We were nearing Cuxhaven, a signal flag was hoisted and a boat neared the ship to take off the Captain's relatives... The boat vanished quickly, as did the flat coastline and eventually also the lighthouses of Wangeroog and Neuwerk, and we were on the open … Continue reading Cuxhaven and the North Sea
Category: Travels and sojourns
Ice on the Elbe
Hamburg is a city on a river, the Elbe. But it is also a large seaport and in the 1850s was becoming, with Bremen, one of Germany's major emigration points. To reach the sea ships had to navigate the wide reaches of this mighty river … Continue reading Ice on the Elbe
Leaving Hamburg
Gottfried and Viktoria Fischer with their four children departed Hamburg on the Caesar in November 1854. Johann departed from the same dock on the Steinwärder in November two years later. It is cold in November in Northern Germany, and the morning that the Fischers departed … Continue reading Leaving Hamburg
Imagining stories for Claus and Jürgen
I wondered in my last entry if Claus (aged 32) and Jürgen Holtorf (age 8) may have sailed together from Hamburg to New York in April 1852. Further research shows that the ship they sailed on, the Rhein, arrived in New York on April 29, … Continue reading Imagining stories for Claus and Jürgen
What became of the Holtorfs of Bramstedt?
Claus Holtorf had 10 children, 6 with his first wife, Margarethe and 4 with his second, Elsabe. Two of Elsabe’s boys did not survive past childhood. What I know of the others comes from two death notices, the first when Claus died in 1874, and … Continue reading What became of the Holtorfs of Bramstedt?
Forgotten tales 