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lauded to the skies, just as twelve years later everybody talked about Illinois and Indiana, and after another twelve years, it was Iowa, Wisconsin, and Minnesota. The early settlers helped to build the city of Ann Arbor, and wrote home about their prosperity. The word was passed from village to village; first a dozen men, then a dozen families, crossed the ocean until about five to six thousand Swabians had settled around Ann Arbor (1855). The native speculators bought up the land near the prosperous settlers, but the increased price of land did not stop the purchasers; for the Swabians kept on extending their farms. Detroit's German newspaper, already in existence toward the end of the forties, did not prosper greatly until the large German immigration of the fifties was added to the Michigan popula tion.

An interesting episode in the westward movement of the German element was the settlement of Waterloo County, in the Province of Ontario, Canada. Waterloo was settled by German Mennonites from Pennsylvania, beginning in the year 1800, and became the earliest settled inland township in the western peninsula of the Province of Ontario.' The pioneers were Joseph Sherk (Schörg) and Samuel Betzner, who left Franklin County, Pennsylvania, in the autumn of the year 1799, and spent the winter in the Niagara Peninsula. The following spring they went in search of a better location, and penetrated the woods

1 Cf. The Biographical History of Waterloo Township and other Townships of the County, being a history of the early settlers and their descendants, mostly all of Pennsylvania-Dutch origin. By Ezra E. Eby. (Berlin, Ontario, 1895.) Also, The Consolidated By-Laws of the Township of Waterloo up to the year 1888, to which is appended an historical sketch of the early settlement and subsequent development, etc. By Alex. Shoemaker. (Galt, Ontario, 1888.) The Romance of Ontario, or the Peopling of the Province. By C. C. James, M.A. Appendix to the report of the Ontario Bureau of Industries, 1897. (Toronto, 1899.) The Ethnographical Elements of Ontario. By A. F. Hunter. (Ontario Historical Society.) For the books and materials above-named I am indebted to Professor G. H. Needler, University College, Toronto, Ontario, who has carefully investigated the subject of the Germans in Canada.

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about thirty miles beyond the limits of human habitation, having heard vaguely of "a fine river traversing that region." Only a few traders had entered these forests, and but one, named Dodge, remained as a permanent and prominent landmark of the community." Sherk and Betzner, having satisfied themselves as to the quality of the land, bought from Richard Beasley a tract of land on the Grand River, and at once brought their families there. Later in the same year a second party of Mennonites, from Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, settled on the Grand River, coming in their large four-horse wagons filled with farm implements and household effects. Reichert, Gingerich, Bechtel, Rosenberger, Bricker, Kinsey (Kinzie), Biehn (Bien, then Bean), Clemens, were the names of some of the earliest German settlers. They brought their families and possessions, including many horses and small droves of cattle. The journey from Pennsylvania, about five hundred miles, was made with covered wagons,' and lasted about ten weeks. The greatest obstruction was found at Beverly Swamp, just before reaching Waterloo, and teams would lie for two weeks at Horning's (the last settlement), until the men had made the road through the swamp passable. The Pennsylvania German pioneer, George Clemens, drove the first team that ever went through Beverly Swamp.

It was found after the country had received quite a number of German settlers (1804), that all of their land, sold to them by Richard Beasley, was incumbered by a large mortgage, of $20,000, duly recorded. Fearing to be dispossessed at a future time, they sought aid of their brethren in Pennsylvania, and, after some vain attempts, succeeded in getting the Mennonites of Lancaster County, 1 Described as Conestoga wagons in a previous chapter (v), pp. 135-136.

Pennsylvania, to form a company and take up the mortgage. This was accomplished mainly through the persuasive powers of Samuel Bricker, who also performed the feat of carrying the coin, $20,000 in silver dollars, in a light conveyance ("leicht pläsier weggli") safely from Lancaster to Niagara, where on June 29, 1805,' sixty thousand acres of land were duly conveyed to the representatives of the Mennonites for £10,000 Canadian currency. The immigration from Pennsylvania ceased during the years of the war with England, but after 1815 German settlers came again into Waterloo and neighboring townships, not alone Mennonites, but Lutherans, Reformed, and Catholics in quite as large numbers. As everywhere else the German settlers bought the best land. only, and established a reputation for model farming. They were very successful also as manufacturers, the towns of Berlin, Waterloo, Preston, Hespeler, in Waterloo County, and Hanover, Neustadt, and Ayton, in Grey County, becoming thriving German manufacturing towns. In 1846 the town of Berlin had four hundred inhabitants; in 1908, twelve thousand; its wealth is self-made, as that of the farms. The furniture manufacturing industry in Canada is very largely in the hands of Germans. But the limits of this work will not admit of a consideration in detail of the Germans beyond the borders of the United States.

