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The Life and Times of August Bogenschneider (1837-1919)According to family history, August left Pommern in 1870 because of the imminent Franco-Prussian War and because of other 19th century developments in Pomerania.Pomerania in the 19th Century: During the Thirty Years' War (1648), more of the Pomeranian land fell into the hands of the upper class, and their control was solidified. The tenants were given housing, some garden space, and payment in kind. There were restrictions on emigration, and the tenants were serfs. They were required to work on the estates three to four days a week. The political rights of the landowners, later called Junkers, allowed exploitation of the peasants. Agrarian reforms of the 1808-16 changed life on the landed estates. Peasants could now marry without the permission of the landowner. Peasants could move to another Junker estate or work in town as day workers. However, life was no better than before. The estate owner no longer had to care for his tenants and could evict them. If the farm worker moved to town, the pay for his labor was small. The peasant could own land but only for as long as he lived. Then it would revert to the state. There were few landowners who treated their tenants with respect, but there was mostly a tendency for the German upper class to be authoritarian and regard the peasants as their personal property. In 1817 a consolidation of the Lutheran churches to a State church began. By 1837 Friedrich Wilhelm III had combined the Lutheran and Calvinist churches. Many of the Old Lutherans of Pomerania objected and emigrated to America and other countries in the years of 1837, 1839, and 1843. (From "The History of Pomerania," edited by Carol Gohsman Bowen (http://pages.prodigy.net/jhbowen/pommhist.htm) There were many disasters in the 19th century in Pommerania. The great estates of Pomerania always produced an abundance of grain, especially rye. In the 1830s, England exacted a high tariff on this grain; the price of grain fell, and this hurt the estates and therefore the workers on the estates. There was a potato blight in the 1840s. The sandy soil of Pomerania was good for growing potatoes, and they were the main staple of the Pomeranian table. Many poor people went hungry. There were disastrous weather conditions in the years from 1853 until 1856. There was also rapid industrialization from 1850 until 1857 and many workers left the farms and the price of land fell. Many Pomeranians emigrated to the United States in the second half of the 19th century. This peaked around 1880. Most of these Pomeranians were Lutherans who lived in the Midwest. The largest percentage went to Wisconsin. (This history was compiled from the writings of LeRoy Boehlke, President of Pommerscher Verein Freistadt, from the writings of Myron Gruenwald, who has written several books on Pommerania.) August Bogenschneider and His Family. August served in the Prussian army, and related stories to his family of all the dead bodies he saw while driving an ammunition cart and horse through a battlefield. He was horrified by the death and destruction. His war experience was possibly in the 1863 Prussian War against Denmark, which won Prussia control of the states of Schleswig and Holstein, but he most likely served in the 1866 War with Austria ("Austro-Prussian War" or "The 7 Weeks War"). The Austro-Prussian War was between Prussia, allied with Italy, against Austria and her allies Bavaria, Württemberg, Saxony, Hanover, Baden, and several smaller German states. It was a war deliberately provoked by Otto von Bismarck, the Chancellor, over the objection of King William, in order to expel Austria from the German Confederation as a step toward the unification of Germany under Prussian dominance. The primary and final battle of this war was the Battle of Sadowa, named after the nearby village of Sadowa in the Czech Republic. After the early part of the campaign, the Austrian army had retired behind the River Elbe. The Prussian 1st and and Elbe Armies attacked the Austrians at the bridge of Sadowa early in the morning. They were able to drive the Austrians back for a short distance but the Austrian artillery fire prevented any further progress. The arrival of the Prussian 2nd Army in the late morning threatened the Austrian right flank. To meet this threat, the Austrians pulled their right wing back so that it faced north, but a bold advance by the Prussians, taking advantage of the cover provided by high corn and the smoke of the Austrian artillery fire, led to their infantry being able to get close to the Austrian lines and then charge home, breaking