A wISCONSIN
CHRONICLE
A COUNTRY TALE OF gERMAN-AMERICA
FROM THE 1850s TO THE 1930s
By:
Harold W. Pfohl
© July 8, 2008
In memory of a wonderful community that is long past.
By:
Harold W. Pfohl
© July 8, 2008
In memory of a wonderful community that is long past.
PROLOGUE - EMIGRATION FROM GERMANY
Figure 4 1880s??
Joachim and Marie’s Home in/near Hamburg in North Central Wisconsin near
Merrill.
Figure 5 Early Part Of 20th Century Joachim’s Last Farm
home, Pioneered near Lockwood, Missouri.
Figure 6 Joachim
and Albertina Lüders - About 1879
Figure 7. Photo, Johann Jr. and Wilhelmina (Minna) Lüders
- 1875
Figure 8 Deed –
Joachim Buys a Farm from His Parents
Figure 9. Johann
and Dorothea Sell a Farm to Son, Joachim, and to Albertina
Figure 11 Cedarburg, Main Street (Washington Avenue),
1865
Figure 12 Grist Mill in Cedarburg – 1872
Figure 13 Members
of the Brüss family - 1850s?
Figure 14 Fromm Family Excluding Son Henry, Late
1880s/Early 1890s
Figure 15 Sophie at the Well in the Early 1860s
Figure 16 Henry
Fromm and Family.
Figure 17. Johann
Nieman - About 1864-65
Figure 18. Sophie Fromm and A Friend (Sophie on the
Right) - About 1864-65
Figure 19.
"Fritz" (Fred) Fromm and Alvina Nieman - 1880s
Figure 19. "Fritz" (Fred) Fromm and Alvina
Nieman - 1880s
Figure 20. Johann, and Sophie Nieman, and Their Children
- Late 1890s
Figure 21. Alvina Nieman, and Big and Little 'Gusta
(Augusta) Nieman - Mid 1890s
Figure 22. Augusta Nieman - Mid 1890s
Figure 23. Alvina, Grandmother Johanna Fromm, and Augusta
- Mid 1890s
Figure 24. The House on Pigeon Creek - Mid 1890s
Figure 25. Nieman's New Home - Built 1885, Photo From Mid
1890s
Figure 26. William Lueder - About 1890
Figure 27. Otto Lueders - About 1890
Figure 28. The Old Lueder Home - About 1903
Figure 29. William and Augusta's New Home - Built 1903,
Photo From 1927
Figure 31. Farm Accounts of the Golden Harvest Grain and
Dairy Farm - January 1910
Figure 32. Charlie Nieman Seeding Peas - 1909
Figure 33. Portable Sawmill, North Side of Nieman's Farm
- Spring 1904
Figure 34. Threshing Time at Nieman's Farm - 1899
Figure 36. Cedarburg Township Board - 1900
Figure 37. Mary Lueders (Nee Beckman)
Figure 38. Otto Lueders at The Horse-Barn - Mid 1890s
Figure 39. Elevating Lueder's Barn - 1899
Figure 40. Beginnings of a Fortune - Buch and Nieman -
About 1899
Figure 41. Lumbering Operations - About 1899
Figure 42. Road Leading Out of Hermansville, Michigan -
About 1899
Figure 43. Farm Machinery Junkyard at the Heart Of
Cedarburg - 1907
Figure 44.
Downtown Cedarburg – 1910
Figure 45.
