Author: Robyn Burnett
Publisher: University of Missouri Press
ISBN: 9780826210944
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 150
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Book Description
German immigrants came to America for two main reasons: to seek opportunities in the New World, and to avoid political and economic problems in Europe. In German Settlement in Missouri, Robyn Burnett and Ken Luebbering demonstrate the crucial role that the German immigrants and their descendants played in the settlement and development of Missouri's architectural, political, religious, economic, and social landscape. Relying heavily on unpublished memoirs, letters, diaries, and official records, the authors provide important new narratives and firsthand commentary from the immigrants themselves. Between 1800 and 1919, more than 7 million people came to the United States from German-speaking lands. The German immigrants established towns as they moved up the Missouri River into the frontier, resuming their traditional ways as they settled. As a result, the culture of the frontier changed dramatically. The Germans farmed differently from their American neighbors. They started vineyards and wineries, published German-language newspapers, and entered Missouri politics. The decades following the Civil War brought the golden age of German culture in the state. The populations of many small towns were entirely German, and traditions from the homeland thrived. German-language schools, publications, and church services were common. As the German businesses in St. Louis and other towns flourished, the immigrants and their descendants prospered. The loyalty of the Missouri Germans was tested in World War I, and the anti-immigrant sentiment during the war and the period of prohibition after it dealt serious blows to their culture. However, German traditions had already found their way into mainstream American life. Informative and clearly written, German Settlement in Missouri will be of interest to all readers, especially those interested in ethnic history.
Author: Robert W. Frizzell
Publisher: University of Missouri Press
ISBN: 0826266096
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 217
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Book Description
Between 1838 and the early 1890s, German peasant farmers from the Kingdom of Hanover made their way to Lafayette County, Missouri, to form a new community centered on the town of Concordia. Their story has much to tell us about the American immigrant experience--and about how newcomers were caught up in the violence that swept through their adoptive home. Robert Frizzell grew up near Concordia, and in this first book-length history of the German settlement, he chronicles its life and times during those formative years. Founded by Hanoverian Friedrich Dierking--known as "Dierking the Comforter" for the aid he gave his countrymen--the Concordia settlement blossomed from 72 households in 1850 to 375 over the course of twenty years. Frizzell traces that growth as he examines the success of early agricultural efforts, but he also tells how the community strayed from the cultural path set by its freethinker founder to become a center of religious conservatism. Drawing on archival material from both sides of the Atlantic, Frizzell offers a compelling account for scholars and general readers alike, showing how Concordia differed from other German immigrant communities in America. He also explores the conditions in Hanover--particularly the village of Esperke, from which many of the settlers hailed--that caused people to leave, shedding new light on theological, political, and economic circumstances in both the Old World and the New. When the Civil War came, the antislavery Hanoverians found themselves in the Missouri county with the greatest number of slaves, and the Germans supported the Union while most of their neighbors sympathized with Confederate guerrillas. Frizzell tells how the notorious "Bloody Bill" Anderson attacked the community three times, committing atrocities as gruesome as any recorded in the state--then how the community flourished after the war and even bought out the farmsteads of former slaveholders. Frizzell's account challenges many historians' assumptions about German motives for immigration and includes portraits of families and individuals that show the high price in toil and blood required to meet the challenges of making a home in a new land. Independent Immigrants reveals the untold story of these newcomers as it reveals a little-known aspect of the Civil War in Missouri.
Author: Gert Goebel
Publisher:
ISBN: 9780981693972
Category : Franklin County (Mo.)
Languages : en
Pages : 432
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Book Description
Translation of German immigrant Gert Goebel's insightful reflections on life in Franklin County, Missouri from the 1830s to the 1870s, including his thoughts about nineteenth-century German settlement in Missouri.
Author: Gottfried Duden
Publisher: University of Missouri Press
ISBN:
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 408
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Book Description
The author's intent was to promote and describe the midwest, specifically Missouri. His audience was the people of his native Germany.
