Tracking the Emigres of Schwenningen, Baden-Württemberg, Germany

The 1847 Town-Subsidized Emigration of the Poor

In Stories from Those who came from Around the Neckar Area (1907?), written by Otto Benzing about the history of Schwenningen includes the story of the Schwenningen emigrants of 1847. The book describes how the extreme cold and wet of 1846 resulted in a bad grain and potato harvest, leading to the beginning of a famine (in German: Hungersnot). A Villingen journalist compiled newspaper stories and editorial about the emigration.

This famine resulted in a large number of impoverished residents in Schwenningen. The municipality of Schwenningen calculated that it would cost less to send the poorest to America than it would to support them until the famine ended. Therefore, the community decided to finance the emigration of the poorest people who were willing to emigrate. As many as 240 people reported for emigration. By April 1847, a total of 190 men, women and children left Schwenningen. (Researcher Warren Atcheson has a translation of a "passport" dated 12 April 1847 giving Jakob Jaeckle permission to leave and assuring safe travel.)

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Their trip took them initially to the German city of Mainz, where the group divided into two. The first group (65 persons) was brought to London and from there to New York on 28 April 1847. This is confirmed by research conducted by Sharon Sheppard. She found a pension claim deposition in which her ancestress, Catharina Gula, reported that her family left Schwenningen the day after her birthday, that they arrived in New York, and went up the Hudson River and settled near Albany. (This evidence is supported by the 1850 census; see GULA below.)

The second and larger group was brought (via Rotterdam) to London. But upon arriving in London, this second group found that there was no ship to New York available. So this larger group sailed on 26 May 1847 to Quebec, Canada. From there, they were transported to the United States.

Johannes Rapp and Jakob Weiler, having each come on a separate ship, did join up in Wapakoneta, Auglaize Co., OH. From there, they wrote a letter to the Schwenningen city council, reporting that they had arrived in good condition.

What follows is the list of these emigres, with an attempt to identify which family in Schwenningen they are attached to (i.e., their ancestry), where they settled in North America, and which current-day researcher(s) are working on or otherwise related to them.

The list from which this first table is compiled clearly says "Henrik Hudson" and "28 April 1847 " on it. But this is the larger group, which came on the later ship through Canada. The first pair of M/F columns are for those over the age of 12; the second set for children; "Inf" is infants. These distinctions were important because of how the town paid for their emigration.

This next table is compiled from a hand-written list that has no date or ship name on it; but we now know this is the group that left London first and landed in New York in April 1847.

Where they Settled

Research Challenges

Author Otto Benzing says the first group came from London to NY on the ship "Hendrik Hudson." But the handwritten lists of emigres (created by Schwenningen officials?) have written on the larger list (of 122) "Henrik Hudson 28 April 1847." But we know this:

• The smaller group of 65/68 went to New York on 28 April 1847.
• The larger group came later and through Canada.
• Review of the Henrik Hudson passenger lists during the appropriate time frame include NO names from Schwenningen.
• The Henrik Hudson did not go from London to Canada.

Therefore, it's likely that a) whoever wrote "Henrik Hudson 28 April 1847" did so on the wrong list. AND there is every indication that NO one from the Schwenningen emigre lists came on a ship called the Henrik Hudson.