Dear Hannover List,
According to family tradition, my gggrandmother Marie BAUER from Zeven
travelled alone to Wisconsin and married her husband there in the mid-1800s. The
wedding had been arranged through letters. I am quite sure that she did not
know her husband in advance, because he was a widower from Mecklenburg-Schwerin
with a new baby in hand. He must have needed a wife to care for the child and
met someone in Wisconsin who knew of her. Marie Bauer was a full grown
woman, not a teenager. She didn't speak any English, and at the wedding ceremony,
arranged for a friend to kick her when it was time to say "I do." 
It makes sense that a young woman would travel with a chest of beautiful
linens and silver - a hope chest of sorts.
Sincerely,
Katherine