 1890, pp. 716-719, ill.
Bound issues of Das Evangelische Magazin. Verlegt von Lauer und Mattill, Cleveland, Ohio. Redigirt von C. A. Thomas und R. Matt.
Biographical sketch.
Scherbel, E. Ernst F. Geschichte der Ersten Deutschen Ev. Luth. Gemeinde im Town Middleton, Dane County, Wis. Als Erinnerungsblatt zum 50jährigen Jubiläum der Gemeinde am 14. und 15. September 1902. [Middleton, Wis.: the Gemeinde, 1902]. [19] pp., ill.
“Nach gesammelten Aufzeichnungen zusammengestellt von Pastor E. F. Scherbel.” Includes “Verzeichniss der Confirmirten der ersten deutschen ev. luth. Gemeinde bei Middleton, Wis.”
Scan made from photocopy donated by Mae Hartwig, 2011.
Schmid, Christoph von. Wie Heinrich von Eichenfels zur Erkenntnis Gottes kam. Eine Erzählung für Kinder und Kinderfreunde. Neue Ausgabe. St. Louis, Mo.: Eden Publishing House, n.d. 62 pp.
Donated by Karyl Rommelfanger, 2011.
“Sutter und das Goldland.” Das Evangelische Magazin, vol. 22, no. 9, Sept. 1890, pp. 532-534, ill.
Bound issues of Das Evangelische Magazin. Verlegt von Lauer und Mattill, Cleveland, Ohio. Redigirt von C. A. Thomas und R. Matt.
Biography of John Augustus Sutter, the Swiss pioneer known for his association with the California Gold Rush, but who died almost poor. Concludes: “John A. Sutter, welcher so viele Tausende reich, ungeheuer reich gemacht hatte, musste den Wermuths-Becher bis zur bittersten Neige auskosten. Undank ist eben der Welt Lohn.”
Thomas, C. A. “In einem Sarge.” Das Evangelische Magazin, vol. 22, no. 8, Aug. 1890, pp. 481-482.
Bound issues of Das Evangelische Magazin. Verlegt von Lauer und Mattill, Cleveland, Ohio. Redigirt von C. A. Thomas und R. Matt.
A version of this news story appears in English in the Feb. 22, 1890 issue of The Milwaukee Journal, attributed to the Louisville Courier-Journal. See: MKI P2011-22.
German translation of a story told by an express messenger traveling on the Southern Pacific Railroad, relating how he trapped one train robber inside a coffin and separated the smoking car containing other thieves from the rest of the train.
——. “Terra Cotta in der Architektur. Part I.” Das Evangelische Magazin, vol. 22, no. 6, June 1890, pp. 331-334, ill.
Bound issues of Das Evangelische Magazin. Verlegt von Lauer und Mattill, Cleveland, Ohio. Redigirt von C. A. Thomas und R. Matt. —- Part II appears in vol. 22, no 6, July 1890, pp. 407-410, ill.
Begins: “Der Reisende, welcher von Woodbridge oder Perth-Amboy in New Jersey, westwärts geht, New Brunswick zu, der wird entlang des Weges rechts und links grosse Höhlungen beobachten, die sich eine lange Strecke dahinziehen. Manche sind vierzig bis sechzig und noch mehr Fuss tief. Schaut man hinein, so gewahrt man unten am Boden dieser Höhlungen Fahrwege um grosse Lehmhaufen her, und eine Menge Arbeiter, die den Lehm ausgraben und weiterfördern. Die umliegende Landschaft ist im Grunde sehr spärlich bewohnt, und wenn man auf die struppigen Birken, die niedrigen Tannen und die knorrigen Ahornbäume blickt, meint man gewisslich nicht, dass ein solcher Reichthum daselbst verborgen läge; den gerade hier liegen unermessliche feine Lehmlager, die zur Herstellung von Feuer-Brick und Terra Cotta ausgebeutet werden. Der Lehm ist hier buchstäblich unerschöpflich.”
“Dem Tode entronnen.” Das Evangelische Magazin, vol. 22, no. 12, Dec. 1890, pp. 746-749.
Bound issues of Das Evangelische Magazin. Verlegt von Lauer und Mattill, Cleveland, Ohio. Redigirt von C. A. Thomas und R. Matt. Authorship attribution: “Von einem Reisenden.” This story appears in English, titled “The Run of 67” and written by W. F. Bruns, in the Jan. 22, 1892 Erie County (Hamburg NY) Independent, and the Oct. 15, 1906 issue of Express Gazette.
