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".

Meixner Family History #4

I had a question come up after my last Meixner Family History post.  I was asked "So are we of German decent?  Bohemian? Czech? Austrian?"

After all the reading and research I have done about this question, I say that I am of Germanic decent.

The area of Bohemia that our German ancestors migrated into was almost completely of Germanic decent.  There were few people of Czech decent according to the population schedules.  Our ancestors spoke and read the German language and indeed were German as that is who they lived among and who they married.  


It is no different if a military family moved to Germany today and lived on the base.  If they were there 20 years and their daughter married another American service man's son and had children those descendants would still be American even though they were born in another country, right? 


On my Mom's side of the family I found that she is of Scotch-Irish decent.  I saw the explanation that these descendants came from settlers that moved from Scotland to Ireland but maintained their Scottish communities there and intermarried with other Scottish men and women before migrating to the U.S.  They were not half Scotch and half Irish.  The term denoted Scottish people that had been living in Ireland before moving to the U.S.  


I hope this helps.  Ultimately we each have to answer the questions "who am I" and "where did I come from" in our own way.  I claim German, Scottish, & English among my ancestors and I am proud of all of them.  It's what makes up who I am as an American.

I think that combination turned out a pretty good looking bunch of kids.

Father's Day June 17

I had a wonderful Father's Day on the 17th.  Thought I'd share some things I received from my grandchildren.

First is Maggie's handcrafted Father's Day card.

And a photobook of Maggie pictures for her Pop Pop, as she is now calling me.  Lots of wonderful pictures.  I only included a few.

From Connor and Caleb a bucket that said "Granny Kay & Pa Pa Rock!"  Inside were dozens of hand painted rocks with notes from Connor and Caleb.  They are now in our rock garden around our fountain.  Also a great picture Kristina took of the boys.  

Also in the basket were letters for Granny Kay and PaPa.  (I forgot to note that this basket was for Granny Kay too.)  I hope you can read their answers to the questions in the letters.  Very cute.

Like I said above it was a wonderful day and I love my children, children-in-laws, and my wonderful grandchildren!!  I hope all of you fathers out there had one just as special.

Meixner Family History

On my last post I added a picture of Abtsdorf.  I will add 4 more today.  All these pictures came from the website:  http://www.zwittau.de/orte/abtsdorf/abtsdorf.htm   Click on it and take a look around.  It helps if you have your browser convert the text from German to English.

Bohemia is a very interesting place.  It was around as the Kingdom of Bohemia many hundreds of years then it came under the control of the Austrian Empire starting in the 1500s.  It became Czechoslovakia in 1918, after World War I, and finally split in two in 1993 and became the Czech Republic and Slovakia. There are other complications around World War II and being under control of Russia that I will leave for you to research on your own.  


There is another complex part of the history of Bohemia that I will go into a little bit because it identifies who our ancestors were and how they were effected by the events of World War II.  


In 1881 our great-grandfather lived in an area of Bohemia that was predominantly of Germanic decent.  The majority of the rest of the country of Bohemia was of Czech decent.  There was an area around the border of Bohemia next to the bordering German speaking countries (also between Bohemia and Moravia where Abtsdorf was located) that was predominantly German in origin.  This area later became known as Sudetenland and the people as Sudeten Germans.  They are also known as German-Bohemians.  Our ancestors were German-Bohemians or Sudeten Germans.  


After World War II, about 3.5 million Sudeten Germans were forcibly expelled from their homes in Czechoslovakia and compelled to resettle in other countries.  This makes finding our long lost cousins very difficult but is one of my research goals.

The shaded areas of this chart shows the German speaking Sudetenland. 

Here is another map that shows Abtsdorf and some of the area towns.  I highlighted some of the towns of our ancestors.

Though the split between the Germans and the Czechs in Bohemia didn't culminate in expulsion until 1945, there were tensions between the two groups in the late 1800s.  By 1881 when Frank and Theresa made the decision to leave their homeland and come to the United States the rise of tensions and competition between these two groups may have contributed to their momentous decision.

Next time I will look at several other possible contributing factors in the move.

Meixner Family History

Yesterday I posted a document regarding Frank Meixner, my great-grandfather.  The contents of the document were quite surprising to me.  I had always been told and had thought that my ancestors came from Germany.  This document states:  "Personally appeared Frank Meixner, who declares, upon oath, that he is the natural born subject of Osterich Empire, that he was born in Bohmen (or Borhmen) that he is 39 years of age, that he emigrated to the United States of America and arrived at the port of New York in the State of New York on or about the 26th day of August, 1881, ....".  It goes on to say he renounces his allegiance to the foreign state and that he will bear allegiance to the United States.  

From this I learned that Frank was actually from the Austrian Empire and was born in the country of Bohemia.  Seems we had been looking in the wrong place to find our ancestors!

I took this document along with information from my grandfather Harmon Meixner's death certificate to the head of the genealogy department at the Fort Worth Library.  He advised me that according to the information I had I should search in Abtsdorf, District of Litomysl, in the Country of Bohemia in the Austrian Empire.  In 1989 when I was doing this research Bohemia was no longer and the country was then Czechoslovakia.  Today the country is the Czech Republic.  Here is a picture I found on the Internet:

  

My contact said I should contact the Czechoslovakian embassy and that they would do research.  So I put together all the information I had and sent it to the embassy.  Many months later I received a report back with information and supporting documentation regarding births, marriages, and deaths of many of my relatives in the old country of Bohemia.  It was all in the Czech language so I then had to wait several more weeks until I could get the report translated.  The day I received the translated report I was ecstatic.  It was THE most exciting day of my genealogy research and remains the most significant. If anyone is reading this that is not a history buff or a genealogy buff you are probably saying "it doesn't take much to get this guy excited" or "really, you got that excited about receiving a report?"  For one thing this was the culmination of over 12 years of research and secondly I received dozens and dozens of names of relatives that I had not known before!  That's exciting stuff!  The report showed the marriage of Frank and Theresia as well as other relatives information back to the mid 1700's.  There are Meixners in several of the surrounding towns and many new branches of the family I did not know about before.  Here is the first page of the 10 page report:

I am continuing to search to find where the Meixners were prior to the mid 1700's  Maybe they came from Saxony and the area around the city of Meissen as some sources suggest.  I don't know when the Meixners arrived in Bohemia but this report indicated my g-g-g-g-grandfather Martinus Meixner was a "newcomer or colonist" in the area.

Next time I'll examine the German-Bohemians and go over a few of the reasons people were leaving Bohemia in the 1880's  

Meixner Family History

Over the next few weeks I plan to post information that I have about the Meixner Family that came to Texas in 1881.  I hope it is of interest to at least a few folks out there.  If not I will at least enjoy doing it.

I started getting interested in my family history in about 1977-78.  I communicated with my parents and aunts  to try to determine what information they could give me.  Early on I got connected with my cousin Claudia Brown and together we researched the Meixner name in Germany.  We started here because we had an entry in a family bible that said Frank Meixner and Theresia Eigel were married in Absdorf, Germany.

Claudia lived in Bell County, Texas where our grandfather Frank Meixner and family had settled in 1881.  She was doing research in the courthouse for citizenship papers for Frank but had no luck.  Then in one of those moments of serendipity she asked if she could look through boxes in storage.  She was looking through stacks of papers in a box when she came across this document:

The information in this document would change our direction and ultimately lead us to the country of Bohemia.

More to follow in the next installment.