Cedarburg Traffic Jam – Cattle Fair Day
Figure 46. Mr. Beckman, Charlie Nieman, and William
Lueder – Late 1890’s
Figure 49. Herman Roehl, Jr., and His Wife Visit the
Cedarburg Niemans - Mid 1890s
Figure 50. "Flashlight” Party - 1899
Figure 51. At Mintzlaffs for John Mintzlaff's 21st
Birthday - 1896
Figure 52. Music Circle at Nieman's - Summer 1901
Figure 54. Milwaukee Carnival Street Scene - Summer, 1899
Figure 55. Milwaukee Carnival, Waterfront at Juneau Park
- Summer, 1899
D. Religion and Rites of Passage
Figure 58. Confirmation of Augusta Nieman - March 25,
1888
Figure 59. The Wedding of John Nieman and Annie Thesfeldt
- November 22, 1891
Figure 60. Wedding Of William Lueder and Augusta Nieman -
November 5, 1899
Figure 61. Death Notice of William’s Father, Joachim
Lueders - December 15, 1899
Figure 62. Wedding
of Alvina Nieman and Albert Pipkorn - October 6, 1901
Figure 63. Home from the Wedding Ceremony - Albert and
Alvina
Figure 64. The Cooks, Albert and Alvina's Wedding
Reception
Figure 65. The Bartenders; Albert and Alvina's Wedding
Reception
Figure 66. The Waitresses; Albert And Alvina's Wedding
Reception
Figure 67. Wedding Party and Guests at the Nieman Home;
Albert And Alvina's Wedding Reception
Figure 68. William and Augusta Lueder's Joy - 1909
Figure 69. The William and Augusta Lueder Family -
October 20, 1927
Figure 70 Family Picture from October 20th,
1927
Figure 71. William
and His Eldest Son, Edgar, 1919 on Weidman’s Hill
Figure 72. Alvina Announces the Birth of Lester Pipkorn -
October, 1907
Figure 74. Lester Pipkorn - October 1911
Figure 75. Hortensia Lueder - November 1911
Figure 76. Death Notice, Raymond Lueder – March 10, 1914
Figure 77. Our
Little Barefoot Boy
B. The
Automobile And Social Life
Figure 78. Gerald Lueder at the Wheel of the Overland -
About 1923-24
Figure 79. Overland, Chrysler, and Whippet at Lueder's
Farm - Late 1920s
Figure 80. The
1933 Chicago World’s Fair – “100 Years of Progress”
Figure 82. Tending to Business - Early 1920s
Figure 83. Wet Ignition at The Barn Raising, June 8, 1923
Figure 84. Stuck On a Date – February 1925
Figure 85. Flapper Cousins - 1927
Figure 86. The Overland--A Hot Rod? – July, 1932
Figure 87. After The Fox Farm Party - June 24, 1936
Figure 88. Gerald Lueder's Trip to Florida - 1936
Figure 89. The DeSoto on Daytona Beach in Florida at 55
Mph
Figure 91. Bathing Beauties - 1936
Figure 92. Meanwhile Back In Cedarburg – February, 1936
Figure 93. Augusta Lueder (R) Visits Sister Alvina
Pipkorn (L) In Hermansville, Mi. – 1927
Figure 94. Binding Grain - 1929
Figure 95. Loading Grain Bundles – The Last Load of Oats,
July 30, 1931
Figure 96. Threshing at Lueder’s Barn, August 30, 1927
Figure 97. Straw Stack, September 3, 1928
Figure 98. Blowing
the Harvested Grain into the Granary
Figure 99. The Cooks, August 30, 1927
Figure 100. Herding Cows on Bridge St
Figure 101. Laying
Drain Tile to Recover Arable Land, About 1920
Figure 103. Barn
Raising – View from the South Side
Figure 104. Barn Raising View From the West Side - June 8,
1923
Figure 105. Edgar, Rover, and the Samson - May 13, 1923
Figure 106. Edgar Lueder Sends the Samson to the Junkyard
Figure 107. The Two-Story Horse Barn Becomes a One-Story
Shed - 1927
Figure 108. Shingling the Roof on the Machinery Shed -
1927
Figure 110. At Lueder's Barn: Herziger’s Meat Market Gets
a Bull – April 13, 1928
Figure 111. Carrots – October 18th – 21st 1932
Figure 112. Feeding Foxes at Cedarburg - 1934
Figure 113. Snookums and Cordelia Lueder - 1926
Figure 114.
