"You cannot imagine what it is like in America.": Emigration from the Bavarian Forest in Germany to the United States from 1841 to 1931

By Friedemann Fegert

The United States. The land of unimagined opportunities. A place of longing for many Germans for decades. This book describes why people from the Bavarian Forest emigrated to the United States from 1841 to 1931. Diverse documents from German and American archives, historical records, and maps, assembled over many years, are augmented by a wealth of authentic, fascinating letters, photographs, and diary entries from the emigrating families.

Vivid conversations and meetings with present-day descendants bring the story full circle!

You will experience
· the hard life in the Bavarian Forest villages
· the hopeful letters from America
· the attempts of the authorities to thwart emigration plans
· the arduous and often painful preparations for the trip
· the adventure-filled, transatlantic crossing 'tween deck
· the critical examinations on Ellis Island and
· the difficult new beginning in the New World

This book forms the basis of the exhibits in the "Born in Schiefweg" Emigration Museum in the Bavarian Forest. It also found its way into the permanent exhibition of the German Emigration Center in Bremerhaven, Germany.

• Language: English
• Publisher: edition Lichtland
• Release date: Feb 8, 2021
• ISBN: 9783947171323

Book preview

You cannot imagine what it is like in America.

Emigration from the Bavarian Forest in Germany

to the United States from 1841 to 1931

Friedemann Fegert

Translated by Karin Knisely

For my family and my friend Heinz,

in memory of the courageous Bavarian Forest inhabitants, who pinned all their hopes on America.

© edition Lichtland

Stadtplatz 6, 94078 Freyung

Deutschland

1. Auflage 2021

Das Werk ist urheberrechtlich geschützt. Jede Verwertung ist nur mit Zustimmung des Verlags zulässig. Das gilt insbesondere für Vervielfältigungen, Übersetzungen und die Einspeicherung und Verarbeitung in elektronischen Systemen.

ISBN: 978-3-947171-32-3

ISBN der gebundenen Ausgabe: 978-3-947171-24-8

www.lichtland.eu

You cannot imagine what it is like in America.

Emigration from the Bavarian Forest in Germany

to the United States from 1841 to 1931

With 82 figures, 90 photographs, and 49 tables

FRIEDEMANN FEGERT

Translated by KARIN KNISELY, Lewisburg, PA. USA

COVER PICTURES – FRONT:

Lower Manhattan from Brooklyn Bridge Tower, New York City, before 1914 (postcard, The American Art Publishing, New York City)

Statue of St. Mary and coffee service from Herzogsreut around 1900 (Hildegarde Clemens and Charles Hackl Family, on loan in the Born in Schiefweg Emigration Museum, photo Thomas Fegert)

Birthplace of the Stadler sisters in Herzogsreut, watercolor around 1950 (Original Kreszenz Koller, photo Emma Stadler’s archives)

Wanga-Haus Madek, Annathal, 1930 (Friedemann Fegert’s archives)

COVER PICTURES – SPINE OF THE BOOK:

Statue of Liberty, 1902 (Fegert archives)

Fritz Kandlbinder in the Bayernverein, Chicago before 1910 (Fany Kandlbinder’s archives)

COVER PICTURES – BACK:

Bird’s Eye view of Lower New York, 1924 (postcard, Manhattan Postcard Co.)

Kathy Stadler on the ship Columbus during the crossing in 1926 (Emma Stadler’s archives)

Bibliographic information:

The German National Library

The German National Library lists this publication in the German National Bibliography; detailed bibliographic data is available on the Internet at https://www.dnb.de/

FRIEDEMANN FEGERT

You cannot imagine what it is like in America

Emigration from the Bavarian Forest in Germany to the United States from 1841 to 1931. With 82 figures, 90 photographs, and 49 tables. Translated by KARIN KNISELY

First edition 2001 (in German). Second, revised and extended edition 2014 (in German). First English even more extended edition 2021.

Freyung, Germany

© 2021

Edition Lichtland, Freyung, Germany

Design, typesetting and reproductions:

Friedemann Fegert, Karlsruhe.

Cover design:

Edith Döringer, Melanie Lehner, Schönberg.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

LIST OF FIGURES

LIST OF PLATES

LIST OF TABLES

ABBREVIATIONS USED IN THIS BOOK

1PROLOGUE

1.1LOCATION OF THE STUDY AREA

1.2PERSPECTIVE

1.3METHODS

1.4SCOPE

2SETTLERS IN THE PASSAU ABBEY REGIONS

2.1COLONIZATION OF THE VORWALD IN THE MIDDLE AGES

2.2COLONIZATION OF THE CENTRAL BAVARIAN FOREST IN EARLY MODERN TIMES

2.3AGRARIAN STRUCTURE

2.4POPULATION TRENDS AND LAND DEVELOPMENT

3EMIGRANTS FROM THE CENTRAL BAVARIAN FOREST

3.1SCOPE

3.2ORIGINS

3.3AGE AND MARITAL STATUS

3.4OCCUPATION AND INCOME

3.5SOCIAL CLASSES

3.6MOTIVES

3.6.1Expert opinions and statistics

3.6.2Personal Stories

3.7CHAIN MIGRATION

3.8OFFICIAL EMIGRATION PROCEDURE

3.9IMMIGRATION CONDITIONS

3.10TRAVEL GUIDES FOR EMIGRANTS

3.11EMIGRATION FEVER

3.12EMIGRATION AGENCIES

3.13PASSAGE PRICES AND THE TRAVEL BUSINESS

3.14PREPARATIONS FOR THE TRIP

3.15CONDITIONS IN THE EMIGRATION PORTS

3.16SHIP’S PASSAGE

4SETTLERS FROM THE CENTRAL BAVARIAN FOREST IN THE NEW WORLD

4.1ARRIVAL IN THE IMMIGRATION PORTS

4.2GOVERNMENT INSTITUTIONS AND PRIVATE IMMIGRATION ASSOCIATIONS

4.3LOOKING AFTER THE EMIGRANT

4.4TRAVELING ON TO THE INTERIOR

4.5DIVISION OF LAND

4.6ACQUIRING LAND

4.7FARMING

4.8REGIONAL DISTRIBUTION AND FORMATION OF BAVARIAN FOREST QUARTERS

4.9POPULATION STRUCTURE

4.10LIVING CONDITIONS

4.11LIFE STORIES

4.12GERMAN TRACKS IN CULTURE AND SOCIETY

4.13GERMAN AND BAVARIAN CATHOLIC LIFE

4.14EMERENZ MEIER IN CHICAGO

4.14.1Biography

4.14.2Chicago before the turn of the century

4.14.3German Reputation

4.14.4Economic Situation

4.14.5Political Stance

4.14.6Spiritual Alienation

4.14.7Help for People Back Home

4.14.8Invitation to Emigrate

4.14.9Homesickness

4.14.10Epilogue

4.15LAND OF PROMISE—HEAVEN OR HELL

5EMIGRANTS WHO RETURNED TO THE BAVARIAN FOREST

5.1NO MONEY TO RETURN

5.2RETURN OF CONSCRIPTS

5.3RETURN FOR LOVE

5.4RETURN TO THE FAMILIAR

6CONTACT BETWEEN FAMILIES IN THE BAVARIAN FOREST AND THE UNITED STATES

6.1EMIGRANTS AND THOSE WHO STAYED AT HOME

6.2HELP FOR THE HOMELAND

6.3DESCENDANTS TODAY

7EPILOGUE

8SUMMARY

9KURZFASSUNG

10BIBLIOGRAPHY

10.1ARCHIVES

10.2PRIVATE SOURCES

10.3PERSONAL COMMUNICATIONS AND LETTERS TO THE AUTHOR

10.4INTERNET SOURCES

10.5GERMAN RADIO BROADCASTS

10.6MOVIES AND DOCUMENTARIES

10.7DEMOGRAPHICS

10.8WORKS CITED

10.9MAPS

11APPENDIX 1: WEIGHTS, MEASURES, AND CURRENCY IN BAVARIA AND SOUTHERN GERMANY

12APPENDIX 2: WEIGHTS, MEASURES, AND CURRENCY IN THE UNITED STATES

13APPENDIX 3: EMIGRANTS FROM THE CLEARING VILLAGES IN THE PASSAU ABBEY REGIONS

14APPENDIX 4: CHAIN MIGRATION FROM THE YOUNG CLEARING VILLAGES OF THE PASSAU ABBEY REGIONS (1854–1880)

15GLOSSARY OF GERMAN TERMS

16INDEX OF PERSONS AND NAMES

17INDEX OF LOCATIONS

18INDEX OF SUBJECTS

19ABOUT THE AUTHOR

20ABOUT THE TRANSLATOR

21NOTES

LIST OF FIGURES

Fig.1:Area of study: young clearing villages in the Passau abbey regions from which Germans emigrated to the United States (drawing by the author)

Fig.2:Migration and establishment of settlements in the northern abbey regions in the 17th and 18th century (drawing by the author).

