In 1884 my great grandfather, Johann (John) Nelke, came to America when he was 17 with his uncle's family. They settled in St. Louis, Missouri. John saved money to help pay for the passage of the rest of his family—his parents, Johann and Amelia, and his three younger sisters, Adeline, Hedwig (Hattie), and Bertha. They left from Rotterdam on a ship called the S.S. Rotterdam, arriving in New York on Thursday, May 26, 1887. The youngest Nelke passenger on the ship, Bertha, was twelve. After she grew up, one of her children, Melba Heyderich, wrote down what Bertha told her about life in Germany and the trip to St. Louis. So here is a secondhand account of a child's journey from Germany to America in 1887. As later told to her daughter...
Continue Reading: A Child's View of a Journey from Germany to America in 1887
1 comment:
Good story Joe. The "rigors of the trip caused a nervous breakdown"? and subsequent suicide? Interesting....
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