Kathleen, Thank you very much for your response. I had seen the Heimrich
entry but not the others. It is so interesting to read the back and forth
messages and learn from them. A modern example of sitting around the stove
and exchanging information. It is interesting that the younger brother
emigrated first. Quite a trip for a 16 year old!
Conrad
Conrad Luhmann
910-799-2139
cluhmann@ec.rr.com
Today's Topics:
1. Re: Koch's to Brazil (Jane Rasmussen)
2. Seeking information on Henry Conrad Luhmann (Conrad Luhmann)
3. Re: Seeking information on Henry Conrad Luhmann (kajh)
4. Re: koch (kajh)
Conrad,
One of my great grandmother's came to the U.S. from Sweden at age 19 in 1878, by herself.
Her older sister had been invited, by cousins, to come visit in the U.S. The older sister said that she wasn't "going across that old ocean!" and declined. However, Augusta said she would love to go, and got permission to come.
During the trip, on the Cunard Line, while other young people were dancing and having fun, Augusta Sjohlander read her Bible. She had two Bibles, one in Swedish, one in English. She put them side by side and taught herself English that way.
As the train rounded the curve into the fairly new Texas town, she started to cry. She said it looked like a wild west town and she feared what she might have gotten herself into. The man sitting beside her didn't know what to do, so he handed her an orange!
Her cousin owned a hotel in town. Augusta's visit became permanent when she met Peter Franz, and, in a few months, married him. Peter was successful in the new town and Augusta was able to travel back to Sweden to see her family. However, when she got there, her father was dying. Her brothers were suspicious and feared she might want some of their inheritance, so they refused to admit her to the house. She returned home without having seen her family.
I don't think 16 is all that young for a trip or an adventure.
We probably wouldn't think of letting our children that age go off on such trips alone, today. I worry about my grandchildren getting off the school bus or going out in the yard! You just can't turn them loose now, while, when I was growing up, and my children, it was pretty safe to go all over town to play. Just had to be home for dinner or before bed time.
At 16, back in the 1950s, I was in college, took off on trips and adventures by myself without a thought. I had been getting on a bus or train, taking off in a car since I was 11 or 12, by myself, sometimes with a friend. Got my drivers license at age 12. Started first grade at age 4 because my friends were going.
At 16, my mother was married and I was born when she was 17.
I would think that, in the older times, our ancestors did things a lot younger.
One of my great-grandfather's cousins came over from Prussia at age 14. It was thought he might have come with my g-grandfather, who was 21. But, he was not on that ship, so we don't know that they came together.
Just a thought.
Cecelia
It is so interesting to read the back and forth