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From Mecklenburg to Iowa, Michigan
and Wisconsin
In Germany, one of the best known novels
that deals with the migration experience is entitled "Juern Jacob Swehn
der Amerikafahrer". It was written by a former school teacher from the
small Mecklenburg town of Glaisin, named Johann Gillhoff. It first appeared
in 1917. Recently, scholars in Germany and America have found that a collection
of letters mentioned therein were not purely fictional. Information and
documents have been gathered that prove Gilhoff's book was based on factual
accounts. It has been found that the story borrows from letters
written by a man named Carl Wiedow, the son of a day-laborer. Wiedow
left Glaisin for America on July 20th, 1868. He passed away in Springfield
County, Iowa in 1913. The Wiedow family still resides on the same farm,
in the nearby town of Victor and has recently been to Mecklenburg to visit
the Glaisin area. Gillhoff's book is currently being translated into English
by Richard Trost of Des Moines.
There happen to be many truths behind the fictitious
framework of the novel that not only tell about the mass exodus to America
during the 19th century, but also about Mecklenburg and Pomeranian's
past. The novel offers its readers the chance to learn about the history
of a land and its people. It reveals to us a beautiful region, abounding
with charming villages, boundless skies and a moraine landscape with countless
lakes and meadows.
The people from here did not only travel to
Iowa. Researchers will find numerous family names from Mecklenburg and
Pomerania, as well as many town and village place names with German origins
in Illinois, Minnesota, Michigan, Wisconsin and especially around Milwaukee.
Research and Travel offers:
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Carl Wiedow and his family
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