Meixner Family History #7 - The Journey (Part 2)

I last talked about the Meixner family as they set out by train to Bremen and the port of Bremen or Bremerhaven.  I suggested this was probably not a comfortable trip but I bet that kids being kids they were excited about their new adventure they were undertaking.  Probably they had some kind of games they played to pass the time.  They must have gazed out the window at the picturesque scenery that passed by as they wound through the mountains with dense forests and rushing streams.  They traveled in late July so the county side would have been decked out in it's summer colors.

Here are some pictures of the country side from my trip to Austria and Germany.  These were taken in the month of June.

There were probably other children on the train, possibly ones they knew.  During this period people emigrated in groups so it is possible they had other families from the area and possibly from their own home town traveling with them.  Though I don't have documentation of the names, relatives told me they knew of families that lived in Texas that made the trip with the Meixner family.  Yes, more research.

Then finally the arrival at Bremerhaven.  These are images from the website:  maggieblanck.com.  The first one shows the city of Bremen in the upper left hand area near the North Sea.  Bremerhaven is not shown but would be on the port opening to the North Sea.

This image shows Bremerhaven in the 1880s.

This image is Bremerhaven port with a Norddeutscher Lloyd steamer at the dock.

Upon arrival at Bremerhaven the family would have secured their passage to America.  It is possible that they were ale to do this before they left home as part of a package.  My aunt told me she saw paperwork that said the cost of passage was $1,000.  I don't know if this was all the way from their home to Texas but according to my research the cost of steerage on a steamship in the late 1800s was $30 to $35 per person.  The $1,000 number would indicate to me this was the cost for the entire trip.

The website:  understandingyourancestors.com stated that families generally had to scrimp and save for years to be able to put the money together to be able to emigrate.  It may have cost as much as 1/3 of a laborer's annual income to pay for an average sized family to emigrate to the U.S.

Also, quoting from the above website:  "Once emigrants arrived at the port of departure, a few obstacles remained.  Emigrants had to pass various physical exams to ensure a certain level of health before embarking.  This was to prevent the spread of disease while on board as well as to prevent diseases from being carried to the destination country.  Physical exams and eye exams sometimes held emigrants up for days or even an entire week."

Finally the time comes to board the ship.  This is a picture of the ship S.S. Ohio (Steam Ship Ohio).  This is the ship Frank, Theresa and family traveled on to America.

Next time, the journey continues to America.

Armistead Family History #1 - Shirley Plantation

I'm taking a short side trip today to talk about a different family.  I was putting pictures in a photo album from last year and came across pictures of a trip Kay and I took to Virginia along with her cousin Tom Wilkinson.  Those pictures triggered some very fond memories of the trip and also I remembered a very exciting story about the Armisteads I came across while I was there.  I just couldn't wait to share it.

I am so thankful that Frank Meixner came to Texas in 1881 bringing along his two year old son Harmon.  I am also very thankful that Robert Stewart Armistead came to Texas from Florida sometime in the 1870s, got married, and had a daughter, Alice, who coincidentally was born in 1881.  Both families settled in Bell County, TX. Twenty four years later Alice and Harmon were married.  They are my grandparents.  So of course the Armisteads are equally as important to me as the Meixners.

When we set out on our trip to Virginia I had 3 things in mind that I wanted to accomplish:  see the scenery, do research on Kay and Tom's great grandparents, Fanny and William Cabell, (they lived in Amherst County, VA but we can not locate William's parents), and visit some of the historical sites that are such a huge part of American History located in Virginia.

The scenery was spectacular.

I highly recommend a family vacation to Virginia.  The historical triangle of Colonial Williamsburg, Jamestown, and Yorktown is a must see.  In that triangle you have, established in 1607, the first enduring English settlement in the New World, (Jamestown), the colonial capital of Virginia 1699-1754, (Colonial Williamsburg), and the site of the decisive last major battle of the American Revolution in 1781, (Yorktown).

