See Dorris Keeven's comments on the following
here. Her notes in the following are
marked by [ ] with her initials,
DK.
In 1824-25, an educated and intelligent German named GOTTFRIED
DUDEN, came to america and traveled extensively over our country,
observing our climate, soil and productions, and taking notes
of our manners, customs, laws, etc. He spent nearly a year
in the region of country embraced in the counties of St. charles,
Warren and Montgomery, traveling under the guidance of DANIEL
M. BOONE, and others, whom he paid liberally for their services.
He was highly pleased with the country and the people whom
he found here, and upon his return to Germany, write and published
a book of 350 pages, giving a complete history of our laws,
forms of government, etc., with a thorough description of
the portions of country that he had visited. The book had
an immense sale, and he became wealthy from the proceeds.
In a few years, the effect of his writings began to be manifest
by the arrival of German immigrants, preceded by a few educated
and wealthy men who came in advance to prepare the way for
them. Each family had a copy of Duden's book, and so accurate
were his descriptions of places and names, that they knew
the farms and the names of their owners as they came to them.
They expected not only to find an abundance of game and wild
animals of all kinds --in which they were not disappointed--
but also to be under the necessity of defending their homes
against the attacks of the savages; and hence they came prepared
with swords, muskets, pistols, etc. It was no uncommon thing
to see a stout burgher marching at the head of his family
with an immense saber buckled around his portly form, and
a musket or portentous yager resting upon his broad shoulders.
But they soon beat their swords into plowshares and used their
fire-arms to kill squirrels, turkeys, deer and other game
with which the country abounded. The Americans rejoiced at
their coming, and extended to them a hearty welcome, for they
brought with them money, which the country greatly needed
just at that time, bought lands, and proved to be honest,
industrious, thrifty citizens. They also introduced the mechanical
arts of an older country, and manufactured many useful articles
that had before been unknown to the Americans.
LOUIS EVERSMAN came with Duden, traveled with him, and remained
when the latter returned to Europe; so that he was the first
German settler in that part of Missouri. He married a MISS
MCLANE, bought a farm in Warren county, raised an intelligent
family, and became a prominent and influential citizen.
Most of the first immigrants were from Hespers, Germany,
and they arrived in 1833. They came in societies or companies,
which bore the names of their native places in Germany. The
Berlin Society was composed of the following families: [
Fredrick Rathje & his wife Emilie Bock Rathje,August Walcke
and his wife Lisette, Charles (Karl) Blumner and his wife
Dorothea, his brother Augustus Blumner, two more brothers
Edward and Julius Hutawa. The emigration company was funded
by Johann Wilhelm Bock who followed soon and platted the town
of Dutzow. Many of the following families arrived shortly
after the Berlin Society in 1833. DK] CHARLES MADLER,
CHARLES A. MILLER, WILLIAM AND FERDINAND ROCH [Bock
DK], HENRY WALKS, HENRY SEITZ; LOUIS, WILLIAM AND CONRAD
HAAPES [Hospes DK], AUGUST RIXRATH,
JERRY SCHIEPER [Schiefer DK],
DANIEL RENNER, JUSTUS MUHNN and his two brothers, CHARLES
LIPROSE, PHILIP RENNER, JACOB SACK, HENRY SCHAS, HARMON STUCKHOFF
[Struckhoff DK], and CHARLES
V. SPANKERN. Most of these settled in the western part of
St. Charles county, in the vicinity of Augusta. Other families
came about the same time, amongst whom were CHARLES WINCKER
[Wencker DK], GEORGE H. MINDRUP (who served as Judge
of the county court of St. Charles county four years), FREDERICK
WINCKER [Wencker DK] (who was
postmaster as Augusta for some time), BERNHARD and HENRY STUCKHOFF,
ARNOLD VAELKERDING [Voelkerding],
WILLIAM, AUGUST AND JULIUS SEBART, FRANCIS KREKEL (father
of Judge ARNOLD KREKEL), and JULIUS, EMILE, HERMAN AND CONRAD
MALLINCKRODT. The Mallinckrodts were all well educated, and
became influential citizens in the communities where they
settled. They studied the English language before them came
to America, but the pronunciation was incorrect, and when
they arrived in this country they were mortified to find that
they could not converse with out people until they had UNlearned
the English which had been taught them in Germany. When Julius
Mallinckrodt arrived in St. Louis, he met a man in the street,
and desiring to make some inquiries of him, he addressed him
in what he supposed to be the English language, but the man
could not understand him. He then addressed him in German,
and then in Latin, but he still could not understand. By this
time they were both excited and beginning to grow angry, when
Mallinckrodt exclaimed in a fit of desperation, "Parlez-vous
Francais, Monsieur?" Instantly the man threw his arms
around his neck and embraced him, while tears of joy ran down
his cheeks He proved to be a Frenchman who had just arrived
in the city, and like Mallinckrodt, could not find anyone
with whom he could converse. The latter spoke French almost
as fluently as he did his mother tongue, and a warm friendship,
which lasted for years, at once sprang up between the two
strangers in a strange land.