Fig.3:Population of the young clearing villages in the Passau abbey regions (1840–1933) (graph of Table 1 data by the author)

Fig.4:German emigrants in 5-year intervals and the percentage of those who went to America (1820–1914) (graph of Table 5 data by the author)

Fig.5:Pattern of German emigration to all countries superimposed on the real wage index in Germany (top) and German emigration to the United States superimposed on the expansion of the railroads (bottom) (1830–1900) (Kamphoefner 1988, p. 18)

Fig.6:Emigration from Lower Bavaria to America (Mohr and Bitsch 1992, p. 106)

Fig.7:Number of families who emigrated from the young clearing villages in the Passau abbey regions (1841–1931) (graph by the author based on StAL Rep. 164, Verz. 22, Nr. 257-680)

Fig.8:Number of emigrants from the young clearing villages in the Passau abbey regions to the United States (1840–1915) (StAL Rep. 164, Verz. 22, Nr. 257–680; graph of Table 11 data by the author)

Fig.9:Number of emigrants from the young clearing villages in the Passau abbey regions to the United States according to their town of origin (1840–1935) (drawing by the author)

Fig.10:Age of the emigrants from the young clearing villages in the Passau abbey regions who went to the United States between 1840 and 1938 (graph of Table 13 data by the author)

Fig.11:Announcement concerning residents of Mauth who had emigrated in 1888 (StAL Rep. 164, Verz. 22, Nr. 257, fol. 51)

Fig.12:Music and lyrics for Jetzt ist die Zeit und Stunde da … 1984 (Archives of Ludwig Moosbauer †)

Fig.13:Announcement concerning those who intend to emigrate to North America (In: Praxl 1982, p. 206)

Fig.14:Auction announcement concerning Ignatz Schmid 1892 (Freyunger Waldpost 17 March 1892)

Fig.15:Certificate of completion of military duty in the Bavarian Army for Baptist Poxleitner, Mauth, 13 March 1852 (StAL Rep. 164, Verz. 22, Nr. 543, fol. 2)

Fig.16:Certificate of acceptance for passage to New York in 1855 for Joseph Stadler and his family (StAL Rep. 164, Verz. 22, Nr. 624, fol. before 28)

Fig.17:Joseph Stadler’s passport in 1855 (StAL Rep. 164, Verz. 22, Nr. 624, fol. 28)

Fig.18:Announcement that Kandidus Kellermann of Kleinphilippsreut and his relatives and friends intend to emigrate to North America (Kreisamtsblatt [Official District Gazette] 6 June 1857) (StAL Rep. 164, Verz. 22, Nr. 450, fol. 27)

Fig.19:Official announcement (Passauer Zeitung 15 June 1863) (StAL Rep. 164, Verz. 22, Nr. 449)

Fig.20:Certificate attesting to the reputation of Georg Nigl of Bischofreut (10 April 1854) (StAL Rep. 164, Verz. 22, Nr. 512, fol. 4)

Fig.21:Certificate of residence for Lorenz Eder of Leopoldsreut (9 February 1869) (StAL Rep. 164, Verz. 22, Nr. 327, fol. 5)

Fig.22:Emigration permit for Josef Stadler of Bischofsreut (14 July 1855) (StAL Rep. 164, Verz. 22, Nr. 624, fol. 30)

Fig.23:Title page from Traugott Bromme’s Hand- und Reisebuch für Auswanderer [Handbook and Travel Guide for Emigrants] 1846

Fig.24:Side view, floor plan, and section of a settler’s house (Fleischmann 1848)

Fig.25:Life of a California gold digger, contemporary illustrations (Nah und Fern, Vol. 4, 18xx, p. 277)

Fig.26:Matters concerning the regulation of emigration (In: Amtsblatt Grafenau und Wolfstein [Official Gazette of Grafenau and Wolfstein] 7 October 1882)

Fig.27:Announcement in the Official Gazette of the Royal District Offices in Wolfstein on 25 Oct. 1882 (author’s archives = aa)

Fig.28:Prepaid passages brokered by Norddeutsche Lloyd, represented by Franz Blöchl in Freyung (Freyunger Waldpost 1913)

Fig.29:Passage conditions guaranteed by the Stisser Brokerage in Bremen (9 July 1855) (StAL Rep. 164, Verz. 22, Nr. 624, fol. after 17)

Fig.30:Advertisement for the Red Star Line (Freyunger Waldpost 18 June 1895)

Fig.31:Telegrams from the Red Star Line about ship arrivals (Freyunger Waldpost 29 January 1895)

Fig.32:Editorial and advertisement for the Red Star Line (Freyunger Waldpost 6 September 1887)

Fig.33:Advertisement for the Hamburg-America Line, represented by agents in Munich, Passau, Breitenberg, and Grafenau, but also by Franz Blöchl in Freyung (Freyunger Waldpost 22 March 1905)

Fig.34:Schedule No. 1 Population, City of Minneapolis, 1900, No. 38, Sheet No. 2 (provided by Ken Madl 1 June 2020)

Fig.35:The first page of Luise Faschingbauer’s article Unsere Reise nach Amerika vor 35 Jahren (Our Trip to America 35 Years Ago)

Fig.36:Timetable and fees of the Hamburg-America Line (Hamburg-Amerikanischen Packetfahrt-Actien-Gesellschaft) 1870–71 (aa)

Fig.37:Friedrich Kandlbinder’s passport for travel to North America in 1902 (pages 1 and 2) (privately owned)

Fig.38:Friedrich Kandlbinder’s passport for travel to North America in 1902 (page 3 and last page) (privately owned)

Fig.39:Cross-section of a steamship around 1895 (aa)

Fig.40:Poster advertising the Red Star Line in 1887 (StA Waldkirchen) (aa)

Fig.41:Map of New York, steel plate engraving by W. Williams in 1847

Fig.42:State Emigrant Landing Depot in Castle Garden, NY (Kapp 1870, after p. 108)

Fig.43:The first baggage room (for receiving and storage) in Castle Garden, NY (Kapp 1870, after p. 110)

Fig.44:The second baggage room (for discharging luggage) in Castle Garden, NY (Kapp 1870, after p. 112)

Fig.45:State Emigrant Refuge and Hospital Institutions for Emigrants on Ward’s Island, NY (Kapp 1870, after p. 124)

Fig.46:Symbols used by immigration inspectors on Ellis Island (National Park Service, Ellis Island

Fig.47:Map of the State of Wisconsin, published by the State Board of Immigration (extract) (StA Waldkirchen)

Fig.48:Promotional brochure (The State of Wisconsin and the Land Owned by the Wisconsin Central Railroad) (StA Waldkirchen) 1880

Fig.49:The Winona & St. Peter Railroad Company published this Signpost to Southern Minnesota and Eastern Dakota in 1883 (aa)

Fig.50:Map showing the Wisconsin Central Railroad and its connections (StA Waldkirchen)

Fig.51:Map of Wisconsin in 1880, published by the Wisconsin Central Railroad

Fig.52:The Minnesota Guide 1869, edited by J. Fletcher Williams (aa)

Fig.53:Courtesy card of the German St. Raphael’s Society, founded to protect Catholic emigrants (aa)

Fig.54:The title page of Der Deutsche in Amerika (The German in America) by Frederick W. Bogen 1851 (aa)

Fig.55:Arrangement of Waldhufen plots in the young clearing villages, exemplified by (Klein-) Philippsreut (Liquidation plan 1839)

Fig.56:Rectangular system of surveys used in the United States (aa)

Fig.57:Pleasant Mound, Minnesota, Section 1–12 von 36, 1929 (Dan Bathker’s archives)

Fig.58:Geographical distribution of German immigrants and their children in the United States shown as a function of the climate (KAMPHOEFNER 1983, p. 171)

Fig.59:Map of North America, designed and drawn by F. von Stülpnagel in Stieler’s Handatlas 1871 (aa)

Fig.60:Letter from the Fire Chief of Herzogsreut requesting donations from friends and relatives in the United States in 1930. (Registratur des Landratsamtes Freyung-Grafenau, Bestand: Wolfstein, Feuerwehren; from 2000: STAL Rep. 164, Verz. 22, Abgabe 2000)

Fig.61:German immigrants in Chicago (1930) (drawing by the author)

Fig.62:Distribution of ethnic communities of Chicago in 1930 (Philpott, cited in Abu-Lughod 1999, p. 123)

Fig.63:Chicago’s five racial zones (Watson 1979, p. 100)

Fig.64:New arrivals in New York in 1865 (drawing by author based on Homberger 1998, p. 99)

Fig.65:Article about the 50th wedding anniversary of Bavarian Forest immigrants John and Katharina Hackl in the German American newspaper Eintracht in 1980, with handwritten note by Emma Stadler (Emma Stadler’s archives †)

Fig.66:Emma Stadler-Clemens’ homes in Chicago (1925–1978) (drawing by the author).

