Duden arrives in Missouri

Upon arrival in St. Louis, Duden and Eversmann visited the St. Louis Land Office on Market Street.  There on October 15, 1824 they jointly purchased one hundred sixty acres in Section 36 of Township 45 North Range 1 West; and one hundred one and forty-four hundreths acres in Section 12 of Township 44 North Range 1 West in Montgomery (later Warren) County.  The cost of that land was $1.25 per acre.  There they also secured maps of the area. Duden dated his “twelfth letter” from St. Louis on the Mississippi River on October 26, 1824.

During their stay in St. Louis Duden met with Peter Kuykendall. Kuykendall was born in North Carolina about 1760 and had moved to the Missouri Territory by 1814.  He was a land trader and speculator living in Howard County, who also owned property in Chariton County. Apparently during this conference Eversmann heard the name of Nathan Boone, the son of pioneer Daniel Boone, mentioned. Nathan had been employed by the U.S. government as surveyor and had cited the one hundred thirty nine acres Duden had purchased five years before[i] as the only farmable land in that area. The trio set off west, to St. Charles County and the Boone home. There they would get further directions to the home of Jacob Haun, a second generation German himself. Eversmann did not speak english, and apparently did not understand that was their destination. He must have thought them lost, because they did arrive at Haun’s farm until dark.

By the first of November Duden, Eversmann and their housekeeper had arrived at their property along Lake Creek a thirty-foot wide tributary of the Missouri River. Duden must have made his decision to purchase this additional land in the area after his arrival in the United States. Suddenly he was short of funds. Needing more money, he immediately wrote back to Germany.  When it became apparent that this letter was lost, he wrote again.  Living on credit from area residents and with funds running low, Duden was feeling desperate.  Eversmann had written his father and received funds in February along with advice to tell Duden how he felt about things.

With the property in Section 36 of 160 acres divided along a small tributary of Lake Creek, and property to call his own, Eversmann began building his own home. By October of 1825 he had completed a large two-story log home of oak. Duden continued to reside with Jacob Haun in a lean-to addition.  His funds had finally arrived earlier that spring, and by April 5, 1825 Duden paid the balance due and interest of $21.94 due on Section 35.  His United States Land Patent Certificate No. 1050 reflects that upon Dabney Burnett’s assignation of any rights he may have had as agent, on December 10, 1825 Godfrey Duden was the original owner.  Burnett received the southernmost 19.26 acres of the property for his time and trouble.

While Eversmann was building his farm and overseeing the improvements on Duden’s property, Duden was free to visit local settlers and investigate Missouri.  With no responsibilities, Duden was free to spend his days writing, often using the neighboring hillside to sit and feel inspired.

---

[i] Missouri Surveys Field Notes January 26, 1817, Vol. 123 Page 1,microfilm Missouri State Archives roll F428.

Duden’s Motivation

Duden sailed for Baltimore May 30, 1824

Student demonstrations, by the Burschenschaft, at the Universities, and the assassination of Kotzebue, a German writer who served the Russian tsar, by Karl Sand, alarmed the German government. The outcome was the Karlsbad decrees issued August of 1819.  By that time, Gottfried Duden had decided his mission in life was to move to the young United States, where had purchased land in what was to become Missouri. He wanted to help his fellow countrymen, and felt that the answer lay in the far western frontier being settled by pioneers like Daniel Boone.  His research and planning though was plagued, and when the companion he had planned on helping him died in South America, he suffered a setback.

So in 1822, Gottfried Duden published Concerning the Significant Differences of the States and the ambitions of Human Nature, thinking the answer lay in emigration to the United States. Continuing to work towards his goal, he was introduced to an agriculturalist named Ludwig Eversmann in Bonn.  The young man had just suffered a blow, when his marriage proposal had been rejected, so his brother had introduced him to Duden in late February of 1824.  Yes, he agreed to accompany Duden to the United States, and help establish a farm there. Accompanying Eversmann and Duden, was Duden’s servant and cook, Gertrude, each in their own first class cabin on the Henry Clay. They arrived in Baltimore on August 14, 1824 and traveled on to St. Louis, which by then was the State of Missouri.

