by The Cousins Four

It was a hot, humid July 14st near Pekin, Illinois. Big, black, bold clouds were building from the West. It appeared a major thunderstorm would appear soon. Margaret hated these thunderstorms, but they were much like the storms in Webenheim, at least one thing the same as home. The storms were so intense and the lightening streaking through the darkened skies in odd and haunting shapes scared her half to death, even if they rarely hit the ground. She hoped the men working in the fields would get away from their metal equipment and come to the house for a break from the storm. She knew that may or may not happen.

She decided the best way to direct her attention was to write four letters. This afternoon would be a good time to do it. She needed to start today considering how long it took mail to get to the post office and picked up by the intended recipient. Understanding mail and how to use it was just one of the many things Margaret had learned in the last month.

Margaret was organizing a gathering, a celebration of sorts. She needed to inform and get the cooperation of her relatives who lived nearby. She was writing three sisters-in-law and one niece to invite them to come on Sunday, August 24. This day the Moschels now living in America would come together to celebrate the latest arrivals from Germany. Margaret was aware the gathering had a bigger purpose and that was to keep family together. When they all lived in Webenheim, it was easy to get together and know what was happening in each family. Now it was different. They lived farther apart now, and it would take effort to keep in touch.

Tazewell Co. in Illinois

Margaret's own departure from Webenheim began just a few months ago and ended here near Pekin, Illinois, in Tazewell County. The immediate family of Margaret strung out their trips to the new world as they needed to do so by expense and the difficult travel involved. Her step son Christian was first in 1853, then step daughter Louisa in 1854, and then her son Louis in 1860. This year, 1862, the rest of the family came which included herself, daughter Margaret, and sons Frederick, Charles, Jacob, and Daniel. The only child left in Webenheim was Catherine. She was too sick to travel to America this year. Her departure would have to be later.

The children and step children of Margaret worked like a well-oiled machine to get most of their family to the new world. Stepson Christian had worked as an indentured servant for one year after his arrival to both pay his passage and to save enough for his sister to come the following year. Then both of them worked for several years to make enough money for Louis' passage. With three of them in America, they worked several years to pay for the passages of those coming in 1862. The grand arrival date had been Saturday, June 14, and Margaret was still pinching herself to believe most of the family were now together. This was cause for celebration and her family was organizing the event, and rightly so, since they were the last to arrive. It was their turn to show appreciation to the rest of the Moschels for all they had done to help them through the last decade, a very difficult decade for the widow with seven children and two step children. But now they were in America and they would make a life here...together.

Margaret had been in Pekin just one month. Everything was strange and new, some things good and almost all different. She was beginning to get a routine going and that made things feel more stable. She could not have done this without her oldest stepchild, Louise. Louise had been in America for 8 years, married, and had a family. It was Louise and her husband, Jacob Mueller, who rented a house for them. Louise had been helped by the rest of the Moschels who lived in Illinois.

Margaret wanted to find a way to thank them ALL. She had planned this event in her mind over and over on the ship's arduous passage. When the seas were rough, she took her mind off of it by thinking of the day when she would thank all the Moschels for what they had done since her husband died in 1856. She tried to envision what it would be like to be in America and to connect with all the people who had been a part of her early life in Webenheim. It was time to bring reality to what she had planned so many times in her head before!

Margaret gathered her pen and paper and went into the morning room, at least it would be lighter there if the storm darkened the entire sky, which it looked like it might do. Her first letter was to sister-in-law Elizabeth Moschel, in Washington, Illinois, a small town about 15 miles away as the crow flies from Pekin, but a longer trip by the roads available.

Elizabeth was Margaret's one unmarried sister-in-law. Elizabeth lived with her brother John Moschel. Basically, Elizabeth had raised John's youngest daughters, her nieces, and had become an integral part of John's family after his wife died in 1856. John Moschel had been the leader in the family, bringing his family to America in 1853.

Margaret started the letter.

***

Washburn, Illinois in 1900

July 14, 1862
Dear Elizabeth,

I have not had time to write since we arrived on June 14. The last time I wrote I was half way around the world, and it's remarkable I am now so close. It was great to see John after so many years a couple of weeks ago, but I'm looking forward ever so much to seeing you. I miss seeing women of our generation! Our first month has gone better than I hoped it would. We are finding space for everyone and we are together, that's what matters. Frederick, Charles, Jacob and even Daniel are working in the fields today, a very storm threatening day as I'm sure it is up your way as well. All the agricultural practices are new and next year we will be breaking our own ground and raising corn as everyone else here does. All new; all strange.