Tale of a railroad accident and potential train robbery. “Doch will ich hier von einem Falle berichten, in welchem die Betreffenden buchstäblich dem Tode entrannen, und als wie durch ein Wunder noch entkamen. Ich sass einst am Bahnhof eines kleinen Städtchens, . . . da bemerkete ich zufällig einen jungen Mann von kaum dreissig Jahren, dessen Haar silberweiss war. . . . Als der Mann sich in meiner Nähe setzte, bat ich ihn um Entschuldigung meiner Freiheit und fragte ihn desshalb. ‘Gewiss sind Sie zu entschuldigen,’ sagte er lachend, ‘denn Sie sind nicht der Einzige, der mich fragt; auch ist es gar befremdend, denn ich bin nur siebenundzwanzig Jahre alt. — O ja, Sie mögen es aufschreiben,’ sagte er weiter, als er gewahrte, dass ich mein Notizbuch bereit machte; ‘nur moechte ich ausbedingen, dass Sie die richtigen Namen nicht nennen, und auch die Bahn nicht veröffentlichen, auf der sich die Geschichte zutrug. Es war in Colorado auf einer der rauhesten und wildesten Bahnen jenes Landes; die Szenerie glich viel der Denver und Rio Grande Bahn. . . .'”
“Verspätet.” Das Evangelische Magazin, vol. 22, no. 11, Nov. 1890, pp. 649-653, ill.
Bound issues of Das Evangelische Magazin. Verlegt von Lauer und Mattill, Cleveland, Ohio. Redigirt von C. A. Thomas und R. Matt. — English-language versions of this story were found in two 1893 newspapers, the Meriden (Connecticut) Daily Republican and the Medina (New York) Tribune with the title “The Delayed Dinner.”
Thanksgiving story translated from English, featuring “Distrikts-Anwalt” James Jackson and his wife, their son James, and Mrs. Hurlburt.
Walther, Carl Ferdinand Wilhelm. Amerikanisch-Lutherische Evangelien Postille. Predigten über die evangelischen Pericopen des Kirchenjahrs. St. Louis, Mo.: Concordia, 1870. vi, 404 pp., portrait. Religion; German-American author. On title page: “Pfarrer der ersten deutschen ev. luth. Gemeinde zu St. Louis.” Date taken from Vorwort.
Donated by Luanne von Schneidemesser, 2011 — cover embossed “W. Rahn, 1897.”
Bareither, John. “Doris Day: The Wholesome American Girl.” German-American Journal, vol. 59, no. 5, Oct./Nov. 2011, pp. 16, ill.
Singer and movie star Doris Day was born on April 4, 1924 in Cincinnati, Ohio, to Alma Sophia (Welz) and Wilhelm Kappelhoff. All of her grandparents were German-speaking immigrants.
Bertsch, Friedrich, and Wilhelm Stängel. A German Hurrah! Civil War Letters of Friedrich Bertsch and Wilhelm Stängel, 9th Ohio Infantry. Joseph R. Reinhart, trans. and ed. Civil War in the North. Kent, Ohio: Kent State University Press, 2010. xiv, 370 pp., ill.
Includes bibliographical notes (pp. 303-35), bibliographic essay (pp. 356-359), and index.
Provides translations and commentary on the letters of German immigrants Lieutenant Friedrich Bertsch and Chaplain Wilhelm Stängel of the 9th Regiment Ohio Volunteer Infantry. These letters, originally published in German-American newspapers, provide insights into how the men experienced the Civil War in the mountains and valleys of western Virginia, in Kentucky, Tennessee, Mississippi, and Alabama; and their views on American officers and enlisted men, other immigrant soldiers, and the enemy; ethnic identity, pride, and solidarity; and the imperfections they discovered in America’s political, social, and economic fabric.
Contents: “Like Ducks to Water” — To Western Virginia — Baptism of Fire — Return to Webster City — Webster City to New Creek — Separation and Reunion — To Carnifex Ferry — The Battle of Carnifex Ferry — Totally Fed Up with Western Virginia — Camp Anderson and Miller’s Ferry — Still under fire and Still Underfed — Rescued from Western Virginia — Christmas at Camp Lebanon — Mill Springs: Glorious victory — Camp Cumberland to Camp Perryville — Louisville to Nashville — Nashville to Spring Hill — The Battlefield of Shiloh — Operations against Corinth, Mississippi — From Corinth, Mississippi, to Tuscumbia, Alabama — McCook is Murdered — Return to Middle Tennessee.
