Tag: 1897

Letter August 22, [18]97 Fritz Hamm To His Brother George Hamm

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Nierstein [Germany] August 22, [18]97.

Dearest brother, sister-in-law, and family,

Since I have not yet been able to speak with all my brothers and sisters and it will be too long to wait until I get together with them, I want to write in the meantime to let you know that your pictures arrived here safely, which you already knew from Johann Müllers letter. I therefore also delayed writing, since sister Lieschen and Peter Claus were going to write to you right away too, and I didn’t want all the letters to reach you at the same time.

We were so very happy to receive your pictures. You are still very much recognizable, and your children definitely show a resemblance to you. Your wife has also not changed much, for you had sent us her picture to our departed father earlier. I recognized her at once. I will reciprocate next summer. When our Elischen is stronger, I want to have my picture taken with the whole family too. Brothers Carl and Andreas seem a little miffed because you didn’t send along any pictures for them. I will now get in touch with our other siblings by mail. I have no time to talk with them in person, for I am here at Senfters and I have to be there on Sundays if needed not for nothing, of course. In any case, the others plan write to you right away, as far as I know, and there is no hurry anyway.

Now to change the subject. How did your harvest turn out? And are you finished with your building work? Is everything back to normal? The harvest is over here, and the fruit was abundant. Potatoes also seem to have done well, and the grape harvest seems to be an excellent one, plentiful and good. The grape harvest was good last year too, at least plentiful, but this year its much better and more plentiful, that much we know already. We had a very hot summer, alternating with favorable rains. In many areas of our fatherland, the people were sorely afflicted with lightning, hail, and flooding. In Bavaria, Württemberg, and Saxony it was very bad. Many houses there were carried away, and many people lost their lives. We live in a good area here, and therefore the crop prices have risen colossally. We can drink wine cheaply this year – you can get a bottle for as little as 15 pfennigs 5 kreuzers in our old currency. Last year I had also put up a 100-glass keg of wine for myself, for I had laid in several of them in the yard. But this year I’m getting even more. If some time you feel inclined to visit your old homeland, I will see to it that you can refresh yourself with a glass of this pure wine. If I had the money, I would have looked you up in your new home totally unexpectedly. Well, life’s not over yet. Your contemporary Johannes Jung from Schwabsburg died two weeks ago. He had been sick for an entire year. But if you were to come here, you would be amazed at how everything has changed. All our fathers old friends and comrades and even some of the younger ones are no longer around.

I must close, with many brotherly regards,
Fritz and family

Greetings from all of us.
Please forgive me for waiting so long to  write.
I’ll count on hearing from you soon.


7 This is hard to translate without knowing the situation being alluded to. Fremde Leute means other people (not family or close friends).
8 footnote * I don’t know what part of the village is the back, but my guess is its the side furthest from the nearest center of commerce.
9 I have no idea what this word means, but it seems to refer to the poem that follows (yes, it rhymes in German). Because of some unusual spellings, I’m not sure I’ve interpreted all the words of the poem correctly.

Letter [early 1897?] Fritz Hamm To His Brother George Hamm

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Dearest brother and family,

Your letter came as a big surprise on February 27, for I expected it to take longer. I was able to determine from it that it took just 13 days. When I was out walking and the mail carrier told me he had delivered a letter from America to my house, I couldn’t help but go straight home and see what news there was from you. I’m pleased to see from your letter that you are doing very well over there. That is not the case with us here, for when you have a family here, its all you can do to get them through. You know how it is here. I don’t need to point it out any more. But we are all well, thank God, and the children will soon be big. Then, God willing, we will make more progress than were making now.

You wanted to know where all your brothers and sisters are, so I’ll begin. Andreas lives in Nierstein and cultivates vineyards. He has 4 children. Jakob is in Büttelborn and has one daughter. He is doing very well. Maria lives in our fathers house and has one son. Johannes keeps moving. Usually he goes to Wiesbaden in the summer to work in the brick factory. He has one daughter. Karl, in Schwabsburg, married one of shoemaker Staabs daughters and has no children. Then I’m next. Kretche [Gretchen] lives in Frankfurt. She has a husband from Switzerland who runs a delicatessen. They have 3 children. Kätche lives in Bodenheim. Her husband is employed with the railway, and they have 5 children. Heinrich has gone to his eternal rest. Lieschen is married to Erhard Müller and has 7 children, 3 of whom are deceased. So most of them have quite large families.

I also want to tell you that when our late father died, several of the siblings came into conflict with each other. Sister Maria talked our father out of the house for 1400 marks on his deathbed, when he was no longer thinking clearly. Today its worth 2000 marks, and [she] also hauled off a lot of other money and everything. And brother Andreas, once back when he was working, got 150 M from him to pay his debt at Bayerthal. He had this made out to him, and all the other siblings are at the back of the line. So I, for one, can never forget what they did, and I stay out of their way entirely.

This week I spoke with Peter Claus. He said you were going to send your family picture to him too. He plans write to you again soon. This summer we will have our picture taken too and then well exchange with you. So go ahead and send us your picture soon.

Johann Müller could hardly believe that you had sent him your regards until I showed him the letter. But even from a distance, he recognized your handwriting. He plans to write you a few lines too, in the near future.

Well, that’s all for now. I look forward to an early reply.

With fond brotherly regards,

                                                                                                                Fritz and family

Also, best regards to your wife and children.

I am enclosing my picture as dragoon. Its faded, but still quite a good likeness. I had it hanging on the wall for 17 years. I am the only one who served in the cavalry.