Lueder's Chickens - 1932
Figure 115. Silage – Fall, 1927
Figure 116. Sherman School – About 1908-1910
Figure 118.
Immanuel Lutheran Parochial School – About 1910 – 12
Figure 119. Immanuel Lutheran Parochial School - 1921-22,
The Teacher: Arthur Dauss
E.
Religion And Rites Of Passage
Figure 120. Rev. Walter Behrens, DD - About 1920
Figure 122. Christmas in Lueder's Parlor - 1920s
Figure 123. Cordelia and Viola Lueder, Confirmation -
October 22, 1922
Figure 124. Renata Lueder's Wedding to Erich Heckendorf –
Thursday, October 20, 1927
Figure 125 & Figure 126. The Next Day at Lueder’s
F. A
Country Love Story, Edgar Lueder And Alice Heckendorf
Figure 127. A Country Love Story #1: Edgar Lueder and
Alice Heckendorf – Sunday, July 26, 1931
Figure 128. A
Country Love Story #2: Alice Heckendorf
– Letter to Her Sweetheart Edgar Lueder
Figure 130. A
Country Love Story #4: February 24, 1935
- Letter, Cordelia to Her Brother Edgar
Figure 132.
Country Love Story #6: Cordelia’s
Diary – March 6th and 7th 1935
Figure 133. Poor
Alice, the End of the Country Love Story in Lueder’s Parlor
Figure 134. William Lueder Died Two Months After Alice.
Figure 135 The
Creamery at the Corner of Bridge St. and Granville Road – 1890s?
Figure 136
Dynamiting the Creamery to Make Way for the Construction of Viola &
Erwin’s New Home.
Figure 137.
Alice’s Baby – Marcella Lueder At The Age Of Two, August 8, 1937
Figure 138. Augusta Lueder And Her Grandchildren –
Christmas, 1939
Figure 139. Augusta At The Barn Door By The Cow yard –
Spring, 1941
Heimat
(Homeland) for Niemann, Luders, &
Fromm Families
Figure 140 Heimat – Spornitz Home Church for the Lüders
and Niemanns
Figure 141. Spornitz Church Sanctuary
Figure 144 Palatial
Manor House in the Trieglaff Hamlet.
Many thanks
are owed to the following for their provision of old photos, oral history, and
for their interest in having this chronicle told:
Family
Contributions:
· Children of William and Augusta Lueder:
· Marion Lueder (wife of Harold Lueder, and
herself a descendant of Johann and Wilhelmina Lüders, Jr.)
· Marcella Lueder (daughter of
· Carol Neuer (Niemann descendant)
· Ann Nieman (wife of
Arnold Nieman)
· Gilbert Nieman
· Dorothy Eddy (Nieman descendant)
· William Fromm of
· John Fromm of
· Geraldine Schwarz (Fromm descendant)
· Elaine Schieble (Lüders descendant)
· Franklin & Sylvia
Krueger (Sylvia is a Lüders descendant)
Professional
Advice:
· Dr. Robert Teske, Director of the
Milwaukee County Historical Society for his encouragement in creating this book
from an exhibition that he sponsored.
· Thanks to Dr. Joseph Salmons of the
· Edward Rappold, retired professional
photographer for wonderful photos of old Cedarburg.
·
· Eileen Lavine for her professional editing
advice and scrutinizing the text.