the line and capturing over 50 guns. The Austrians began to pull back and finally retreated from the field, leaving 40,000 dead and wounded. Prussian losses were about 10,000. This may well have been the battle scene that so horrified August. August and his family left Prussia and arrived in America on July 8, 1870, one week before the outbreak of the Franco-Prussian War on July 15. It is unclear whether August had fulfilled his military obligations or left in order to avoid serving in the Franco-Prussian War. To legally emigrate from Prussia in the 1870s, one would have had to secure a release from citizenship and a release from military service. If August emigrated to avoid additional military service, he would have had to ignore these legal requirements. This was not that uncommon. Avoidance of the draft and serving in the Prussian Army during the Franco-Prussian War was a reason that many people left Pomerania. In fact, many historians rank the avoidance of the draft more significant than those who left Pommern for religious reasons. Between 1807 and 1813 Prussia had developed a conscript system that became the model for the nations of Europe. The Prussians bypassed Napoleon's imposition of limitations on the size of their army by calling up the permitted number of men (42,000), training them rigorously for a few months, and then releasing the majority and calling up a new complement. They were thus able to build up a powerful reserve of trained men without openly defying Napoleon. After the Napoleonic era Prussia continued to employ this system, so that by the time of the Franco-Prussian War (1870-71) it had a mass army of conscripts reinforced with large reserve units, in contrast to France's smaller standing professional army. When Bismarck was installed as Chancellor in 1861, his first act was to over rule a parliament that wanted to reduce military service obligations from three to two years and he pushed through numerous army reforms. Bismarck said, "The great questions of the day will not be decided by speeches and resolutions of majorities, but by blood and iron." To maintain its large army, conscription was enforced and 63,000 men were conscripted each to serve 3 years on active duty and 4 more years in active reserve. It was also a time of considerable political, social and economic unrest and a time of inevitable wars. The desire to avoid further serving in the army and again experiencing the horrors of death he had witnessed, and a desire to seek a better economic opportunity and life for his family in America, led August Bogenschneider in 1870 to make his decision to emigrate with his family to America. It was not an easy decision for him, because there was always the psychological stigma of being a deserter. Conservatism and loyalty were strong Pomeranian/Prussian characteristics. But August thought of his pregnant young wife, Wilhelmina, his four year-old son, Karl, and his six-month-old baby Hattie, and concluded that their life and future would be much better in America. It is believed that August was from Kreis (County) Randow, Regierungsbezirk (district) of Stettin, Province of Pommern, Country of Prussia. His wife, Wilhelmina, was from the town of Luckow, Kreis Randow. Today the town is known as Luckow-Petershagen, Kreis Uckermark, Brandenberg, Germany. August and his family made their way to Swinemünde, a Pomeranian port on the Baltic Sea. The family may have gone up the River Oder and then across the Great Haff, but most probably went by train from Luckow to Stettin and then Swinemünde. Because of an epidemic of typhoid fever on the Hamburg emigrant ship "Leibniz" during the winter crossing of 1867-1868 that caused the deaths of 108 out of 544 passengers, August, his family, and all the other emigrants were required to undergo a medical examination before embarking. The August Bogenschneider family emigrated on the steamship Western Metropolis, Henry S. Quick, Master, and chartered to the Ruger Brothers' North American Lloyd Line. On May 18, 1870, Quick sailed from New York for Havre-Bremen-Copenhagen-Swinemünde-Kiel-Christiansand. As with many of the immigrant ships, the ship probably carried a cargo from the U.S. to Europe. The ship had a poor mechanical history and ownership had often changed hands. It had been used in the Civil War to ferry both cargo, war supplies and wounded soldiers. It definitely was not a luxury liner. The Bogenschneiders boarded the ship in Swinemünde, with intermediate stops at Kiel, Germany, and Christiansand, Sweden. The ship returned by the northern route, arriving in New York, July 8, 1870, with 954 passengers. An estimated 75 percent of the passengers