1850-1890
Immigration to U.S.A.
Lorenz Schilly in 1854 and Victoria Birkenmeier in 1855 arrived in the U.S.A. via the port of
 New Orleans.  Prior to 1890, the individual states (rather than the Federal government) regulated immigration into the United States.
Johann Franz Maurer and Ursula Esswein arrived in the U.S.A. via New York in 1891; and
Karl Albert Ferenbach in 1881 and Katharina Allgaier in 1893 (she would be the only one
through Ellis Island).

There was no Ellis Island then, instead there was Castle Clinton (Castle Garden)
The hospital Lorenz was taken too with Yellow Fever, administered by the Daughters of Charity in New Orleans.
Then the journey up the Mississippi River from New Orleans
Past the city of Memphis, Tennessee
Finally arriving in 1854 St. Louis, Missouri
Castle Clinton was built in anticipation of the War
of 1812. A decade later it was renamed Castle
Garden and was transformed into the City's
premier cultural center. By 1855, successive
landfills had enlarged the (Battery) Park to
encompass Castle Garden and the structure
became America's first immigrant receiving
center, welcoming 8.5 million people before it
was succeeded by Ellis Island.
Prior to 1890, the individual states (rather than the Federal government) regulated immigration into
the United States. Castle Garden in the Battery (originally known as Castle Clinton) served as the
New York State immigration station from 1855 to 1890 and approximately eight million immigrants,
mostly from Northern and Western Europe, passed through its doors. These early immigrants came
from nations such as England, Ireland, Germany and the Scandinavian countries and constituted the
first large wave of immigrants that settled and populated the United States. Throughout the 1800's
and intensifying in the latter half of the 19th century, ensuing political instability, restrictive religious
laws and deteriorating economic conditions in Europe began to fuel the largest mass human
migration in the history of the world. It soon became apparent that Castle Garden was ill-equipped
and unprepared to handle the growing numbers of immigrants arriving yearly. Unfortunately
compounding the problems of the small facility were the corruption and incompetence found to be
commonplace at Castle Garden.

The Federal government intervened and constructed a new Federally-operated immigration station on
Ellis Island. While the new immigration station on Ellis Island was under construction, the Barge
Office at the Battery was used for the processing of immigrants. The new structure on Ellis Island,
built of "Georgia pine" opened on January 1, 1892; Annie Moore, a 15 year-old Irish girl, accompanied
by her two brothers entered history and a new country as she was the very first immigrant to be
processed at Ellis Island on January 2. Over the next 62 years, more than 12 million were to follow
through this port of entry.
Immigrants aboard a ship heading for the Port of New York  about 1892
Most likely they traveled by rail from New York to St. Louis.
Ship common to New York and New
Orleans in 1850's, USA flag on the foremast
and Hamburg flag on the aft mast
Eads Bridge first expanse across the Mississippi River which brought the RailRoads into
St. Louis at Union Station.
Until the early 20th century, PRR's rail
network terminated on the western side of
the Hudson River at Exchange Place in
Jersey City, New Jersey. Manhattan-bound
passengers boarded ferries to cross the
Hudson River for the final stretch of their
journey. The rival New York Central
Railroad's track ran down Manhattan from
the north and terminated at Grand Central
Terminal in the heart of Manhattan's
business district.
Liberty Enlightening the World (French: La liberté
éclairant le monde), known more commonly as
the Statue of Liberty (Statue de la Liberté), is a
colossal statue given to the United States by
France in 1886, standing at Liberty Island, in the
mouth of the Hudson River in New York Harbor as
a welcome to all visitors, immigrants, and returning
Americans. The copper statue, dedicated on
October 28, 1886, commemorates the centennial
of the United States and is a gesture of friendship
between the two nations. The sculptor was
Frederic Auguste Bartholdi. Alexandre Gustave
Eiffel, the designer of the Eiffel Tower, engineered
the internal structure. Eugène Viollet-le-Duc was
responsible for the choice of copper in the statue's
construction and adoption of the Repoussé
technique.
The cornerstone was laid on August 5,
and pedestal construction was finished
on April 22, 1886.  The Statue was
re-assembled on her new pedestal in
four months' time. On October 28, 1886,
the Statue of Liberty was dedicated by
President Grover Cleveland in front of
thousands of spectators. (Ironically, it
was Cleveland who, as Governor of the
State of New York, had earlier vetoed a
bill by the New York legislature to
contribute $50,000 to the building of the
pedestal.)  In any event, she was a
centennial gift ten years belated.
Johann Franz Maurer and Ursula Esswein who arrived in the U.S.A. via New York in 1891 would
have seen the completed Statue of Liberty; but Karl Albert Ferenbach in 1881 did not, however
his future wife Katharina Allgaier in 1893 would.
All four would have seen the Brooklyn Bridge though when coming into the harbor of New York.
Morgans, Cheatham, McCarthy, Curran, Guiney, and Shawen left no record of where they
arrived in the U.S.A.
October 28, 1886
The Statue arrives in New York Harbour in 1885
The Maurer-Essweins left from Hamburg to New York.
Some images of late 1890's Hamburg.
The future wife of Lorenz Schilly,  Victoria Birkenmeier (Birkenmayer) (b. 11-19-1836 in Ebringen, Baden, d. 7-13-1917 in St. Louis)  left Baden on
11-29-1854 with her family when she was 18 years old.  They boarded a ship at Rotterdam, the Netherlands and traveled to LeHavre, France. Her
father, Ottmar Birkenmeier* (b. 12-19-1836), died on board ship from the plague and was buried at LeHavre. Leaving her mother, Maria (nee Gutsell)
Birkenmeier with 11 children bound for St. Louis.  She arrived in New Orleans on 2-19-1855 aboard the ship, S.S. Regulator.  They then traveled up the
Mississippi  River to St. Louis and settled in the Frenchtown area.
We know that Katharina Allgaier the future wife of Karl Albert Ferenbach spent time in Tunisia and Moscow before leaving for America in 1893. Albert made his 1881
journey across the Atlantic Ocean during the month of May, but Katharina braved making her 1893 voyage during the month of February.  That was her birthday month, and
the previous February found her working in the home of a French Army officer in the Tunis area of Tunisia, Africa.  Prior to that she worked for a time in Moscow, Russia.  
We have no record of the dates she was there, only signatures in her autograph book.