Bode, Daniel. “A German-Texan Family’s Story: The Fred and Marie Blankenstein Family.” The Journal (German-Texan Heritage Society), vol. 33, no. 2, Summer 2011, pp. 97-112, ill.
Gottfried Friedrich August ‘Fred’ Blankenstein was born in Barby, Saxony-Anhalt, in 1855. His father was a saddlemaker, and the family lived in rooms above the shop. In 1870 they left for America, arriving first in New York City, and living in Pottsville, Pennsylvania, and Defiance, Ohio, before moving to Texas in 1878. Marie Dorothea Elisabeth Friedrichs was born in Ummendorf, Saxony-Anhalt, in 1861. Around 1880, Fred began writing to friends and relatives in Germany, seeking a bride. After more than a year of corresponding with Marie, Fred proposed, and she accepted. She left for America on the Donnau and arrived in New York City in 1882, traveling then by ship to Galveston and by train to Temple, Texas, where she met Fred for the first time. After various attempts to make a living, Marie convinced Fred to try farming, and in 1905 they purchased more than 80 acres of land in the Gerald community, McLennan County. Life continued to be hard, and Marie longed for her home in Germany until the day she died. Other family surnames mentioned in this history: Wustoff, Fink, Ulrich, Lehmann, Hultch, Drews, Leuschner, Krenz, Vahrenkamp, Rodenbeck, Wedeking, Wiese, Damm, Klumm, Kreder, Hessel, Dozier, Forkel, Nietzold, Schlatter, Schmidt, Banik, Haferkamp, and Bode.
Bode, Daniel R. “A German-Texan Family’s Story: The Family of Fritz and Anna (Haferkamp) Bode.” The Journal (German-Texan Heritage Society), vol. 33, no. 3, Fall 2011, pp. 166-180, ill.
Friedrich Carl Daniel “Fritz” Bode was born in 1874 in Zionsville, Washington County, Texas. He was the son of Heinrich Konrad Wilhelm Bode, born in 1830 in Rosenthal, Hanover, Germany, and Marie Charlotte Henriette Spreen, born 1845 in Wehdem, Westphalia, Germany. Wilhelm and Henriette were married in Texas in 1874. Fritz married Anna Margaretha Louise Haferkamp in 1896; she was born in 1876 in Welcome, Austin County, Texas, the daughter of Wilhelm Heinrich David “Henry” Haferkamp (born in 1838 in Haldem, Westphalia, Germany) and Margarethe Engel Agnes Gaskamp (born 1840 in Haldem, Westphalia, Germany). Henry and Agnes had been married in Haldem, and emigrated to America in 1872.
Carney, Ellen. From Here . . . To There . . . : An Illustrated Memoir of a Swiss Childhood. [S.l.]: E. Carney, 2006. 96 pp., col. ill. Printed at Masthof Press, Morgantown, PA. 2nd printing 2011.
Childhood memories and recollections with accompanying hand-drawn illustrations of life in Switzerland in the 1930s and 1940s.
Donated by Fred Gillespie, Swiss American Historical Society.
DeWitt, Petra. “Der Staat Missouri: Friedrich Münch’s German-American Perception of and Guides to Missouri, 1859-1875.” Yearbook of German-American Studies, vol. 45, 2010, pp. 17-31.
Includes bibliographical notes.
In a comparison of Münch’s three guidebooks that encouraged Germans to settle in Missouri, the author reveals how Münch, though an opponent of slavery and an advocate for legal equality, did not view African Americans as social equals.
Donaldson, Randall P. “Genealogy versus History: Generating Synergy.” Yearbook of German-American Studies, vol. 45, 2010, pp. 177-192.
Includes bibliographical notes.