But what about the interesting story of the Armisteads you say?

On one of our side trips we took a drive a little northwest of Williamsburg toward Charles City to visit a place called Shirley Plantation.  It is the oldest of the great plantations along the James River.  The land for the plantation was granted by King James in 1613 and is still going strong today.

It is a very interesting place to see.  It has a number of buildings from the 18th and 19th century you can walk through as well as the Great House of Shirley.  This house was completed in 1738.  The Great House is where I found my surprise.

Below is a picture as you approach the Great House.  Below that is a picture inside the smoke house, only one of the many old buildings on the property you can tour.

After we entered the main room of this magnificent old home, the guide gave us the history of the home and pointed out several paintings in the room.  One of the first portraits was that of Judith Armistead Carter.  As soon as he said the name I recognized it from my genealogy records.  Judith Armistead was married to Robert "King" Carter.  To quote their book on the plantation "...Robert "King" Carter, the wealthiest man in North America.  Owning over 50 working plantations and over 330,000 acres of land, Robert was called "King" because his wealth was said to rival that of the King of England."

Below is Judith Armistead Carter's portrait.

Robert and Judith had 5 children.  Their son, John Carter, married Elizabeth Hill who had inherited Shirley Plantation from her father.  They would begin building the Great House shortly after their marriage in 1723 but it would take 15 years before it was completed in 1738.  The plantation has remained in the Hill-Carter Family for eleven generations.

I was very excited when I heard Judith's name because I am related to her.  Her grandfather is also my 9th great-grandfather, William "The Emigrant" Armistead, who came to America about 1635 and settled in Virginia.  You've got to admit.  That's pretty cool!

A day or so latter we visited Yorktown.  It is really fascinating to walk where history was made and to realize you are walking the same paths some of our nations historical figures had walked.  We visited Grace Church, established in 1634 and of course I had to visit the cemetery.

Buried in the cemetery are William Nelson and his son Thomas Nelson, Jr.  William Nelson was president of the Governors Council in Virginia and served as acting governor.  Thomas Nelson, Jr. was one of the most powerful and influential men in Virginia.  He was active in the movement to separate the colonies.  As a  Virginia delegate to the Continental Congress he signed the Declaration of Independence.  Back in Virginia during the revolution he was asked to manage Virginia's military and civil policy.  When the state's funds ran low he borrowed heavily on his personal security which ended up destroying his personal wealth.  He died a pauper.  

The Nelson house:

William's wife and Thomas' mother was Elizabeth Carter Burwell.  Elizabeth's parents were Nathaniel B Burwell and Elizabeth Carter.  Her grandparents (Elizabeth Carter's parents) were....you guessed it.... Robert "King" Carter and Judith Armistead Carter.

So I accidentally came across several of my Armistead relatives, and some pretty impressive relatives they are as well.  In addition, according to the FamousKin.com website, Robert "King" Carter and Judith Armistead Carter's great-great grandson was none other than Robert E. Lee.

The Armistead Family Tree has many distinguished and prominent people on it that had an impact on the history of our country.  I hope to talk more about these relatives in the future but for now I wanted to relate how exciting it was to walk along the historical pathways in Virginia and realize so many of my ancestors walked there before me.

If you would like more information about any thing in this post please e-mail me.  I will be happy to share family trees, information, pictures, etc.

I'll get back to my next installment on the Meixners next week.

Meixner Family History #6 - The Journey

Once Frank and Theresa made the decision to go, how did they get to America?  How long did it take for them to actually be on their way?

By 1881 Frank's father was deceased.  I do not know about his mother or Theresa's parents.  Frank had at least one sister living at that time.  I have records of her marriage and the births of her children after 1881.

How hard it must have been to say good-bye to family and friends knowing you would most likely never see them again.  Also to leave behind most of their belongings, their old life, country, and language and head for an all new beginning.