Fig.67:Known destinations of immigrants from the young clearing villages in the Passau abbey regions in the United States 1841–1931 (drawing by the author)

Fig.68:McCormick Twine Binder 1884 (aa)

Fig.69:Distribution of Germans, who were born in the German Reich, in the United States in 1890 (Hannemann, cited in Kamphoefner 1988, p. 20)

Fig.70:The Heart of North America (Klima et al. 1940, p. 336)

Fig.71:Publication for potential immigrants by the State Board of Immigration of Wisconsin, 1879 (In: Zeitlin 2000, p. 28)

Fig.72:Why live in Wisconsin? Advantages according to the Wisconsin Central Railroad Company (Wisconsin Central Eisenbahn Gesellschaft 1880, p. 27)

Fig.73:Johann Steger’s letter from Eutora, Kansas in 1882 (StAL Rep. 164, Verz. 22, Nr. 258, after fol. 63 ff.)

Fig.74:Anton Schmid’s letter from St. Paul, Minnesota in 1886 (privately owned)

Fig.75:Homesickness, a poem by Louise Faschingbauer (Paul Praxl’s archives)

Fig.76:Letterhead of the Suess Ornamental Glass Co. in Chicago, 1893 (StA Waldkirchen, Emigration Collection; Philipp Süss’ letter 1893)

Fig.77:The last page of Emma Stadler’s journal (Hildegarde Clemens’ archives, on loan to the Born in Schiefweg Emigration Museum)

Fig.78:Cover of the Amerikanisches Familienblatt und Missionsbote magazine, February 1923 (Volume 22, Issue 2, owned by the University of Illinois, Urbana)

Fig.79:Entry of the names of Emerenz Meier and Franz Schmöller in the marriage register, 1907 (Register of Marriages St. Michael’s Church 1907, pp. 105–106 by Ken MADL, colored by author)

Fig.80:Emerenz Meier’s homes in Chicago 1906–1928 (drawing by the author)

Fig.81:Handwritten letter from Emerenz Meier to Auguste Unertl on 27 December 1925 (In: Meier 1991, p. 394)

Fig.82:The last letter of Franziska Stadler, February 1933 (Hildegarde Clemens’ archives)

LIST OF PLATES

Plate1:Bird’s eye view of Finsterau and Heinrichsbrunn around 1940 (author’s archives = aa)

Plate2:Germany 1815 and the Bavarian Forest 2010 (by the author, Source: Brockhaus Universallexikon 1892; Thomas Römer)

Plate3:Prince-Bishop Johann Philipp Count of Lamberg (1689–1712) (aa)

Plate4:Finsterau in July (top) and March (bottom) around 1910 (aa)

Plate5:Kleinphilippsreut about 1910 (aa)

Plate6:A typical Waldler house: the Nebelbauer Farm in Zwölfhäuser around 45 1900 (aa).

Plate7:Bavarian Forest settler around 1900 (Linke and Linke 1940, after page 112)

Plate8:Woman from the Bavarian Forest around 1900 (Linke and Linke 1940, after page 112)

Plate9:The Dikilantoni courtyard in Zwölfhäuser around 1901 (aa)

Plate10:Plöchinger’s sawmill near Finsterau around 1930 (aa)

Plate11:Franz Gibis with his mother before 1888 (aa)

Plate12:The Wanga Madek and his family in Annathal, 1930 (aa)

Plate13:Dreisessel (Triple chair) 1911 (aa)

Plate14:Gasthof zum Bayrischen Haus in Hamburg, around 1900 (aa)

Plate15:Photo taken at the departure of Ludwig Ratzesberger from Heinrichsbrunn, 1924 in Bremen (aa)

Plate16:Emigrants on the upper deck around 1890 (Mohr&Bitsch 1992, p. 105)

Plate17:Steamer crossing the Atlantic Ocean, postcard sent to Theres Lenz in 1909 (archives of Ludwig Moosbauer †)

Plate18:Immigrants looking at the Statue of Liberty (United States Information Service, in Kamphoefner 1983, p. 169)

Plate19:Statue of Liberty, New York, about 1920 (aa)

Plate20:Ellis Island, 1926, postcard (aa)

Plate21:Immigrants off Ellis Island, about 1920 (aa)

Plate22:Medical examination on Ellis Island (California Museum of Photography, Keystone-Mast Coll. X97322, The National Park Service)

Plate23:Immigrants in the Registry Room (Library of Congress LC-USZ6215539)

Plate24:Inspection Card (aa)

Plate25:Immigrants waiting to be transferred from Ellis Island, October 30, 1912 (Library of Congress 3a13599u)

Plate26:New York 1852, Broadway with Grace Church (aa)

Plate27:Peter Paul Cahensly 1938 (aa)

Plate28:Potato harvest in Fort Bend, Texas around 1890 (aa)

Plate29:Wheat harvest in the Midwest around 1890 (aa)

Plate30:Mehring milking machine, around 1890 (National Agricultural Library)

Plate31:Heavy industry on the Great Lakes (aa)

Plate32:Main St. in New Germany, Minnesota, 1908 (Carver County Historical Society)

Plate33:Chicago in 1892, corner of Wabash Avenue (Seeger 1892, p. 265)

Plate34:Chicago in 1892, corner of Lasalle and Randolph Streets (Seeger 1892, p. 271)

Plate35:Chicago in 1892, State St. near Jackson St. (Seeger 1892, p. 301)

Plate36:Bavarian Forest emigrants along with visitors from the old homeland, 1893 (StA Waldkirchen, Emigration Collection)

Plate37:Emma Stadler in Chicago 1928, with the date written in her own handwriting (Emma Stadler’s archives †)

Plate38:2800 Block Lincoln Ave, Chicago, July 4, 1937 (Photo John Hackl)

Plate39:Remembering the Bavarian friends in Appleton, Wisconsin around 1910 (?) (StA Waldkirchen, Emigration Collection)

Plate40:Home Tavern owned by Katharina Hackl in the 1930s (Photo John Hackl, aa)

Plate41:Emma Stadler’s house on Custer Avenue in the Chicago suburb of Evanston, after 1946 (Emma Stadler’s archives †)

Plate42:Bird’s eye view of St. Paul, Minnesota in 1867 (Library of Congress Panoramic Maps 1847–1928)

Plate43:Nigl’s Grocery Truck (Elsie Nigl Family Archives)

Plate44:Joseph Wühr from Hofern (Bavarian Forest) in Colorado, 1880s (printed by Haller 1981b)

Plate45:Green Bay, Wisconsin, C. & N.W. Depot, view to the train station (aa)

Plate46:German Society Chicago, about 1920 (aa)

Plate47:Hans Graf in his tailor shop in St. Paul, Minnesota around 1920 (Ludwig Moosbauer’s archives †)

Plate48:Aerial photograph of St. Paul, postcard (original in color) from Hans Graf in 1920 (Ludwig Moosbauer’s archives †)

Plate49:Church of St. Francis de Sales (aa)

Plate50:Leitner’s Garden Center 2014 (http://leitnersstpaul.com)

Plate51:Joseph Boxleitner with his family in Kane County, Illinois, 1903 (archives of Sarah Boxleitner Carlson and Donald Carlson)

Plate52:Ludwig Boxleitner, Sr. with his family and father-in-law in Oshkosh, Wisconsin, 1888 (archives of Sarah Boxleitner Carlson and Donald Carlson)

Plate53:Ludwig Boxleitner, Jr. with his family in Montana after 1912 (archives of Sarah Boxleitner Carlson and Donald Carlson)

Plate54:Charles Poxleitner’s sawmill in Keuterville, Idaho after 1921 (archives of Sarah Boxleitner Carlson and Donald Carlson)

Plate55:Charles Poxleitner’s sawmill near Keuterville, Idaho 1930s (Russel Schaff’s archives, provided by Ken Madl 2016)

Plate56:Bird’s eye view of Batavia, Illinois in 1869 (Library of Congress Panoramic Maps 1847–1928)

