Pastor Iwan published his findings in 1943, after years of careful research during a time when he was still able to access pertinent documents in the various German archives.  Of course, the text was entirely in German.  Since then, several attempts have been made to produce an acceptable English translation.  It was only within the last few years that a really good translation became available.

The director of the Concordia Historical Institute in St. Louis, Missouri, Dr. August Suelflow, found an exceptional student named Brian Lutz to do the translation.  Dr. Suelflow, himself a direct descendant of an "Old Lutheran"< family and a son of Trinity Lutheran Church of Freistadt, WI, has since died, and we understand that Mr. Lutz has returned to Germany. 

The Concordia Historical Institute did not want to take on the project itself, but gave permission to publish to the Historical Society in Freistadt. The English translation of Pastor Iwan's work is now available for purchase. It has been printed in three separate volumes, which can be bought individually or as a set. 

Volume I (approx. 332 pages) covers the forming of the Union church and the new agenda, reasons for emigration, difficulty in obtaining permission to emigrate, and details of the emigrations, especially those of 1839 and 1843. 

Volume II (approx. 237 pages) covers personalities of the pastors who led the emigrations, disputes and divisions in the new homeland, and gives details about families that were divided because of the emigration.  The Lutz translation did not include the final Chapter XX, which lists the emigrants by name. Chapter XX (approx. 142 pages) has been carefully reworked from Iwan's original by the Trinity Historical Society's publication committee.  All surnames are boldface and are given with original spellings, including umlauts and esszets (?).  Occupations are given in the original German but are translated in the glossary.  This listing shows the year of emigration, the village of origin, the destination, the ages of family members, and the wife's maiden name.  There is an alphabetical surname index for this section. 

 The cost is as follows:     Volume  I  -  $25.00     Volume II   -  22.00     Chapter XX -   18.00      Entire Set    60.00 Shipping & Handling is $3.00 per book, or $9 for the complete set.  Make check payable to Trinity Historical Society and mail to Trinity Lutheran Church of Freistadt, 10729 W. Freistadt Road, Mequon, WI  53097, Attn: Ron Kraft.

Contributed by:

Elaine Kraft
Cedarburg, WI