“The present discussion seeks a middle ground between a narrow family chronicle and a broader study of German-speaking immigrants to North America. The focus here is on three different individuals, unrelated to one another, who are connected only by the fact that they left a German-speaking area of Europe and emigrated to a relatively similar geographical area (Maryland). They enter the United States or the American colonies, as the case may be, in three different centuries and follow very different paths as they settle in. . . . The goal is to allow the lives of three individuals to illuminate the narrow historical and geographical circumstances of the period in which they lived and to let those circumstances in turn deepen our understanding” of their lives. The immigrants are: Moritz Wörschler (1719-ca. 1795), Vincent Potthast (1866-1911), and Kurt Möller (1896-1980).
Donnelly, Jared. “Questioned Loyalties: Big Cypress German-Americans during World War I.” Yearbook of German-American Studies, vol. 45, 2010, pp. 129-146, ill.
Includes bibliographical notes and references.
Study examines “what kinds of issues German-Americans in the predominantly German communities of Klein, Spring, and Cypress about 25 miles northwest of Houston in Harris County, Texas, faced during World War I.”
Fisseler, Brenda Lincke. “The Lincke Hall, Westhoff (DeWitt County) Texas.” The Journal (German-Texan Heritage Society), vol. 33, no. 2, Summer 2011, pp. 83-85, ill.
Charles Ferdinand Lincke was born in 1858 in the village of Luckenmuhle, in the Thuringian region of German-speaking Europe, where he learned to play the violin. At 15, he emigrated to America, arriving at the port of Galveston in 1873; the rest of his family arrived in 1877. As a musician playing at dances in Austin County, Texas, Charles met his future wife, Dorothea Louise Emma Ludtke around 1885 or 1886; by 1891 they had moved to the Gruenau community in DeWitt County, Texas. In 1910, Charles and Emma purchased five acres of land in Westhoff, and soon after built a home and dance hall. “Some of the bands that performed included the Lincke String Band, Nordheim Band, Cuero Band, Westhoff jazz Band, Yorktown Dance Orchestra, and the Alfred Buske Orchestra.”
Frizzell, Robert W. Independent Immigrants: A Settlement of Hanoverian Germans in Western Missouri. Columbia: University of Missouri Press, 2007. xii, 202 pp., ill.
Includes bibliographical references (pp. 179-191) and index.
“Frizzell examines the American immigrant experience of German peasant farmers from the Kingdom of Hanover, who immigrated to Lafayette County, Missouri, to form a new community centered on the town of Concordia, showing how it differed from other German immigrant communities in America and how it flourished after the Civil War.” —- Contents: Introduction — Hanoverian Background — Settling in Missouri and Starting Farms — Founding Churches and Using the Law — The Civil War and Disaster in Western Missouri — Postwar Growth and Development — Conclusion — Appendix : Letters of F.J. and Marie Biltz — Bibliography.
Heide, Jean, and Janice Simpson. “Ludwig von Stachelhausen of Selma, Texas.” The Journal (German-Texan Heritage Society), vol. 33, no. 3, Fall 2011, pp. 159-161, ill.
Ludwig von Stachelhausen (1845-1907) married Minna Beeger (1849-1931) in 1870. They arrived in the United States in 1879, living in Selma and then Cibolo, Texas. Ludwig was one of the world’s leading apiarists. Article reprints an obituary for Ludwig from Gleanings in Bee Culture.
Hirschmann, Maria Anne. Hansi: The Girl Who Loved the Swastika. Wheaton, Ill.: Tyndale House Publishers, 1973. 243 pp.
From bookjacket: “In Hansi: The Girl Who Loved the Swastika, Maria Anne Hirschmann tells her own story — of the long, painful road from membership in Hitler’s Youth Corps, through a harrowing escape from the Communists, to an eventual place for herself and her family in the United States. . . . she never tires of sharing her past experiences and her buoyant faith in thankfulness to God for leading her from the infamous twisted cross of Naziism to new life through the cross of Jesus Christ.”
Donated by Bob Meier.
Kirkby, Mary-Ann. I Am Hutterite: The Fascinating True Story of a Young Women’s Journey to Reclaim Her Heritage. Nashville, Tenn.: Thomas Nelson, 2010. xxiii, 245 pp., ill.
Chronicles the author’s childhood experiences of life on a Hutterite colony in Canada until she was ten, and the aftermath of leaving community life.