Plate57:Gottlieb and Anna Schott, nee Dirndorfer, after their wedding in May 1911 in Chicago (Fany Kandlbinder’s archives †)

Plate58:Franz Gibis and his wife Berta, nee Dirndorfer, with their children in America (Fany Kandlbinder’s archives †)

Plate59:Franz Dirndorfer and his wife Luise, nee Robel, from Winterberg (Bohemia) with their many children (Fany Kandlbinder’s archives)

Plate60:Rosa Knaus and her sisters in Chicago, 1920 (Mary Rose Fogarty)

Plate61:La Habra, California, 1927 (aa)

Plate62:John Kandlbinder and his wife Rosa, nee Knaus, in Chicago around 1940 (Mary Rose Fogarty)

Plate63:Emma Stadler’s birthplace in Herzogsreut, watercolor around 1950 with handwritten note by Emma Stadler (Original Kreszenz Koller †, Color photo: Emma Stadler’s archives †)

Plate64:Emma Stadler’s parents, Karl and Franziska Stadler … around 1930–32; handwritten note by Emma Stadler (Emma Stadler’s archives †)

Plate65:Katharina (Kathy) Stadler together with Cousins Therese Kern and Oswald Kern (right) on the passage to America, 1926 (Emma Stadler’s archives †)

Plate66:Congress Hotel & Annex, Chicago 1926, year added by Emma Stadler (Emma Stadler’s archives †)

Plate67:Flag of the Free Fire Brigade Herzogsreut 2014 (Photo Chr. Eller)

Plate68:Kathy and Emma Stadler, Chicago 1927; writing on photo by Emma Stadler (Emma Stadler’s archives †)

Plate69:Emma Stadler-Clemens and her husband Karl in Chicago, 1935 (Emma Stadler’s archives †)

Plate70:Mug shot of John Herbert Dillinger (Federal Bureau of Investigation)

Plate71:Statues of St. Joseph and St. Mary from Herzogsreut (archives Hildegarde Clemens and Charles Hackl) (Photo: Thomas Fegert)

Plate72:The Conestoga wagon first built by German settlers in Pennsylvania in 1754 (Library of Congress, LC-USZ62-24396)

Plate73:Warehouse Selection Catalogue No. 116 Sears, Roebuck & Co. 1907 (Courtesy of Julie Jorgenson, original in color)

Plate74:Deutscher Liederkranz in New York City, postcard from 1900 (aa)

Plate75:Fritz Kandlbinder in the Bayernverein, Chicago before 1910 (Fany Kandlbinder’s archives †)

Plate76:St. Michael’s Church in Old Town Chicago, ca. 1910 postcard (aa)

Plate77:St. Alphonsus Liebesbund ribbon 1903–1910 (Ulrike Hackl)

Plate78:Prayer and Edification Book for the Adoration of the Most Holy Virgin Mary, 1919 ed. (Charles Hackl’s archives).

Plate79:Emerenz Meier around 1898 (StA Waldkirchen, Emerenz Meier Collection)

Plate80:Emerenz Meier with her family in Oberndorf near Waldkirchen, probably in 1905 (StA Waldkirchen, Emerenz Meier Collection)

Plate81:Business District of Chicago around 1920, aerial photograph (aa)

Plate82:House belonging to Mary, Emerenz Meier’s sister, at 1254 Wellington Avenue in Chicago (Karl Saxinger)

Plate83:Georg and Petronella Meier family after 1903 (Greg Meier’s archives)

Plate84:The Georg Meier family in 1912 (Ginger Meier Gerhardt’s archives)

Plate85:Emerenz Meier’s great-great cousin Ginger Gladys Joyce, her great-great-nephew Greg Meier and the author in the Born in Schiefweg Museum 2014 (Photo: Margit Poxleitner)

Plate86:Emerenz Meier in Chicago around 1925 (StA Waldkirchen, Emerenz Meier Collection)

Plate87:Farewell Party for father Stadler at the Home Tavern, Chicago, 27 April 1946 (Charles Hackl’s archives)

Plate88:Charles Hackl and his wife Delores in Schiefweg 2010 (aa)

Plate89:Descendants in the homeland of their ancestors (aa)

Plate90:Opening of the emigration exhibition in Herzogsreut 2018 (aa)

LIST OF TABLES

Table1:Population in the young clearing villages in the Passau abbey regions (1840–1933). Raw data for Fig. 3.

Table2:Structure of the families of the original settlers in the Mauth area (1707)

Table3:Structure of the families of the first settlers of Kleinphilippsreith (1707)

Table4:Population growth and land development in Kleinphilippsreuth (1707–1847)

Table5:German emigrants (1820–1914). Raw data for Fig. 4

Table6:Origin of the German emigrants (1830–1869) (in percent of all emigrants)

Table7:Number of emigrants from different counties in the Kingdom of Bavaria (1836–1890)

Table8:Clandestine emigrants from Bavaria (1840–1854)

Table9:Immigrants and emigrants in Lower Bavaria (1844/45–1850/51)

Table10:Legal and illegal emigrants overseas from the Wolfstein District (1853–55 and 1857)

Table11:Number of legal and known illegal emigrants from the young clearing villages of the Passau abbey regions to America (1840–1938). Raw data for Fig. 8.

Table12:Villages from which the legal and illegal emigrants from the young clearing villages of the Passau abbey regions originated (1840–1938)

Table13:Age of emigrants from the young clearing villages of the Passau abbey regions who went to the USA between 1840 and 1938. Raw data for Fig. 10.

Table14:Mothers, fathers, and illegitimate children (1840–1935)

Table15:Social structure of the emigrants from the Wolfstein District who went to America (1853–55)

Table16:Social groups and marital status of the emigrants from the young clearing villages in the Passau abbey regions (1840–1938)

Table17:Motives for emigrating from the young clearing villages of the Passau abbey regions (1841–1931)

Table18:Poxleitner family tree showing the relationships among the emigrants

Table19:Emigration agents in the Wolfstein District (in the last third of the 19th century)

Table20:German immigrants entering the United States in New York, arranged according to port of departure (in December 1855)

Table21:German emigrants classified according to their port of departure 1850–1855

Table22:Ports of departure of selected emigrants from the clearing villages in the Passau abbey regions (1854–1888)

Table23:Official arrival statistics for German immigrants in the United States in 1850–1855 (summary)

Table24:Immigrants from the young clearing villages in the Passau abbey regions as found in the passenger lists of ships bound for American ports (1854–1888)

Table25:Immigrants through Ellis Island according to country (January 1892–June 1897, 1901–1931; exceptions in parentheses)

Table26:Industrial production in the United States according to region (1860)

Table27:Percentage of German immigrants in American cities and states (1890)

Table28:Distribution of German-born immigrants (1850–1960) (in %)

Table29:Bavarian immigrants in the United States of America (1860–1880)

Table30:Official census for Chicago – May 1890

Table31:Immigrants in Chicago from the Herzogsreut area (1930)

Table32:Emma Stadler-Clemens’ residences in Chicago

Table33:Destinations in the U.S. of the immigrants from the young clearing villages in the Passau abbey regions (1841–1931)

Table34:Occupations of all immigrants in the United States (1819–1860)

Table35:Occupations of German immigrants in the United States in 1880

Table36:Weekly wages for skilled occupations in New York City in 1869 (in dollars)

Table37:Average monthly salaries in the Labour Exchange in New York for unskilled work in 1868–1869 (in dollars)

Table38:Cost of living and surplus (in dollars / month or year) based on Joseph Wühr’s experiences (1882–1923)

Table39:Tax rate in the United States in 1880 (in dollars per $1,000 income)

Table40:Average yields of selected states around 1880 (dollars per acre)

Table41:Emma Stadler’s relatives in the United States (1925–30)

Table42:Emma Stadler’s acquaintances in the United States (1925–30)

Table43:Emma and Karl Clemens’ economic situation (1925–1954)

Table44:Emigration of the Meier family to America

Table45:Emerenz Meier’s residences in Chicago 1906–1928

Table46:Population of the City of Chicago (1830–2000)

Table47:Money sent by Emma Stadler to her family in Herzogsreut (1925–1932)

TableA 1:Emigrants from the clearing villages in the Passau abbey regions 1841–1931 (IN ALPHABETICAL ORDER)

TableA 2:Chain migration from the clearing villages in the Passau abbey regions (1854–1880)

