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Note:
Source A has been translated from the German original. There may be some peculiarities or inconsistencies in spelling or expressions resulting from attempts to stay close to the original. All sources have been shortened to make them more accessible. Italicized text is from the author.
Source:
Walter D. Kamphoefner, Wolfgang Helbich, and Ulrike Sommer, eds., News From the Land of Freedom: German Immigrants Write Home (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1991), 360-64.
Background:
Martin Weitz was born in 1823 in Schotten, Germany. He was a wool weaver and single when he left Germany in 1854. The wool weaving trade was in crisis in Europe during this time because of the mechanization of production, and the area he came from was also agriculturally poor. On the other hand, the expanding American wool industry needed weavers. In Rockville, Connecticut, he worked in his profession and seemed to be doing quite well at the time of the following letters to his father and brother.
April 20th, 1856
...Grethgen should find out about Biehngen [nickname for Philippina] from Gedern if she is still in good health and unmarried and if she wouldn't like to come over here, since this girl is so sweet, so good like no one I've ever met. Grethgen should find out everything and give her my best regards and write me if she'd like to come over to me, because a girl like that is what I'd like to have for a wife....
August 23rd, 1857
...I am very pleased that you set things up for me. I received 2 letters from Mister Johannes Leining behind the pharmacy in August and I wrote a letter to Philippina Fey from Gedern who is now in service in Ludwigshafen. I wrote her all about my situation and explained everything. I don't know whether she will come now or not, I am waiting with the greatest longing for a letter from her. I want to send you and Mister Leining and all my friends my heartiest thanks and I wish and hope that it will work out because I have put all my trust in her. I met her earlier, I know she is a good woman. The time has now come when I want to and must, since I've gotten tired of this life, you can't get very far unless you're married because from what I pay for Board alone you can almost pay for 2, if you set things up right. If it doesn't work out with the girl from Gedern then I'll have to look around some more because I have already waited long enough....
November 14th, 1857
...Dear father and brother, now my wishes and hopes have come true, I can't describe to you how happy I was when I got the letter from my sweetheart, in short it was a great pleasure. It's almost time, because she wants me to come over and pick her up, but I can't do that. It would have been the greatest pleasure for me to come and get my beloved and to see you again, but remember the times and the losses I've had....So I have sent her my portrait she asked for. Since I can't come myself I sent it to her with the greatest pleasure, because her parents don't know me, so they can get to know me. I wrote her that if her parents have any further doubts, they should find out more about my conduct and all my behavior, I wouldn't know of the slightest thing to my discredit, or what I might have done that was wrong.
February 1st, 1858
...[Y]ou agree that I should send my sweetheart the money for the passage so I got together 35 dollars right away without delay, that's 87 guilders 39 kreuzers, and I will send it to my beloved, so I can grant the wish of my future parents-in-law too and they can see and be really convinced that I don't just want to lure my dear beloved over here and then maybe leave her in the lurch. Heaven forbid that, I'd sooner die, but you know me better than to think I'd do that. On the other hand I don't blame my sweetheart's parents that they want to see if I really have a decent living here, that their daughter isn't being taken for a ride, I can support a wife here better than in Germany....Dear family, when I read in your letter that my bride came to visit you the tears came to my eyes, how you spent a nice evening together, you can't imagine my joy, oh if only I'd been able to be there too, but that wasn't possible...
August 1st, 1858
...I had to write a letter right away to my dear wife's parents, so they would know when my wife arrived, my wife wouldn't have had any peace of mind otherwise. She had a long trip, circa 60 days, from May 4th until July 1st, the best thing about it was that she didn't get seasick. When I got the telegram I went to New York right away and picked up my dear wife....On July 7th we came to Rockville and on July 8th we got married, and I wish you could all have been here with us....Now if God grants us good health we will lead a nice quiet life, because that is the most precious thing in the world. I waited for my wife with great longing to take her in my arms, since she is just the person who suits me and who was destined for me....If my wife hadn't come I had decided to go to Callivonien [California] this fall and I would never, never have gotten married. I would have forsworn everything....It was 5 years ago that summer fair when I saw my dear wife for the last time, and have had no other girlfriends, and always weighed secretly, one against the other, if you or you will do, until we finally came to an understanding by writing letters. She really had a lot to fight through at home with her parents, you wouldn't think she could be so steadfast. I can't blame my in-laws for it though, because they don't know me in the slightest, and it's such a long journey to make to America. If God grants us good health, she'll be better off than if she had married a rich man or some other friend, you're a free man here and you live free. I'll say it once again, those who belong together, get together, no matter how great the distance....
Epilogue:
Martin and Philippina had two children, a girl and a boy. Martin died in 1869 of pneumonia, but according to the Census of 1880, his wife and children were still alive and well in Rockville.
Questions about Source A
In your group, discuss and write down answers to the following questions:
1. What economic reasons does Martin give for marrying?
2. What is his relationship to his future wife like? How well does he know her?
3. How would you describe his feelings towards her?
4. Read the letters again and describe how the agreement came about and what preparations were involved. Who paid the passage?
5. Why do you think Martin did not look for a wife in Rockville?
6. We do not know anything first-hand from Philippina, but what do you think her reasons were for coming to America to marry Martin?
7. Roleplay Exercise (optional): Martin states several times that Philippina's parents were not very much in favor of this marriage. Set up a brief discussion between Philippina and her parents about her plans to leave for America. Present this to the rest of the class.
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