The 1871 marriage record of Franz (Frank) and Theresa stated he was an innkeeper.  This was basically a house where they rented rooms to workers of the town that did not have homes of their own.  Did he sell this place to raise the money to pay for their trip to America?  

The next step would have been to get their train tickets and head to Bremerhaven.  This would be their port of departure for America.  I am certain they rode the train to Bremerhaven.  There were thousands of miles of train track in Europe by 1881.

Here are some pictures of trains I found on Wikipedia that would have been in operation in the 1880s.

   

I don't know the route they took from Abtsdorf.  Below is a google map of the route you might take today.  I don't think the route was too much different then but obviously it would have been along the rail lines in use at the time.

This route shows to be about 850 kilometers or 530 miles.  Probably longer and certainly a lot slower back then.

All that is left is for the 33 year old Frank and Theresa is to take their suitcases and trunks and cram them as full as they can with their belongings, take the hands of Herman (Harmon in the U.S.) aged 2, Herminia (5), Theresia (6), Antonia (7), Alvisa (8), and Franz (Frank) (10), and head to the train station to travel some 4300 miles to America.  WOW!!  That took some courage.  I've never lived outside the state of Texas.

So they headed out on the several days journey by train.  I can't imagine this was a very comfortable trip to Bremerhaven.

Next:  The Journey (part 2)

Meixner Family History #5 - The Decision

We know Frank and Theresa Meixner immigrated to the U.S. in 1881.  What we don't know is why.  I'll explore some possibilities.

I mentioned in post #3 that tensions between the Czech and German populations in Bohemia may have been a contributing factor in the decision. There were several other reasons for leaving.  Of course it is likely that all of these reasons were contribuitng factors.

All numbered paragraphs below are from the article: Landskroner Emigration to the American Midwest , by Edward G. Langer, Copyright 1001, Edward G. Langer.  All quotes will be from the article.  Google it and read the article.  It is very interesting.

Landskron is a district right next to the District of Leitomischel.  Leitomischel is the district where Frank and Theresa lived.  The town of Landskron was only a few miles to the northeast of Abtsdorf.  I think the same conditions would have existed in Leitomischel.

1)  "Until 1848, the people of the district of Landskron were still subject to feudal restrictions limiting their ability to move and requiring them to provide certain services to the local ruling class.  In 1848, revolutions rocked much of Europe.  When the Revolution of 1848 began in the Austrian Empire, the landless peasants hoped there would be a land reform that would give them land."  Unfortunately nothing came out of this revolution that helped the peasants regarding securing land.  There was one very big result, however, that effected them greatly.  The landless received the right to emigrate from the Empire.  The peasants started to take advantage of this right.

2)  "Another reason why people emigrated was to escape the effects of imperial wars.  The Austrian Empire was involved in frequent wars, resulting in increasing taxes and the drafting of young men sent to fight in distant locations."

3)  Improved food and sanitary conditions in the mid-1800" resulted in a population explosion and overpopulation.  The direct effect was limited opportunities for young people.  Housing conditions were difficult with people crammed into small one-room houses.  "There was little virgin land in the area, and subdividing the existing farms would have made them unprofitable.  There was little local industry to provide work for the excess farm population."

4)  "By the 1850's, numerous sources encouraged European peoples to emigrate to America.  'How-to-emigrate' books extolled America's virtues, especially the freedom and cheap land available in America.  Rail and shipping interests made emigration sound very attractive in an attempt to increase their business."  Once relatives and friends settle in America they wrote letters back telling everyone how great things were in their new land.

A very difficult decision to leave your homeland and family and friends even with all the compelling reasons I have mentioned.  That decision had to be made even more difficult when you consider the distance they would be traveling and the dangers they would face.  What ever the reasons that prompted Frank and Theresa to decide as they did I am very grateful that they did.  That is the reason I and all their Meixner descendants reading this are here today.

Next up will be "The Journey".