The following was extracted from "Autobiography of the Zellhoefer Family" by Rev George G Zellhoefer after 1921, describing the voyage of his grandmother, her children George (GGZ's father) & Christina with assorted others in party. We have since found that this was the voyage of the ship Telegraph which departed Bremen abt 2 May 1846 and finally made it to New York on 17 Aug 1846. Note that GGZ was not on the voyage, but rather relating tales heard from his elders, and written many years later when GGZ was the last remaining child, so all "hearsay" and GGZ definitely suffering from both his age and perhaps failing memory, but interesting nonetheless.
--------------------------------- "... By the time this understanding was agreed upon, spring of 1846 was close at hand. The farm and stock had been sold and must be relinquished to the purchaser, and the house vacated in time for the new owner to move his house furnishings, the spinning wheels and weaving looms, etc., iron bound chests and boxes, save the necessary clothing, bedding and cooking utensils, etc., were packed into large strong homespun linen sacks easy to carry on a man's back. For about two weeks the family made farewell visits among the numerous friends and neighbors, the two married daughters had also come to bid their Mother, brothers and sisters "good-bye." Then by about the middle of April, the first leg of the long journey began by wagon transportation to Mannheim on the Rhine. By the time the party was aboard ship ready to sail towards the golden west, the month of May had well advanced. Through the English Channel, the weather and sailing were fine but 100 leagues out on the Atlantic, the voyagers struck heavy winds from the West that piled up the rolling waves as high as the tallest building on terra firma. The captain of the three-masted schooner ordered the sails set so as to drive the ship north to northwest which course gave the ship a peculiar slant and caused her to roll and lurch diagonally over the tops of the oncoming waves. Only tried sailors could navigate the deck without being pitched over the ship's rail into the boiling sea. All passengers were ordered to remain below decks in the dark cabins, lighted only by tallow candles fastened to the walls. All the hatches and vents were securely battened down in order to keep the waters from the great combers that broke over the ship's rail and flooded the deck, sometimes to a depth of three and four feet, from filling the ship's hold and drowning all the passengers. This storm kept up for three days without a respite. The majority of the passengers were seasick and were strewn around in their straw-filled bunks. Those that were not sick attended to the sick as best they could without having their heads cracked against the timbers by the constant lurching of the ship. Finally the ship got so far to the North that she encountered icebergs and snow storms and every one aboard ship shivered from the cold, and still the head winds blew a gale. One night the Captain gave orders to tack ship. The turn to the South was successfully made, though the ship's timbers creaked, groaned and shivered. Passengers were pitched or rolled out of their berths onto the floor and the waves poured over the ship to such an extent that at one time she seemed to be completely buried beneath the raging waters. All the passengers thought their last day had come and would never see daylight again. But they did not sink. When daylight appeared, the ship was headed south by southwest, and now the rolling of the ship was reversed. Gastronomical sensations also changed, some felt relief while others experienced a more intensified seasickness. As the ship advanced towards more southern latitudes, the air grew warmed, the sun broke through the clouds but the wind, though with much less force, steadily blew from the West. George, through all this storm and turmoil of the sea, never once felt even the smallest twinge of seasickness. He was the only one of his party to escape this dreaded malady. It kept him busy day and night attending to the wants and needs of his family. He was cook, nurse, chambermaid, doctor and whatnot. He was the first of the passengers to reappear on deck after the turn southward had been made. The two girls (brides to be) occupied a berth or bunk together and assisted each other nobly and without help from others. But when the weather had moderated to such an extent that it was safe for escorted women to appear on deck, George invited the two girls to come on deck with him. Which they did. But when they were the high but now lazily rolling waves coming toward them and throwing the broken spray high over the prow of the ship, they took alarm and retreated to their cabin below deck. After several days more of the gradually dying down of the wind and the waves, George persuaded his girl, whose name was Anna, to come on deck with him for fresh air and a little promenade. She accepted and of course the little ship, of only eight-hundred tons burthen, still heaved and twisted her neck over the rollers which gave a landsman poor footing for a straight walk, so George had taken Anna by the arm in order to steady her. This close and warm contact of the two bodies caused a peculiar though pleasant sensation to course through the veins of both, and as they promenaded back and forth and talked of their future prospects in the new land, if they ever reached 1t, they became more confidential toward each other. George had wonderful ambitions -- what all he was going to do, what a fine farm he was going to make, how many cows, oxen, hogs, sheep he was going to raise for market, etc. Anna in return said the first thing she was going to do was to get a position in some Yankee's farmer's home in order to quickly learn American housekeeping and butter making. So the days on board ship passed, one by one, and the days passed into weeks and the weeks into months. The ship was still headed towards Brazil; the wind was still from a westerly direction, sometimes veering for short periods to the Northwest. The air grew hot and hotter as the ship clipped southwest. The promenading of passengers on deck became numerous and more regular. George and Anna grew closer together and their promenades on deck became more regular. Confidences of a more intimate nature were exchanged, the seeds of conjugal love began to sprout, and one day as they were strolling together in the hot sun that scorched the deck and drew blisters on the paint on the deck house, they had come well toward the prow of the ship where a furled sail cast a shadow on some folded shrouds lying on deck. "This is a good place for a tee-a-tee between lovers, make use of this opportune invitation and rest a while in the cool shade." Inspirationally, the two lovers sat down side by side very close