My Family & Memories: 2024 Week 7 - Immigration: John Kludt

I’ve done some research already about my immigrant John Kludt. I briefly wrote about him back in 2014. In another entry in 2018, I mentioned him again. However, since then, I’ve learned a lot more when I was writing up my family history. That has not been posted to the blog, so I’ll do some extracts for here.

The area where the family resided in Germany:

Goldenbow is a hamlet located in current Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania. Nearby Friedrichsruhe is a municipality in the Ludwigslust-Parchim District. Also mentioned in historical church records is the town of Parchim. It is the capital of Ludwigslust-Parchim District.

Prior to being Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania it was known as Grand Duchy of Mecklenburg-Schwerin. From 1815 to 1848 and 1850 to 1866 it was a State of the German Confederation.

The 1900 Census indicates that John immigrated in 1852[1]. Have not been able to locate immigration or naturalization records. Therefore, we are not sure if he immigrated with family, or where his port of entry was. I have found where two of his sisters, Dorothea Elizabeth Christina Johanna Fromm and Louise Karolina Wilhelmina Kludt, had also emigrated to the United States with their husbands and lived in the Barton, Washington County, Wisconsin area. I did locate a Johann Kludt that immigrated with Johann Fromm and his family in November 1851.[2] Age matches, therefore, the assumption is that this is our ancestor. Carolina also immigrated in 1851 per the 1900 Census. However, I’m not able to locate her on a passenger list.

Why did they immigrate? What was going on in Germany? Were there other family members in the United States? Well, there was a Revolutionary War in 1848 throughout Europe (the Potato Famine was one of the causes). These revolutions were attempting to transform the German Confederation (established in 1815) into a unified German federal state. The Confederation was dissolved in 1848 then was re-established in 1850. As part of the re-establishment, all concessions which had been made to democracy were withdrawn and further restrictive measures were introduced in 1851 and 1852.[3]

What did it cost to emigrate? How did they get from Goldenbow to Hamburg? How did they get from New York to Wisconsin?

Cost must have been expensive as they did not have a cabin but traveled “between decks”. According to Merriam-Webster dictionary, this is defined as “(1) the space below decks; the space below the main deck; (2) a deck below the main deck; specifically, a raised deck in the hold of a cargo ship”. Wiktionary defines it as “the space between any two decks of a ship or steerage on a passenger ship in which people who cannot afford a cabin travel”. The other questions will have to remain unanswered for the time being. The voyage was 66 days. It is believed they traveled from New York to Milwaukee by rail. Then by oxcart to get to Barton.[4]

Based on this research, I was able to determine the naturalization papers referenced in my original blog entry in 2014 did NOT pertain to my John Kludt. At this point in my research, I have not found evidence that he did become a US citizen.

Sources of Documents

Immigration Records

New York Passenger List