Stories
Read first-hand accounts of immigrants
From Germany to America
The historical account of the Jaebs & Mayerhofers | By Reina Mizell
In the late 1850s my husband and I made the decision to move to America. In our home country of Prussia, now Germany, political tensions and turmoil were on the rise. The latest Kaiser of Germany, Wilhelm II, has enacted regressive political policy of strict imperialist authoritarianism. Eventually, as a nation, Germany would become dependent on the Triple Alliance, an agreement between Austria-Hungary, Italy and Germany. Although the economy was building with the rise of industrialization, the political tensions quickly led us to reevaluate where we should start our family.
Fortunately, the combination of German nationalism and widespread prosperity from new economies granted us the opportunity to immigrate before the first battles of war broke out. America was new, open, and exciting. Learning the language and the lay of the land was difficult, but as our family grew, we assimilated into obscurity.
We’d first entered through the coast, by ship; but we’d heard about the idyllic interior of the North. Minnesota’s rolling forested hills, prairies, and climate were familiar and reminiscent of home. When we arrived in the state of Minnesota, we found solace in familiar industries; agriculture, steel, flour and logging. We were able to establish our family in the township of St. Michael, to the west of the blooming metropolitan areas along the Mississippi.
Once settled, my husband and our son re-established his blacksmith business in our new home. We enjoyed our home on the prairie and our children successfully weathered the Great Depression in the 1930s, not long after we passed. America granted us a new start, our family became prosperous and grew exponentially since we arrived.
Connections to the Past
The historical account of the Danielsons | By Macie Danielson
Going six generations back, the first people to come to America were my 3rd great grandparents on my dad’s side of the family. Their names were Daniel Danielson and Caroline Danielson and they were the start of our Danielson family living in the United States. They immigrated to the United States 134 years ago on April 28th, 1887. They came from Varmland, Sweden and settled in Comstock, Minnesota where they bought their first piece of American land. With that land, they built their farm together which is the same farm that is still in our family to this day.
Daniel died in 1937, but before he died, he and Caroline accomplished a lot with their farm. They took pride in having it, especially since they bought it themselves. Even though they had bought the land themselves, they weren’t very wealthy and only had enough to purchase what was needed to survive. They also farmed their own land and eventually started a family with a lot of children. For two generations after that, up until my dad and his siblings, the families also had as many as 10 kids each. Even my dad has three siblings which seems like a lot to me since I only have one. Back then it was just more of a tradition to have bigger families.
Speaking of tradition, they still brought with them to the United States much of their Swedish tradition. Some things that come from the Swedish culture my family still does to this day. For example, eating foods such as lefse, lutefisk, and sweets is a regular tradition my family incorporates into our lives. My grandpa especially gets his sweet tooth from Swedish culture, ice cream is his favorite and one of our favorite treats together.
Most importantly, Caroline and Daniel had a lot of pride in where they lived and they held onto their land all of their lives. They never left their farm and it has been passed down as
the generations go on. I don’t know exactly how they felt about moving to America, but I assumed they liked it since they never decided to leave and none of their children or grandchildren left either. However, it was a struggle for them to get to the U.S. because they had to pay their way in order to eventually get passports and make enough money to start a farm and a family. Once they did, they lived happy lives and I wouldn’t be here today living in America if it wasn’t for them.