together. George was telling Anna for "the Nth" time of his aspirations in the new country; how he would first of all secure some land, build a house and barn of logs and as soon as the dam was built across the Bark River and the saw mill put up to turn trees into boards and scantlings, he would cut the large trees on his land and haul them in winter, when the deep snow was on the ground, on a sled to the saw mill and so get plenty of lumber to build a regular frame house. "But you see, my dear Anna, to do all this I must first have a wife as a companion and helper". Anna had listened without saying a word or giving a sign that she understood what George was driving at, only now she said: "Yes, that is true, you will need a wife if you are going to do all you say you intend doing." George slid closer to Anna and started talking again while her eyes locked straight ahead out over the vast and deep blue Atlantic. George's left arm stole softly around Anna's waist without her seemingly noticing it. He pressed his face closer to her ear and in a low voice said, "Anna, I want you to accept that position as wife to me and helper in making the farm of my dream. Will you do it? And then our future is solved and our fortune made together." While thus speaking, the muscles in his left arm grew taut and gently pressed her to his heart. Her answer was, "Yes, I will", and turned her face up to receive the sealing kiss of her promise. Meanwhile, the other girl whose name was Charlotte had been looking for her chum and found the two beneath the reaved sail in each other's arms. "So that's what you two are doing, you are nice ones to play such a deceitful trick as this, how long has this been going on, etc. etc.?" She played fast and loose, but all to no avail. The two lovers laughed at her and George said, "Just wait until you meet Leonhart, you've been promised to him over two years and when we get to Rome we will have a double wedding and then you will be my sister, which is something to highly appreciate." Then Mother Zellhoefer was informed of George's and Anna's engagement, and she said, "Well that is what I had anticipated and why Anna had been induced to come with us to America." By this time the ship had sailed as far south as the northern edge of the Saragossa sea and the wind had almost died down completely. Again the ship's nose was turned northwestward, a light wind still being from the West. The heat during the day was oppressive and almost unendurable. The ship's drinking water became very warm and almost foul, the people had to boil it and cool it off at night, worms had gotten into the bread, all vegetables were consumed, only some potatoes were still at hand. Butter and lard had become rancid. Coffee, tea and sugar still held out; also the salt pork and beef packed in strong brine in large barrels. Of course canned fruits and vegetables were unknown in those days. The month of September was drawing near and the ship's population had not seen or tested any green things so far that year. Salt meat, potatoes, hard ship bread, coffee, tea and sugar in small doles, constituted the menu for the passengers. Several passengers, a man, a woman and two children had become sick and died, their bodies sewed in canvas and iron weights attached to the feet and the bodies slipped off a plank into the sea. As the ship crept north westward still bucking a westerly wind, the weather became more tolerable and also more stormy. Heavy clouds appeared coming from the West and by late afternoon the wind and rain hit the ship, sails were spread on deck in such a way that the rain water thereon caught was directed into large casks. The storm increased in violence, veering off to the Northwest. It blew with such violence that the ship had to be tacked with the wind. The Captain did not want to risk another turning like the previous one that nearly scuttled the ship with its load of human freight, as the ship was allowed to drive before the wind with just enough sail up to keep the boat steady. When this storm had exhausted itself and the wind veered to east by northeast, the Captain told George that they were 600 miles nearer Europe than they were several days ago, made them disconsolate indeed. But strange to say, after the storm passed on the Southeast, the wind began to veer off to the east and finally to the Northeast. Coming from that direction, and increasing in velocity, the ship was soon under a full head of sail and speeding with the wind toward New York at a tremendous clip. This breeze held good until the ship reached New York harbor and landed its passengers at Castle Garden, the free for immigrant station. It is now the latter part of September. The immigrants had been aboard ship just fourteen weeks and three days, and still a long way to go before reaching their destination. Going along the docks and streets of New York, everywhere they looked there were all sorts of fruits and vegetables staring them in their faces. Even before they sought or chose lodging places, they purchased fruits, melons, cucumbers, etc., and devoured them right on the spot. In New York the company of family spent a number of days. Arrangements had to be made for transshipment of their goods as well as passage secured for Buffalo and Milwaukee and then too, All the wonderful things to be had to eat at such low prices, who knows when, if ever, there would be another chance to get such wonderful things to eat, so let's eat our fill for this is America the land of wealth and great abundance. Of course they should have known better than to indulge so heavily in these unaccustomed fruits and vegetables after months of such diet as they had aboard ship. Still who could blame them, no one told them of the tremendous price they would have to pay for this orgy of over indulgence. Soon after, others of the party became sick with colic, diarrhea and loss of appetite. They became very disgusted with New York's unhealthfulness, bad water, unclean streets, etc., and hurried to resume their journey. The railroad having been completed from New York to Albany, they went by rail at the great speed of 15 miles per hour to that town, and then over the Erie Canal to Buffalo. Nearly all of the party were still sick, some almost dangerously ill with dysentery. They were two weeks on the water from Buffalo to Milwaukee and about a week and a half from New York to Buffalo, so by the time they landed at Milwaukee the fall of the year was well advanced." "RonKZ" Wisconsin>Arizona USA http://zelltree.com Legacy User Group Etiquette guidelines can be found at: http://www.LegacyFamilyTree.com/Etiquette.asp To find past messages, please go to our searchable archives at: http://www.mail-archive.com/legacyusergroup%40mail.millenniacorp.com/ To unsubscribe please visit: http://www.legacyfamilytree.com/LegacyLists.asp
