“Don’t Forget Us”
Not everyone who came to America for a better life was impressed with the wild and burgeoning democracy. A European immigrant named Zimmerman was among the disenchanted.
America in the mid-1800s was marked by expansion, migration, and the pursuit of better opportunities. In this heartfelt letter dated May 15, 1845, Zimmerman writes to his brother from New Orleans, sharing his plans to leave the bustling city for their homeland.
New Orleans was a jumping off point for immigrants but this German just wanted to go home. At some point in his adventure, the allure of cheap land and promises of prosperity and a fresh start in a new country had soured. So impatient to return to Europe, he offers his brother a certificate for 320 acres of land in the Republic of Texas, for free.
This letter provides a glimpse into the personal life and decisions of one man but also serves as evidence for the broader conditions of North America in 1845. Written in German, the letter found its way to the Texas General Land Office, Archives in 1858, but was not translated to English until 2011, thanks to the good folks at the German Texan Heritage Society in Austin, Texas.
Historians and history enthusiasts are grateful for the thousands of people, like Zimmerman, whose words help shape our understanding of migration and settlement in America. From them we gain a deeper awareness of the human experience behind historical events.
Further reading, Source: The Historic New Orleans Collection,
New Orleans and Yellow Fever
New Orleans and Yellow Fever
New Orleans the 15th of May 1845
Dear Brother, I can’t keep from writing you a few lines and to let you know that I sold out and that we want to leave now for our fatherland and home country and can have a better and quieter life than here in New Orleans. And I believe that the disease will ravage New Orleans this summer very strong again and it will kill several hundred.
Dear Brother, you write to me about this land in Texas. I am sending you this state script for three hundred and twenty acres of land, if you want them you can have that for nothing. Dear Brother, I would have written to you long ago while I was thinking I wanted to wait until I had sold out. I sold out on Sunday the 15th of May.
I’ll leave here in fourteen days or three weeks. Dear Brother, the Duminikus (?) and the Petter (?) wrote to me that they are in Paris and have good wheat (?) over there and still wrote to me I should write to them how it is in America. I wrote the truth to them, they should stay where they are and should not go into such an unhealthy and deceitful country where they would soon lose their money and then run around like so many of the beggars, we have not yet heard anything.
Now I have to close my letter, we send you greetings, don’t forget us.
Your brother
? d Zimmerman
Court of Claims File for D. Zimmerman, 15 April 1858, Court of Claims 009142, Records of the Court of Claims, Archives and Records Program, Texas General Land Office, Austin, TX.
Why Historify?
I discovered the power of story as a history teacher, and the singular privilege of working at a Texas state archive filled with letters penned by people whose thoughts, attitudes, and experiences reflect the times in which they lived.
This simple website was created as a free, uncomplicated, and time-saving introduction to the richness and value of historical sources.
Please join me as we study the past through the words of those who lived it, one life at a time, and thank you for being here.
Buck
New Orleans River Exhibit: New Orleans Public Library.
Why Historify?
New Orleans River Exhibit: New Orleans Public Library.
I discovered the power of story as a history teacher, and the singular privilege of working at a Texas state archive filled with letters penned by people whose thoughts, attitudes, and experiences reflect the times in which they lived.
This simple website was created as a free, uncomplicated, and time-saving introduction to the richness and value of historical sources.
Please join me as we study the past through the words of those who lived it, one life at a time, and thank you for being here.
Buck