First home   Carl de Haas, Richard McMillan’s great-grandfather, emigrated to Calumet, Wisconsin, in 1847. This image of his first homestead comes from Winke fur Auswanderer, his book of advice for emigrants, widely sold in Germany.

Winke für Auswanderer: Hints for Emigrants
VIII. Life in America: Crops, Livestock and People

Carl offers information and advice on crops, livestock, game and wildfowl, and firearms. There are Indians on this frontier, some speaking good English and living in a settlement called Brothertown, others nomadic and living off the hunt.

Since the settlement is only a few years old, there has been little thought of fruit trees. Plum trees and grapes are often found wild, but their fruit is tart and acid. Hazelnuts, black currants and raspberries are common, but their fruits are not as tasty as in Europe. As for vegetables, potatoes, carrots, turnips, beans, peas, pumpkin, cucumbers, and melons grow very well here. Melons which are very numerous here grow unusually large; they are tasty, cooling and refreshing in the hot weather. The potatoes are not sweet. One variety of them grows to a size unknown in Germany. In good years four to five plants yield a bushel (65 pounds). Pumpkins are planted extensively as food for cattle. Besides the above mentioned, most European garden products are found here – cabbage, onions, endive, and so forth. The most common and successful crop is wheat, which bears 25- to 30-fold. Winter wheat is planted most often, but summer wheat is also successful. Rye, called German corn here, is planted only by German immigrants, partly for baking bread, partly as food for hogs. Corn is often planted, produces a very good harvest, and is good fodder for cattle. It is, however, the most subject to freezing. Barley grows very well here, but is hard to market. Buckwheat, on the other hand, is often planted and used especially as fodder. Clover is not planted, because there seems to be no need for it.

Among the weeds which grow wild in Wisconsin, I have found very few which are known in Germany. On the other hand, I found many familiar flowers in the region around New York. Almechilla. Datura, Rhinanthus, Anchusa, Annthemis, and others grow in abundance there. The greatest part of the flowers here are composite, and among these, the radiate flowers are the most common. Red ones especially are found in the forests. The wild rose forms long hedges. Sunflowers, large mallows, safflower, and others are seen in gardens. A small white radiate flower which grows commonly on the prairies, is used in households here and called prairie-tea. Unbellate plants are much rarer here than in Europe.

As for the animals, I shall speak primarily of the game and domestic animals. As everywhere, game is diminishing also here in America, as the culture of the land increases, and is retreating from the inhabited regions into the uninhabited parts. Furthermore, hunting is completely unrestricted, and the Indians live almost entirely from hunting. Among the four-footed game animals, there are particularly the deer and a species of small hare. We have seen many deer, but since we have flints and no rifles, we have not shot any yet. During the winter they come in herds of four to six to the young plants, where they can be shot more easily. We have seen no hares as yet, but my nephew shot a small bear, and we found the meat very tasty. We have also seen the skunk. Fowl is numerous. Doves and partridges, which we have occasionally shot near our house, have supplied us abundantly with meat for three days out of the week, on an average. Doves swarm by the hundred over the stubble-fields, and my nephew has often shot five to seven, once even 10, in one shot. The partridges, called prairie hens here, are feathered to the claws and are the size of a domestic hen; recently we have shot five to eight almost daily, and they have supplied us with a very welcome roast. Several times we shot three in one shot. We have often seen wild geese, but have shot none; wild ducks inhabit the lakes.

It can be seen from the little I can report, that, even though the game is not as varied and numerous as people in Germany probably imagine, it is still worthwhile to bring a good gun along. Whoever can invest that much money, will do well to bring a good double-flint and a rifle; whoever cannot do that, should bring a fowling piece but should not forget to bring extra pistons. I should advise everyone that, once arrived, he should not hunt except occasionally, and should not slight his work to go hunting. American guns are longer than the German ones, and usually the natives use rifles. Flints (fowling pieces) and rifles are much cheaper in Germany than here. The mole is unknown here, likewise larger beasts of prey; a variety of small wolf is sometimes seen here in the winter. Squirrels, red as well as all gray ones and coal-black ones, are numerous here. I have seen no rats as yet, but there are lots of mice, and some have found their way into our new house. Cats are considered the best means of control. The dogs here are good watchers and especially good for herding cattle. They are indispensable in raising hogs, and most hogs’ ears show the marks of dog’s teeth very clearly. The dogs are affectionate and timid toward people. Hunting dogs are rare. The horses are generally good and strong, but most farmers have only oxen. A good horse costs $60 to $70, the small Indian horses are cheaper.

Cattle are in general much stronger and more beautiful than in Germany. It is a real pleasure to see the herds of the ox drivers, with which they go through the country. The oxen pull in pairs, with their necks, on which a heavy wooden yoke is placed, which is held by two bows. Those who have not fenced their woods, let the cattle run free with bells around their necks. Of course, it is annoying and difficult to find them again. During the winter the cattle stay in the stalls, which are built of logs like the houses, and roofed with straw. On many farms there is merely a roof supported by poles instead of stalls. The hogs are large and fat here; they run in dozens about the woods and frighten the unaccustomed wanderer by their sudden appearance. There are no sheep here yet, but they would certainly prosper here, if they should be brought in from neighboring states. As for domestic fowl, there are in the settlement at present only hens which are not very large.