ABBREVIATIONS USED IN THIS BOOK

PREFACE

I first became interested in the central Bavarian Forest in my first year at the university. In an introductory seminar at that time, Hans-Jürgen Nitz told us students about his research on the Waldhufen plots (linear settlements) in southwestern Germany during the Middle Ages. (As young students, we were more interested in planned highway routes and regional development planning. I thank my doctoral advisor, Ralph Jätzold, for his willingness to support my dissertation topic in applied cultural geography, which was part of a regional plan for the northern Black Forest in Germany. During a research trip to Kenya and Tanzania, his expertise in East African affairs gave us a clear perspective on the problems in the Third World.) Ten years later, when I was looking for a family vacation spot in Bavaria, I consulted Hans Fehn’s topographic atlas and his interpretation of the Waldhufen pattern along the Bavarian-Bohemian border. We ended up finding a second home on the Diklantoni farm in Zwölfhäuser, where they had just installed a telephone connection in 1979. At that time, I was coming to grips with the milk quota, mad cow disease, and the bark beetle in the woods; researched the settlement of the 12 houses (zwölf Häuser) 300 years ago and tracked down the old contracts for transferring farms; and discovered old techniques used by craftsmen as well as modern studio glass—these experiences make a strong impression. Another ten years later, after I had gained some historical perspective looking at history to better understand the future, I attended a geographers’ conference in Munich, where Johann-Bernhard Haversath encouraged me to publish my detailed findings about the origins of the settlement of the young clearing villages. The meeting in Passau of the Arbeitskreis für Kulturlandschaftsforschung in Mitteleuropa ARKUM (Group specializing in genetic research on settlements in Central Europe) reinforced my desire to pursue this research topic. My project took an interesting turn in 1992 when I was offered the challenging task of turning my scientific findings into an exhibit at the Freilichtmuseum (Open-air Museum) in Finsterau. My preoccupation with the life of the Bavarian Forest inhabitants forced me to look at the people, who had hoped to escape from their dire living conditions starting in the middle of the 19th century by emigrating to America. In 1996, Ernst Dorn, the co-author and editor of one of my publications, cleverly tried to entice me to publish an independent work on emigration to save himself the trouble of shaving a few pages off a manuscript. After some grumbling, I finally accepted this task as a challenge. Interviews and archival research in Bavaria, emails to the U.S., and Internet research were the diverse media that became the basis of my work. Two pages on emigration in Dorn's monograph grew to 540 pages in the first German edition! This book is the product of 12 years of Bavarian Forest research. The findings reflect the hard life of those willing to emigrate from the Bavarian Forest starting in the second half of the 19th century and who dreamed of a better life in the New World.

I thank, first of all,

my wife Ulla and our children Martin, Christine, and Thomas, who patiently endured their father’s passion and who often had to do without him.

Gunter Schaumann, Munich, time and again asked the questions behind the questions.

Mr. Paul Praxl, Curator of Archives in Freyung-Grafenau District, supported my work with a wealth of material, gave me access to the archival holdings in Munich, Landshut, Freyung and Waldkirchen, made factually necessary corrections, and was always available for discussions.

Erich Dorner from Mauth gave me access to the Urbarien from Mauth and Finsterau, provided me with many years-worth of the Freyunger Waldpost newspaper, and—because the distance to the Bavarian Forest was often a problem—made many photocopies of primary archival materials.

Irmgard Miedl from Obernzell and Ernst Kandlbinder from Zwölfhäuser introduced me to valuable informants.

My sources in the Bavarian Forest: Fany Kandlbinder (nee Dirndorfer) from Zwölfhäuser (1921–2002); Katharina and Heinrich Degenhart from Zwölfhäuser; Ludwig Moosbauer (1927–1998) from Finsterau; Anna Poxleitner from Finsterau; Franz Selwitschka from Heinrichsbrunn; Kreszenz Koller, nee Stadler, (†2002) from Grainet; Hanns Gruber from Falkenbach.

And especially Georg and Irma Kloiber from Zwölfhäuser, who have given us a second home on their farm.

My sources in the U.S.: Rose Mary Fogarty from La Habra, California; Joan Jungkunz from White Bear Lake, Minnesota; and Karl and Emma Clemens, nee Stadler (†1999) from Banning, California.

Hildegarde Clemens from Palm Springs, California, trusted me completely with her mother’s handwritten notes and made countless old photographs available to me. For many years she spoke with her parents Karl und Emma Clemens on my behalf, and always tried to grant my wishes.

Charles H. Hackl from Barrington, Illinois, visited me and gave me valuable personal impressions of life in the German quarter in Chicago. He also made it possible for me to have access to today’s German language newspapers in Chicago.

And especially Bill and Winona Leitner from Mesa, Arizona, who selflessly opened up their genealogical research to me, obtained documents from contemporary witnesses and tirelessly answered my questions via email.

Don and Sarah Carlson from Oak Park, Illinois, traced the family history of the Boxleitners. During their visit, they took time to share with me their broad knowledge of their family’s life and travels in the U.S and personally delivered valuable documents and photos of the emigrants.

Gregg and Nancy Boxleitner from Loveland, Colorado, became our friends in the course of their search for their ancestors from the Bavarian Forest.

The genealogist Kenneth E. Madl from Denver, Colorado, discovered me through the Internet. He sent me extremely valuable information about Bavarian Forest families in Chicago and unselfishly sent me his large collection of census data. Kenneth’s infinite dedication (with up to six emails per day!) made it possible for me to learn about the previously unknown first years of the poet Emerenz Meier in Chicago.

Waltraud Nigl from Gilching, Germany and her relative Charles Nigl from Oshkosh, Wisconsin, provided me with material on the Nigls in the U.S. on short notice.

The librarian Gerry Stigberg from the Illinois Research & Reference Center of the University of Illinois Library, Urbana, went to a lot of trouble to obtain hard-to-obtain magazines for me.

The archivist Dr. Andrea Schwarz from the Bayerisches Hauptstaatsarchiv München (Bavarian Main National Archives in Munich) tracked down seemingly missing data on emigration laws.

Our American friends Karin and Charles Knisely from Lewisburg, Pennsylvania, helped me solve problems that seemed insoluble from a distance, welcomed us with open arms into their home, and translated the summary in the German edition into English.

Mr. Michael Ludwig, principal of Carl-Engler-Schule, Karlsruhe, always made his wealth of experience with data processing programs available to me. He was my emergency lifeline when the computer crashed.

Prof. Johann-Bernhard Haversath from Giessen supported my efforts to publish this book.

And last, but not least, I thank the Freilichtmuseum Finsterau (Open-air Museum in Finsterau) and its director, Dr. Martin Ortmeier, and the Emerenz-Meier-Haus-Verein (Emerenz Meier House Association) in Schiefweg, represented by Alexander Nodes and Paul Praxl, who prompted me to present my research findings in their museums.

Most of the German manuscript was finished in January 2001. Other important information was added up until July 2001.

Due to space considerations, the comprehensive statistics on immigration into the U.S. based on nationality and the years 1820–2016 were left out of the book. This information can be downloaded from the Department of Homeland Security by searching Yearbook of Immigration Statistics 2016 (retrieved 23 Oct 2020).

In the meantime, this emigration book has borne abundant fruit: it has led to collaboration on the traveling exhibition of the Haus der Bayerischen Geschichte Goodbye Bayern—Grüß Gott America and on the Deutsches Auswandererhaus Bremerhaven (German Emigration Center). Most gratifying for me is that this book forms the basis of the permanent exhibit in the Born in Schiefweg Emigration Museum in the Emerenz-Meier-Haus in Schiefweg near Waldkirchen. Paul Praxl and I conceived of the idea of the first Bavarian emigration museum, and my efforts culminated in the vivid and detailed exhibits that pay homage to my Bavarian emigrants to North America. I would like to thank Karl Filsinger, the current chairman of the Museum Society, for the trust he placed in my vision for this museum. My exhibits at the 16th Landshut Literature Days made me painfully aware of the gaps in the biography of Emerenz Meier, especially concerning her life and that of her family in America. Filling these gaps was the impetus for my writing Emerenz Meier in Chicago – Auswanderung und Leben ihrer Familie in Amerika, subtitled Amerika ist nicht mehr das Land, das von Milch und Honig fließt. Furthermore, I wrote and dedicated a special book to the Stadler sisters from Herzogsreut: Wie hinh mein Schiksal führt… Von Herzogsreut nach Chicago – Auswanderung der Stadler-Schwestern nach Amerika. Over the past 10 years, I contributed to various exhibitions at the National Park Information Center in Mauth, the 400th anniversary of the founding of Herzogsreut, and the Bauernhausmuseum Lindberg (Farmhouse Museum in Lindberg) about emigration from the Bavarian Forest.

