Crossing

Cutting Bait

August Gautsch was one of many sons of Franz Anton and Brigitta Gautsch on Farm 80 in Dobern [today's Dobrna], Northern Bohemia, Austria. Little is known of his early years, but in 1867 he was a bricklayer. He was 31, single, and ready to emigrate: The economy was miserable, and the Prussian army had just beat the Austrians at nearby Königsgrätz. But he had brothers in Amerika, and the Civil War was over. So, he bought a ticket from one of the itinerant ticket agents.

August's neighbor, the shoemaker Josef Böhm, received the following confirmation letter from the travel agency in Bremen:

"Mr Franz Josef Boehm, 41 Habendorf, P. O. Bensen, Bohemia.
Bremen, March 21, 1867

Your dear letter of March 18th brought us down payment for the following passengers

for your own family - 4 persons - 20 Prussian dollars

for Franziska & Anna Rehnelt - 2 persons - 10 Prussian dollars

for Benjamin Krische - 1 person - 10 Austrian guilders

for August Lorenz - 1 person - 10 Austrian guilders
and we proceeded to book passage for them on a sailing vessel leaving for New York on May 1, as shown in the attached contract.
If you get here in the evening of April 30, or with the train arriving here at 7 AM on May 1, it will be early enough. You need to arrange for timely departure from Bodenbach accordingly.

For the Austrian bills you sent, we only received 15 groats per guilder, so the contract only reflects a down payment of 5 dollars per person.
If there are other travellers wanting to join you, they shouldn't tarry with the down payment, since the places are much in demand and filling up quickly.
Yours respectfully, Muehlenbrock, Meyer & Co."

Many emigrants utilized these low-cost offers. Ships returning from a delivery put up temporary walls and cots in the cargo hold, to accommodate "steerage" passengers. Steamer tickets cost 7 times more than steerage, in 1867.

First Train Ride

In the last days of April, the emigrants boarded a train at Bodenbach [Podmokly], across from Tetschen [Decin] on the Elbe river. It took them across the border to Dresden, the capital of the Kingdom of Saxony. Then to Berlin, capital of the Kingdom of Prussia. Then west past Brunswick, capital of the Duchy of Brunswick, and through Hanover, which had been annexed by the Prussians the year before, for siding with the Austrians.

On May 1, they arrived in Bremen, an independent city state and major hub for emigrants. Bremen had a booming new port at Geestemünde [now called Bremerhaven], close to the North Sea and with a railroad connection, so -- since the letter above only talks about getting to Bremen -- their ship must have sailed from Bremen proper.

The Ship

A bark is a three-masted sailing vessel, the fore and main masts are square-rigged, while the (third) mizzen mast is rigged fore-and-aft.

The bark Tuisko was built in Brake, Grandduchy of Oldenburg, downstream from Bremen, in 1855. She was 46 m [150 ft] long and 9.5 m [31 ft] wide. After a decade in service, her hull had been iron-plated in Sept. 1866. In her youth she had sailed as far as Adelaide, Australia. By now, she was commuting twice a year between Bremen and New York, once before the hurricane season, once right afterwards.

The Voyage

The Tuisko sailed on or about May 1, 1867 for New York. It took her 48 days to get there. For comparison, this is what the New York Herald reported about her second trip in 1867:

Arrived Friday, 8 November 1867 - Bremen bark Tuisko, Gerlach master, 40 days from Bremen, in ballast and with 250 passengers, to Reinhard & Seidenburg. "Had strong westerly gales during the passage. Oct. 20, lat. 44:10, lon. 33, spoke ship Louise (Brem), from St. Jago [Santiago de Chile] for Bremen." If strong westerly gales make for a 40-day crossing, the 48 days in late spring must have been even rougher weather.

Immigration

The Tuisko arrived in New York on June 17, 1867. No Statue of Liberty, no Ellis Island yet. The point of immigration was Castle Garden, the old 'Clinton Castle', a fortification at the southern tip of Manhattan. It now showcases the Manhattan Aquarium.

At Castle Garden, everybody had to pass a basic health inspection before being admitted. The story that people were assigned Anglicized names is just that, a story. Some opted for a simplified spelling later, at naturalization. At Castle Garden, the officials worked from the ship's manifests that were prepared and submitted by the ship's captains.

The Tuisko's passenger list shows, among many others:

Joseph Boehm (45), a shoemaker

his wife Anna (34)

their daughter Anna (8) Castle Garden

their son August (2)
-- all home town: Dobern; headed for Wisconsin

Franziska Rehnelt (27), servant, a neighbor

her sister Anna (17), a servant
-- from "Germany"; headed for Wisconsin

Benjamin Kriesche (26), a locksmith
-- from "Germany"; no destination given

August Gautsch (31), a mason
-– home town: Dobern; no destination given

Second Train Ride

Immigrants with a midwest destination in 1867 probably took the train to Chicago. From Chicago there were two possible connections to La Crosse: either via Dodge Center, Minn. or by way of Milwaukee.

August found work as a plasterer in La Crosse. In 1871, he married.