Part of a Wave of German Immigrants: Hoffmans, Funks, and Streus
Johann Friedrich Streu: 1808-1883 (Maternal Third-Great Grandfather)
Friederica Christina Dethloff Streu: 1804-1883
Sophia Maria Christiane Streu: 1840-1922 (Maternal Second-Great Grandmother)
Johannes Heinrich Wilhelm Hoffman: 1836-1906 (Maternal Second-Great Grandfather)
Charles Nicolas Funk: 1817-1889 (Maternal Second-Great Grandfather)
A friend who is also working on her family tree recently
asked me if my German ancestors were “Forty-eighters”. I had no idea what the
term meant, and headed off to do some research. Wikipedia provided me with a
basic working definition of the group:
“The Forty-eighters
(48ers) were Europeans who participated in or supported the Revolutions of 1848
that swept Europe, particularly those who were expelled from or emigrated from
their native land following those revolutions…In the German Confederation, the
Forty-eighters favoured unification of Germany, a more democratic government,
and guarantees of human rights.” (3)
Wikipedia noted that after the revolutions failed, many of
these supporters elected to emigrate, heading for Australia, the United
Kingdom, and the United States. Ancestry’s article on German immigration
stated:
“Between 1848 and
1861, many Germans, known as “Forty-Eighters”, immigrated to the United States.
While the exact numbers are unknown, the best estimates are that between 4,000
and 10,000 Forty-Eighters immigrated along with many other Germans who arrived
at that time.” (2)
“Forty-Eighters could
be found across the Midwestern landscape from the Dakotas to Ohio.” (2)
.jpg)
Illustration of Forty-Eighters boarding ships to emigrate from Germany
So were my German ancestors part of this movement? First, I
needed to check on the years they arrived in the United States—did their
arrival dates fall within the period from 1848 to 1861?
Yes, they all did. My second-great-grandfather Johannes
Heinrich Wilhelm Hoffman (Americanized name of Henry), was born in Oedelum,
Hanover, Germany on June 4, 1836, and arrived in the United States in 1855 at
the age of nineteen. He would have only been twelve years old when the
attempted 1848 revolution occurred, so it seems unlikely he was involved in the
movement, unless his family members, who all remained in Germany, were
supporters.
 |
| Henry and Sophia Hoffman |
Henry’s eventual wife and my second-great-grandmother, Sophia
Maria Christiane Streu, was born May 29, 1840 in Mecklenburg, Germany, to
parents Johann and Freidrica Streu. The family seems to have arrived in America
in 1857 when Sophia was sixteen. Her family moved to the Milwaukee area, and
that is where Sophia met and married Henry. Milwaukee was one of the areas that
Forty-Eighters settled in, so Sophia’s father Johann could have been a follower
of the movement.
My remaining German immigrant ancestor was another
second-great-grandfather, Charles Nicolas Funk, the father of my
great-grandmother Hellena Funk. Charles was born May 12, 1817 in Prussia. He appears
on the 1860 census as a cabinetmaker in Oskaloosa, Iowa, and was naturalized November
8, 1864. His arrival date in America is unclear, but was obviously prior to the
1860 census and at least five years before his 1864 naturalization—five years
of continuous residence was required by the government. He was certainly old
enough to have been involved in 1848, and as a cabinetmaker, he shared some of
the characteristics of Forty-Eighters, who were more likely to have been
educated or tradesmen rather than the very poor.
What other characteristics did the Forty-Eighters share?
Many of them joined the Turners or formed Turner groups in the United States. According
to Wikipedia, “Turners are members of German-American gymnastic clubs called
Turnvereine. They promoted German culture, physical culture, and liberal
politics.” (4) I don’t believe any of my
second-great-grandparents were members.
In addition, many Forty-eighters supported the Union in the
Civil War. While I know that Charles Funk registered for the Union draft, he
was already in his mid-forties by that time, so he was apparently never drafted
and never served. Henry Hoffman also registered for the draft while living in
Wisconsin in 1863, but also never served. He continued to farm and father more
children throughout the war years before moving to Minnesota in 1870.
I do know that all three families—Hoffman, Streu and Funk—ended
up settling near Mankato, Minnesota. As seen in the map below, that area of
southeastern Minnesota welcomed large numbers of German immigrants. Mankato had
a German-language Lutheran church that my ancestors attended, and a large
German population. The nearby community of New Ulm was all German, and was
definitely settled by Forty-Eighters. New Ulm still has an active Turner Hall
and Turner group.
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| 1872 map of German population, courtesy of Wikimedia Commons |
There is no definitive evidence proving that my three German
ancestors arrived as part of the Forty-Eighters movement, although all of them
arrived around the same time period and settled near the Forty-Eighter
community of New Ulm, Minnesota. I will never know whether their political
beliefs led to their decision to emigrate or if they were simply part of a
larger German migratory movement. Ancestry reports that nearly six million
Germans immigrated between 1820 and 1910, and only a small percentage of those
migrants were Forty-Eighters.
Sources:
1. “German Immigration in 1848. https://www.ancestry.com/historical-insights/migration-settlement/immigration/german-immigration-1848
2. The Forty-Eighters of Germany Come to America. https://www.junctionbooks.net/blog-2/the-forty-eighters-of-germany-come-to-america
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