Reference
material:
· "A
History of Modern
· "A
Short History of
· 1902
"Encyclopedia Britannica" 1911 edition
· "von Spruner's Historische Atlas, Mittelalter und Neue
Zeit," 1880
· "Deutschland,"
Hallwag, 1993
Map
1. Cedarburg & Cedarburg
Township - 1873-74
Map
2. Jackson – 1873-74, Brüss
Landholding
Map
3. Brüss, Lueders, Niemann
Early Landholdings On Modern Map
Map
4. Fromm Homestead in the
“Town Of Barton” – Northwest Of West Bend
Map
5. Germany at the Time of
Emigration: A Region, Not A Country - 1815 To 1866
Map
6. Mecklenburg and Part of Pommerania, 1815 – 1866, Enlargement of Map 5.
Map
7. Spornitz – Home of Lǘders & Niemanns, & Goldenbow, Home of
Fromms
Map
9. Trieglaff is Now Trzyglow & Griefenberg is now Gryfice (Part of Poland
Since WW II)
CHART
1 - THE EMIGRANTS & DESCENDANTS – FAMILY TIES
CHART 2
THE NIEMANN FAMILY AFTER IMMIGRATION
CHART
3 THE
LÜDERS FAMILY AFTER IMMIGRATION..
CHART
4 THE FROMM FAMILY AFTER IMMIGRATION
CHART
5 JOHANN & SOPHIA NIEMANN FAMILY
CHART
6 WILLIAM & AUGUSTA LUEDER’S FAMILY
This is a
chronicle of mid-Nineteenth Century German immigration of four families to
Wisconsin farm country north of
The setting
is the community of Cedarburg, 20 miles north of
I. Pioneers & Settlers - the immigrant
families,
II. Taking Root - the prosperity of the second
generation, and
III.
Early 20th Century - the Lueder family during the first part of the 20th
Century.
Until
relatively recently, Cedarburg's existence was largely based on serving the
needs of numerous small dairy farms. Ethnically, both the townsfolk and the
farmers were almost exclusively of German descent.
The size and
strength of this local German culture are indicated by the persistence of the
language. Only now is the last generation passing from the scene that will
lapse into broken German when overjoyed or spluttering with anger. This
longevity of the ancestral tongue has occurred in spite of 20th century
mobility and communications, the passage of 150 years in English-speaking
The photos
and tales in this chronicle have been prepared in appreciation and remembrance
of the William and Augusta Lueder family and their immigrant forebears: Fromm,
Niemann (now Nieman), Lüders
(now Lueder and Lueders), and Brüss. Having heard fragments of their stories
since childhood, I began collecting tales and images in the late 1970s, taking
notes and searching out and copying long buried, dusty photos from William and
This is not
a scholarly work – just a conveyance of images and tales from a small rural
slice of a very large movement. Any
corrections, edits, contributions, and/or comments will be most welcome.
Harold W.
Pfohl
During the
second half of the Nineteenth Century, German immigration to the
In 1845, a
blight destroyed potato crops throughout northern
The agrarian
crisis made it impossible for many peasants to keep up with payments on their
land. Flight from the countryside to
the cities increased the ranks of unemployed, which also grew as journeymen
lost their jobs in the concurrent depression.
In 1846 the number of emigrants escalated to 93,000 and in 1847
surpassed 100,000 for the first time.
Crime spread
in city and country, and a spirit of violence embittered the increasingly
frequent popular riots. The most ominous event was the "Potato
Revolution" on April 21, 1847, in
Industrial
development did not begin to keep pace with population growth. Between 1850 and
1859 close to one million Germans emigrated - mostly to the
The primary
causes of emigration were economic and social. The majority of the immigrants
were farmers and artisans from Southwestern Germany, the Rhineland, and
(Adapted
from: "A History of Modern Germany 1840 - 1945" by Hajo Holborn)
“No
one leaves his home for an uncertain life in remote lands
except
in the hope of being able to better himself.”
