Category: People
In St. Charles County, many families have ancestors from Germany, and some have come from as early as the 1830s. Some families, like the Krekel, came individually, on their own. Some would join emigration societies, and come in groups for safety concerns. This was a recommendation of the author named Gottfried Duden, who wrote a book published in Germany in 1829, called A Report on a Journey to the Western States of North America. [The book was translated and published by Goodrich, James, State Historical Society of MO in 1980] which extolled the virtues of Missouri and especially this area. During the 1830s, over 120,000 Germans would emigrate to United States, because of the conditions in Germany. Hundreds of books on the subject were being published in Germany on the subject but no one but Duden had actually ever visited Missouri as he did from 1824-1827. One-third of those emigrants would settle in Missouri because of his book. Many of them would settle in St. Charles County.
In 1834, the largest organized German emigration group to ever set out for Missouri arrived called the Giessen Emigration Society. They came from small villages and large cities, were Catholic, Protestant, Jewish and Free-Thinkers. They were lawyers, doctors, and teachers; and blacksmiths, tanners and farmers as well. They were organized, with good character references, who had pledged their entire life savings to join others with the same dream – Freedom and America! This was the life that they had sought for long.
These five-hundred Germans emigrated to the United States, with an intention to establish their own state. Decades of revolutionary struggles had failed, convincing them that the power of their rulers could not be broken, for the time being. Yet, as passionate democrats, they were determined to establish a new German Republic – in North America. This bold, now almost forgotten, venture of the Giessen Emigration Society, was an event much-discussed across Germany at that time.The Society’s founders were unable to achieve their goal they had stated. However they did find the conditions right to contribute to the strong democratic beliefs they found in the fertile United States. Settling in Missouri, they began to create a lively intellectual center that exists even to this day. They led in the struggles against religious intolerance, and fought to abolish slavery during the Civil War. They promoted the State’s rich viticultural assets, and encouraged further emigration, ultimately achieving a State rich with German heritage, that still exists today.
In St. Charles County, members of this huge emigration group created various settlements, such as Hamburg and St. Paul, they turned earlier American settlements such as Cottleville and Augusta into German Settlements. These new emigrants in turn wrote letters home to their friends and relatives bringing even larger waves to settle here.
In Today many family historians are discovering their connection to this brave group of immigrants. You can read the translation of the Call for Emigration or see the actual ship lists with their names. The Missouri Germans Consortium helps those looking for more! There you can read more about the history of the Giessen Emigration Society or find a list of their members.
To learn more about Gottfried Duden see https://mo-germans.com/2024/05/19/gottfried-duden-2/
For more about the Giessen Emigration Society see https://mo-germans.com/the-giessen-emigration-society/
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ST. CHARLES COUNTY HISTORY 