Cunningham, Norma Steines, The Letters of Frederick Steines (1802-1890), 1834-1840, 1999 (C2364)

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INTRODUCTION

The Letters of Frederick Steines by Norma Steines Cunningham is a translation of correspondence, poetry, and songs written by a Missouri immigrant who was the first German schoolmaster west of the Mississippi River. A copy of the letters in German can be found in the Frederick Steines Letters, 1834-1840, Collection C995, item 445.

DONOR INFORMATION

Norma Steines Cunningham donated her translation to the University of Missouri on 2 March 2000 (Accession No. 5829).

RESTRICTION

Consult with the reference staff about the restriction on this collection.

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH

Frederick Steines was born 4 December 1802 in Kettwig, a town on the Ruhr River in Rhenish Prussia, Germany. His parents were Johann Friedrich Wilhelm Steines, a leather dealer and shoemaker, and Anna Catharine Unterlehberg Steines. Frederick Steines excelled in school and began teaching at age fourteen while he was still a student. At eighteen he succeeded his late brother as a teacher in Neu Loehdorf, near Düsseldorf. With the exception of one year in the military, Steines taught in Neu Loehdorf from 1820 to 1834. He married Maria Gerdraute Broech on 7 October 1824. The couple had four children: Theresa Auguste (b. 1826), Friedrich Ernst (b. 1828), Ida Euphrosina (b. 1831), and Lebrecht Gotthilf (b. 1833).

Angered and frustrated by military and school authorities in his native land, Steines helped organize the Solingen Emigration Society. The group of 153 men, women, and children set sail for the United States on 17 April 1834. The party arrived in Baltimore in early June. Traveling by train, wagon, and steamboat, the immigrants reached St. Louis on July 2. They endured the arduous journey remarkably well, but within a week after arriving in St. Louis—then a haven for disease because of insufficient sanitation—Steines lost his wife and three of his four children to cholera. By the end of that year his last child was dead, as were his brother Peter and sister-in-law Hannchen. Steines became the guardian of their child Otto.

Steines purchased a farm along Tavern Creek in Franklin County, near the Missouri River. His parents lived nearby, as did his brother Hermann, who immigrated to Missouri in 1833. Steines married 16-year-old Bertha Herminghaus on 1 January 1835. After becoming engrossed in farming, he returned to teaching in early 1837 when a new German public school opened in St. Louis. After becoming seriously ill in 1838 however, he returned to the country permanently. In 1839 he established Oakfield Academy on his estate in Franklin County. The school remained in operation until 1869, and Steines taught for five more years in the public schools. Besides schoolmaster he held several other titles during his long life, including Justice of the Peace and postmaster of Oakfield. He died at his home 24 April 1890. Bertha, his wife of more than fifty-five years, died 22 July 1892.

A more detailed biography of Frederick Steines is available in William G. Bek's series "The Followers of Duden," which appeared in several volumes of the Missouri Historical Review beginning in October 1919. A brief Steines autobiography through age 27 is in MHR, Vol. XIV, Nos. 3-4, 447-458.

SCOPE AND CONTENT NOTE

The collection consists of bound, typed, English translations of the correspondence contained in the Frederick Steines Letters, 1834-1840 (C995, XV, 445). Also included are translations of several of Frederick Steines' poems and songs that are not in C995, XV, 445. The source for these was an unpublished master's thesis, "Frederick Steines, The First German Schoolmaster West of the Mississippi: A Poet," by Maria Elisabeth Steining. The inclusive dates of the poems and songs are unknown, although Steines wrote at least one, "Longing (To Julie)," before he immigrated to the United States. The University of North Dakota's Chester Fritz Library holds a copy of Steining's thesis.

Arranged in chronological order, the letters contain detailed information pertaining to immigration, ocean travel, German and American politics, German and American education, farm life, and his neighbors, among other topics. Steines also frequently commented on Gottfried Duden's Report on a Journey to the Western States of North America and a Stay of Several Years Along the Missouri (1829). Duden was a German who lived in present-day Warren County, Missouri, for three years, and his Report was a guide for many German immigrants, including the Steines family. The State Historical Society of Missouri published a translation of Duden's work in 1980.

Steines wrote many of his letters over the course of several days or even weeks. Most correspondence was addressed to his family in Germany, although it is clear that he intended for the letters to be circulated among friends and others considering immigration. While he was sometimes sympathetic with Duden, Steines was mostly critical of his pioneer predecessor.

A gifted writer with an extensive vocabulary, Steines wrote candidly and descriptively. Some of the most powerful passages relate to the deaths of his wife and children; he claimed to have a premonition of the death of his daughter Ida, and he blamed a fellow immigrant, Abraham Gottschalk, for the fact that his children contracted cholera. Although he embraced farm life at first, his later correspondence indicates that he grew weary of the toil. At times exuberant about his new life ("Long live America!"), Steines' final letters reveal his growing disenchantment ("A person just vegetates here."). His songs and poems reflect his strong spirituality. The main themes of these works are family, nature, love, and mourning.

Almost all notations in the collection were made by Adolf E. Schroeder, PhD., folklorist and Professor Emeritus of German at the University of Missouri-Columbia. Dr. Schroeder also provided the map of Rhenish Prussia that accompanies the work. As previously noted, researchers are advised to consult William G. Bek's series in the Missouri Historical Review, "The Followers of Duden." Although Bek's translations of the Steines letters are abbreviated and edited, additional biographical information is included in the series.

INDEX TERMS

These index terms are the subjects, people, places, etc. under which this collection is listed in all available indexes at the Western Historical Manuscript Collection-Columbia. If you are interested in a specific index term, please contact the reference staff.

• Duden, Gottfried (1785-1855)
• Farm life--Missouri, 1830s
• German Americans--Missouri, 1834-1840
• Herminghaus family
• Immigration and emigration, 1834-1840
• Missouri, Franklin County, 1834-1840
• Missouri, St. Louis, 1834-1840
• Missouri, Warren County, 1830s
• Missouri—Description and travel, 1834-1840
• Ocean travel, 1834
• Steines Family
• Steines, Bertha Herminghaus (1818-1892)
• Steines, Frederick (1802-1890)
• U.S.—Description and travel, 1834