In 1834 the Glasen Society [Giessen
- from Giessen Germany arrived on two separate ships at Baltimore
and New Orleans DK] arrived. It was under charge of
HON. FREDERICK MUNCH [(1799-1881), and
his brother in law Paul Follenius DK], who still resides
in Warren county, and besides being a man of great local influence,
is a writer and author of some renown. He has been a member
of the legislature and state senate several times, and is
everywhere recognized as a man of ability and a profound thinker
and philosopher. He was born and raised in the province of
Upper Hesse, in Prussia, and educated for the ministry. He
was pastor of a protestant liberal church in Germany 13 years,
and in 1834, he organized the Gissen Society from among the
members of his congregation, and came to America. In the society
were the following families: GOTLIEB BENG
[Berg DK], JOHN KESSLER, JACOB JEUDE, FREDERICK RECK,
DR. FREDERICK KRUGE, HENRY BECKER, CHARLES KUSEL, JONATHAN
KUNZE, MR. GUBLEMANN, FREDERICK FEACH, ANDREW AND LOUIS KLUG
[Krug DK], PRESSNER GOEPEL (whose
son, Gelt [Gert Goebel DK] afterward
represented Franklin county in both houses of the legislature),
FREDERICK BRUCHE whose son, Henry, represented Cape Girardeau
county in the legislature), and AUGUSTUS KROELL, who was pastor
of a German Protestant church in Cincinnati at the time of
his death. The above families settled in the eastern part
of Warren, and western portion of St. Charles counties, where
they and their descendants still reside. Their religious belief
is Rational. They discard all miracles and the doctrine of
atonement through the blood of Christ, believing that we make
our own future condition by the life we live here, receiving
punishment for our evil deeds and rewards for our good ones.
They accept Christ as a good man and a great teacher, but
do not believe that he was divine.
Some time after the arrival of the Gissen Society, the following
families came: JACOB AND FREDERICK AHMANN, CHARLES WINKELMEIR,
FREDERICK AND ERASMUS HIERONYMUS, ULMFERS
[Ulfers DK] and FREDERICK BLANTINK, ERASTUS GRABBS
[Grabs DK], (who became a merchant, postmaster and
justice of the peace in Marthasville, Warren county), WILLIAM
BAREZ, (who was a banker in Berlin and a very intelligent
man), GEORGE MUNCH [Friedrich's brother
DK], HENRY AND GEORGE BERG, MR. FUHR and his 5 sons,
JOHN MILLER, HENRY DICKHOUSE, HARMON LUCAS and his brother,
HENRY AND LUKE HURMANN, MR. TUEPPERTS
[this is Tuepker DK], and MR. OBERHELLMANN. In 1833
the following families settled in St. charles county in and
near Dog Prairie, all of whom were from prussia: ANTONE ARENS
(whose wife was AMELIA OSTOMAN, and the names of their children
were Joseph, Sophia, antone, Amelia and Theodore), JOSEPH
FLOAR, JOSEPH AND JOHN SHOANE, FRANCIS MOLEDOR and his two
sons, Frank and Casper, ANTON STAHLSMIDTH, JOHN FREYMUTH,
MR. MESCHEDA (who came in 1837), ALEXANDER ARENS, JOSEPH STAHLSMIDTH,
JOHN HEIDELMANN, FREDERICK LOEBECKE, ANDREW SALL, and BALTASAR
VETSCH, who came from the province of Alsace.
Most of the Germans who came to America with money, lost
it by injudicious speculations in lands, but those who came
poor generally prospered on their small beginnings, and soon
became money-loaners and land-owners. Many of them became
wealthy, and left large families in affluent circumstances.
No other race of people ever did more for the development
of a country, or made better or more thrifty citizens. They
caused barren hillsides to blossom with grapevines and fruit
trees, and opened large farms in the midst of dense forests.
Swamps and marshes were drained, and fertile fields took the
place of stagnant ponds that for years had sent out their
missmas to poison the atmosphere of the surrounding country
and breed fevers, chills and pestilence. Villages and towns
sprang up where solitude had previously reigned, and the liberal
arts began to flourish. The country received a new impetus,
and prosperity smiled upon the people.
Many of the descendants of those early German families have
become influential and leading men, in politics, letters,
sciences, arts and commerce. Among this class may be mentioned
the children of FRANCIS KREKEL, several of whom have become
distinguished through their own efforts and perseverance.
Judge Arnold Krekel, of the United States District Court,
has gained a reputation that is national, and when we consider
the difficulties that he had to contend against, we can not
do otherwise than accord to him an unusual degree of talent
and energy. He was about 16 years of age when his father arrived
in Missouri, his mother having died of cholera on the route.
He could neither speak nor understand a word of the English
language, but at once began the study of it, and was soon
able to converse intelligibly with his american neighbors.
He worked as a farm hand, and made rails at 25 cents per 100,
until he obtained money enough to pay his expenses at school,
when he went to St. Charles and became a student in St. Charles
College. He graduated at that institution, studied law, and
began to practice in the city of St. Charles. He was successful
from the start and soon gained both distinction and wealth.
His subsequent history is familiar to the people of the state,
and need ot be given here.
His father was a devout catholic and several of his brothers
are members of that church, but he embraced liberal views
in religious matters at a very early age, and though perhaps
not an infidel i the real meaning of that word, he does not
believe in the divine origin of the Bible or the biblical
account of creation.
His early views with regard to the origin of man were somewhat
peculiar, but we cannot say whether he still entertains the
same opinions or not. Being asked one day how he would account
for the existence of man if he discarded the biblical theory,
he replied that he supposed there was a place in some remote
country where, the soil and elements being favorable, man
germinated and grew, like the vegetable productions of the
earth, and afterward developed from that imperfect state into
his present condition. The judge would hardly advance such
an idea now, but he doubtless still believes in the natural
and scientific theory of the creation of man rather than the
scriptural.
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