Newburg, Wis., May 10, 1876Dear brother,
I received your letter of the 2nd of last month as
well as the draft of $350.00 in gold safely and thankfully on April 29th.
I had written a letter on Saturday, April 2nd,
telling you that I didn't need the money quite yet, since I found out this morning
that the teacher was still committed to teach until the fall which he well knew. He had tried to
get out of this committment to no avail, and, therefore, at this time things are not going to
happen. When the mail was delivered in Newburg, whch happens every two days, I quickly wrote a few
lines while the mailman stood waiting for them, for, I thought, should you not have mailed it yet,
it would not yet have been necessary. To start the store won't be possible now, since someone else
may well get the chosen spot.
I even lost my job in the process, as I had given
notice. I am still working there but not for long anymore.
I should have written to you sooner about the receipt
of the money, but I wanted to see first how much I was getting for it.
I sent the $350.00 in gold to New York and received the exchange yesterday. A dollar in gold is now worth 112 1/2 cents (you know, 100 cents are one dollar). So I got 12 1/4 cents more on every dollar in bills, and for the $350.88 in gold, I received $393.85 in bills. Since, now I didn't need the money, I loaned it out with 8% interest to my boss ($300.00).
Last week, I got a letter from Gerhard Heinrich Winkelmann from Minnesota [born in Duelmen 10/7/1828, emigrated in 1882].He is still quite well. His wife and children had
been sick with throat infections, and their eldest child died.
He wrote that he inherited 160 acres of land
from a bachelor who had bought the land there, built a little house on it and had also cultivated
and farmed some of the acreage. The rest of the property, of course, is uncultivated land. His
main business was hunting, anyway. Even this young man got sick and came to Winkelmann to ask if he
could live with them until he was better.
At first, Winkelmann didn't really want to do it, but
since he couldn't very well get rid of him, he finally accepted him, and four weeks before he passed
away, he legally signed his land over to Gerhard Heinrich Winkelmann. How much it is
worth, I don't know, as he didn't mention it in his letter. He also wrote that near him would be a
nice place to start a store. I am not quite sure, if I want to go there or not, since I have
several plans and haven't decided, yet.
Dear brother, you write you sent me an Anzeiger,
[could be a newspaper]. I don't know about that, for I haven't received
anything. As to how bad the weather was in Germany, I read about in our local paper. Our winter here
was exceptonally mild, but, nevertheless, the spring here is always very slow. The woods are still
bare, the poplars and fruit tress begin to get caterpillars, and the live stock can't graze, yet.
But, once it starts, then everything grows powerfully, much faster than where you are. The farmers
are all done with seeding except for the welzcorn which will soon be done. You may plant some acres
this year, but follow the instructions to the tee. You won't believe it, the crop is cheap, yet it
earns you so much. I think that's because: the farmer here raises more crops on the land than in
Germany to feed pigs and other farm animals who get the welzcorn, they don't use other corn for
that.
Also, here, they don't need as much for running a
household, since the families are usually not large, and one man on a farm can does work for two or
three - why? Because, everything here is done with the help of machinery. The seeding, the mowing
of grass, the haying, hoeing, rolling, cultivating, plowing, goes with machines or otherwise in a
much easier and more practical fashion than where you are. Here, I would like to say that you are
100 years behind, and that's a big advantage here, where the farmers need as much help, and he
sells a lot of produce every year. That wages are high may also be a reason that anyone at
20 years of age or even younger starts his own farm. So there aren't too many people available
to hire on to work for others. They can do better for themselves when they are on their own than
working for others.
Here, anyone can start his own business. He doesn't
have to fear that he has to put on that cursed military uniform in the best years of his life,
because here, they only draft you in case of war, and that doesn't lightly happen.
A farmer with 80-100 acres of land runs his whole farm
without male or female hellp, just by himself. Maybe, just during the summer he might hire a fellow
for a few months.
Ludwig Esselmann now has 90 acres. He
bought a seeder and a thrasher and works his farm by himself, at least, ast of yet.
Bernard Huenck is not yet well, just as his
whole family and the rest of the Esselmanns. They send their regards.
I have been invited to a wedding and shall go, God
willing. I've been to several weddings already here and had a good time.
The American girls are good dancers. But they can't
work as well as Germans, since it is not custom here, at least not as far as girls working in the
fields.
I also herewith send you a pretty wall calendar. I
don't think, you have such where you can, as you will see, tear off a page every month. On top, the
days of the weeks are marked: SUN means Sunday, MON is Monday, TUE Tuesday, WED Wednesday,
THU Thursday, FRI Friday SAT Saturday. If you want to pronounce these words correctly, I would have
to write: MONDEH, TUISDEH, WENDSDEH, THOUISDEH, FREIDEH, SATTERDEY, SANDEH.
The other day, Bernard Huenck received a letter
from Fritz Huenck. I think, Fritz Huenck is to be pittied.
How is it at Marschals? Is everything well with them?
And how is Theresa with her illness? How are all the other relatives and friends? Give them all my
best!
I started this letter on the 10th and finish it on
the 13th. I have to end, for the paper won't permit anymore.
With my very best regards to you all,
your brother and brother-in-law,
ClemensTranslated courtesy of Lucia Nezelek