In Germany, the conditions continued to grow worse. Overpopulation and crop failures were causing famine. Life was without promise, and thousands were desperate for things to change. Conspiracy against the government, and ruined revolutions, led to even greater taxes and impositions. Those who had worked to make a change, were constantly watched. Many were jailed or fled for their life. Those involved, such as Karl Follen, left in the middle of the night without being able to say good-by to their families. Life was extremely difficult and many wanted to escape. But where? Duden had found his motivation in the rising revolution and desperate times his countrymen suffered.

Gottfried Duden

Charles van Ravenswaay in his epic The Arts and Architecture of German Settlements in Missouri: A Survey of a Vanishing Culture: “This timely work… greatly stimulated immigration to the United States and caused thousands to make Missouri their destination… For more than a generation Duden’s writings formed the leitmotif of German settlement in Missouri, with the interpretation of his comments provoking endless discussion among those who came here.  Many immigrants continued to revere his memory as the father of the German migration, and even those who blamed him for their misfortunes seem to have had a grudging respect for that kindly, guileless man.”

Duden was born in Remscheid, Duchy of Berg, Germany on May 18, 1789, to Leonhard and Maria Katherina (nee Hartcop) Duden. His family, owned a pharmaceutical business and were members of the wealthy and upper class. A middle child, he lost his father when barely six years old. His early education was at the gymnasium in Dortmund.  He chose the field of law, with his older brother Leonhard handling the family business in Remscheid.  Duden attended the Universities of Duesseldorf, Heidelberg, and Goettingen from 1806 through 1810. He received his first appointment as a Justice in 1811, at Mulheim with a special dispensation, as he was only twenty-two years old.

From 1813 until 1817, Duden was caught up in the larger historic events of his homeland, serving in the First Battalion of the Second Bergian Infantry Regiment as a Lieutenant and adjutant in the War against Napoleon. He served without pay, and heroically was credited with saving the lives of others in his regiment. The years following the war, the country was in turmoil, with crop failures came famine, due to a great increase in population as well. Duden described Germany as a “country where hunger, avarice and vanity have put so many wheels in motion!” Subterfuge, spying and political maneuvering were the rule rather than a rarity.

Emigration propaganda increased greatly.  Hundreds of publications began to surface, urging migration to England, Russia and Brazil. Some were written about the young United States, but none had actually explored the possibilities. The country itself was experiencing a great western migration, with pioneers and trailblazers like Daniel Boone leading families into the newly purchased Louisiana Territory less than twenty years before. The biography of Boone, had already surfaced in German, in the late 1700s before he moved to Missouri in September of 1799.

Duden was greatly influenced by the turmoil he saw in those years, and what he would hear from his fellow countrymen when he returned to the courtrooms at Mulheim.He knew the interactions between the German government and the people better than most did at that time, because he was sitting on the front line. He resolved he would be part of the solution rather than the problem. He refused the position of Senior Judge at Mulheim in 1817.

A new beginning

Storytellers that weave a tale of human drama and historic events, creating a sense of place for those of us who can identify with the participants, cannot be forgotten.  And when their story flows from the pages of a book, shared and discussed, praised and criticized, reprinted over and over, until thousands have taken it up, perhaps it shouldn’t be forgotten. When that book spins a dream,  for a new beginning, in a land far away, causing thousands to become immigrants, it can’t be forgotten.  That book, that dream, causing them to give up all their belongings, and say a final farewell to all of their loved ones, and immigrate, was not taken lightly. The decision to immigrate,  to a whole new land, where the language and the customs is foreign,  is so emotional, and difficult, it is never an easy one.

But when the country has been stripped of its beauty by wars, and is governed by rulers that have no concern for its people, what choice does one have? When people are starving, and all hope for change is lost, and our only choice is to give up and die or try for a new beginning – is there really any choice?