In 1878, a secret deal was made between the United Kingdom and France that decided the fate of the African country. Provided that the French accepted British control of
Cyprus, recently given to the United Kingdom, the British would in turn accept French control of Tunisia. This satisfied the French and led to their assumption of control in
1880. Tunisia was formally made a French protectorate on May 12, 1881.

When Napoleon invaded Russia in 1812, the Muscovites burned the city and evacuated, as Napoleon's forces were approaching on September 14. Napoleon's army,
plagued by hunger, cold, and poor supply lines, was forced to retreat and was almost destroyed by Russian military forces.  So the Moscow she saw was one rebuilt by
the late 1800s.
The French Gate in Tunis
In our age of jet travel, luxury liners, heat and air conditioning we are exhausted after a 6 hour flight.  Try to imagine what
these young people endured with months of sea travel, the rails, horse carriage and steamboat voyages.  It is a
testimony to their endurance and determination, to leave the hardships in Germany and Ireland, only to face the travails
of life in a country where they did not speak the majority language. Leaving family behind they would never again see,
losing family and children to death due to disease in their new country, bringing with them only the comfort of their faith.
1855 Castle Clinton and Battery Park, the Brooklyn Bridge is in the distance to the right.
Castle Clinton 1875
Eventually the PRR
would build tunnels
under the Hudson
River, and to build
Penn Station in the
early 1900s.
Karl Ferenbach left on SS Saint Laurent from Le Havre in 1881
The above are postcards from 1890s Tunis
The above are pictures from 1890s Moscow
1880s Russian countryside
"The German is like a willow.
No matter which way you bend him, he will always take root again."

- Alexander Solzhenitsyn –
Le Havre is a city in Normandy, northern
France, on the English Channel, at the mouth
of the Seine.

It was the port-of-call for French ocean
liners making the Transatlantic crossing. Le
Havre is known as "La Porte Océane".

17th June 1854 - Creation of the docks and
warehouse company.
Monet port of Le Havre 1874
The massive archive of the port of Hamburg consists of 555 volumes meticulously compiled
by the shipping lines (Reedereien) that transported German and other emigrants
(Auswanderer) from Hamburg to the New World (die Neue Welt) between 1850 and 1934.
During those 85 years more than five million people left Europe for good, seeking a new life
in North America.

Before 1850 much of the immigrant ships which carried the hopefuls from Germany
embarked from ports in Amsterdam, Rotterdam and Bremen. In 1847 the HAPAG shipping
line “Hamburg American Packet Company” was founded in the northern Germany port city of
Hamburg. Convenient to reach by the Elbe River from the east and by railroad, Hamburg
rapidly became the most important emigration port in Germany from 1850 to 1934 and the
HAPAG line one of the most successful shipping companies in the world, renamed the
Hamburg-America Line in 1893.
Port of Rotterdam 1800 - 1900: Construction of the New Waterway

During the French occupation from 1795 to 1813, trade declined and industry disappeared. Over
the years, moreover, the entrance to the port silted up. In order to reach the city, ships
sometimes had to sail the long way round via the south of the country. In 1858, Pieter Caland
put forward his plan to cut through the ridge of dunes at the Hook of Holland so as to give the
river Rhine an artificial estuary. On 9 March 1872, Richard Young sailed the first ship along the
New Waterway.

The construction of this new link with the sea more or less coincided with the end of the
Industrial Revolution. The introduction of the steam engine led to large-scale development of
the steel industry, especially in the German Ruhr region. The iron ore for this purpose came via
Rotterdam that up until the Second World War developed into the most important transit port for
Germany. Eighty per cent of the cargo in the port concerned goods in transit to or from our
German neighbors. The city and port grew considerably. While in 1795 Rotterdam had a mere
53,000 inhabitants, in 1850 it had a population of 85,000, in 1895 around 220,000 and in 1910
approximately 418,000.