I had the opportunity to go to Peoria once since we arrived, and I've been to Pekin a few times. Pekin seems like a good small town, and there are plenty of German immigrants here, particularly from Bavaria. I can do very well in town speaking German and do all the shopping and business I need to do. Louisa and her husband are members of St. Paul's German Evangelical Church and that is where we are going as well. Peoria is larger and seems to have all the German services we need. You must tell me which places you have found to be the best as far as bakers, furniture makers, harness makers, clothiers, candle maker. I will need to know what you think is best. Louise has some opinions but I would value yours.

As I told you over a year ago, as soon we got here I wanted to have a gathering. We want to do it on Sunday, August 24, in Pekin. Louise has arranged to have us meet at St Paul's German Evangelical Church and School in Pekin which is at the corner of 7th and Ann Eliza Street. Louisa and Margaret and I will plan for most of the food. If you could bring some bread and canned or fresh fruit, perhaps some blackberries by then, that would be good. I hope most of the 47 Moschels will be able to attend and Louisa is inviting a few neighbors...We're counting on 60 or more.

Here is what I would like from you. Please invite all of John's children in Washington and Washburn. I hope they and their families can all attend. I will write our niece Jacobina in Versailles and make a special invitation to her since they have the farthest to come. Since John, in most ways, is responsible for us all being here, we would like to acknowledge him that day. I will give some thought to how. I know my husband Christian would want his brother honored for being so kind to our family. We will do something, be assured of that.

Please write and let me know if anyone cannot come and if it is alright about the bread and fruit. We will make arrangements for all who come to either stay with us, or Nicholas and Susan, or Charlotte. Just let us know the numbers.

I so look forward to seeing you soon. We have a lot to catch up on and I am eager for you to see my children. It has been years since you have seen them, and I want you reacquainted with them now.

My love,
Margaret

***

Margaret was asking Elizabeth to invite and organize a total of 15 Moschels who lived in the Washington and Washburn area, including Elizabeth's only bachelor brother Frederick Moschel. This group of Moschels had been here the longest and were the most established as farmers. Margaret knew her sister-in-law would get the job done.

The next letter was to sister-in-law Susanna Moschel who was married to Nicholas Moschel, her husband's brother. They lived in Morton, Illinois, which was about 6 miles from Pekin. Margaret thought she might be able to talk her son Charles into riding the letter over to Susanna, or if not, she would mail it with Elizabeth's letter. This was the Moschel family (with the exception of their son Louis) who traveled to America in 1861 arriving in New York City on the ship Genges on June 10, 1861.

Nicholas and Susanna met Margaret and her children when they arrived last month in Pekin. They brought wagons to carry the load started in Webenheim to its final place in Pekin. Nicholas and Susanna had been a tremendous help to Margaret in the last month and she knew she would be counting on them for the next several months.

***

Note Pekin, Morton, Washington, & Peoria.Washburn is farther north.

July 14, 1862
Dear Susanna,

I have just written Elizabeth telling her about the gathering on Sunday, August 24. I've asked her to contact everyone up north and to bring bread and fruit and to let us know how many are coming. What do you want to bring? Anything in the line of vegetables would be fine...and fresh milk come to think of it. We will roast the pig, make the rest of the food, and provide the beer.

Let me know what you want to bring and how many family can stay with you.

My love,
Margaret

***

The last sister-in-law Margaret wrote was Charlotte Moschel Scherer, who lived in Peoria proper which was 7 miles up the Illinois River and on the other side. Post was the best way to get a letter to her and she knew Charlotte traveled to the Post Office twice a week.

Charlotte had made a big effort to see Margaret and her family when they arrived a month ago and greeted them with great enthusiasm bringing each a welcoming gift to America.

Margaret could understand Charlotte's actions and her need for family. Charlotte, her husband's sister, had not left Webenheim in the best of circumstances. Charlotte, always a bit head strong, did not get along well with her father-in-law in Webenheim. Charlotte pleaded with her husband to come to America and make a new start without his parents, but he would not. Charlotte took matters into her own hands and in the dark of night took her son, Jacob, out of the house and traveled to LeHavre to catch a ship to America. What then transpired was the talk of Webenheim for long after. Charlotte's husband went to LeHavre and found Charlotte and his son and asked them both to return. The son did. Charlotte did not. She went to America. And that was Charlotte. She made her own life...her own way. Margaret heard the gossip and name calling in Webenheim. People talked behind her back because it was her sister-in-law, but Margaret liked her spirit.Charlotte was certainly good to her family and that was what mattered now.

