Colony Saxonia and Heinrich Wolhelm WOLF
Heinrich WOLF is Bart’s maternal 3rd great grandfather. Heinrich went by Henry.
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.
I’m not completely certain but I think this is 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:
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:
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