Please note: An English third edition will be published for summer 2024. This English edition will contain additional information compared to the German-language 2nd edition. You can already order this English edition by LULU

https://www.lulu.com/shop/bernd-heinz-and-ben-weber/german-emigrants-to-iowa-and-the-midwest/hardcover/product-45md84z.html .

Preface to the first edition 2017 (The 1st edition has been published in german!)

My place of residence, the small village of Taben-Rodt, situated high above the western bank of the Saar River, close to the border with France and Luxembourg, showed a steady population growth over the past centuries. In the last third of the 20th century, the maximum value was reached with about 1,000 inhabitants (in Taben-Rodt and Hamm).

In the middle of the 19th century, however, poverty, lack of economic prospects and disproportionate population growth led to a drastic development for Taben-Rodt: In a period of only 50 years, more than 100 inhabitants (about 20% of the population at that time) left their place of residence (Taben, Rodt, Hamm) and sought a "new better life" in North America. Today, at the beginning of the 21st century, the memory of these emigrated families is largely forgotten, only a few photos with the subtitle Photograph Dubuque suggest that these photos could have been taken by emigrants from the "New World".

This book attempts to provide as complete a listing as possible of all emigrants from Taben, Rodt and Hamm and to show their history. Thus, ship passages, first settlements in North America, and subsequent developments have been researched using archived historical documents (passenger lists, records of various U.S. Census surveys, historical maps, and others).

My long-standing contacts, established through genealogical research and personal visits, were very helpful. Thus, my work found interest also in the USA and some "descendants" of the emigrants sent me fragments of their family history, family trees and picture material.

Especially I would like to mention here Mr. Rev. Aloysius F. Schmitz (†). After a first contact by letter in 1982, we exchanged repeatedly information about genealogy, especially about the family tree of the "KLEIN -HERBER" family. During his visits, he spoke excellent German, in Taben-Rodt (1984, 1992); we could get to know each other personally. I have to thank him for many of my documents and contacts. He was also the one who made the first contact with his "cousin" Carol Pfeiler (Dubuque, Iowa, USA) in 1999.

At the invitation of Carol (KLEIN descendant) and Louis Pfeiler, I attended with my family the "KLEIN Reunion" (a family reunion of Klein descendants) in Cuba City, Wisconsin on July 9, 2000. As a visiting gift, we presented a 25-minute film about Taben-Rodt, which for the first time showed the home of their ancestors in words and pictures to the more than 100 participants of the Reunion and met with lively interest. The conversations held there subsequently led to several "KLEIN-HERBER" descendants from various parts of the USA and Canada visiting the home of their "ancestors", Taben-Rodt, in the meantime.

Especially I would like to mention Joe Schallan (Phoenix, Arizona, USA), descendant of "NAUMANN and GANSEMER", with whom I have been exchanging information about his Taben ancestors since 1996 and who sent me numerous documents and photos of his USA ancestors. But also Dottisue Gansemer (Prince Albert, Illinois, USA), Shirley Hamilton (Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada), and Lauretta Sucoe, née Klein (†), Steve Fait (San Francisco, California, USA), Ed Felten, Bruce Klein (Lewiston, Minnesota, USA), Mary Manning Lovell, Frank Enyeart (Rolling Meadows, Illinois, USA) Robert Loch (Bettendorf/Balltown, Iowa, USA) and others contributed to the success.

The Dyersville Area Historical Society also supported this work by sending copies of records from their archives. For this, I thank Mrs. Judy Weber, President of the Board. I would like to thank the "Museum aan de Stroom", Antwerp, for kindly providing me with the picture documents.

My memberships at ancestry.com and familysearch.com allowed me to access many documents from that time. Especially the census records (US Census records) were very helpful to trace residences and family development.

Taben-Rodt, April 2022 Bernd Heinz

Preface to the second edition 2022 (The 2nd edition has been published in german!)

The 1st edition of this book attracted a lot of interest, which was also aroused by the full-page coverage with the title „Aufbruch ins Abenteuer neue Welt“  "Departure into the adventure new world" in the daily newspapers "Trierischer Volksfreund" (5.1.2018) and "Saarbrücker Zeitung" (12.1.2018).

In this 2nd edition are five previously undocumented emigrants, with a reference to Taben-Rodt. The research on the pioneer Peter Neuses (*1832 in Hamm), who emigrated to Chicago before the year 1859 was inspired by Mark Neuse (Alexandria, Virginia, USA), one of his descendants. Through the support of Leo Christen (California, Kentucky, USA) I became aware of the emigrant Peter Neises (*1842) and the emigrant brothers Johann (*1829 in Serrig) and Peter (*1853 in Serrig) Faha. From Joseph Faha (Maryland, New Jersey, USA) I received detailed information about Jacob Faha (*1814 in Freudenburg), who emigrated already in 1841/42 and is also described in this 2nd edition.

Taben-Rodt, April 2022 Bernd Heinz

please note

The explanations in my Book “Tabener Auswanderer  - Von Taben nach Amerika” are based on a large number of very different sources. In addition to "official" documents, such as the surveys of the U.S. and Canadian censuses or the data of the immigration authority Castle Garden, many "private" documents, which were usually handed down within the families in writing or even orally, were also taken into account.

The often inaccurate age information and the different spellings of first names and surnames, some of which are also due to Anglicization, made research difficult and required constant critical review of the information found . A consistent civil register, similar to the one introduced in Germany by the Prussians in 1876, did not and still does not exist in the USA. There are also no church records in the USA, comparable to the baptism, marriage and death registers that have been common in Germany since the end of the 30 Years War in Germany (1618 -1648).

By constantly crosschecking the information found from various sources, I have tried to ensure that the data published here is accurate. Despite all care, I cannot exclude the possibility that errors have crept in. If the attentive reader should notice any errors or inaccuracies, please let me have these corrections.

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related topics  / RELATED ISSUES

German Immigration in th 19th. Century
US Immigration America’s German roots
History of America Relations
Germans in America Chronology
German Emigration in the United States
German Immigration to New York
German Immigration to Iowa
German Immigration to Illinois
German Immigration to Kentucky
Passenger and Crew Lists of Vessels Arriving at New York