Permit me to quote a paragraph in a letter I received from Germany from a citizen who lives where our ancestors, the Hoffmann's and Klinkhammers had lived when they emigrated to the New World - Dollendorf. Mr. Bernd Michels writes:
"During the middle of the nineteenth century (1830-1880) many of the citizens of Dollendorf elected to emigrate. The count of all emigrants leaving Dollendorf from 1830-1880 was at least 200 persons. The reason was the poor living conditions of the citizens which had not improved from the last century. The population of the town could not be supported, due in part to the fact that no industry had been established because materials to support industry were not available. Those who chose to emigrate had to sell their possessions to obtain money to pay their expensive passage fares to America. Many times they were betrayed or cheated by unscrupulous agents in the prices they received for these possessions and in the fares charged for their passage. Because of this, some arrived in America almost penniless. A Father Nicholai arranged at that time for many families, who had already sold everything, to make their way to Antwerp in Belgium in order to board ship to America. When they arrived in Antwerp many had to come back to Dollendorf because the ship had already left port and they heard nothing from the ship's agent. Of those that returned, only a very few were assured or were able to eke out an existence. Many became sick and died. Because of the immigration laws in Germany, they were not permitted to remain in the country and therefore migrated from place to place; not only single persons but entire families with up to five and six members were migrating around.To very many, their single thought was to get to America. There are locations in Dollendorf that have been renamed after residents who lived in those neighborhoods or on those streets, who had emigrated to America"
See also "Bad Times on the Upper Ahr" concerning why people emigrated at that time.
It was last updated.Tuesday, 24-Jun-1997 18:40:04 MDT