were German, 15 percent Swedish, and 10 percent Norwegian. From the Shetlands to Newfoundland the weather had been cold and foggy: 3 infants among the passengers died, as did one sailor, of pneumonia. It is believed that Wilhelmine had a miscarriage on the voyage. The normal amount of time during this period to cross the Atlantic from Germany to the U.S. was about 17 days, much better than the five or six weeks it had taken earlier in the century. From the ship, the family went straight to Castle Garden Immigrant Landing Depot on the southern tip of Manhattan Island, New York. This depot was originally a fort, then a place of entertainment, and then was converted into an immigrant landing depot through which all steerage passengers had to pass. It served this purpose until 1892 when arrivals were moved to Ellis Island. At Castle Garden the family registered, received information, changed money, and washed and ate. August was listed as a "miller baker" in the immigration records. He may have worked in the mill in Luckow that is a tourist attraction today (Die Luckower Bockwindmühle). The mill in Luckow was first built around 1824 on Tuleier mountain. In 1853 the mill was remodeled and doubled in size. The Boehlke family acquired the mill in 1856 from a farmer's cooperative. It remained active as a mill until 1961 when plans were made to convert it to a youth center. These plans fell through. By 26 June 1989, Heinz Boehlke was the last owner from Luckow. The mill was sold to municipal authorities from Berlin for 18,000,00 East German Marks. It was developed as an historical mill. In 1992, the municipality of Luckow-Petershagen wanted to dismantle the mill, but was stopped from doing so. Since 01 June 1998 the mill is open again for visitors as a tourist attraction. (It was also in Luckow where August and Wilhelmine were married. A member of the Böhlke family sent a picture of the church to Helen Bogenschneider Moldenhauer in the early 50's. For information on the history of the church, see Die Kirche in Luckow. ) Although records seem to indicate that August was a miller, according to family oral history he was a teacher. Little Karl was amazed by the first black man he ever saw in his life in New York City. The family had the option to see a doctor and to get tickets for their further journey. The family had to be careful of the "friends from the old country," the "confidence men," and other swindlers outside the depot who preyed upon the immigrants. At this time, the exact route the family took from New York to Wisconsin is not known, but the normal route until the mid 1860s was for Pomeranian immigrants to take a steamship up to Albany, New York, then a train to Buffalo, and then a steamship to Milwaukee in Wisconsin. By the mid 1860s the train from New York through Chicago and then to Milwaukee had become the standard way to travel. Milwaukee had an immigrant aid society to help arriving immigrants. The Pomeranian community in Freistadt north of Milwaukee may have helped August find a farm near Kohlsville, Wisconsin, where he first settled with his family. The original farm was in Washington County, Wisconsin in the Town of Wayne, near Kohlsville, Wisconsin. August and his family moved from there to the Town of Theresa in Dodge County, Wisconsin around 1873. The 1890 Dodge County Plat Book shows that August owned 40 acres in Section 36, Township Theresa (near Nenno and the intersection of Highway 175 (former Highway 41), Hochheim and West Bend Roads). It is believed that the buildings were demolished when Highway 175 was widened and paved. The 1910 Dodge County Plat Book shows that August had a residence in Marshville Post Office (Theresa Station) next to the William Dobberpuhl farm. This is where he lived in his retirement years. 1880 census: Married, Male, White, Age 42, Birthplace - Prussia; Occupation - Farmer, Father's Birthplace - Prussia, Mother's Birthplace - Prussia. Census Place - Theresa, Dodge, Wisconsin. Family History Library Film - 1255423, NA Film Number T9-1423. Page Number 415B 1910 U.S. Census: Bogenschneider, Aug, Wisconsin, Dodge, Theresa, Age 72, Male, Race: White, Series: T624 Roll: 1706 Page: 301 ************************************************************************************************************** Notes on the history of the steamship, Western Metropolis, that August Bogenschneider and his family took to the U.S.: The WESTERN METROPOLIS was a wooden side-paddle steamship built by F. Z. Tucker, Brooklyn, and launched in 1863, for George Griswold, A. Benner, William Wall, and others; contemporary reports list her as belonging to the firm of Benner & Brown. 