Lives and Letters of an Immigrant Family : title: The Van Dreveldts' Experiences Along the Missouri, 1844-1866 Kronenberg, Kenneth.; Van Dreveldt, author: Anton; Van Dreveldt, Bernard; Van Dreveldt, Bernhard; Gimborn, Carl von. publisher: University of Nebraska Press isbn10 | asin: 0803227418 print isbn13: 9780803227415 ebook isbn13: 9780585286532 language: English Van Dreveldt family--Correspondence, Germans Americans--Missouri River Region--Correspondence, Immigrants-- subject Missouri River Region--Correspondence, Van Dreveldt, Anton,--1804-1859-- Correspondence, Van Dreveldt, Bernhard,- -1835-1866--Correspondence, Missouri publication date: 1998 lcc: F472.M7K76 1998eb ddc: 978/.00431/0092 Van Dreveldt family--Correspondence, Germans Americans--Missouri River Region--Correspondence, Immigrants-- subject: Missouri River Region--Correspondence, Van Dreveldt, Anton,--1804-1859-- Correspondence, Van Dreveldt, Bernhard,- -1835-1866--Correspondence, Missouri Page iii Lives and Letters of an Immigrant Family The van Dreveldts' Experiences along the Missouri, 18441866 Written and translated by Kenneth Kronenberg in association with C. Hans von Gimborn Page iv Copyright © 1998 by Carl Hans von Gimborn All rights reserved Manufactured in the United States of America The paper in this book meets the minimum requirements of American National Standard for Information Sciences-Permanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials, ANSI Z39.48-1984. Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data Kronenberg, Kenneth, 1946 Lives and letters of an immigrant family: the van Dreveldts' experiences along the Missouri, 18441866 / written and translated by Kenneth Kronenberg in association with C. Hans von Gimborn. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references (p.) and index. ISBN 0-8032-2741-8 (alk. paper) 1. Van Dreveldt familyCorrespondence. 2. Germans AmericansMissouri River Region Correspondence. 3. ImmigrantsMissouri River RegionCorrespondence. 4. Van Dreveldt; Anton, 18041859Correspondence. 5. Van Dreveldt, Bernhard, 18351866Correspondence. 6. Missouri River RegionBiography. I. Van Dreveldt, Anton, 18041859. II. Van Dreveldt, Bernard, d. 1880. III. Van Dreveldt, Bernhard, 18351866. IV. Gimborn, Carl von. v. Title. F472.M7K76 1998 978'.00431'0092dc21 98-19559 CIP Page v Contents List of Illustrations vii Foreword by ix C. Hans von Gimborn Preface xiii Acknowledgments xv Introduction xvii The Town of Emmerich 1 Provost Goossens 4 The French Revolution 6 The "Little Mishaps" 10 Voorthuyzen 13 The Two Brothers 16 Emigration 29 Theodor in America 37 What Was Going On in Germany 67 The Revolution of 1848 and Theodor's Return 70 Anton in America 88 How Things Go Wrong 93 Bernhard: From Voorthuyzen to New Voorthuyzen 101 Bernhard and Maria 112 Politics in Black and White 126 Page vi Bernhard and Maria in America 131 The Unrest in Missouri 146 The Civil War According to Bernhard 150 Bernhard's Death 183 Conclusion 191 Afterword 194 Notes 197 Index 207 Page vii Illustrations Following Photographs page 100 Johann Anton Goossens Emmerich with Beurtschiffe and St. Martin's Church New Orleans, 1840s Burschenschafter Theodor van Dreveldt, 183132 St. Louis Levee, 1848 Neu Voorthuyzen, built by Theodor in 1849 Theodor van Dreveldt Anton van Dreveldt Bernhard van Dreveldt Maria von Weise The St. Louis business district where Bernhard and Hubert bought supplies Maps Following page xxiii The lower Rhine from Cologne to Rotterdam Portion of Lloyd's Official Map of Missouri, 1861 Monroe County, Illinois, 1875 Figure Family tree of the van Dreveldts xviii and von Weises xix Page ix Foreword In 1929, when I was six, I received two cigar boxes filled with American postage stamps from my Aunt Franziska van Dreveldt as well as a stamp book from my parents as Christmas presents. On the first blank page of the book, my father wrote in large letters "U.S.A." and explained to me that this was the English abbreviation for the United States of America. That was my first encounter with the English language as well as the United States, a country with which six generations of my family have had a special relationship to date. There were plenty of stories about our family's experiences in that vast and wonderful land, which I found nothing short of magical as a little boy. These stories planted the idea of America firmly in my mind. I learned about my great-grandfather Theodor van Dreveldt, who emigrated to America, and about his adventures. Then there was his elder brother Anton, who settled in Missouri after Theodor returned to Germany, as well as our cousins, the von Weises from Cologne, who had emigrated on Theodor's advice. I was always excited when our "uncles from America" came to visit. Uncle Carl van Dreveldt, Theodor's oldest son, had emigrated as a young man to escape Prussian authoritarianism, much like his father had before him. He returned to Germany to take over Voorthuyzen, the family property, after Theodor's death in 1880. When our U.S. relatives visited, I would hear stories about "little Charley" from Rockford, Illinois, and his cousin "big Charley" from Oklahoma, the branch of the von Weises that lived in San Antonio, Texas, and particularly about Louis von Weise from St. Louis, Missouri. Some of the stories were funny, others amazed me. When