A New Life in America
The Struggles and Realities of a German Family on the Western Frontier
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Since it was exceptionally quiet, I carefully unlocked the doors and peeked out of the cellar. I was thankful that the cabin was not harmed. I had heard that these types of storms completely destroy houses and barns. As I went up the steps ever so slowly, I could see tree branches, large ones, laying out in the yard, for they had broken off from several of the trees in our yard. When I went outside and stood on the porch, I could see the black mass that looked like a funnel to me, moving on away from us. It was moving from side to side, and, as it moved, I could see trees snapping and branches flying all around it. It was moving off toward our neighboring farm. I prayed that they had a root cellar like ours, and I also prayed that they were in it. Anna and the rest of the family joined me outside. We stood there mesmerized by what just took place. “Wilhelm, what was that?” Anna asked. “Anna, it was a tornado which is a very dangerous storm.” As far as I could tell, nothing had been damaged on my farm. As I looked over towards John Adolph’s place, his, too, looked as if it didn’t have any damage. When the rain came, it rained all afternoon and the next day. We could see Mill Creek rising up, and at a fast pace. I was thinking that the tornado had blocked the flow of the creek in some way, that maybe some downed trees had blocked it off. However, I was not going to go out in this rain to investigate if it did. “What should we do, Papa?” Adolph asked. “We will have to wait until morning, when the rains die down, if they are going to, and then we will try to clear the creek.” The rains did not stop that next morning either, and the creek kept rising and was now within a couple of feet from the top of the bank. It was not far from dangerously overflowing into our yard. That night, I felt uneasy when we finally went to bed, so I would get up and go out and check the rising creek. It was at the top of the bank by now and was starting to overflow. There was lots of debris flowing down the now violent waters of the creek, as well. I thought I had seen a couple of cows in the water, but was unable to help them. They were probably dead by now, anyway. Just before I went to sleep, I thought I could hear the water closer than ever before, and wasn’t all too certain that it was just my imagination. Before sleep overtook me, I resolved that in the morning, I would take Karl and Adolph and try to unblock the creek. It wasn’t long after that, that I went to sleep. Startled, I jumped up to my feet and was standing knee deep in water. Someone was yelling, I think it was little Mary. She was crying and screaming that we were going to drown, so Anna Sibilla went to her and got her up. As everyone joined us, we decided that we needed to get out of the cabin before it got swept away. I thought I could feel it moving or was it just my imagination. I really did hear the side of the cabin start to give when it was hit by something coming down the creek, though. “Hurry, climb out that window and get in the tree! C’mon, Anna, get the children out there. Karl, climb up there and throw us this rope!” Funny things cross your mind in the time of trouble and turmoil. I knew that it was not a good idea to build next to the creek for some reason but was too darn stubborn to change my mind. I almost said something to that fact, but checked myself. This was definitely not the time to bring such matters up, but I surely will address it later. John Adolph went along with me on the location to build, but wisely built his up a bit from the creek on higher ground. He will be very glad that he did, I’m sure. Karl climbed out the window into the large sycamore tree that was next to the cabin for shade. “Here, Papa, catch the rope and hurry up. I can see the cabin moving.” Adolph went next so that he could help Karl get the rest of the children up into the tree. Then Anna climbed out of the window, and I noticed that she looked so frail and worried. I climbed out next and got settled up in the tree with the rest of the family and all of a sudden, the cabin broke loose and started swirling in the water. As it moved away, it started breaking apart because of all of the debris that was in the water that kept hitting it. Anna and the children were crying. Karl, Adolph and I were not crying, but were sitting there staring into the blackness of the night and thinking about all the hard work that was floating down the creek, not to mention all of our belongings. I tried to look over towards John Adolph’s cabin, but couldn’t make anything out. One good thing is that he was located up on a knoll. I was thinking that he should be all right. We were up in the tree all night. Cold, wet, and hungry, we watched the waters of the creek subside. When it finally reached its banks once again, we were able to climb down out of the tree and into the mud.
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About the Book
This is a story of a family that had a vision and saw it through to the end. The Hankammer Family had no other choice but to give up their homeland and move to another country with only the possessions they could put into a travel trunk, in order to start a new life. Upon arrival in America, they took what little they had and traveled half-way across this continent by flatboat and wagon train to settle on the western frontier with little or no understanding of the turmoil and strife around them between a government wanting to push west and a native resident not willing to give up their land. Wilhelm and Anna Sibilla's son, Adolph, left home to be a soldier in the U.S. Army, joining company K of the 11th Kansas volunteers, a German Regiment, and fought in the war between the North and South. His letters home to his brother-in-law John Schwanke and his sister Wilhelmina Schwanke, expresses his feelings, misunderstandings, the environment he lived in, and desires to move forward once the war is over. His letters are featured in Appendix I of this book These letters have been translated from the original German text to English. The story doesn't end here. A restless Adolph mustered back into the Army and ended up at the Platte River Bridge in Wyoming only to fight one last battle to secure safe passage for the settlers moving west, which was propagated by the Sand Creek Massacre in Southeast Colorado. Gary Damron Author
About the Author
Gary Damron was born in a small Southern Illinois town located on the Ohio River. In 1966 he served in the U.S. Army for two years. Shortly after, he moved to Montreal, Canada, attended McGill University and taught high school for several years. He now resides and works as an Engineer in Raleigh, North Carolina. He has previously authored two children's books and now this historical/fictional work. After researching his own family genealogy back to 1652 in Northumberland County, Virginia, he decided to research his wife's family history. Having researched this lineage for several years and visiting Alma, Topeka, and Lawrence, Kansas, as well as Caspar, Wyoming, site of the Platte River Bridge, Millstadt, Illinois (original place of settlement in this country for the Hankammer Family), traipsing through various cemeteries, museums, and spending endless hours researching the archives, he discovered that the more he researched, the more intrigued he became. Concluding that he has discovered a family of true pioneers amongst the reams of notes, photographs, and written conversations. For this reason he authored "A New Life in America", for this is a story that must be told. This historical/fictional work about the Hankammer Family History speaks for itself.