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Category: West Prussia

Karl August BRUMM, Woolen Mill Laborer

I don’t know much about Karl but I will share what I have about him. Karl is my husband’s maternal 3rd great grandfather. Like Bart’s other maternal immigrant ancestors that I’ve written about, Karl is from Saxony- the same area of Prussia (now Germany) that his other immigrant ancestors were from (the ones that I’ve written about so far, that is). The information I’m giving you today is from the 1880 census because that is one of the few documents I have that I feel certain belongs to Karl.
On this date in 1834, Karl August BRUMM was born. He married at the age of 26. He and his wife, Wilhelmina, were married in Saxony. On the 1880 census, Karl was 46 years old. Living with him were his wife, Mina, and his daughters- Pauline, Rosa (Therese Rosa- Bart’s 2nd great grandmother whom I wrote about here), Emma, Anna, and Clara- and his sons- Clemens, Oliver, and George – all of whom were born in Saxony. All of the children attended school except 4-year-old George. In 1880 they were living in Delaware Township, Sanilac County, Michigan.
The story in this census record that is begging to be told is the story about Karl’s occupation. He gave his occupation as “Farmer & works in wool mill”. There were not very many woolen mills in Sanilac County in 1880. In fact, the only woolen mills I found in Delaware Township, where the BRUMM family was living, were the mills in Minden. (This information is from the book, Atlas of Sanilac County, Michigan : containing maps of every township in the county, with village and city plats, and outline map of the county, also maps of Michigan, United States and the world, by E. R. Cookingham, J. S. Randall, J. L. Smith, and L. D. Cookingham found at University of Michigan Library’s digital archives.)

Village of Minden map.
Village of Minden map.

This is a map of the village of Minden from the book mentioned above.

Enlarged portion of the Village of Minden map showing the woolen mills.
Enlarged portion of the Village of Minden map showing the woolen mills.


This is an enlarged portion of the map showing the woolen mills.

Business ad for Minden City Woolen Mills.
Business ad for Minden City Woolen Mills.

Business advertisement for Minden Woolen Mill. There were no other ads so I’m assuming that Mr. Leavenworth owned all the woolen mills in Minden. I found no information about how many woolen mills there were but they were all in one place on the map so possibly there were only 2.
I don’t know what job Karl did at the woolen mill but I did find a great video from a woolen mill in Frankenmuth, Michigan that is still in operation. It’s very interesting. I hope you’ll watch it. It talks about how they process wool.
Frankenmuth Michigan woolen mill video.
If you ever get a chance to visit Frankenmuth or Delaware Township in Michigan, you definitely should go. It’s a wonderful summer trip and a beautiful area. I’ve so enjoyed introducing you to Karl and the wool milling process. Be sure to check back on Saturday for the weekend wrap up where I give you any additional information that didn’t make it into the weekly blog posts and on Sunday for next week’s schedule. Happy Friday!!


Until tomorrow,
Lisa @ Days of Our Lives

Colony Saxonia and Heinrich Wolhelm WOLF

Heinrich WOLF is Bart’s maternal 3rd great grandfather. Heinrich went by Henry.

Portrait of Heinrich "Henry" Wolf.
Portrait of Heinrich “Henry” Wolf.

Henry immigrated from Prussia in April of 1874. He departed Hamburg, Germany, traveled through Liverpool, England, and on to New York, USA. He brought his son, Ernst, with him. They sailed together on the ship Minerva with Captain BLOHM. The shipping clerk was, once again, M. Otto W. MöLLER. Henry’s residence in Prussia was in Crimmitschau – a place I blogged about last week when talking about other Prussian immigrants in my husband’s family. On the passenger list, Henry gave his occupation as shoemaker (Schuhmacher, in German). Henry was 46 years old and Ernst was only 8.

Hamburg Passenger List showing entries for Heinrich and Ernst Wolf.
Hamburg Passenger List showing entries for Heinrich and Ernst Wolf.

I’m not completely certain but I think this is the ship Minerva:

Possibly the ship 'Minerva'.
Possibly the ship ‘Minerva’.

This ship was much more difficult to find information about online than the other ship was. If this really was the ship they came over on it seems awfully small to take out on the ocean.
I am certain that this next piece of information really is the ship Minerva that the WOLF’s sailed on:

Information about the ship 'Minerva'.
Information about the ship ‘Minerva’.

This information comes from The Ships List website.
Heinrich (who went by Henry) and Ernst (who went by Ernest) came to American in April of 1874. If you remember back to last week, Henry’s wife Christiana (who went by Sophia) and two of their children- Charles (who went by Carl) and Ferdinand (who went by Fred) made the journey later that same year in October.
It would be natural to assume that Henry came over first to get a place ready for the family although I’m not sure why he would bring the youngest son with him as opposed to the oldest who could help clear land and build a home. In any case, I believe Henry came over with a group called Colony Saxonia. I’m still trying to find out information about Colony Saxonia but here’s a snippet from the Joint Documents from the State of Michigan for the Year 1872, Vol. II:

1872 Joint Documents from the State of Michigan, Vol. II.
1872 Joint Documents from the State of Michigan, Vol. II. Government documents discussing the recruitment of Germans to Michigan.

This was a group approved by the government that recruited Germans to come to Michigan. Once here, the German families were given the opportunity to buy 40 acre pieces of land from the group. This land was in Forestville, Sanilac County, Michigan. Many Germans did move into Sanilac County, Michigan but many decided to stay in the Detroit area where they first disembarked in Michigan.
You can read a little more about Colony Saxonia here and here.
I still don’t know much about Henry and Christiana but just the little bit I’ve learned while searching today is more than I knew before. I hope you’ve enjoyed learning a little more about the immigration experience for these Michigan ancestors. I know I’ve enjoyed letting you in on a little more of their story. Uncle Bob sent me some photographs but I’m going to save those for the next few posts I write about Henry and Christiana later this year.


Until tomorrow,
Lisa @ Days of Our Lives

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