Originally Posted by
lynnie
I wasn't looking for my families history, I was wondering in general.
very interesting facts some of you have relayed to me. I thank you all for your families histories.
Luv quilts and cats, very interesting about the hull of the ship. I doubt people would go through
these hard times now adays. THey were promised streets paved with gold, and got a lot of rocks.
It was interesting to hear from some of you that the 'cruise' only took about 3 weeks. And we
think our mail is slow nowadays. Thank you all for relaying your stories.
You can see that a lot of people don't read the replies or remember what the OP wanted.
I forgot to say that the trip for my great-grandparents and their three children took 16 days on the ship. They had missed the Cimbria, the boat on which they were suppose to sail. It had left port the day before they arrived so they had to wait three days for the next steamer, the Amerika, and live at a hotel till then--"a heavy drain on our purse." Later, when they were in Wisconsin, they learned that the Cimbria had gone down in the storm. Their relatives back in Germany thought they were on that ship, and were now lost.
I will quote some of Aunt Annie's writings.
"I recall the boarding of that ship--walking up the plank bridge, holding tight to mother's skirt with one hand, carrying in the other a little box cage containing a pair of carrier pigeons which my father had entrusted to me, and which he meant to take to his new home somewhere in the primeval forests of northern Wisconsin.
I can recall the stormy voyage. Our bunk was near the stairs heading to the deck. For three days we were not allowed to go on deck. The iron trap door kept us imprisoned while the big ship rocked from side to side, spilling our oatmeal gruel and unpeeled potatoes which two sailors brought down in a big canteen to feed the people in the hold. Most people were sick, and so were we.
On the 16th day of this stormy voyage, the good ship brought us to Baltimore harbor. There we boarded the "Immigrant Train" for the West. The car was a dirty thing. The seats were of tin, dirty and cold. It took three days to reach Milwaukee--three days of hunger and thirst with only oranges for sale. Then we remembered the ship as a very good friend that provided ample good food in the form of wheat bread, oatmeal, potatoes, and often some salt herring or meat. When we reached Milwaukee, a hack brought us to a hotel where we got something to eat and a room to sleep in one night. Next day a horse streetcar, running on wooden rails brought us to a train headed for northern Wisconsin."
The rest of the story tells about their trip north and how they found a fertile farm with a drafty cabin and spent a very cold winter with very few provisions and poor clothing for this climate.
Aunt Annie started teaching school at 16 years of age and had to walk through the woods to get to the school. Later she went to college and taught German in high school until 1918 when she lost that job because they no longer wanted German taught.
I hope you enjoy this story.