Report on a Journey to the Western States of North America

At just such a point, in 1829, Gottfried Duden penned “A Report on a Journey to the Western States of North America and a stay of several years, in 1824, 25, 26 & 27″  and became “the dreamspinner.”

He wove stories of how abundant game was, and could be shot freely, in a land where you were forbidden and jailed for hunting. He told of lush forests, to readers who could not cut a tree to build a house to shelter their families, without permission granted from their landlord. And best of all, he talked about a land where everyone was free, free to live the life they wanted, to travel where they wanted, and best of all, free to raise their families with that freedom.  The land where the sun of freedom shone, was the dream for a new beginning, for thousands of German emigrants who read his book.

We are each emigrants

Winston Churchill wrote: The farther backward you can look, the farther forward you can see. When Americans reflect on the journey of Lewis and Clark, they speak about a crucial issue to that time period: the treatment of the American Indian. When we discuss the brutal and pivotal Civil War, we are horrified at the cruelties of slavery. But each has led (somewhat) to a greater and hopefully a better understanding of these social injustices, and created change in our society.  The issue of emigration to the United States began when the first person stepped off the Mayflower, yet is still being discussed today.  We are each emigrants or descendants of one.

In the 1830′s Missouri experienced an explosion in German emigration due to Gottfried Duden’s Report on a Journey to the Western States of North America. It began with collective “colonization Societies”  and was followed by “chain migration” which brought 20,000 Germans to our State in that decade. By 1850, Warren County, where Duden had settled, was over 50% German. As our country has changed, so has the reasons. Whether it be political asylum or a better life for one’s family, the decision was and is always personal, filled with emotions and based on the sum of one’s life’s experience.

In 2009, a group of German historians, a film maker and a photographer, visited Missouri in search of a lost “Utopia” the plan of two Germans, Friedrich Muench and Paul Follenius, leaders of the Giessen Emigration Society. Roloff documented their trip, and has shared it with those interested in Germany, where it received a lot of attention! Experiencing the German premiere of the documentary first hand, I found that there are many who still find the history of the Giessen Society very interesting.

When watching this film in Missouri, I am reminded somewhat of Alice in Wonderland and her trip “Through the Looking Glass.”  Where originally there were subtitles for the English, vice versa,  we now have sub-titles for the German.  Also, I found it interesting that many of the original German viewers were more educated with a turning point in our [Missouri] history, than we are here.

The film “Trip to A Forgotten Utopia” by Peter Roloff (maxim Films) will not tell you the history of the Giessen Emigration Society, it expects the viewer to know that already. But what you may learn, is how in looking back upon that epic plan for colonization of a New German State, how we came to be the point we are at today, and most importantly, what remains of those original intentions. That is what Roloff examines in this film. We can applaud him for his appreciation that this is not always found in a building, or a museum.  Sometimes it is a lost document or a newspaper tucked away in an archives. It can be found on the side of a stone monument in a long forgotten cemetery.  Or even better, in the spirit and the culture of a community today.

The refrigerator in the kitchen…

Many years ago I was involved in a crusade to save a historic County courthouse.  I had devoted a lot of personal time, effort and funds to this crusade. I spent a lot of time reaching out to places far outside of the small town where this courthouse and I resided.  I felt that there had to be experts that had tackled such battles, those that had gone before me, that could advise on how to achieve the success I so desired. I recall reaching out to State Historic Preservation offices, that put me in touch with important officials in charge of such things as the National Register. They in turn referred me to someone in Indiana, that I should talk to.  I wish I could recall his name, perhaps this is a “senior moment”, but what I do recall, so many many years later, is his advice.

We were talking about local history, about how insignificant it becomes in our lives. We talked about how thousands of biographies on Lincoln, Mark Twain or Thomas Jefferson are sold each year. Many flock to our beautiful National Parks and our State Historic Sites.  These are important and do deserve our attention, but sometimes we have very significant stories right before our eyes.  Just like the refrigerator in the kitchen, we look at it every day, and take it for granted.

