We know Hermann (1861 ~ ???) intended to come to the United States, because he had his wooden footlocker shipped to his older brother Hinrich in Jackson, Wisconsin (southeast of West Bend) ahead of time - probably around 1878.  This trunk had been passed along to Uncle Pete who brought it along to our "watershed" 1969 reunion ... Some stories had missing Uncle Hermann visiting each of his older brothers in Wisconsin, Minnesota and Nebraska, but this may have been more imaginings in advancing age of those relating the 'experience' than reality.  Although it's possible he never made it to America, one story we have about him comes from Nebraska.  Rachel said she remembered her husband Herman (1887 ~ 1955) tell about his Uncle Hermann (the lost brother): Herman was named after his Uncle Hermann whom he remembered as being short and having red hair.  Hermann stayed with his brother Brune (1848 ~ 1910) and family for a time.  When he left he had a lot of money, and drove away in a new buggy pulled by a team of horses with the intention of looking for work.  They know he went as far as Overton, Nebraska, a distance of about 35 miles, but heard no more of him.  This occurred when Herman was a small boy. [ Given the "small boy's" birth in 1887, this would have had to have happened after 1890 - 12 years after Hermann's presumed arrival in the USA.  Hermann would have been 29 years old in 1890.  His brother Fred (1855 ~ 1944) was in Nebraska until his move to Roseburg, Oregon in 1893, then back to Nebraska from 1895 ~ 1901, to Iowa in 1901 and finally to Minnesota in 1911.  Brune (1848 ~ 1910) was in Nebraska from 1878 onward.  Hinrich (1847 ~ 1914), the elder of the USA brothers and the first to come to American and the one to whom each of the others first went after emmigrating from Bremen, Germany arrived first, probably in July 1867 with his cousin Brune.  Hinrich settled in Wisconsin around 1870.  Cousin Brune died in New York on March 4th, 1868 - less than a year after arriving!  What happened in New York on that date?  Were they involved in some sort of disturbance involving immigrants to America? ] In any case, whether Hermann ever arrived in the USA or not, he disappeared.  When Hollywood Fred's brother Hermann was first noticed, it was thought that he could have been our missing Uncle.  He wasn't, but the information subsequently discovered about he and his brother Fred is among the most fascinating in our 20th century family history.

 

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