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"Wir ziehen in ein neues Land" Lisa Buβ Auswanderung aus Ostfrlesland, insbesondere aus Groβefehn

"We Will Go to a New Land" Emigration from Ostfriesland, particularly from Groβefehn

The big wave of emigration from Ostfriesland to America began in the middle of the 19th century. Approximately a quarter of the population left their homeland to emigrate to America. As a rule they chose the route through Bremerhaven, the largest German emigration port to the "new world." In many cases during the first years, the emigrants sailed to New Orleans and then traveled by riverboat up the Mississippi to Illinois.

However, Mimke Mimken Saathoff chose a different settlement location; he sailed with his family to Galveston, Texas. There in 1861, they founded the settlement Quihi near San Antonio. In 1851 Harm Balzen from Aurich-Oldendorf followed, and then a bit later even more family members, including Schweer Balzen and his family. They later called themselves Schweers; a well-preserved grave stone, written in German and at the site of the former settlement is a solid piece of evidence of this time. Following the Balzens in 1851 came Harm Schweers Boemfalk with his wife Johanna Frieden Schoon and four children, ages 8, 6, 4 and 2 years old. Their fifth child was born on the sailing ship "The Weser." An immigrant from Ostfriesland also moved to this area in recent years: Gűnter Dirks and his family from Emden opened a restaurant called "Friesenhaus" in New Braunfels, Texas in 2005.

The majority of the Ostfriesen immigrants, however, settled in the Midwestern states, leaving from Illinois. As the land there became scarcer and therefore too expensive, many moved westward to Missouri, Iowa, Nebraska, Kansas, the Dakotas, Minnesota and Wisconsin. Around 1850, the Buss family from Ludwigsdorf, along with others, founded the town of "New Ostfriesland" which was later named "Golden." It was known by many as "Little Holtrop" because many of the families came from the Holtrop and Wiesens area. In 1852, the miller Hinrich Reemts Emminga from Holtrop emigrated to this area. In 1854 he built a Dutch windmill, the "Custom Mill", which he sold in1863 as he returned to Ostfriesland to escape from the imminent military service in the American Civil War.

In Felde, which today is the community of Groβefehn, he built his second mill, nearly identical to the one in Golden, lllinois. Emminga returned to Golden in 1872 where he built his third mill (1872-73) - the "Prairie Mill" that, with much dedication, has been restored and exists still today. In 1878, he handed the mill over to his son and moved back to Holtrop where he died and was buried in 1886.

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Emminga Windmill in Emminga Windmill in Golden, Illinois Felde, Ostfriesland

In 1851, the population of Groβefehn added up to 1943 people. It is known that more than 200 people from former Groβefehn, including what was later Ostgroβefebn, emigrated to America. In reality, the number may be considerably higher, because many emigrants declared simply "Ostfriesland" as their home. In addition to that, many of the documents from that time are not completely traceable, partly because there was no obligation to name one's birthplace. Much of the information comes from the obituary notices in the "Ostfriesen News," a newspaper written in German that existed during this time in the "Ostfriesen" states of the Midwest. Among the names of immigrants from Groβefehn, some of the most commonly found are: Aden, Asing, Boemfalk, Bohlen, de Wall, Doyen (18), Kleen (17), Loets, Peters, Piepersgerdes, Schoonle, Wiemers.

Having only small pieces of land, the workers on the Fehn boats, common laborers and tenant fanners saw no future for their families. The enthusiastic letters from their fellow countrymen who had already emigrated to America with their portrayal of the country of "unlimited possibilities": inexpensive land, good harvests, enough work and good pay, often led to the emigration of whole families.

Representative of many such families is the Kleen family, whose descendants from Iowa would like to show the significance of their forefathers' hometown by personally taking part in the celebration. Seventeen [Kleen] family members emigrated to America, eleven adults and six children. In many ways, their path is typical of the emigration of that time. As the first in the family [to emigrate], Enne Harms Kleen with his wife Gretje (nee Wiemers) and two small children left for Iowa in 1884 to settle in Pomeroy, where other families from Groβefehn were already living. Their 17 year old nephew Johann (John) Kleen followed them two years later. At that time, the crossing from Bremerhaven to New York took ten to fourteen weeks; it was totally dependent upon the wind.

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Sometimes they needed several weeks to get to the English Channel~ and that [while traveling] in the smallest of spaces between the decks.

In New York they had to first go to the immigration agency, which since 1890 was located on Ellis Island, to orally declare their personal information to the immigration officials. Hearing and writing mistakes as well as miscomprehension often resulted in the wrong names or names spelled incorrectly being recorded; for example, Johann recorded as Jan-Heyan or Heye became Hie or Hei. After that, the immigrants had to go through a thorough health check. Those who were not healthy were sent back to their homeland. Most of the Ostfriesen were healthy and strong; they were particularly accustomed to hard work and were allowed to enter.