Author: Robyn Burnett
Publisher: University of Missouri Press
ISBN: 0826264778
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 168
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Book Description
Robyn Burnett and Ken Luebbering first looked at how immigration has affected Missouri’s cultural landscape in their popular book German Settlement in Missouri: New Land, Old Ways. Now they tell the stories of women from all across Europe who left the Old World for Missouri. Drawing heavily on the women’s own stories, Immigrant Women in the Settlement of Missouri illustrates common elements of their lives without minimizing the diversity and complexity of each individual’s experience. The book begins with descriptions culled from diaries, letters, and memoirs documenting preparations for the journey, the perilous Atlantic crossing, and the sometimes equally long and arduous trip from the port of entry to Missouri. Burnett and Luebbering go on to examine how women, once in Missouri, coped with the problems of daily life in an unfamiliar and occasionally hostile environment. Whether it was the hardships of the frontier, the harsh realities of urban life, childbirth, the deaths of family members, isolation, or prejudice, their new lives brought numerous challenges. Many found success and contentment, as well, and the book also documents their joys and triumphs: physical survival, economic prosperity, thriving families, friendships, and community celebrations. Because it examines the lives of women from many social classes and ethnic backgrounds, Immigrant Women in the Settlement of Missouri does much to explain the rich cultural diversity Missouri enjoys today. The photographs and narratives relating to Czech, French, German, Hungarian, Irish, Italian, and Polish life will remind descendants of immigrants that many customs and traditions they grew up practicing have roots in their home countries and will also promote understanding of the customs of other cultures. In addition to the ethnic and class differences that affected these women’s lives, the book also notes the impact of the various eras in which they lived, their education, the circumstances of their migrations, and their destinations across Missouri. With their engaging and straightforward narrative, Burnett and Luebbering take the reader chronologically through the history of the state from the colonial period to the Civil War and industrialization. Like all Missouri Heritage Readers, this one is presented in an accessible format with abundant illustrations, and it is sure to please both general readers and those engaged in immigrant and women’s studies.
Author: W. Arthur Mehrhoff
Publisher: Missouri Life Magazine
ISBN: 9780996805834
Category : German Americans
Languages : en
Pages : 0
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Book Description
It's fair to say that no other immigrant group has had a greater influence on Missouri as the Germans. They swarmed into St. Louis and then followed the Missouri River westward in the early 1800s, finding in our rolling hills and broad valleys a beautiful country that reminded them of their beloved homeland in the Old World. This book is your personal tour guide into that unique heritage. It includes rare archival materials as well as places you can visit today to help you explore that history or let you sample their culture with all your senses. We hope this book encourages greater appreciation of Missouri Germans' influence upon our state's development, including their bedrock antislavery principles and support of the Union, their industrious work ethic and craftsmanship that shaped so much of our built environment, and a talent for fun that germinated so many breweries, wineries, bandstands, and other treasured aspects of our culture. We can practically guarantee your amazement at some the legacies these German immigrants left that still surround us. Immigration is one of the most debated political topics in our country today; it's hard to see clearly beyond the present situation. By looking back at the surprisingly parallel situation of Missouri's German immigrants beginning almost 200 years ago, perhaps we can better envision reaching our target of a diverse yet unified Missouri life in the furture.
Author: Regina Donlon
Publisher: Palgrave MacMillan
ISBN: 9783030087753
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 292
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Book Description
Author: Don Heinrich Tolzmann
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781932250497
Category : German Americans
Languages : en
Pages : 0
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Book Description
Author: Mark Wyman
Publisher: SIU Press
ISBN: 0809335565
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 284
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Book Description
This book shows the interplay between the major groups traveling the roads and waterways of the Upper Mississippi Valley during the crucial decades of 1830 - 1860. It's a lively, extensively-illustrated account which will help Americans everywhere better understand their diverse heritage.
Author: Don Heinrich Tolzmann
Publisher: Prometheus Books
ISBN:
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 476
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Book Description
Representing one-fourth of the population, German-Americans constitute the largest ethnic element, according to the U.S. Census, with well over 60 million people claiming German heritage. In twenty-six states, they comprise at least 20 percent of the population, and in five states they number more than 50 percent-important statistics in understanding the role played by German-Americans in U.S. history. The German-American Experience provides a comprehensive record of the essential facts in the history of this group, from its first U.S. settlements in the seventeenth century to the present. Beginning with "The Age of Discovery," this volume explores the earliest contacts between America and Germany, immigration and settlement patterns of Germans, foundations of German-American community life, their major involvement in the American Revolution, and the role German-Americans played in our Civil War. Both world wars are chronicled, including the anti-German sentiment and the internment of German-Americans during both wars. The revival of German heritage and the renaissance of German-American ethnicity since the 1970s is surveyed, along with recent events, including the impact of German unification and the 1990 census. The author also analyzes German-American influences on agriculture, industry, religion, education, music, art, architecture, politics, military service, journalism, literature, and language. In addition, he comments on prominent German-Americans, German names, sister cities, historical statistics, and much more.
