A letter from 1871

The flooding in Germany this summer reminded me of this letter I translated a few years ago, and the client gave me permission to share it.

Spork is in Nordrhein-Westfalen, right by the border with the Netherlands. Josef was a family member who had left Spork to settle in Wisconsin.

The flood is described in paragraph 5. Apart from that, there’s news about the Franco-Prussian war, family news, and village gossip. I’ve done a little light editing.

                                                                      Spork, January 11, 1871

Dear Josef,

First of all, we wish you a happy new year. May the good Lord lend you his aid so that everything goes well for you in the New World and is as you would wish. Your lovely letter arrived in good condition on December 15, 1870. We were all very happy to learn that you had made it through the dangerous voyage and arrived in America. Over here, people had been saying that the ship you were on had sunk. In the future, do write to us about how you and your friends are doing. We are having a very hard winter here, for three weeks in a row it’s been 10, 12, or even 15 degrees below zero every day. We just had a few days of thaw and now it’s freezing again.

Thank the Lord that you’re not here, for the war with France has taken on a character more serious than anyone expected. All men from 18 to 40 who are fit to bear arms are being drafted indiscriminately. Our troops are now at Paris. The strongest fortresses in France, including Metz and Strassbourg, were stormed by our soldiers and have surrendered. Now you can imagine what our boys have had to go through at Paris. The terrible cold and spending the day without shelter. You know all about that.  For the bombardment of Paris, our troops have gathered around the city with a force of eight hundred fifty thousand men. The bombardment began on December 23^rd, 1870. They are using over 600 of the heaviest cannons, including twelve Riesenmörfer where each shot weighs over two hundred pounds. Our soldiers have now taken all the fortresses around Paris; the city itself has been hit in several places by our grenades and caught fire and if it does not surrender it will probably end up a pile of ash. We can only look upon it all with regret, but the Prussians alone now have over sixty thousand casualties, not counting the sick and wounded, and the French many more. Prussia has four hundred thousand French prisoners of war. The war has simply become a never-ending slaughter. How long it will last cannot be predicted, but it is certain that many, many more victims will fall.

Now we would like to tell you about our household situation and how we are doing. We are, praise God, all in good health. Although our household entails much work and trouble, it consists primarily of our family – Father, who is still quite well, then Dora my wife, myself, my two children who are very healthy and Johann is with us. Sickly little Johann is gaining weight in defiance of all expectations and has already learned to walk. Other members of our household are Johanna, your Dora her sister, Johann Hermes from Süderwick. Stelke who makes wooden shoes is staying with us again and we are giving him plenty of help. Holzendorf has done so much to disadvantage Stelke that the latter did not receive his license. I even had to go to the Comptroller to help Stelke but it will probably be over with Holzendorf soon because all the bad things he has done are coming before the public prosecutor, including the fight at the riflery festival.

Now for the neighbors. Recently old Kniepert sprained his leg so badly while unloading coal that he was bed-ridden for a time.  At the same time, at half past three in the morning in the Schopperts’ house, old Wilting was talking to his wife who was quite well. Immediately afterwards he tried to wake her up but could no longer do so, because she had suddenly gone to her eternal rest and was a corpse. You can imagine the grief and pain. The old man is in bed. But that family suffers from terrible misfortune. First his son drowned in the Rhine, now this. Johann Radstaak is home again but how? He’s using crutches. He was shot in the lower leg at the battle of Wörth. The bullet went through the thick flesh from behind and out through the shin bone at the front. It’s uncertain how many invalids will get pensions.

We also have to tell you that for three weeks it rained so much here that the oldest people could not remember the water ever being so high. Near Bocholt at the Holy Image, the water overflowed onto the street and poured into the factory, causing about three thousand Thaler worth of damage. Where we are, almost everything practically turned into a lake. It was hard even to make it to a neighbor’s house. The cellars were all full of water and the big frost happened right afterwards.

Dear Josef, now we would like to ask you to tell us more details about your journey, especially the sea voyage, because we are very curious about that. We think that of all the mortal dangers you have been through, that must be the biggest and will have made both of you unwilling to undertake such a journey again. However, if possible, we would be happy to see you two again sometime. Johanna wants to tell you something else, dear Josef. I will put down her own words here: I thank you very much for the friendly greeting you sent to me in your fine letter. Please send me such greetings again. Stelke wishes you lots of luck and prosperity and notes that not a hair falls from our heads unless God wills it so. In his infinite wisdom, he arranged your journey over the ocean so that you did not travel on the ship that sank, and in his opinion that is a sign that things will go well for you both.

In conclusion, dear Josef, we send you a thousand greetings over the sea and express our most heartfelt wishes for your prosperity. Greetings especially from Stelke, Hermes, and Hermann Hüning who is also here and is an avid hunter. All of us also send greetings to your friends and ours and ask them to write to us sometime as well.

Respectful greetings from your Father in particular, and your brothers and all your relatives and neighbors.