Contents: Foreword by Arvel Gray — Short History of the Hutterites — Prologue — 1: Der g’hört mein! He’s Mine!: — 2: Die Hochzeit: The Wedding — 3: Du sei der Gute: You Be the Good One — 4: Tea Bags and Sugar Lumps — 5: Renie — 6: Die Teacherin: The Teacher — 7: Secret Flowerpot — 8: Weglaufen: Running Away — 9: Our Year at Dahl’s Farm — 10: Rogers’ Farm — 11: A Place of Our Own in Plum Coulee/Winkler — Epilogue — Afterword — Acknowledgments — Family Tree — Hutterisch: Hutterite Language Glossary — Bibliography — Hutterite Sucre Pie.
Donated by Bob Meier.
Knuth, Eldon. “Mecklenburger Gotteskasten, Dubuque, Iowa, 1904.” Yearbook of German-American Studies, vol. 45, 2010, pp. 193-199, ill.
Includes bibliographical notes.
Provides of summary of biographical information on twenty-three pastors from a photo of twenty-nine men identified as the “Mecklenburger Gotteskasten.” The photo was taken at a 1904 celebration of the fiftieth anniversary of the founding of the Wartburg Theological Seminary in Dubuque, Iowa. Twenty of the individuals were born in Mecklenburg and emigrated between 1846 and 1896.
Koenig, Jon Todd. “Theodore Anna Arnoldine Henriette Sack (von Roeder / von Rosenberg).” The Journal (German-Texan Heritage Society), vol. 33, no. 4, Winter 2011, pp. 228-231, ill.
Theodore Sack (known as Dorchen to her family) was born in Düsseldorf, Germany, on 7 May 1829. In 1849 she set sail with her brother-in-law Wihelm Franz Xavier Jaentschke to meet with her sister, Elise Otillie Anna Sack Jaentschke, in Austin County, Texas. Theodore first married her cousin, Wilhelm Adolph Johann Eberhard Ludwig von Roeder, in 1850, and had one child — born, interestingly, in Bielefeld, Germany. Wilhelm died in 1852, and Theodore married Carl Eugen von Rosenberg in Round Top, Fayette County, Texas, in 1853. Five children were born to the couple, and they also adopted an orphaned girl sometime in the 1880s. Eugen served in the Confederate Army during the Civil War.
Kopp, Achim. “Abraham Reeser Horne’s Pennsylvania German Manual.” Yearbook of German-American Studies, vol. 45, 2010, pp. 107-127, ill.
Includes bibliographical notes and references.
Examines the life of Abraham Reeser Horne (1834-1902) and his influential source book for Pennsylvania German language, literature, and culture, the Pennsylvania German Manual, first published in 1875.
Laudi, Gisela. “Families Marowski and Junge Went West from Prussia.” The Journal (German-Texan Heritage Society), vol. 33, no. 4, Winter 2011, pp. 209-225, ill.
Describes life in 19th-century Oderberg (some 30 miles northeast from Berlin, on the Oder river) and follows members of the Marowski, Junge, and Tubbe families, who eventually settled in Nacogdoches, Texas. Surname variations include: Marouski, Marousky, and Tunke.
Massnick, Thomas Otto. “Marauding Tribesmen for Unity and Equality: The Forty-Eighters’ Creation of a German-American Genius Loci.” Yearbook of German-American Studies, vol. 45, 2010, pp. 77-93.
Includes bibliographical notes.
Examines the political and intellectual climate of the German-American community before and during the American Civil War, then analyzes the poetry of Caspar Butz and Konrad Krez to illuminate how German refugees from the Revolutions of 1848 and 1849 transferred their ideologies to the political arena in the United States.
Mayer-Kielmann, Michael. “From Germany to America: An Immigrant’s Journey 50 Years Ago.” Der Blumenbaum (Sacramento German Genealogy Society), vol. 29, no. 2, Oct./Nov./Dec. 2011, pp. 72-73, ill.
The author describes his youth in Hannover, his wrestling with the bureaucracy of the Immigration and Naturalization Service, and his arrival in America in 1961. He settled in Mesilla Park, near Las Cruces, New Mexico, to attend the local university, and was an officer in the U.S. Army.
McClinton, Rowena. “Converging Spiritualities: Observations of Anna Rosina Gambold, Moravian Missionary to the Cherokees, 1805-1821.” Yearbook of German-American Studies, vol. 45, 2010, pp. 61-75.
Includes bibliographical notes.
Mergele, Ed. “Grand Prize Beer and Howard R. Hughes.” The Journal (German-Texan Heritage Society), vol. 33, no. 3, Fall 2011, pp. 164-165.
