Lives and Letters of an Immigrant Family: The Van Dreveldts' Experiences along the Missouri, 1844-1866

456 Pages·1998·1.96 MB·English

by  Kenneth Kronenberg

Lives and Letters of an Immigrant Family :
title: The Van Dreveldts' Experiences Along the
Missouri, 1844-1866
Kronenberg, Kenneth.; Van Dreveldt,
author: Anton; Van Dreveldt, Bernard; Van
Dreveldt, Bernhard; Gimborn, Carl von.
publisher: University of Nebraska Press
isbn10 | asin: 0803227418
print isbn13: 9780803227415
ebook isbn13: 9780585286532
language: English
Van Dreveldt family--Correspondence,
Germans Americans--Missouri River
Region--Correspondence, Immigrants--
subject Missouri River Region--Correspondence,
Van Dreveldt, Anton,--1804-1859--
Correspondence, Van Dreveldt, Bernhard,-
-1835-1866--Correspondence, Missouri
publication date: 1998
lcc: F472.M7K76 1998eb
ddc: 978/.00431/0092
Van Dreveldt family--Correspondence,
Germans Americans--Missouri River
Region--Correspondence, Immigrants--
subject: Missouri River Region--Correspondence,
Van Dreveldt, Anton,--1804-1859--
Correspondence, Van Dreveldt, Bernhard,-
-1835-1866--Correspondence, Missouri
Page iii
Lives and Letters of an Immigrant Family
The van Dreveldts' Experiences along the Missouri,
18441866
Written and translated by Kenneth Kronenberg
in association with C. Hans von Gimborn
Page iv
Copyright © 1998 by Carl Hans von Gimborn
All rights reserved
Manufactured in the United States of America
The paper in this book meets the minimum requirements of
American National Standard for Information Sciences-Permanence of
Paper for Printed Library Materials, ANSI Z39.48-1984.
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
Kronenberg, Kenneth, 1946
Lives and letters of an immigrant family: the
van Dreveldts' experiences along the Missouri,
18441866 / written and translated by Kenneth
Kronenberg in association with C. Hans von
Gimborn.
p. cm. Includes bibliographical references
(p.) and index. ISBN 0-8032-2741-8 (alk. paper)
1. Van Dreveldt familyCorrespondence.
2. Germans AmericansMissouri River Region
Correspondence. 3. ImmigrantsMissouri
River RegionCorrespondence. 4. Van Dreveldt;
Anton, 18041859Correspondence. 5. Van
Dreveldt, Bernhard, 18351866Correspondence.
6. Missouri River RegionBiography. I. Van
Dreveldt, Anton, 18041859. II. Van Dreveldt,
Bernard, d. 1880. III. Van Dreveldt, Bernhard,
18351866. IV. Gimborn, Carl von. v. Title.
F472.M7K76 1998 978'.00431'0092dc21 98-19559 CIP
Page v
Contents
List of Illustrations vii
Foreword by ix
C. Hans von Gimborn
Preface xiii
Acknowledgments xv
Introduction xvii
The Town of Emmerich 1
Provost Goossens 4
The French Revolution 6
The "Little Mishaps" 10
Voorthuyzen 13
The Two Brothers 16
Emigration 29
Theodor in America 37
What Was Going On in Germany 67
The Revolution of 1848 and Theodor's Return 70
Anton in America 88
How Things Go Wrong 93
Bernhard: From Voorthuyzen to New Voorthuyzen 101
Bernhard and Maria 112
Politics in Black and White 126
Page vi
Bernhard and Maria in America 131
The Unrest in Missouri 146
The Civil War According to Bernhard 150
Bernhard's Death 183
Conclusion 191
Afterword 194
Notes 197
Index 207
Page vii
Illustrations
Following
Photographs page 100
Johann Anton Goossens
Emmerich with Beurtschiffe and St. Martin's
Church
New Orleans, 1840s
Burschenschafter Theodor van Dreveldt, 183132
St. Louis Levee, 1848
Neu Voorthuyzen, built by Theodor in 1849
Theodor van Dreveldt
Anton van Dreveldt
Bernhard van Dreveldt
Maria von Weise
The St. Louis business district where Bernhard
and Hubert bought supplies
Maps Following page
xxiii
The lower Rhine from Cologne to
Rotterdam
Portion of Lloyd's Official Map of
Missouri, 1861
Monroe County, Illinois, 1875
Figure
Family tree of the van Dreveldts xviii
and von Weises xix
Page ix
Foreword
In 1929, when I was six, I received two cigar boxes filled with
American postage stamps from my Aunt Franziska van Dreveldt as
well as a stamp book from my parents as Christmas presents. On the
first blank page of the book, my father wrote in large letters "U.S.A."
and explained to me that this was the English abbreviation for the
United States of America.
That was my first encounter with the English language as well as the
United States, a country with which six generations of my family have
had a special relationship to date.
There were plenty of stories about our family's experiences in that
vast and wonderful land, which I found nothing short of magical as a
little boy. These stories planted the idea of America firmly in my
mind. I learned about my great-grandfather Theodor van Dreveldt,
who emigrated to America, and about his adventures. Then there was
his elder brother Anton, who settled in Missouri after Theodor
returned to Germany, as well as our cousins, the von Weises from
Cologne, who had emigrated on Theodor's advice. I was always
excited when our "uncles from America" came to visit.
Uncle Carl van Dreveldt, Theodor's oldest son, had emigrated as a
young man to escape Prussian authoritarianism, much like his father
had before him. He returned to Germany to take over Voorthuyzen,
the family property, after Theodor's death in 1880.
When our U.S. relatives visited, I would hear stories about "little
Charley" from Rockford, Illinois, and his cousin "big Charley" from
Oklahoma, the branch of the von Weises that lived in San Antonio,
Texas, and particularly about Louis von Weise from St. Louis,
Missouri. Some of the stories were funny, others amazed me. When