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Winke für Auswanderer: Hints for Emigrants
VI. Citizenship and home
Setting up a frontier household is expensive and difficult; clearing unbroken land is crushingly physical work. Carl describes the necessary equipment and lists prices. American axes are expensive but better than German ones. A featherbed is absolutely necessary; a clock, not so much.
I shall not tell at length how I went to get my people from Milwaukee, but shall only mention that we all declared ourselves aspirants to citizenship in the Union before the clerk in Milwaukee and renounced our former prince. The formula for renunciation read:
[Name] appeared in person before the undersigned clerk and took oath that he was born in [country of birth] in [year], that he emigrated to the United States and landed in the harbor of New York in [month and year], that it is his honest intention to become a citizen of the United States, and that he renounces all loyalty and duty as subject toward any foreign prince, potentate, state or sovereignty and in particular toward [head of state at time of departure] whose subject he has been until now.
Whoever has taken this oath receives an attestation to this effect. If he appears after five years before the court of his district, presents his paper, renews his oath and proves by two witnesses that he has lived in the United States five years, he is appointed a citizen of the United States.
Because we are all unmarried and servant girls demand six to eight shillings per week, we have to take care of the housework ourselves
After a very difficult trip of three and a half days, we arrived safely with our possessions and both brother and nephew were very satisfied with the purchase I had made for the three of us. We now plan to buy 160 acres of Congress land a few miles away, for 40 acres is not enough land for a larger farm. Eighty acres are in most cases quite sufficient for a single family. We have all adapted ourselves very well to the country life and its occupations. We brought along a table, chairs, and mirror. Everything else — cupboards, windows, benches, staircases, ladder, and so forth — we made ourselves. These serve us as well as if the best joiner had made them.
Because we are all unmarried and servant girls demand six to eight shillings per week as wages (1 shilling is 5 1/4 Silbergroschen) we have to take care of the housework ourselves. We change off every week, and the one who has the housework is always very busy. We bought a yoke of oxen which, including hay for the whole winter, cost $47.50. With their help we have already planted about five and a half acres of wheat. We have splendid appetites, so we have a keg in the cellar in which we have ox meat in brine, another for pork; the former cost us 3 cents a pound, the latter 4 1/2 cents (1 cent is about 5 Pfennings.) We bought 30 bushels of potatoes (of 65 pounds,) at 3 shillings a bushel. We bought wheat flour, the finest or “flower” at 3 cents, the so-called coarse flour “Nachmehl” at 1 1/2 cents. A few months ago there was a night frost here, so severe that the people who have been here longest cannot remember another like it. Corn, buckwheat and potatoes were partly frozen, which has made these products as well as hogs unusually expensive this year.
We brought German axes with us ... but we never use them because the American axes are incomparably easier to handle
Most materials, whether for the household or for farming, are more expensive here than in Europe, but the difference is significant. An axe costs $1.50, but will last a lifetime, is mirror-smooth, curved on both ends, and serves more purposes than any German axe I have ever seen. We brought German axes with us, which the Remscheider manufacturer said were exported to America, but we never use them because the American axes are incomparably easier to handle. A pound of shot costs 9 cents, a bag of flour costs 5 shillings; oil (rarely available) costs 2 1/2 shillings a quart; fish oil (which is usually burned) is just as expensive; tobacco costs 20 cents a pound. Tin implements, which are often used in households here, are somewhat more expensive than in Germany. Glassware is rare and very expensive; an ordinary small drinking glass costs a half shilling. Porcelain is not cheap either, but one can buy good plates at three shillings per half-dozen.
A few suggestions about things the immigrant would do well to bring along from Europe: a really warm, complete feather bed is hard to obtain here, but very necessary. It is best to pack such things in a strong sack with a cord. One need not bring many boots and shoes for they are good here and no more expensive than in Germany. A pair of high boots, which can be laced about the calves, are especially practical for mornings in the long wet grass. Linens are scarce here; those who have such should bring them along. However, cotton shirts, sheets, etc., are cheap here and serve the purpose. Hats are hard to pack, and since one wears straw hats or caps here almost the whole year, one need not burden oneself with many hat boxes. In general one should bring more sturdy, practical work-clothes than elegant Sunday clothes, but Sunday clothes should not be entirely overlooked.
The Americans wear fine clothes and the women wear hats with veils and silk dresses in the country. The styles are the same here as in Germany and France. The Germans generally keep their characteristic regional costumes for a long time. Everyone wears work clothes according to his taste. The work hat of the American women is strange and very practical: a half-cylinder bent over the ears, covered with colored cloth which hangs over the neck in folds and down to the shoulders. One should not take too much in the way of cooking-utensils. Kettles, pots and pans come with the stove. Nevertheless, an iron griddle and a tinned copper kettle brought from Germany have proved very useful to us. Several fine porcelain and glass pieces we brought over arrived unhurt and have filled a need. A mirror, not too large, can also be brought along. Clocks are not in style here. Almost everyone tells time by the sun, which usually is shining. No one should bring clocks along to sell, although they should bring one for their own use, which they will have to set by the sun, since there are no tower clocks here.
I shall discuss later which guns should be brought along. It is best to bring along all smaller carpentry accessories, likewise some door locks and hinges for doors and windows. All iron pieces should be left behind even though they are more expensive here. A small bellows should not be forgotten. We brought a medium-sized smith’s bellows also, which we have not regretted so far. Ropes are expensive here, and it is wise to bring some along. As for household objects, I wish to remind you of a flat-iron and a coffee-mill: both of these in the American style are not convenient for us.
V. First view of Calumet
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VII. Weather and land
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