Snakes are quite abundant here. However, I have seen none that was more than two feet long; and I have not heard that any of them are poisonous. The rattlesnake is extremely rare here. I have not met anyone here who has seen one. They are commoner in the region around Milwaukee. There are no earthworms here, but butterfHes and beetles are abundant and colorful, many of them are also known in Germany; the Camberwell beauty (vanessa antiopa) is for instance one of the commonest butterflies. Grasshoppers, crickets and cicadas are found in field and woods in great swarms and their loud voices sound out from dusk on through the night. There are great numbers of flies of all kinds, and one must especially take care to protect meat from them. Likewise, there are stinging flies, but they are not as large, numerous and troublesome as they are in the Berlin Tiergarten.

The inhabitants of the Calumet settlement, who just now number about 1,500 (the neighboring settlement, Brotherown, has about 2,000) divided into the Catholics and the Protestants. The Catholics form the southern and central part of the colony, the Protestants the northern. The Catholics come mostly from the Rhineland, many from the Mosel. They form by far the largest part of the population and are increasing daily with great rapidity. They have a rather spacious log church and a priest from Austria, who also teaches school. I have just learned that a second priest has arrived with a teacher from Austria, and that the parish has decided to build a second church eight miles from Winnebago Lake. The Protestants are divided into the Germans and the Americans or Yankees. There are about 20 families of the former, and while a farm church is being built, the religious services are held in a private house. They are now choosing a preacher. The Protestant school is finished and is very practical, but a teacher has not yet been found.

The settlers in the region near Milwaukee are mostly Germans, but after that, on the road to Watertown, there are very few Germans and almost exclusively English-speaking Yankees. In the city of Fond du Lac we met only one German, the master cabinetmaker Wassmann from Schwelm. I hear that there are several German settlements away from the road. There are few Yankees here; they are mostly Methodists and have their services in the Protestant schoolhouse where they have set up a Sunday-school. Here in the country one finds little trace of that extraordinarily strict observation of the Sabbath a lack which is so unfamiliar to Germans. One can at present hunt and do housework without criticism.

There is very little sign of a police force in Wisconsin, and absolutely none in Calumet; and it would be rather superfluous here, for crimes are rare in the cities and almost unknown in the country. On our trip here we left our wagon several times with baggage and all our possessions uncovered in front of our hotel, and once when we voiced our anxiety about this to the innkeeper, he was very offended in the name of his honest fellow-citizens. One can leave his house open without any fear; nothing is stolen. We have not yet missed the slightest thing, although our doors have no locks up to the present. The houses of the Germans here remind one of the farmhouses in Germany. They usually have only one small window and look very dark and cheerless. The log cabins of the Yankees are very different in appearance: everything is light and clean; the few pieces of furniture are simple but graceful; there are very elegant curtains in front of the windows, and the children run about in the spacious yard in the cleanest of clothes.

The roads in Wisconsin are very poor because of the soft ground, and it is hard to get through when the weather is bad; but for the present one must be content with them as they are and be glad that there are roads in all directions. At present two things in particular are lacking: mills and ready money. The latter will soon be remedied, for when the projected canal is completed and the ships can travel from here direct to Buffalo, commerce will flourish quickly here too. Everything that has not been consumed by the settlers themselves thus far has been used by the new immigrants, so that exportation has not been possible yet. The canal will probably be begun when Wisconsin, as yet only a territory, becomes a state in the Union.

The state constitution of Wisconsin was presented to the citizens of the erstwhile territory last spring, but was rejected because of three laws. The first of these was that the last 40 acres of his land could not be taken from a debtor; the second that a woman could control her own fortune, even if she were married; the third, that the state could not take over the construction of railroads and canals, construction of which must be left to private enterprise under state protection. A new constitution is now being drafted, which will be presented to the citizens next year for ratification.

In closing I have some things to say about the original population of America, the Indians. We saw some Indian merchants in New York and Buffalo. When we landed at a wood station on the shore of Lake Huron we saw a number of Indians, whose little boys practicing with bows and arrows, showed extraordinary skill. At Sheboygan, an Indian woman, who was said to be 115 years old, came on our ship.

In our settlement Indians are seen only on the main road and in Calumetville. They often move southward in bands of 20 to 30 and put up their light cloth tents where they spend the night. They live mainly from the hunt, and only a few have been persuaded to take up farming and cattle raising. For those who have, the government has reserved a piece of land as their free property, which adjoins our settlement on the north. This Indian settlement is called Brothertown; the Indian inhabitants speak English rather fluently and are not very different from the other inhabitants. On the other hand, the Indians who move around and hunt have kept their original costume and their way of life. Their faces are mostly tattooed, painted very brightly in many colors, especially red and black. They wear short trousers, a girdle around the waist, and they wrap their shoulders in a blanket. The children usually go naked. Their hair is thick, coal-black, stiff, and usually cut straight across the forehead. Many bind a part of their hair on the middle of the head into a large broad tuft, which stands up straight like a tassel with ribbons and beads on it. Many decorate their whole bodies with all sorts of colorful, shiny ornaments, and look very stately on their small black horses, which they ride very well. They have an extraordinary skill in hunting, and this is one of the main causes for the disappearance of game here. For the rest these Indians are the most peaceful people in the world. They are shy and timid toward the European; they do not even dare to ask for food when they are hungry, but stand mutely and humbly at a distance until one gives them food. Everyone would find it ridiculous, if anyone spoke of danger in respect to these Indians.

VII. Citizenship and home      Top of File      IX. Final hints, Postscript