***

July 14, 1862
Dear Charlotte,

I have just written Elizabeth and Susanna regarding our gathering on the Sunday, August 24. I have asked Elizabeth to bring bread and fruit and Susanna to bring any vegetables and milk. We will supply the pig, other food, and beer. That leaves you with your speciality, dessert. Bring anything your creative hands want to make and is transportable across the river. I am not sure if you want to go to all the work for schwarzwalder-kirschtorte. If you are willing to do it, we will have all the ingredients here to make on the spot on Saturday. I am counting on 47 Moschels and a few neighbors, count on 60. People are going to be staying with us and Susanna, and I'm sure you could keep a few of the people from up north as well if needed on Sunday and Monday nights.

Please tell Christian of our plans. His daughter, Louise, would be among the youngest there, and it would not surprise me that Louisa is pregnant again or at least I thought so when you were here a couple of weeks ago.

My love,
Margaret

***

The last reference Margaret made was to have Charlotte tell her nephew Christian Moschel, who also lived in Peoria with his wife and young daughter, about the gathering. Christian was the son of Phillipp Moschel, one of the two older Moschel brothers who remained in Webenheim. Charlotte had taken Christian under her wing since his arrival in America in 1858. It benefitted both. Charlotte needed a son...and Christian needed a mother/father. All's well that ends well, as Margaret was fond of saying.

Margaret had one last letter to write. This time it was to her niece, Jacobina Moschel Sandmeyer, who lived in Versailles, Illinois, near the Illinois River about 35 miles downriver from Pekin. If Jacobina and her husband, George, would come, it would be by steamboat.

***

Versailles is near Beardstown.

July 14, 1862
Dearest Niece,

I have written everyone before you, and have left the farthest to last. I'm sorry that I have not written since we arrived.

We were thrilled you and George came to see us on the steamboat just before we arrived in Pekin. It was our first taste of family in America and it meant ever so much to us that you came over to the river to meet us. We are all safely here now and we are settling in.

Now I'm writing you about the gathering of the Moschels planned on Sunday, August 24. I hope you and George and young John can come. If you can, you are welcome to stay with us. You don't need to bring a thing, except what you will need to get you here. We will treat you like royalty if you come. I hope most of the 47 Moschels who live in this area will be here, and if you come, it will be extra special. We intend to do something special for your father, John. I don't know what yet, but I'll think about it.

Please do let me know if you can come. I hope the answer is yes.

Your aunt,
Margaret

***

The letters were written and ready to post. By writing Margaret had a better idea of what needed to be done in the weeks before the gathering. She knew her daughters Margaret and Louisa would help her carry the lion's share of the work, but she would get it organized. In order to do that she started to make a list. Yes, a list, that would get things out of her mind. Let's see, Margaret conjured, we will make a real Webenheim meal...dampfnudeln, pastete, and saumagen. Yes, it will be an old taste in a new world. A place we now call home.

Margaret smiled as she became to think of what might happen on August 24. As Margaret looked out the window she had not taken notice while writing how much the weather had changed. It was still dark and cloudy, but not nearly as threatening as when she started. It will rain, sure, but it will be a good rain needed by the crops and that will make the men happy. And she was happy just thinking of getting everyone together.

***

Bavaria in 1862

It was Tuesday, August 26, late in the evening and Margaret was very tired, a good kind of tired from having busy days and knowing a good thing had come to an end. Even though Margaret was exhausted, she had one very important thing to do. Write Catherine. Her youngest daughter was 13 and still lived in Webenheim with her uncle and aunt, Phillipp and Louise Moschel.

August 26, 1862

My Dearest Catherine,

I wanted to write before the blush of the last few days were gone. The last Moschel family member just left this morning. Dearest Catherine, ALL 47 Moschels came to the gathering on Sunday, some arrived late Saturday, and some stayed through this morning! The only sad thing about the whole affair was you were not here. I hope that changes soon!

I don't know how to give you a flavor of the family. I must remember you do not remember your Uncle John and his family because they left when you were only four. But you would like all your first cousins, I can assure you of that and we will take a trip to Washington and Washburn after you arrive so you can see their farms. Actually, I have not been there yet, but I will write and let you know what it is like up there soon.