My special thanks go to my American friends Ken Madl, Charles Hackl and his beloved wife Delores, Hildegarde Clemens, Greg Meier, Al and Val Wallisch, Nancy and Gregg Boxleitner and Jim Poxleitner, who are descendants of the Bavarian Forest emigrants.

I owe the professional cover design to Edith Döringer and Melanie Lehner. I thank my publisher, Heinz Lang, at Lichtland for his friendship and steadfast support.

For the descendants of the emigrants from the Bavarian Forest, it will be particularly gratifying that, thanks to the tireless efforts of my American translator, Karin Knisely (Lewisburg, PA), the long-awaited American edition of this book has now been published.

Plate 1: BIRD’S EYE VIEW OF FINSTERAU AND HEINRICHSBRUNN AROUND 1940 (AUTHOR’S ARCHIVES).

The Goldener Steig, which was a trade route in the Middle Ages, follows the ridge from Bohemia to the south. The Waldhufen settlements (linear plots) are arranged in a parallel fashion from the ridge towards the valleys. Heinrichsbrunn and Finsterau were founded by Prince-Bishop Philipp von Lamberg in 1703 and 1704, respectively. The road branching off to the left was built in 1923.

1PROLOGUE

Nur mit innigem Schmerz kann der Menschenfreund es ansehen, wie so Mancher seiner Brüder mit einem harten Geschick, mit Armuth und Nahrungssorgen kämpfen muß, obgleich er doch mit dem Glücklichen gleiche Ansprüche an die Freuden des Lebens theilt […].Das einzige wahre Hilfsmittel ist: Beförderung der Auswanderungen. (H. W. E. EGGERLING 1831)

Only with heartfelt pain can the philanthropist watch while a good number of his brothers must battle hard luck, poverty and lack of food, although he is entitled to the same rights to life’s pleasures as the lucky ones […]. The only true aid is to promote emigration.

Economic, political, religious, social, and personal motives have prompted Germans to emigrate to the United States for more than 300 years. The first official group emigration was in 1683, when thirteen Mennonite and German Quaker families from Krefeld arrived in the Port of Philadelphia and founded Germantown. In the 18th and early 19th centuries, emigrants came predominantly from southwestern Germany, particularly from Baden, Württemberg, and the Palatinate. After 1830, emigration spread to the southeast (Bavaria), the northwest (Westphalia and the Rhineland) and the northeast (East and West Prussia, Posen, Brandenburg, Pomerania, and Silesia).

While many excellent books and scholarly articles have been written on emigration from northwestern and northeastern Germany, both in German and in English, much less research has been done on emigration from Bavaria, and much of the literature on this topic is available only in German. This book is a translation of Ihr ghönt es Eich gar nicht vorstelen wie es in Amerigha zu ged (FEGERT 2001), the result of more than 12 years of research on emigration from the Bavarian Forest in Germany to the United States since the middle of the 19th century. The original German title stems from a letter written by emigrants from Oberseilberg after they arrived in Oshkosh, Wisconsin in 1888:

Liebste Eltern und Geschwistern Ihr ghöntes Eich gar nicht vorstelen wie es in Amerigha zu ged […] wen ich ales schreiben tät was ich ales weiß da dürft ich euch drei Tage schreiben das Amerika reißen kan man nimand [an]schaf[f]en den ist so den andern gefählts recht und den andern wider gar nicht da hätte man hindnach die vorwürfe und das mag ich nicht laßet nur andere Leute gehen tuns was sie wollen den oft einen gehts recht schlecht da häten wir die ganze schuld. (Alois and Karolina [XX] born in Kirchl near Hohenau 1882)

Dear parents and brothers and sisters, you cannot imagine what it is like in America. […] If I were to write everything that I know, I would write for three days. No one can decide for another to make the trip to America, because some like it here and others not at all. If you did make the decision for someone else, afterwards you would reproach yourself, and I don’t like that. Just let other people do what they want, because often there are people who have a hard time, and then it would be entirely our fault.

Emigration from selected villages in the Passau abbey regions of the Bavarian Forest to America between 1841 and 1931 is the focus of this study. The primary objective of this book is to enable descendants of these Bavarian Forest emigrants to read an English-language account of the history of this region, the social and economic factors that motivated emigration, and how Bavarian Forest inhabitants made out once they settled in the United States. Extensive citations from archival and personal sources provide genealogists and historians with new resources for the Bavarian, and particularly the Catholic, emigration phenomenon.

1.1Location of the Study Area

The Bavarian-Bohemian Forest is a heavily forested mountain range that is located along the border between Bavaria in southeastern Germany and Bohemia in the western Czech Republic (Plate 2). This low mountain range serves as the dividing line between the Black Sea watershed to the east and the North Sea watershed to the north. Our study area is located in the eastern part of the central Bavarian Forest. The highest peak in this region is Mt. Lusen (1373 m). Before 1805, this area was divided territorially between Bavaria in the west and the Prince-Bishopric of Passau in the east. The territory belonging to the former Prince-Bishopric of Passau has historically been called the land of the bishopric or the Passau abbey regions and Haversath (1994) has done seminal research on its settlement history. Its natural boundaries are the Sagwasser Creek in the west, the Rodel Creek in Mühlviertel in the east, the Bohemian border in the north, and the Danube River in the south.

Plate 2: GERMANY 1815 AND THE BAVARIAN FOREST 2010 (by the author, Source: BROCKHAUS UNIVERSALLEXIKON 1892; Thomas RÖMER, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=75960134). The Bavarian Forest as a geographical unit is located in southeastern Germany. It is bordered by Bohemia (now the Czech Republic) in the northeast, by Austria in the southeast and by Upper Bavaria in the south. The western part of the Bavarian Forest was politically part of the Duchy of Bavaria, while the eastern part belonged to the Prince-Bishopric of Passau until 1803. In 1806 Napoleon made the Prince-Bishopric part of the Kingdom of Bavaria.

The land of the bishopric was formed through a merger between the lands of two counts: the Ilzgau, transferred to the bishopric in 1217–1220 by Frederick II, and the Windberg, acquired in 1207 (BOSHOF 1986, p. 47; ZURSTRASSEN 1989, p. 314). Starting at the beginning of the 17th century, the prince-bishops of Passau instituted a systematic colonization and clearing program. The resulting villages are thus subsequently called the young clearing villages of the Passau abbey region. Plate 1 shows how the landscape influenced the settlement pattern as exemplified by Finsterau (see also FEGERT 1997b, Fig. 2). The young clearing villages in the area of study were established as follows (Figure 1):

•Under Bishop Leopold V. (1598–1625): Leopoldsreut (1618), Herzogsreut (1618) and Schwendreut (1618);

•Under Bishop Wenzeslaus von Thun (1664–1673): Obergrainet (1670) and Hinterfreundorf;

•Under Bishop Sebastian von Pötting-Persing (1673–1689): Neuhütte (1687);

•Under Bishop Johann Philipp Graf von Lamberg (1689–1712, Plate 3): Kleinphilippsreut (1692), Großphilippsreut along with Mauth (1698), Vierhäuser (1699), Zwölfhäuser and Waldmühle (1699), Hohenröhren (1700), Heinrichsbrunn (1703) and Heinrichsbrunner Reuten and Finsterau (1704) as well as Bischofsreut (1705);

•Under Bishop Raimund von Rabatta (1712–1722): Raimundsreut (1721);

•Under Bishop Joseph Dominikus Graf von Lamberg (1722–1761): Frauenberg (1724) and Annathal (1724);

•Under Bishop Leopold Ernst von Firmian (1763–1783): Vorder-, Mitter- and Hinterfirmiansreut (1764), Haidhäuser (1767) and Haidmühle (1767) as well as Marchhäuser (1775);

•Under Bishop Joseph Franz von Auersberg (1783–1795): Auersbergreut (1786);

•Under King Ludwig of Bavaria:¹ Fischersteig Einöde (1820), Ludwigsreut (1831) and Theresienreut (1831).

Plate 3: PRINCE-BISHOP JOHANN PHILIPP COUNT OF LAMBERG (1689–1712) (AUTHOR’S ARCHIVES)

As bishop he was the spiritual head of the diocese of Passau. But he was also a prince of the German Empire and thus sovereign over the land of the Passau abbey. In this function he had the villages Großphilippsreut (with the settlements Mauth, Vierhäuser, Zwölfhäuser, Hohenröhren, Heinrichsbrunn and Finsterau), Kleinphilippsreut and Bischofsreut founded as planned settlements to secure the trade route Goldener Steig. He is an example of the important role the prince-bishops of Passau played in the development of the southern Bavarian Forest.