Peoples & Empires
By:
Anthony Pagden
Among the North German people caught up in
the vision of the New World’s promises of land, prosperity, freedom, and status
were four families who settled in
The
Niemanns were foresters on a great estate[1] near Spornitz in Mecklenburg-
Schwerin (see Map 6 & Map 7). The family emigrated
in 1852 and consisted of Johann I, a widower, age 60, his only surviving child[2] Joachim, 34,
Joachim's wife Dorothea Marie[3](known as Marie) 30, and their young
children: Johann II, 10, Marie Dorothea, 8, Dorothea Maria, 5,
Johann Joachim, 2, and infant Carl, born April 20, 1852. Six weeks later in early June they left for
the
Joachim
had been active in opposition politics and was politically discontented. In
1848, Joachim, a Social Democrat, was not on the winning side of the political
turmoil. Although probably not the primary reason for his decision to leave
Parting
from Spornitz must have been very painful; most family
members did not leave
The family took an oxcart from
Figure 1
About 1870-71 L-R: Marie (nee Kogerup), Herman (age 6?), Alvina (Age 10?), and Joachim Niemann.
They were an ambitious family. By 1865, the
farm on
In
This photo was taken a few years after
their move to
Figure 2. 1890s The Photo Shows Marie Seated and Daughter Alvina Standing.
Alvina Married Fred Fromm, Son of Johann and Johanna Fromm.
Figure 3 Late
1880s – Early 1890s Joachim is Shown with His Grandson, John Nieman,
(Spelled with One “n”) the Son of Johann Niemann
Figure 4 1880s?? Joachim and Marie’s Home in/near
Figure 5 Early
Part Of 20th Century Joachim’s Last Farm home, Pioneered near
During
or after 1889, Joachim moved again with his son, Herman, to
establish another farm in
The
Lüders were also from Spornitz,
Mecklenburg-
The
immigrants were at sea for six weeks. While the voyage and prospect of
By
1860, the family was still together and well settled. The census shows:
·
Johann Sr., age 57, farmer and Eva
Dorothea, age 61
·
Assets $1800 - real estate and $500,
personal property
·
Johann Jr., age 33, farm laborer Minna age
27 Assets $100 - real estate and $100, personal worth, children Minna, age 4
Carl, age 2
·
Joachim, age 30, farm laborer, Henrietta
age 30, Assets $100 - real estate and $100, personal worth, children John, age
5 Augusta, age 3 Maria, age 1
Figure 6. Joachim
and Albertina Lüders
- About 1879
Left to right: (children) Martha,
William,
Albert, and
Otto.
Parents are Albertina (nee Brüss), and Joachim. (See Appendix Chart 3)
The
family prospered and was expanding, so much so that on November 10, 1860 Johann
Sr. bought another farm located on
Unfortunately
the tide of good fortune turned, and the 1860s and 70s brought catastrophe. On
Sept 16, 1863, Henrietta died of tuberculosis at 33 years of age. It
was said that she died of homesickness, regardless of what the medical cause
may have been. Joachim needed immediate help with his three small children; he
married Albertina Brüss on December 22, 1863. Henrietta's two littlest children died
soon thereafter, and in 1870 the remaining child, Johann Friederich, died at
age 15.
Joachim
and Albertina had five children: Albert, in 1866; Otto, in 1868; William, in
1871; Martha, in 1874; a baby girl, Albertina, in October of 1864, died at the
age of 21 months. As adults, all of the
children lived on farms in Cedarburg.
Joachim
was a pillar of the church. He was a church trustee for 18 years, council
chairman for a number of years, he led the choir, and he was chairman of the
committee of four members assigned the responsibility of raising money to build
the new Immanuel Lutheran church,
completed in 1883 when he was 54. He was a respected, gregarious, and
well-liked person.
Joachim died on December 15, 1899, at age 70 shortly
after his son William's marriage to Augusta Nieman on November 5, 1899. The wedding day was very cold; Joachim became
ill after the wedding and never recovered. The official cause of his death is
given as cancer. Perhaps he had been weakened by the cancer and exposure at the
wedding was more than his system could bear.
Albertina, Joachim’s wife, was described as a "very difficult
person" and blamed Joachim's death on her son William and his new wife,
Augusta because of the cold wedding day. William and Augusta lived on Joachim's
farm and Albertina stayed with them until her death in 1906.[8]
Figure 7. Photo, Johann Jr. and Wilhelmina (Minna) Lüders
- 1875