1839 - David Jackson, master, in the Third Line of New York-New Orleans
coastal packets [Carl C. Cutler, _Queens of the Western Ocean;
The Story of America's Mail and Passenger Sailing Lines_
(Annapolis: United States Naval Institute, c1961), p. 503].
1840 - David Jackson, master, in the Commercial Line of New York-New
Orleans coastal packets [Cutler, _op. cit._, p. 510].
1842 - Henry Packard, master, made a voyage to India [passenger
manifest dated 4 June 1842: National Archives Microfilm
Publication M237, roll 49, list #443].
1845 - In addition to the voyage from Hamburg to New Orleans, made a
voyage (Henry Packard, master) from Hamburg to New York [passenger
manifest dated 15 July 1845: National Archives Microfilm
Publication M237, roll 58, list #548].
1846 - Henry Packard, master, in the Union Line of New York-New Orleans
coastal packets [Cutler, _op. cit._, p. 512].
A ship CHARLEMAGNE, William J. Fales, master, sailed in the Packet Line
of Boston-New York coastal packets in 1844, and in 1846 made a voyage from
Liverpool to New York [Cutler, op. cit., p. 448 and 512; National Archives
Microfilm Publication M237, roll 63, list #648 (passenger manifest dated 23
July 1846)]. Not certain, however, without checking the tonnage on the
passenger manifests, whether these refer to the former packet ship of 1828,
or to the ship CHARLEMAGNE, 741 tons, built at Thomaston, Maine, in 1843,
which sailed in the emigrant trade between Havre/Antwerp and New Orleans/New
York in the early 1850's, and which was registered at New York as late as
4 February 1863.
Albion (p. 101) states that the CHARLEMAGNE of 1828 "was valued at $12,000
when wrecked at the age of twenty", but, uncharacteristically, he gives no
particulars. This information from the Peabody Essex Museum (see below).
There are several pictures of the CHARLEMAGNE, by far the best being three water
colors by the Marseilles marine painter Frederic Roux, the earliest dating from
her maiden voyage in 1828, the second picturing her in heavy seas at lat. 42 lon.
46 30, on 1 April 1836, the third picturing her in stormy seas, partially dismasted,
at lat 40 lon 68 30, on 28 January 1838. These watercolors are now in the collections
of the Peabody Essex Museum, East India Square, Salem, MA 01970.
These words are taken from the booklet, "The Richland Community. Travis County Texas. 110 years 1878-1988." Authors are not given, although the Forward is signed by Mel Steger and Fredericka Richter-DeBerry, both of Houston, Texas. Richland, as the title indicated, was a very small community in Travis County, Texas, just north of Austin. Introductory sections of just a few pages each include sections on "Deutschtum. A Sense of Germanness," "The Settlement of Richland and Travis County," which are brief but seem very well written for items of this sort. Shorter sections follow on various parts of he Richland community, such as the Cele Cotton Gin, the Cele store, the Richland Saloon. The Richland School, the Richland church ( a very interesting description of a church which began essentially as a German language church, and was progressively Lutheran, E & R, and UCC. (The current name is, almost incomprehensibly, the "St. John's Evangelical Lutheran Church. UCC"! A concluding section, "The Richland Families," Has short but substantive biographical articles first, on each of the 12 charter member families of St. Johns in 1878, followed by the same on a number of Richland families who arrived later. A concluding section includes interesting and , to my experience, very accurate paragraphs on day-to-day activities such as cotton picking, chickens, hog butchering, homemade soup, cisterns,clop barrels, homemade molasses, how to make cheese, wooden ice boxes, crocheting, and quilting. An assortment of relevant photographs is also included. This brief books (perhaps 100 (unnumbered pages) was locally published, and is one of the most interesting and informative that I have seen. While it purports to describe only the situation of one German community in Central Texas, I am quite certain that it reflects an experience common to hundreds of similar groups in Texas and throughout the U.S. For whatever it might be worth, I recommend it most highly . "The year 1683 is recorded as the beginning of the German immigration to America....This first mass migration of Germanics (65,000-70,000) were peoples of the Rhineland-Pfalz (Palatinate) who settled in Pennsylvania with the encouragement of William Penn.. "One group of Germans who came to America did not do son on their own volition. These were the Hessian solders who were conscripted into British Army service when they were "sold" to George III by their German rulers." "The second mass migration started in the 1830's as a result of political persecution brought about to suppress a growing democratic movement among professors and students..... "The largest wave of emigration started following the German revolutionary movement in 1848 by those who either participated in or were hurt by this conflict for reforms in governmental control.... "Uprooted by intolerable conditions, the emigrants trekked from their homes to the nearest port city - a distance of perhaps 500 miles. They came mostly on foot with the more fortunate traveling by cart or river boat and later by train. They carried all of their worldly possessions with them knowing that nothing could be stowed aboard ship during the journey. Once arriving in port, the emigrants were forced to spend days or weeks in strange harbors, easy prey for gamblers, swindlers, and thieves. Many lost their passage money by purchasing tickets from some broker only you discover that the ship did not exist or the ticket was invalid. .... "The earliest vessels to carry emigrants on their westward journey were known as packet ships. They had square sails, ran 1,000 tons, were 170 feet long and possessed three masts. These early ships carried about 100 passengers; the later 3,000 tonners would handle up to 800. The trip took 35-40 days or longer depending on the weather. In 1856, 96 percent of the Atlantic crossings were by sailing ship, but by 1866, almost 80 percent were by steamer (side-wheelers followed by twin screws) and by 1878, the sailing ship lines were closed. Iron hulled steam ships cut the journey to about 14 days with regular sailing schedules. "The ships were constructed with a lower cargo hold. The upper deck was equipped with cabins for the fortunate first-class passengers (Kajute). In between was the steerage (Zwichendeck) that housed 90 percent or more of the immigrants. On the return trip to Europe, cotton, grain, tobacco and cattle were stored in the cargo hold and in steerage., In most cases, steerage was not even cleaned before on-loading the next ship load of passengers. The emigrants waited in port until space became available and the shipping company had loaded a sufficient amount of cargo to make the journey profitable. Steerage fee was about $30 including a "full dietary," but as competition increased, an immigrant could make the cross for a s little as $12. "On sailing day, the steerage passengers struggled with water barrels and battered chests crammed with their r belongings while children dragged trusses of straw on which they would sleep. The Zwichendeck ran the length of the ship, about 25 feet wide and 5 1/2 feet right. It was poorly lit with lanterns and if it had portholes, they did not open. Curtained water closets were at either end and in between, several open cook stoves and tables. The 5 foot aisles formed by two rows of bunks than ran to the sides of the ship. The bunks were partitioned horizontally and vertically to create to decks, 5 feet long, less than 3 feet high and slept 6-10, ventilation was from overhead hatches that would be closed in poor weather. "Between decks", wrote one historian "was like a loathsome dungeon. When the hatchways were opened, the steam arose and stench was like that from a pen of pigs." "Food rotted, water became rancid and stove space was not sufficient for the once-a-day meal. Disease was rampant: cholera, dysentery, yellow fever, smallpox, and typhus. Death rate was about 0.5 percent, but ran as high as 10 percent. This then was the life of an immigrant aboard ship.....