Plate 4: FINSTERAU IN JULY (TOP) AND MARCH (BOTTOM) AROUND 1910 (AUTHOR’S ARCHIVES).

Old shingles and new tin roofs, one- and two-story houses, with Bavarian-style gables and even one with a Bohemian-style hip roof and Schroud (gable balcony) in the back of the picture are characteristic of this village. The firewood and wood for construction visible in the summer picture are partially covered with meter-high snowdrifts even at the end of the winter.

1.2Perspective

Using general knowledge on emigration from Germany as a whole, as well as specific information about Bavaria, Lower Bavaria, the Bavarian Forest, Wolfstein County, and individual villages, I attempt to determine the fate of different emigrants known personally or by name. This approach changes the perspective from a macroanalytical to a microanalytical one. Individual details then allow us to draw conclusions about emigration in general. Each chapter is thus organized to address general, global questions first, and then to focus on specific examples among our Bavarian Forest inhabitants.

The circumstances of the Bavarian Forest immigrants in the United States are compared to those of other German immigrants, both in terms of their settlement area and their social and economic situation. This perspective allows us to describe and evaluate the specific fate of Bavarian Forest inhabitants, who are known personally or by name, in their new environment.

Figure 1: AREA OF STUDY: YOUNG CLEARING VILLAGES IN THE PASSAU ABBEY REGIONS AND YEAR OF FOUNDING. GERMANS EMIGRATED TO THE UNITED STATES FROM THESE VILLAGES (DRAWING BY THE AUTHOR).

This detail map shows the villages in our study area. The 29 villages and Raumreuten (small plots) are located along the three branches of the Goldenen Steig (Golden Trail), a medieval trade route from the Danube lowlands northward to Bohemia. The three branches of the Goldenen Steig, namely, the Bergreichenstein, the Winterberg, and the Prachatitz, run atop the mountain ridges, not in the valleys. Thus Finsterau, Heinrichsbrunn, Hohenröhren, Zwölfhäuser, Mauth, Vierhäuser, and Glashütte/Neuhütte on the Bergreichenstein branch are 100 to 150 meters above the Reschbach and Saußbach streams, well protected from flooding. The villages are lined up on the long stretched ridges of the Finsterau Reuten (Reuten = cleared land), and the Annataler, Schlichtenberger, Leopoldsreuter, Philippsreuter, Bischofsreuter, Frauenberger and Graineter Forests, 100 to 150 meters above the Reschbach, Saussbach, Schweizer Bach, Wagenwasser and Harlandbach streams. Hinter-, Mitter- and Vorderfirmiansreut as well as Bischofsreut, Marchhäuser and Auersbergsreut are already located above the main ridge (elev. up to 3829 ft/1167 m) of the Bohemian Forest.

1.3Methods

Since emigration research on the Bavarian Forest is relatively new, and the archival sources on the emigrants from the young clearing villages had not previously been available, sources will be cited extensively in this book. This comprehensive biographical approach is supported by authors of previous research on emigration, who concluded that "the individual motives have previously been neglected, even though they may play a significant role" (REESE AND UFFELMANN 1988, p. 12 f.). The author’s job is to comment on and analyze these sources, which are, in part, autobiographical. I will attempt to quantify the numbers of emigrants from our study area for the first time and to describe their social, economic, and personal circumstances insofar as this is possible. The names of the emigrants, their social status, occupations, motives for leaving, destinations in the U.S., and the archival sources that document this information are summarized in Appendix 3.

An analysis of climatic, settlement, agricultural, and geographic factors, combined with social, historical and biographical information can provide us with insight into the motives of those willing to emigrate. A philological evaluation of shipping line agents’ advertisements, echoed by editorials in the regional weekly newspaper of the central Bavarian Forest, is intended to give the reader a sense of the atmosphere that must have existed during the height of emigration mania.

The settlement areas of the emigrants both in the Old and in the New World make a nice geographical study, which is based on archival and statistical surveys, the analysis of old letters, and interviews with living relatives.

To gain insight into the living conditions of the emigrants in the New World, a variety of methods in biographical research can be used to humanize the circumstances (HEIDRICH 1991, p. 11). This is where the emigrants have their say with written accounts of their life and letters written to friends and relatives back home. Letters sent to them from their old hometown serve to contrast and augment this picture. By a stroke of luck, I was able to speak with a few very old emigrants and their relatives in the United States, and these conversations provide first-hand autobiographical information. These oral histories are cited liberally, because they are authentic descriptions of individual emigrants’ specific experiences. We come to appreciate the uniqueness of the memories, otherwise forgotten with time, and in turn, these examples allow us to draw conclusions about emigration as a whole. This book contains extensive citations that I feel are necessary because they have not previously been available to those who carry out research on the Bavarian Forest.

Statistical data, tables, figures, maps, and photographs augment the text, and provide us with a vivid impression of the life and fate of the emigrants and immigrants from a long time ago, whose circumstances we can still relate to today.

1.4Scope

Settlement and migration, migration and settlement: these belong together. This is because land development is always associated with the migration process. In the 17th century, people from the favorable regions in the Danube lowlands felt compelled to migrate to the inhospitable elevations of the Bavarian Forest. Settlement and economic policies to control the land were interwoven with individuals’ desire to improve their lives. The new settlements farthest into the northern forest and thus at the highest elevations represent the pioneer settlements on the ridge of the Bavarian-Bohemian Forest (Fig. 2). These settlements are between Leopoldsreut, founded in 1618 at 1109 m, Kleinphilippsreut, founded in 1692 at 974 m, and Finsterau, founded in 1704 at 998 m; the Firmiansreut villages, namely, Vorderfirmiansreut at 915 m, Mitterfirmiansreut at 1030 m, and Hinterfirmiansreut at 950 m, were laid out in 1764; and finally tiny Marchhäuser was founded in 1768 at 900 m. That it was an enormous struggle to survive at these extreme elevations before the advent of modern technology is documented by the accounts in the District Office records, in the urbaria recorded by the priests, or even in old photographs, such as the one of Finsterau (Plate 4). Leopoldsreut is an example of a village in which the barren and hostile conditions forced the settlers to un-settle.

Immigration, out-migration, and emigration are complex and interrelated phenomena. Because the present study focusses on the living conditions described by the emigrants who left for the United States, the phenomenon of internal out-migration or exodus, as suffered by Leopoldsreut in the 20th century, will not be addressed. According to Hofer (2014) in his comprehensive study, the exodus occurred in three phases (1864–1868, 1883–1891, and 1952–1962). The village shrank from 152 to 35 inhabitants between 1889 and 1956, and, in 1962, the last inhabitant, Ludwig Stadlbauer, left when he was 86 years old (HOFER 2014, pp. 112–115, 122).

The ridge of the northern forest was the national boundary, but even moreso a passageway (HAVERSATH 1991, pp. 173–174). At first, settlers from the Passau abbey regions left their home and emigrated to Bohemia and southeastern Europe, but starting in the mid-19th century, they turned westward to North America. Emigration from the young clearing villages of the Passau abbey regions and immigration to the U.S.A. from 1841 to 1931 is thus the subject and scope of this study.²

2SETTLERS IN THE PASSAU ABBEY REGIONS

2.1Colonization of the Vorwald in the Middle Ages

The oldest Bajuwaren (Bavarian) settlement was founded in the 6th century in the Danube lowlands. It consisted of Haufenweiler (small crowded villages) and villages³ in the flatlands up to an elevation of 200 m (HAVERSATH 1988, p. 15–16). As early as about 1088, there were settlements along the old trail to Prachatitz, which led from Ilzstadt in the Passau region via Salzweg, Strasskirchen, Waldkirchen, Fürholz and Grainet to Bohemia (PRAXL 1976, pp. 6–7; PRAXL, 1995, pp. 227–229.). In the 14th century, two alternate branches of the Goldenen Steig (Golden Trail) were built (PRAXL 1994a, PRAXL 1996) to Winterberg and Bergreichenstein (PRAXL 1989, p. 17).

This initially linear development was followed by expansion of the area. During the high Middle Ages, land was cultivated at higher elevations up to 600 m, thanks to improved agricultural technology, and the settlements were typically isolated farms and hamlets with two or four fiefs (Zwei- bzw. Vier-Lehen-Weiler).

The next phase of settlement took place in the high to late Middle Ages (1200 to 1400) at an elevation of 600 to 800 m in an area two to six kilometers wide, northwest to southeast, parallel to the mountains, from Grafenau to Heindlschlag (HAVERSATH 1994, p. 187). There were two types of settlements: a Reihendorf mit Hofackerfluren⁴ (one or two rows of farmsteads, with allotments behind the farmhouse) and a systematically laid-out Angerdorf mit Hofackerfluren⁵ (farmsteads arranged around an oval place, with allotments behind the farmhouses). With the exception of subsequent clearings, the settlement of the area just north of St. Oswald (outside of the prince-bishopric), Kreuzberg, Hinterschmiding and Grainet (Fig. 1) was completed during the Middle Ages.