2,269 tons as built (remeasured in 1865 at 2,092 tons); 285 ft 4 in x 40 ft 8 in x 23 ft (length x breadth x depth of hold); draft 16 ft; straight stem, 1 funnel, 2 masts. Her engine (75 inch bore; 12 foot stroke) had been built in 1848 by Merrick & Towne, Philadelphia, and had served two Great Lakes steamers, the EMPIRE STATE, built in 1848, and the WESTERN METROPOLIS, built in 1856--it is from this vessel that she took her name--new boilers, wheels, and general reconditioning by Morgan Iron Works. Described by a contemporary, Capt. George H. Norton, as a "very slow, clumsy, unwieldy, hard steering steamer". Chartered by the Quartermaster Corps immediately upon completion for $850 per day, and kept in continuous use from December 1863 until late January 1865. First voyage, New York-New Orleans; on the return voyage, seized the steamer ROSITA, with a cargo of munitions and liquor, and towed her prize into Key West on 29 January 1864. Spent most of 1864 ferrying troops and supplies between New York and Hampton Roads, in support of the Union Army's activities in Virginia; northbound, carried hundreds of sick and wounded. December 1864, loaded troops for the attack on Fort Fisher. 20 February 1865, single roundtrip (and first commercial) voyage, New York-Greytown, chartered to M. O. Roberts. April 1865, single roundtrip voyage, New York-New Orleans, chartered to H. B. Cromwell & Co. May-July 1865, New York-New Orleans, chartered by Quartermaster Corps. August 1865, single roundtrip voyage, New York-New Orleans, chartered to W. H. Robson & Co; returned with a record cargo of 3,000 bales of cotton. 30 September 1865, single roundtrip voyage (her only voyage for her original owners, Benner & Brown), New York-Apalachicola, Florida, returning with a cargo of cotton. November 1865, sold to Ruger Brothers. Originally advertised to sail for the Ruger Brothers' North American Lloyd Line to Bremen via Southampton on 17 March 1866, the WESTERN METROPOLIS did not sail until 28 June 1866. However, she had been refitted with paddle wheels that shed their floats in anything but a dead calm, and the WESTERN METROPOLIS was forced to turn around and put in to Boston, which she reached on 6 July 1866, before all the paddles were lost. After temporary repairs, on 10 July 1866, she sailed for New York (arrived 19 July), unable to continue the voyage to Bremen; laid up. Late 1866, together with the other vessels of the North American Lloyd Line, sold to Isaac Taylor's New York & Bremen Steamship Co. 7 March 1867, first voyage, New York-Cowes-Bremen (arrived after a voyage of 17 days). Continued to make eastbound sailings at approximately eight-week intervals. 24 August 1867, sailed from New York on fourth (and last) voyage for New York & Bremen Steamship Co; 8 September 1867, arrived at Southampton with a broken shaft; repaired at Southampton, and proceeded on to Bremen; on return passage, reached New York 6 November 1867, from Bremen 20 October 1867 and Cowes 22 October 1867, with 921 passengers; there had been 3 deaths on the passage: an infant, a case of delirium tremens, and a case of apoplexy. 30 June 1868, sold for $57,000; her new owner advertised her for sale for the rest of 1868 and all of 1869, without success. 1870, acquired by Merchants' Steamship Co, Frederic Baker, agent, for its New York-New Orleans service. 12 March and 9 April 1870, two roundtrip voyages, New York-New Orleans. 18 May 1870, Capt. H. S. Quick, sailed from New York for Havre-Bremen-Copenhagen-Swinemunde-Kiel-Christiansand, chartered to Ruger Brothers. Returned by the northern route, arriving New York 7 July 1870, with 954 passengers; from the Shetlands to Newfoundland the weather had been cold and foggy: 3 infants among the passengers died, as did one sailor, of pneumonia. September 1870, returned to New York-New Orleans service. October 1871, port shaft cracked on voyage from New York to New Orleans; shaft replaced at sea. February-August 1873, laid up. 13 February 1875, last voyage, New York-New Orleans-New York (arrived 9 March 1875). March 1875, Merchants' Steamship Co ceased operations. 1875-1878, laid up; several changes of ownership reported; last sale to Cornelius Delamater, who bought her for $15,000. March 1878, at the Delamater Iron Works, on the North River side of Manhattan, where her engine was removed. I have no information on her later history or ultimate fate [Cedric Ridgely-Nevitt, American Steamships on the Atlantic (Newark: University of Delaware Press, [1981], pp. 329-330]. - [Posted to the Emigration-Ships Mailing List by Michael Palmer - 29 August 1998] -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
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