The author’s father and uncle were in the creamery business in 1933 when Prohibition ended. “Their old Comal Creamery had two big refrigeration rooms and they were the key to my father entering the beer distribution business.” They began with distribution of beer from Anheuser-Busch and Schlitz, later nearly all brands available in Texas (except for Pearl and Lone Star), and then won an award for distributing the most cases of Grand Prize Beer, which was founded by Howard Robard Hughes. The author met Howard Hughes at the award ceremony for his father, held in Houston.
Öfele, Martin W., True Sons of the Republic: European Immigrants in the Union Army. Reflections on the Civil War Era. John David Smith, ed. Westport, Conn.: Praeger, 2008. xiii, 200 pp., ill.
Includes bibliographical references (pp. 183-187) and index.
In the American Civil War, some 500,000 Union soldiers, or one fourth of the Union army, had been born in Europe. These immigrants had left their home countries for a multitude of reasons, mostly economic and political, and they had envisioned the United States as a country of freedom where they could pursue their goals of acquiring wealth and participating in politics. Faced with this nation’s great debate over the expansion of slavery, many immigrants found themselves forced to take sides, and many rallied around the Union flag. Ethnic Americans joined the northern army out of the same motivations as their native-born comrades, with one notable difference. By defending the Union, immigrant volunteers also hoped to tear down nativist obstruction against their assimilation into society, prove their worth as full citizens, and promote their ethnic pride.
Ethnic regiments were raised that received high visibility both within the army and in the media of the time. The conduct of such organizations as the Irish Brigade or the partly German Eleventh Army Corps shaped public notions of immigrant participation in the war for decades to come, notwithstanding the fact that the large majority of foreign-born soldiers served in mixed and predominantly native American regiments. These new Americans contributed substantially to Union victory.
Reinhart, Joseph R., trans. and ed. August Willich’s Gallant Dutchmen: Civil War Letters from the 32nd Indiana Infantry. Civil War in the North. Lesley J. Gordon, ed. Kent, Ohio: Kent State University Press, 2006. xiii, 262 pp., ill.
Includes bibliographical references (pp. 195-252) and index.
Organized by Colonel August Willich, a former Prussian army officer who led troops during the German Revolution of 1848, the 32nd Indiana regiment was comprised of German immigrants. The regiment fought in the Western Theater of the Civil War, including Rowlett’s Station in Kentucky; at Shiloh, Stones River, and Missionary Ridge in Tennessee; and at Chickamauga and Pickett’s Mill in Georgia. The letters presented here originally appeared in German in issues of German-American newspapers during the Civil War, and they illuminate the personal motivations, wartime experiences, opinions, ethnic pride, and bravery of the soldiers.
Contents: A Note about Translation and Editing — Maps and Illustrations — Introduction — “Gather around the Flag of Freedom” — “They Received a Regular Thrashing from the Germans” — “Now They Push the Germans Out of Their Place of Honor” — “Today Decides the Fate of America” — “We ‘Dutchmen’ Will Win or Perish” — “It Is Unpleasant for the Men” — “The Losses of the Regiment” — “The Rebels Poured Death and Destruction into Our Ranks” — “My Center Had to Suffer a Great Deal” — “Set Back but Not Conquered” — “Here It Was about Victory or Death” — “We Mourn a Bitter and Irreplaceable Loss” — Epilogue — Appendix A: Original Officers and Color Sergeants of the 32nd Indiana Regiment — Appendix B: 32nd Indiana Monument at Cave Hill National Cemetery — Appendix C: Other Books Containing Civil War Diaries and Collections of Letters Written by Native Germans and Published in English. — Notes — Bibliographic Essay.
Reitz, Charles. “Socialist Turners of New York City, 1853: Archival Materials Warrant Further Research.” Yearbook of German-American Studies, vol. 45, 2010, pp. 95-106.
Includes bibliographical notes.
“A vivid political episode in the history of the German-American Turner Movement” has come to light “since the acquisition of the archive of the Sozialistischer Turnerbund of New York City by the Max Kade German-American Studies Center of the University of Kansas in October 2009. This affair offers a clear indication of the German-American solidarity displayed by the New York City Turners toward the multidimensional European socialist/communist movement in a significant 1853 event. Greater familiarity with this matter will also suggest continuities with radical German-American leadership in U.S. labor history and further topics for research.”
