I'm Bob Brooks from San Diego, California, USA. Please excuse the
English. I'm planning on taking German this fall at the San Diego
Community College. In the meanwhile, I try to translate from German with
the help of a friend. Jim Hickman suggested I introduce myself.
I am looking for information on my grandmother, Anna Maria Kloke;
specifically her years in Germany and her first 10-15 years in the US.
Anna was from Giershagen (part of Marsberg, Hochsauerland, Westfalen
today). There are still Kloke's living there. I found them in the
telephone book and, thanks to the Marsberg webmaster, have communicated
via email with them. They have
evidence in their family bible that we are talking about the same Anna
Kloke.
My grandmother told me that she came to the US when she was 16,
sponsored by the Bishop of Paderborn (or Catholic Charities). She
mentioned the Kulturkampf which spanned her youth in Germany. She
departed from Bremerhaven, passed through Ellis Island and went by train
straight to Washington State. She worked for Nuns and Priests in various
places in the Northwest, (probably keeping house). She mentioned
Seattle, Spokane, Tacoma, Walla Walla, Snohomish, Portland, etal. She
remembered being sick on the ship. And she remembered that the prairie
dogs were so thick on the tracks that they had to stop the train and
shoot the animals off the tracks. While she was there, a man returning
from the Klondike gave her a gold nugget, which she gave to the Nuns,
when she left for Chicago. She married in Chicago in 1903 and raised a
family. She lived in Holy Trinity Parish in Chicago, a German parish
that is no longer in existence. I am trying to find out more about her
time in the Northwest and why she went to Chicago, the period from
1889-1903.
I know from records that she was born in 1873. If her story is correct,
she would have arrived in New York in 1889-90. Ellis Island didn't open
until 1892. And the goldrush to the Klondike was between 1895-1900. The
first transcontinental railroad to the northwest opened in the 1890s.
The family bible in Giershagen says she went to the US as a missionary
(sounds like more than a housekeeper). My grandmother was about 60 years
old when I was born. We lived together for most of 30 years. She was
probably mistaken about some of the things she told me, but so far my
memory has proven very accurate.
I have written to all the orders of Nuns that may have been in the
Northwest in 1890. I have written to the Dioceses of Seattle, Spokane,
Oregon, Chicago and Paderborn. Not everyone has responded yet but those
that have, have no record of her.
If you have any suggestions or clues, I'd appreciate your help.
What year did she emigrate from Germany?
Would the US have allowed an unaccompanied 16 year old girl into the US?
Would her father have let her leave without assurance that she would be
safe on such a long journey?
Was she part of a group of people all sponsored by the Bishop of
Paderborn or Catholic Charities?
I have not found her on the Ellis Island site. So did she really enter
at Ellis Island or
perhaps at a different location?
She seemed to clear immigration without any problem. Were there
sponsorship programs bringing German Catholics to the US? What was the
motivation? Work? Escape from intolerance? Missionary Zeal?
When and Why did she leave Washington State?
Why did she go all the way back to Chicago, Illinois?
These are just some of the questions that I am attempting to answer. Its
too bad I
didn't think of them while she was alive. Today even her children are
dead. It would have been so much easier.
I may also be looking for information of my grandfather, William
Billings. He died in 1919, before I was born. My grandmother never said
he was German and I assumed from his name that he was English. However
the 1920 census and several documents I obtained from Cook County
Illinois say he was from Germany. Those documents could be in error or
they could be correct. His family could have changed their name. To make
it more confusing, his death certificate lists him as Willard Billings.
Thanks for listening to me. If you can help, let me know.
Bob Brooks
San Diego, Ca
619-226-6209