2

1 History of Waterloo, pp. 30 ff. The Mennonites of Waterloo County were not United Empire Loyalists; their migration was undertaken in search for good land for settlement. Their brethren in Pennsylvania hesitated to support them because they were in a country belonging to the British crown. 2 H. H. Miller, M.P., "The Germans in Canada," Busy Man's Magazine, July, 1908, pp. 17-31.

CHAPTER XV

THE WINNING OF THE WEST

IV. THE NORTHWEST, THE SOUTHWEST, AND THE FAR WEST

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(A) The Northwest opened by the Black Hawk War, 1832 — First German settlers in Wisconsin Milwaukee as a distributing-centre "DeutschAthen" - The causes for Wisconsin receiving so large a share of German immigration the plan of a German state; favorable soil; climate; reports and literature; sale of school lands; commissioners of immigration Distribution of Germans in Wisconsin - Minnesota's first German settlers from the Red River district - Founding of New UlmIndian troubles - The attack on New Ulm by the Sioux.

(B) The Southwest - The earliest settlers in Texas - The "Adelsverein " and its plans of colonization - New Braunfels and Friedrichsburg— Wreck of the "Adelsverein " - Stability of German colonies in TexasThe agricultural area: Seguin, New Braunfels, San Antonio — Germans prominent in Texas: Congressmen Schleicher and Degener.

(C) The Far West German Mennonites in Kansas and Nebraska - The Pacific Coast: Oregon Germans — H. L. Yesler, founder of Seattle, Washington John Sutter, pioneer of California; his career; gold first discovered on his estate; cause of his misfortunes The Germans of California Sutro and Spreckels of San Francisco.

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THE military expeditions incident to the Black Hawk War in 1832 opened the state of Wisconsin for settlement. The mineral wealth, the fertility of the soil, and the good climate became known for the first time through the militia who took part in these expeditions. The good reports spread eastward and across the ocean. In 1830 the population of Wisconsin was 3635, and the inhabited region belonged to the territory of Michigan till 1836. Soon the population of the new area increased by leaps

and bounds: in 1840 Wisconsin had 30,945 inhabitants; in 1850, 305,391; in 1860, 775,881. Every ten years thereafter showed an increase of about 300,000, until at the census of 1900 the population numbered 2,069,042. The same census states that 709,969 of the inhabitants are of German blood, i. e., either born in Germany or having one or both parents born in Germany. In this wonderful increase of population the German immigration contributed a larger share than any other stock. The periods of their greatest immigration were the decades 1840-50, 1850-60, 1880-90. More exactly, the periods were 1846-54 and 1881-84, corresponding to the years of the largest German immigration to the United States. During these two periods Wisconsin probably received a much larger proportion of Germans than any other state." In 1900 the population of German blood numbered 34.3 per cent of the entire population of Wisconsin, very close to fifty per cent of the total population of foreign parentage, the latter numbering 71.1 per cent of the entire population of the state.

Though it is not definitely known when the first Germans settled in Wisconsin, it must have been in the beginning of the thirties. Among the pioneer stations of Green County, there was the "Funk" blockhouse, which existed in the year 1832. At the same time a man by the

1 Cf. Twelfth Census of the United States, vol. i (Population, part 1), pp. 812, 820, 828.

2 Cf. Everest-Levi, "How Wisconsin came by its large German Element," Collections of the State Historical Society of Wisconsin, vol. xii, pp. 299–334. For the history of the Germans in Wisconsin see also, Wisconsins DeutschAmerikaner bis zum Schlusz des neunzehnten Jahrhunderts, vol. i, by Wilhelm Hense-Jensen; vol. ii, by Hense-Jensen and Ernest Bruncken. Cf. also Eickhoff, In der neuen Heimat (chapter contributed by P. V. Deuster), pp.

365-375.

Annual Report of the Wisconsin Historical Society, vol. vi, p. 411. Funk

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