This is the picture that Fritz sent to his brother George. It is still in the family. Fritz is the second one from the right standing with his hand on the gentleman sitting, and what looks like a cigar in his mouth, but that could just be a scratch in the picture. You can tell that this picture was cobbled together, some of the men have distinct white outlines where they have been cut and pasted in .

Letter July 7, 1897 Elizabeth Hamm Müller To Her Brother George Hamm

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Schwabsburg [Germany], July 7, 1897

Dear brother, sister-in-law, and family.

We received your picture and note and were very pleased that you finally thought of us.

I would have written you earlier, but didn’t have a proper address. We have often spoken of you, and Erhard keeps saying, ‘Doesn’t he remember the prank that he played in our house? If he could write to Peter Glaus [Klaus], he could write to us some time too.’

I didn’t know but what our father had written to you that I am marred to Erhard Müller. Dear brother, please excuse me for not writing right away. On July 1 we were blessed once again with a little son. Now we have 2 boys and 3 girls, and 3 have died. Our oldest girl is 12 years old. We have had a heavy burden of illness with our children. 

We had your name recorded with our little one. I hope it will be fun for you to have another godchild in Germany.  My brother-in-law Heinrich stood in for you at the baptism. We don’t want to burden anyone else, because if you have too many, you probably know very well how it was with us earlier. I heard that our sister Maria was miffed at me because she didn’t get a picture. What an ass she is. We haven’t spoken a word to each other for 13 years. She didn’t want me to marry Erhard. I couldn’t have gotten a better one. But we agree. That’s the main thing. Brother Fritz has probably already told you, one by one, where our other siblings are. We live in Erhards fathers house, and we have made a lot of changes. And when you have a lot done, that costs a lot of money right away. But it was necessary. You remember how it was before.

Dear brother you probably know very well that as long as the children are still small you don’t have anyone to help you. It must have been that way for you too. But now you are a wealthy man, so I hear.

I have shown your picture to various friends, and they don’t even believe its you. But Erhard said right away that if you didn’t have the beard you would look the same as ever. Our aunt Mrs. Matter complains that you’ve never even sent her a greeting. She and Christina are still alone, i.e. not yet married. When I showed them your picture, they laughed again and said I should remind you about the time when there was such a severe thunderstorm that you and her Johannes prayed, but you were holding the prayer book upside down.

Dear brother, I wish I could talk with you in person, but that cannot be. Were too far apart.

If our father had allowed it, perhaps I might have been with you right now. When Mothers Lischen was in Germany, she absolutely wanted to take me with her. She even wanted to pay for my passage. But he wouldn’t give in. I was 18 years old then. That would have been the best age, and I would have gone at once. If our little one stays healthy, we are thinking of having our picture taken this fall, and then well send you our picture too.

My sister-in-law, Eva Müller, sends you her best regards and also would like you picture. I wont need to write you our address. There is only one Erhard Müller in Schwabsburg. Erhard wants to write to you next time. He is currently working in Nackenheim, where they are building a dam. He comes home so tired at night that he doesn’t get around to writing.

Dear brother Georg, Ill close now, until next time. But don’t keep me waiting as long as I did you.

[Elizabeth/Lieschen Müller]

Letter January 24, 1897 Fritz Hamm To His Brother George Hamm

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This is Nierstein, just a hop and a skip from Schwabsburg. [Image from Wikipedia entry for Nierstein.]

Nierstein, January 24, [18]97

Dear brother and family,

I presume you can remember that you also have a brother in the old homeland named Fritz. I was just a boy when you went to America, and because I am now the youngest of your brothers, I  have a mind to reach out to you in that faraway world by mail. Because of a change in mail carriers in Nierstein, it so happened that, one year before our fathers death, a letter from you came into my hands. In it, I read that you intended to give your old homeland the pleasure of paying it a visit in 2 years. But I did not find your address in this letter. I would have liked to write to you back then that you should not put off your visit for so long. For I knew that our father was already suffering badly from the weakness of old age. From that time on, I kept asking him for your address, but he always had an excuse. Once he said I just don’t have time. Another time he said, I’ll send it to you. And the third time, he said, I’ve already written to Georg. To this day, I don’t know what his problem was. You know this was just a quirk our father had. He never let us read one of your letters. He would just say George wrote thus and so, and that was all. Well, to get beyond all that now, I want to write and tell you how I’m doing.

I have been married for 15 years and live in Nierstein out on the Kreutz [cross; name of a street?] in the former Gabel house. So far, I have the pleasure of being the father of 7 children. I will tell you their names: Kätchen is 15 years old, Lenche is 11, Karl is 8, Fritz is 6, and Elischen is 3 months old. Jakob and Lieschen, who come after Fritz, preceded us in death, to our great sorrow, so now we are a family of seven. I have lived here seven years and am employed at Senfter, where brother Andreas used to work. I make good money and get free living quarters. I have just begun my fortieth year of life, and my wife, née Lenche Wild from Erfelden, is 38 years old. I don’t know how big a family you have. You can tell me the details.

You probably already know where all your other brothers and sisters are, but if you are uncertain about anything, you can ask me about it in the letter that I hope to get from you. I would be glad to provide you with information.

I’ll have to stop writing, for, as you can see, I’ve run out of space. If I were to write you everything that has happened since your departure for America, it would be far too much and take a lot of time. I’ll tell you more next time.

[Fritz Hamm]