I am a day late with this story, but I could not ignore it. It’s a bicentennial birthday story. Rev. Martin Stephan is rather famous (and infamous) for leading the German Lutheran immigration to America in 1839 known as the Gesellschaft. When Rev. Stephan came to this country, he left most of his family in … More The Junior Martin Stephan’s 200th
People who have become familiar with the story of the German Lutheran immigration to America in 1838-1839, which was led by Rev. Martin Stephan, are probably familiar with the name of Louise Guenther. Rev. Stephan was exiled from the Perry County colony in May of 1839, partly as a result of sexual impropriety. The main … More The Miscreant Maid Marries
I am writing a different type of story today. Usually I make an attempt to give you a person’s life history from cradle to grave. I cannot do that today. I cannot even come close. The main character in today’s story was in the United States for only two years, after which he and his … More Mourning Marbach Matron
I am going to cheat again today. I have those typical Thanksgiving obligations to our family, so I’m pulling out an old blog post that was published three years ago. At that time, I wrote this post after Thanksgiving was over. I cannot believe it has been three years since this article was written. I … More Reflections on Thanksgiving
Almost two years ago, I wrote a post for this blog titled, Roemer Reverend Roommates. That post highlighted a Roemer family that had four girls who all managed to find Lutheran pastors as their husbands. The couple I will focus on today was mentioned in that story, but today, I will attempt to add more … More Rev. Gustav and Agnes Wangerin
May 30th and May 31st are infamous days in the history of the German immigration to Perry County which took place in 1838-1839. These are the days when the leader of the Gesellschaft, Rev. Martin Stephan, was found guilty of several charges and then sent into exile in Illinois. It is a story that is … More Exiled to the Devil’s Bake Oven
May 17, 1839 was the day that about 100 immigrants from New York arrived at what would later be called Wittenberg, Missouri. Today we will discuss the route that these German Lutherans traveled to get here and what they found when they arrived. The group of immigrants that were part of the Stephanite immigration in … More The Arrival of the New Yorkers
Like so many of you, I’m sure, I just had a wonderful time celebrating the Thanksgiving holiday with members of my family. Now that it is over, I have a few thoughts to share. It occurred to me that there are quite a few similarities between the story of the Pilgrims coming to America and … More Reflections on Thanksgiving
On November 18, 1838, the last of the ships which were part of the Gesellschaft sailed from the German port of Bremerhaven. This made a total of five ships which were carrying a total of approximately 700 people who had decided to start new lives in America. The two ships leaving on that day were … More The Olbers and Amalia Depart
The above record in the Trinity Lutheran Church books in Altenburg documents the first two deaths that occurred in the immigration after they arrived in Perry County, Missouri. Both of them occurred within about two weeks after Rev. Martin Stephan was removed from the community and rowed across the Mississippi River to Illinois. The first … More Death Begins in Perry County