This is not to say our refrigerators are historic, although sometimes quite a bit of history accumulates in mine.  But, that our local history and the sites associated with it, can be just as important as those deemed to be nationally significant, because every bit of history matters.  Sometimes those stories can tell us so much about ourselves, and our communities, and help us to understand how we came to be what we are today.

Individuals that help us know and understand these stories, I feel are very special. I returned from a trip to Germany recently where I met a great many individuals who were so interested in my local history, and were sharing it in so many beautiful ways.  Folker Winkelmann is a photographer who captures scenes and people that I myself was witness to,  which made me pause, reflect and appreciate in a way I hadn’t done. Rolf Schmidt uses the written word, to share the stories of people that I have studied for years, and yet still make me want to stop and look again.  He has such a great understanding of people and what makes them do what they do. And then there is film maker Peter Roloff of maxim Films from Berlin.  His art with a documentary makes you stop and take another look, and each time something new catches your attention and makes you think, again and again, and again. He can interweave the history with today, and help you realize how important those people were, that lived so long ago, right here.

Each of these individuals are part of a small group interested in a story that happened where I live in Missouri, a story that happened 175 years ago. One that many take for granted, that we see every day and think everyone knows.  Well, not everyone does know the story of the Giessen Society I find, but thankfully a few friends do. Its fascinating to many of us that our history matters to someone so far away, with so much talent and who want to share it, with those of us tripping over it right under our noses.

A Trip to a Forgotten Utopia

In 1834, 500 members of the Giessen Emigration Society (Giessener Auswanderer Gesselschaft) left their homeland forever.  With plans to settle a new German Republik in the United States, where their children could grow up without famine and oppression, they had grand dreams.  Inspired by the writings of Gottfried Duden (1789-1856) and his Report on a Journey to the Western States of North America first published in 1829, their plan was considered a Utopian dream. Their plans failed of course, but the essence of the dream, of a little Germany along the Missouri River valley essentially lived on in the writings of Friedrich Muench (1799-1881) on his farm in Lake Creek valley near Dutzow, Missouri.

Much time has passed, and the old cabins no longer remain.  Slowly, the family histories have become shrouded and confused. But still today, many area families proudly trace their ancestry to those original settlers. Then in  October of 2009, an intrepid group of explorers arrived, wanting to learn more about what remained of the original sites of those early emigrants that had arrived 175 years before.

Soon they discovered archives filled with writings by Muench, Giessen Society descendents, and visited the site of where the German newspaper Der Lichtefreund was first published. Today, the Deutschheim State Historic Site at Hermann, Missouri has a restored press, displaying the early processes used. With Friedrich Muench and Edward Muehl as co-editors, Der Lichtefreund was the first German newspaper in the U.S. to publish Harriet Beecher-Stowe’s Uncle Tom’s Cabin in German.

The small group was part of the larger Reisenden Sommer-Republik in Bremen, Germany who soon became euphoric over sites and stories of Friedrich Muench and the  Giessen Society.  Visiting the ivy covered  gravesites, interviewing 100-year old historians, and traveling the Mississippi River in a (reproduction) Steamboat held special meaning for them.

Film maker Peter Roloff (Maxim Films), photographer Folker Winkelmann, and historian Rolf Schmidt captured the entire trip to this forgotten Utopia. In September, the story will come alive again as members of the Sommer-Republik gather to view the documentary  A Trip to a Forgotten Utopia.

Join me as I make a trip from a Forgotten Utopia, to meet the Sommer-Republik.

Next: The Giessen Emigration Society

History matters

History is our collective record of what happened, how and who was involved. Theoretically it should include everything, and sometimes it might, but it should be refined, to what matters most. Some history is visible and tangible, such as photographs, books or buildings. Some history is less conscious, seen or heard in stories, traditions and heritage, it tells us the why of what we do. When one digs deep, below the surface, one may find that the history that matters most is the the long-forgotten, and quite possibly nearly lost.  Effective methods of preserving history matters most,  when it affects and touches people’s heart and soul, making history memorable, shaping their experience with content that is rich and full, leaving them with the message – history matters.