2.2Colonization of the Central Bavarian Forest in Early Modern Times

By 1600, the settlement had not expanded any farther along its northern boundary, so Prince-Bishop Leopold decided to monitor the traffic through the pass and thereby show Bohemia who’s boss. In 1618, he established Herzogsreut (866 m) as a tollhouse on the Winterberg branch of the Golden Trail, and Schwendreut (980 m) and Leopoldsreut (1109 m) as tollhouses on the Prachatitz branch (SCHIRMER 1964). Prince-Bishop Leopold instituted a systematic clearing program to develop these villages as Waldhufenfluren (parallel strips of land cleared from the woods).

Around 1670 population pressure manifested itself for the first time in Bavarian Forest villages at the lower elevations between 650 and 700 m. Obergrainet (983 m) was established to provide relief to Grainet (694 m) and Hinterfreundorf (800 m) to relieve Vorderfreundorf (754 m).

Fürstenhütte/Neuhütte (Prince Glassworks, later called New Glassworks), as the name implies, was established in 1687 to replace the old, spent Heldengut glassworks. This was solely a matter of relocating a temporary production site (FEGERT 1995, pp. 109–111).

Figure 2: MIGRATION AND ESTABLISHMENT OF SETTLEMENTS IN THE NORTHERN ABBEY REGIONS IN THE 17TH AND 18TH CENTURY (DRAWING BY THE AUTHOR).

The settlers migrate higher into the mountains from the settlements that were established in the Middle Ages; these were at an elevation of up to 700 m. Once they reached the Bohemian border (·––·), the landless and the younger siblings were left with two options: to emigrate to Bohemia or to America.

During the Middle Ages, villages were founded at elevations of 600–800 m because of the favorable climate. In the last third of the 17th century, however, the increasing pressure of the agriculturally- and thus land-oriented population in these villages resulted in a migration to higher elevations and the establishment of Kleinphilippsreut (970 m), Grossphilippsreut (i.e., Vierhäuser, Mauth, Zwölfhäuser, Hohenröhren, Heinrichsbrunn and Finsterau) (800–1,000 m), and Bischofsreut (PRAXL 1959)⁶ (Fig. 2). Two generations later, this problem recurred. The excessive numbers of farmers’ sons and Inleute, whose ancestors founded Klein- und Grossphilippsreut, were also left wondering Where to? Their best option was to migrate to the inhospitable, primeval forests of the higher elevations.⁷ As a result, we find among the 18 founders of the Firmiansreith villages (940–1030 m) a 32-year-old lumberjack from Kleinphilippsreut and four lumberjacks and one carpenter from Grossphilippsreut (documented by FEHN 1938, pp. 5–6). Recall that both villages were established around 1700. Thus 30% of the new settlers came from the settlement that had been established just one settlement period ago. Two generations later, at the beginning of the 19th century, the same dilemma arose again, namely, where the extra sons should go. Even higher and farther was not possible, because the Bohemian border prevented any further expansion of the territory that became Bavaria in 1805. To make more land available by destroying glassworks estates, as had taken place in Klingenbrunn, Riedlhütte and the Altkaiserhütte in Neuschönau in the 1830s (PIETRUSKY 1988, p. 146), was not feasible. While there was such a glassworks estate, called Neuhütte/Fürstenhütte, in our study area, its cleared area had already been converted to agricultural land before 1782 (FEGERT 1995, p. 113).⁸ Because the glassworks estate had been a gift from the prince-bishop to a privileged gentleman, farmers had no access to the land, and there was no chance of parceling the land for new settlers. The Binnenkolonisation (colonization of the interior) was thus completed, and the only alternative was emigration.

At the beginning of the 19th century, the landless people from the Bavarian Forest first chose to emigrate to eastern Europe. They were probably attracted to neighboring Bohemia and to Herzegovina in the Austro-Hungarian Empire for two reasons. First, it was Austrian colonial policy to make the conquered regions in the Balkans⁹ attractive to settlers by offering land grants with tax exemptions. Second, these areas were close to their homeland, which was a psychological as well as financial factor for the settlers (cf. Waibel 1992, p. 37).

After 1845, however, there was another alternative. The Freedom of Movement Agreement between the Kingdom of Bavaria and the U.S.A. waived the previous emigration tax and the tax on exported property, and the flood of emigrants turned towards the New World.

2.3Agrarian Structure

Existence at the higher elevations between 791 m (Neuhütte) and 1037 m (Mitterfirmiansreut) depends on the natural conditions resulting from climate and soil. In January, the temperature in Finsterau (998 m) is 4.2°C (39.6°F) and precipitation is around 102 mm. In July, these values increase to 14.0°C (57.2°F) and 130 mm precipitation. The annual means are 4.7°C (40.5°F) and 1218 mm precipitation. The Freyunger Waldpost newspaper of 19 June 1884 reported that it had snowed a lot in the vicinity of Finsterau. This cool mountain climate often prevented or delayed ripening of the grain. As an illustration, the Freyunger Waldpost newspaper of 5 Nov. 1900 (note the month!) reports:

This never happened before, said the retired teacher Mr. Eckl in Hohenröhren [890 m] near Finsterau; he has a cherry tree with many ripe cherries. Mr. Eckl sent the curate of the cathedral, Dr. Pichler in Passau, a box of the fruit. Dr. Pichler’s thank you letter helped us convince ourselves. The climatic conditions must not be as bad as we are generally led to believe.

The late arrival of spring is also the subject of the following report:

Eight days have passed, the daffodils—(ringing in spring)—are done, the flowers bloom […]. Those living in the flatlands would be amazed if they came into the middle of the woods and encountered 1½ meters of snow and ice on the ground on the side of the road to Kleinphilippsreut. In the village of Finsterau, the snow is 2–3 meters deep, and there are still big piles of snow everywhere. It is even more interesting in Leopoldsreut, which lies 3500 feet above sea level and consists of 17 houses. There there are big piles of snow, which partially cover the houses, and on the way from Bischofsreut to Theresienreut there is also nothing but snow. […]. (FREYUNGER WALDPOST of 25 Apr. 1881)

Plate 4 illustrates the inhospitable climate of Finsterau, which is covered in snowdrifts in the winter because of its elevation up to 1030 m. The short summers also allow only limited farming.

Folks in Leopoldsreut tell the story that the mail carrier could often locate the buildings in winter only from the smoke rising from the chimney.

In the summer, natural disasters due to thunderstorms and hail have repeatedly been noted: "We received notification from Mauth on 19 March: The thunderstorm that took place last night at 10 p.m. was accompanied by a gale that took off almost all the shingles from the houses belonging to Leopold Hackl and Johann Maurer¹⁰ in Zwölfhäuser. The Inwohner (tenant cottager) Johann List had to climb out of his window wearing only his nightshirt, because the wind crushed the so-called Hütterhaus in which he lived. Gusts of wind also occurred. Trees were also knocked down in the woodlands. The damage exceeds 1,000 M. […]" (FREYUNGER WALDPOST of 23 March 1897).

We got news from Finsterau on June 10th: At 6 p.m. we had a storm; a terrible hail storm let loose over our fields. At least 80% of the winter rye is destroyed. Potato and oat fields are in bad shape. Crops and topsoil were carried away. Even the oldest people can’t remember seeing as continual and severe a hailstorm as we had today. […] (FREYUNGER WALDPOST of 10 June 1910).

Using Mauth as an example, we can determine the land usage structure in these mountain farming areas. This structure is based on the distribution of meadows (42%), fields (25%) and forest (33%) (FEGERT 1995, Table 6). The General Comments on the Liquidation Protocol of the Tax Community Mauth in 1839 also provide insight on land usage:

Cultivation of the fields has been established on the basis of the location and the climate, such that one part is cultivated using the Dreifelderwirtschaft (principle of crop rotation) and grain is planted on the other part all year long, because this results in a fairly productive yield. But then these fields lie fallow to become pastureland and meadows, and used as such for 4 to 6 years until the grass is no more lush. Then the fields are turned over and planted again. This is not really letting fields lie fallow, rather the work in the fields remains pretty much the same as a result. In other words, when a landowner lets parts of the fields lie fallow to become pastureland and meadows, he converts other parts of the fallow land to fields.

In contrast, in Kleinphilippsreut