After 1848 (gold rush in California and the uprising of 1848-51 in Schleswig-Holstein) the first significant wave of Schleswig-Holstein emigration to the United States occurred. These emigrants settled in the vicinity of Davenport, Iowa. They were farmers who were eligible to obtain land if they were able to cultivate it. It cost between 400 to 1000 Dollars and hard work to establish oneself and flourish. The emigrants were mostly young men between 17 and 25 years of age. In order to emigrate, they had to get permission and be officially released from military duty. From 1880 to 1893 approximately 88, 000 (recorded) Schleswig-Holsteiner, roughly 10% of the Schleswig-Holstein population moved to North America, first the Holsteiner from Probstei and Segeberg, then the Schleswiger during Prussian times (1867). According to some advertisers the shortest and least dangerous route to take was from Hamburg to Hull, England, then by train to Liverpool and from there to America. Most emigrants arrived in New York through Castle Garden and later (1892) through Ellis Island, New York.1
Davenport, Iowa
The 170 + years of Germanic influence on Davenport, Iowa began shortly after the city’s founding in 1836. Danish political oppression in the Schleswig-Holstein region of Northern Germany fueled the exodus of Germans to America. Schleswig-Holsteiners seeking freedom found safe haven in Davenport beginning in 1848. Known as “48ers”, the well-educated and skilled people were deemed “freethinkers” and quickly settled into life along the Mississippi River’s edge and on farms in rural Scott County. Within twelve years, 20 percent of Davenport’s population of 3, 000 was German.2
Those Davenport German 48s battled oppressive forces in their homeland of Schleswig-Holstein while fighting for their right to live as they saw fit. Many veterans of that fight that began in 1848 left the region and found freedom in the United States, some of them in Davenport. About 200 men settled in Davenport following the fighting that ended with compromise in 1851 and 1852 between German forces and neighbor Denmark. But most members of the Davenport Society of Veterans of the Schleswig-Holstein Wars of Independence left long before Denmark finally conceded its claims on Schleswig in 1864. 3
References
1. Family Search: Research Wiki: Emigration and Immigration in Schleswig- Holstein. Retrieved 13 March 2009 from https://wiki.familysearch.org/en/Emigration_and_Immigration_in_Schleswig-Holstein
2. German Life. June/July 2000. Favorite German-American Travel Destinations. Davenport, Iowa. Retrieved 13 March 2009 from http://www.germanl ife.com/Archives/2000/0006_01.html
3. Quad Cities Times German freedom fighters’ memorial etched in stone. By Mary Louise Speer | Friday, March 28, 2008. Retrieved 13 March 2009 from http://www.qctimes.com/articles/2008/03/28/news/local/doc47edcbfea5511732588179.txt
PLAT MAP
SHERIDAN TOWNSHIP 1905
No. 79 N. Range No.3 East of the 5th Meridian
Bordered on the North by Winfield Township, on the South by Davenport, on the East by Lincoln Township, on the West by Hickory Grove.
SECTION 9
Henry Meier
Ernst LeMarinell Est
Chas Meier
Bielenberg & Kohrs
SECTION 16
A.H. Lamp
Bielenberg & Kohrs
Joachim Muks
Chas Ehrsam
PLAT MAP
SHERIDAN TOWNSHIP 1882
No. 79 N. Range No.3 East of the 5th Meridian
Bordered on the North by Winfield Township, on the South by Davenport, on the East by Lincoln Township, on the West by Hickory Grove.
SECTION 9
Henry Meier
Ernst LeMarinell Est
Chas Meier
Bielenberg & Kohrs
SECTION 16
A.H. Lamp
Bielenberg & Kohrs
Joachim Muks
Chas Ehrsam
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