For "Brinksitzer" try "squatter". I don't speak much German, but spent several weeks trying to find the meaning of that word in a German document I was trying to interpret. The Brinksitzern were apparently very poor subsistance farmer type people who had no land of their own, but lived in shacks or huts on the boundary land between the formally defined farm fields. Around 1825 [if memory serves me correctly], Hannover had an "Agrarian reform" that redistributed village commons and boundary lands among the land owning farmers, thus disposessing the Brinksitzern and stimulating an increase in emigration to North America.
Don Roddy
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Warren Ruban <wcruban@enter.net> wrote :
Can anyone add anything to this or maybe confirm some of the data. There was
some conflicting information in several previous e-mails and I tried to
summarize the information & would like to try and clear this up. I also can't
translate "Brinksitzers"
Is there any way to trace any relatives possibly still living in germany?
Jim Ruban
Johann Heinrich Meyer (alias Paul Julius Immergr�n)
Born September 5, 1833 the son of a Brinksitzers in Riede bei or Riede/Hann
Thedinghausen, Germany
Died December 23 1889 or December 29 1899 in Springfield NJ USA
He was educated to be a teacher (Principal) while living in the village Riede
at Dreye around 1848. Got into journalism and later into writing.
He had an apprentice position in Kirchdorf
He published two Lyric books (Herz, Welt und Vaterland) "Heart, World and
Father-land" (1862) and (Gedichte, zweite Sammlung) "rhymes 2nd collection"
(1866).
He attended the seminary in Hanover and was teacher in Kirchdorf county Uchte.
As local priest he got suspended because he did not believe in everything that
was written in the bible. In respond to that Mr. Meyer Immergruen wrote a
poetic note, which was the reason for his own suspension.
Bremen accepted him an provide him under miserable conditions an apprentice
ship at the county college in Hastedt (1857-65)
His first job was in Bremen Hastedt. He was laid off due to his behavior.
Because of miss behavior he got dismissed and he went to New York in 1869 where
he received from the German's a friendly welcome.
In 1869 he went to North America and worked at the New Yorker Staats-zeitung a
German newspaper in New York, and was able to get wealthy.
Well-known musicians translated his rhymes, and the songs were well liked by
local singing groups. The piece "Die Hermannschlacht " composed by Kiesewetter
was played in several towns around the US repeatedly and received standing
ovations from the listeners.
He soon met the American writer LONGFELLOW and started a close relationship.