In 1892, Johann Kleen's sister, Japen (Josie) Heyen Kleen, followed [her brother] to America; she was also seventeen years old. Two years later she married Heye H. Doyen who was also from Pomeroy. Usually Ostfriesen married other Ostfriesen, in many cases even someone from their home village because in America, just like in Ostfriesland, people from the same region settled near one another. It also happened that young men from America went back to find brides from their home town.

That's how it went for Anna Helena Margaretha Kleen. Her future husband, Gerd Peters, emigrated when he was eighteen years old and had lived in Pomeroy for twelve years, probably making a good living when he returned to Groβefehn [and married Anna Kleen]. In 1900 Gerd Peters came back to America with his bride and six other members of her family: Harm Heyen Kleen with his wife Trientje (nee Bohlen) and their children Heye und Jayen, who was less than a year old, as well as Harms parents Heye Harms Kleen and his wife Janna (nee de Wall), who were 59 and 58 years old at the time.

Back row from left: Harm and Trientje (Bohlen) Kleen, Japen (Josie Kleen) Doyen, Sophia (Smrkovski) Kleen, Johann (John) Kleen

Front row from left: Father Heye Harms Kleen, Mother Janna (de Wall), Heye(Hie) Doyen

In front of their house in Pomeroy IA, circa 1902

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About a year later Anna's parents emigrated with four of her siblings: Captain Gerd Harms Kleen with his wife A1tje (nee Schoon) and children Harm, Geld, Gerhardine und Georg (George). Both of the last families traveled on steamships, the S.S. Saale and the S.S. Köln. Now the trip took only about two to three weeks and was considerably more comfortable. The only one who stayed back in Ostgropefehn was the daughter Antje. She had married the skipper Heye Saathoff a year earlier and kept her parents' house. The rest of the family never heard from her again.

S.S. Köln, 1899 North German Lloyd

Courtesy The Peabody museum of Salem

All of the Kleens had worked on the Fehn ships and were tenant farmers in Groβefehn and now [in America] became fanners and skilled workers, who in time, through hard work and perseverance reached a level of prosperity. Life was hard for the older generation; they suffered homesickness and shed many a tear. However, they didn't have the means to return home; the trip had swallowed up all of their savings. In addition to that, they had no idea who would have taken care of them if they had returned to their homeland, since all of their sons were now living in America. From the immigration list, one can see that Harm had $25 and Heye had only $6 when they arrived in New York.

In the time that followed [their immigration], the Ostfriesen remained living near others from Ostfriesland. Their solid connection with their homeland led to large donations during World War I and in the post war period; among other things, in 1921 the church of Groβefehn received many kilos of flour as well as 650 Deutschmark from Pastors Bärmann and Voigt of the USA, who had been confirmed in Groβefehn.

Plattdeutsch remained the common language of the Ostfiiesen, at least to some extent into the time of World War II, and even today some worship services take place in Low German, for example in Illinois. The local church in Rantoul likes to go back to its Ostfriesen roots and includes them in its annual Plattdeutsch worship service on the first Sunday of Advent. When I asked a high school class in Grundy Center, Iowa in 2003 the question "Is Plattdeutsch still spoken in your families?" three-fourths of the students answered "yes." In 2001 the "Ostfriesen Heritage Society" in Grundy Center presented a play in Plattdeutsche - in Iowa as well as in Ostfriesland; the names of the actors pointed to their ancestry: Heeren, Wiltfang, Hippen, Folkerts, Hook, Schmidt, Emkes, Buskohl, Benninga and Eiten.

S.S. Köln

Captain Gerd Harms Kleen and his family came to America on this ship in

1901

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A number of Ostfriesen organizations foster the memory of their ancestors' homeland. For example, the "Ostfriesen Genealogical Society of America" (OGSA) in Minnesota publishes a quarterly "American-Ostfriesen Zeitung" (newsletter), the "Ostfriesen Heritage Society of East Central Illinois" publishes an Ostfriesen cookbook, the Emminga-Mill museum in Golden, Illinois features an amazing variety of exhibits about Ostfriesen ancestry, and in Iowa there is a store with every imaginable Ostfriesen specialty next to the Ostfriesen society. Ostfriesen customs, traditions and songs and stories from Ostfriesland are maintained in many organizations and particularly in the church congregations. In many places, one finds the same names in the cemeteries as in Ostfriesland. Because cemetery plots are purchased in America and therefore are kept forever, the old gravestones of the immigrants still exist, mostly still lovingly cared for by church volunteers.

Harm und Trientje Kleen, nee Bohlen From Left: Jayen, Heye, Fred, Johanna Cemetery in Pomeroy, Iowa (Jennie) Johann, circa 1909/10

In recent years the connection of the emigrants' descendants to their ancestors' homeland has grown stronger. In 2005 a group of 130 people from allover America came to Ostfriesland for a ''homecoming'' meeting of the OGSA. Standing at a "Törfpütt" in Wiesmoor, impressed by the hard life that their ancestors had had, and admiring the courage that allowed them to take the risk to emigrate to a new country, a visitor, full of respect for his forefathers' life's accomplishment, broke into the reverent silence with

"Thank you, Grandma!"