Ritter, Alexander. “Die Erfindung des Amerikaners: Zu Charles Sealsfields strategischer Inszenierung seiner Identität und Repraesentation als US-Bürger.” Yearbook of German-American Studies, vol. 45, 2010, pp. 1-15.
Includes bibliographical notes.
“Im Hinblick auf die amerikanische Immigrationsgeschichte als einer machinery of national identification and integration sowie das Inszenieren einer Identität als amerikanischer Bürger und amerikanischer Schriftsteller ist Charles Sealsfield ein instruktives paradigma für das Immigrantenverhalten eines europäischen Intellektuellen. Die Begründung dafür leitet sich her aus privaten Verfehlungen und politischer Motivation, die als Ursache der zielgerichteten Generierung einer neuen Namensidentität, seiner inszenierten Auftritte als Amerikaner und deren zusätzlicher Verifizierung durch literarische Selbstdarstellung anzunehmen sind. Das damit verbundene Persönichkeitsprofil bedingen seine biographischen Voraussetzungen. . . . Grundlage der folgenden Ausführungen sind biographische Informationen, die vom Verfasser in mehreren Dokumentationen zwischen 1999 und 2011 vorgelegt sind. Mit ihnen wird zum einen danach gefragt, welche Mittel Sealsfield funktionalisiert, seine Biographie neu zu ordnen und diese auf die Karriere als politischer Schriftsteller auszurichten.”
Roba, William. “Bix Beiderbecke as a German-American.” Yearbook of German-American Studies, vol. 45, 2010, pp. 147-176.
Includes bibliographical notes.
Essay examines how Biederbecke’s background helped him to become “a jazzer, and how German Americans played an important role in American musical history.”
Vetter, Marianne, and Liz Hicks. “In Search of Christian Schifferling.” The Journal (German-Texan Heritage Society), vol. 33, no. 3, Fall 2011, pp. 154-158, ill.
Marianne Vetter of Bern, Switzerland, owns family letters written during the 1850s by her great-great-great uncle, Christian Schifflering. Christian was born in 1828 in Eckartsweier, Baden. Family stories speculated that Christian did not get along with his step-mother, and he left for America in 1849, where he enlisted in the U.S. Army. This article provides three translated letters from Christian, one dated 1851 and two dated 1852. The letters include descriptions of military life and the Texas landscape, as well as some anti-Semitism and the difficulties of making a life in America: “Nobody in Germany knows how it truly is here. Most of the people who are here do not dare to write the truth because they are ashamed of it. If somebody has found a place where he earns a little bit of money, he has to work sore [very hard] for it. One illness is enough to take away the little money you put aside. . . . This here is the land of freedom, but it is also the land where nobody gives a damn about the other one.” Additional information was discovered by Liz Hicks in searches of military records at the National Archives: Christian’s occupation was as a tailor, he served in the Civil War in the 47th Ohio Infantry, Company H. He received a disability discharge in 1880, “broken down in line of duty through exposure and hardships due to the service and old age.” He died in 1893 at the Soldiers Home in Washington, DC, and is buried in the U.S. Soldiers’ and Airmen’s Home National Cemetery.
Winkle, Irene von. “Seidenstickers Make Mark on Comfort since 1855.” The Journal (German-Texan Heritage Society), vol. 33, no. 4, Winter 2011, pp. 234-237, ill.
Originally published in the West Kerr Current, Sept. 23, 2010.
According to the family’s history, Heinrich Christian Ludwig Seidensticker (1830-1892) was born in Halle, Germany. He settled in Comfort, Texas, in 1855, working as a tailor. He and his wife Juliana, nee Saur (1838-1882), raised a large family.
No materials donated to this collection at this time.
Dillard, J. H., ed. Aus dem deutschen Dichterwald. Favorite German Poems. New York, Cincinnati, Chicago: American Book Company, 1903. 206 pp.
On title page: Edited with notes and vocabulary by J. H. Dillard, Professor in Tulane University of Louisiana, formerly Principal of Mary Institute, St. Louis.
Donated by Luanne von Schneidemesser, 2011.
Gould, Chester Nathan. Handy German Grammar. Chicago, Atlanta, New York: Scott, Foresman and Co., 1916. 92 pp.
Donated by Karyl Rommelfanger, 2011.