And all of Nicholas and Susanna's children were here. Your cousin Frederick now has a girlfriend, named Christine, she seems quite nice and I think she will be added to the family before you get here. And even young George brought a girlfriend to the gathering, a bit young to do such a thing I thought, but his parents did not seem to object.

Your sisters Louisa and Margaret and I worked for days getting ready for the gathering. Louisa's young children were under foot the entire time, but we managed. From the August 11 on, we spent all our spare moments making food, cleaning the house, and getting the church/school ready.

Tell your Aunt Louise she can be proud of us. We managed to have a true Webenheim meal in the middle of Illinois. We roasted a pig and served dampfnudeln, pastete, and saumagen.* (*editor's note - For the uninitiated, dampfnudeln is leavened dough fried in a covered pan; pastete is leavened dough that is filled with salted meat from the neck of the pig and onions. Saumagen is the stomach of a slaughtered pig filled with meat, potatoes, and spices, and is retied and boiled and fried.)

The funniest thing was seeing your brothers Frederick and Charles trying to chase the pig before roasting it. We decided to make it a little bit of an event and greased the pig. All the young boys got into the pen and there was a prize for the boy who captured it. Frederick and Charles were dirtier than the pig by the time it was over, and everyone was laughing so hard it hurt. But the boy who actually caught the pig was your brother Jacob. At 11, that made him the proudest boy there.

There were other games and lots of singing and telling stories about old days in Webenheim and how we missed the ones that were not here. We talked of you often.

Tell your Uncle Phillipp we had a special moment for his brother John. We all feel indebted to him for leading the way to America. I made a special embroidery piece with thank you words and Louis made a frame for it. I had everyone sign on the back of the frame before we presented it to him. He said little, but I could tell it meant a lot to him.

Please give a hug to everyone and particularly to your cousin Caroline. I'm sure you and she are having great fun and probably acting more like sisters than cousins. Tell us all the news of the family there and of the village. We miss hearing what is happening. By the time you get this it will probably be about time for Kirmes. I hope you all enjoy the festival.

Remember your family is waiting for the day when you can join us. I think you would like it here. We have German schools, churches, newspapers, singing groups, and it's as much like home as we can make it. We pray the day you can come is not too far away. I miss you terribly.

Your loving mother,

***

Margaret could write no more. She was crying as she wrote the last sentence to Catherine. Margaret had tremendous reasons to be happy. All of her children but Catherine were in America. They had a place to live. The boys were going to be involved in farming. Her step daughter Louisa was married to a fine man and had fine children. She and daughter Margaret would build a good life together until she found the right man. And then...well, Margaret would not think of that right now. She had a life to lead here in 1862 in Illinois. She must raise her younger sons Jacob and Daniel. She wondered if her older four sons would have to go off to this Civil War everyone was talking about all the time. She wondered when Margaret might meet a good fellow; and, most important, she had to get Catherine over here.

It was a new life here in the new world, but not one she would have chosen. She would have preferred her husband Christian to have been a part of all of this, and shared both the joys and responsibility. But this is where she was, and she was going to make the best of it.

***

Dear Reader...stop for a few seconds to contemplate this woman's life. Margaret was born in 1813 in Einod, Germany, not far from Webenheim. We know little about her parents other than their names and they had 10 children. We don't know why she moved from Einod to Webenheim and apparently her parents did not move. What we do know is at age 24 she married Christian Moschel who was a widower with two children, ages 7 and 5. Christian and Margaret then had 9 more children together, the first dying at age 1 ½ years and then 7 children who lived to adulthood, 5 boys and two girls, and a last child born after her husband died, only living six months.

At age 42 after delivering her 9th baby, Margaret's husband died. By that time her stepson Christian had gone to America, indicating that was the intention of the entire family. Her step daughter Louisa was on her way to America two years before her father died.

What should Margaret do? It is obvious they went forward with the plan for the entire family to go to America. Margaret was the only Moschel wife that did this without her husband, not counting her sister-in-law, Charlotte, who left her husband and child in Webenheim. Eventually all Margaret's children would get to America. The worries facing the woman in 1862 are monumental. The Civil War, which had not started when her first stepson emigrated, was in full swing. She had 5 sons and a stepson of military age. One big reason for German men leaving German was to avoid the draft. Then there were the worries of making a living, becoming a part of a new culture with a different language and many different values, and trying to keep in contact with the old culture and family.

Margaret was 48 when she moved to America. For whatever combination of reasons she decided to cast her lot with America, the unknown, instead of Germany, the known. What courage this must have taken. Think about it.