oldenburg-l - Nachricht 2007-02 00015

[REPKINGRON <REPKINGRON(a)aol.com>]

The following is part of an article by Franz-Josef Tegenkamp.  It  describes 
the migration of another group of pedons from Oldenburg to Cincinnati  and 
then to Illinois.
 
On September 9, 1834, the ship reached its terminal port Baltimore, and  
approximately two weeks Later the Uptmoor brothers arrived in Cincinnati, the  
provisional goal of their journey.  Here they worked during the next five  years 
mainly as carpenters.  Clemens Uptmoor had learned the occupation of  ship 
carpenter in his youth, which served him well now.
 
In the summer of 1836 Cincinnati experienced a cholera outbreak, and for  
this reason the Uptmoor brothers went for several months to Missouri to  work.  
On the way they traveled  for the first time through the  fertile, at the time 
almost completely uninhabited areas of the American  Midwest, which seemed 
just waiting to be settled.  It is  therefore  not  surprising that it was at 
this time that they formulated their plan to  found a colony for German Catholic 
emigrants.
 
After their return to Cincinnati, therefore, they founded the "German Land  
Company" or "Settlement Company" at the beginning of 1837 together with a  
partner, Johann Ferdinand Waschefort, who had emigrated in 1831 from Addrup near  
Essen.  141 people joined the company in a short time due to the constant  
stream of emigrants from Germany.  They paid in regular contributions in  order 
to later acquire a larger section of land.
 
In April, 1837  Clemens Uptmoor, together with Johann Ferdinand  Waschefort  
and Gerhard Heinich Bergfeld (from Lastrup), made their way on  a 15-week trip 
through the states of Indiana, Illinois, and Missouri to look for  a suitable 
section of land.  They finally decided on  an area   approximately  100 miles 
east of  St.  Louis near Vandalia, the  capital of Illinois at that  time, 
where some former residents of Hanover  had already settled.  After another trip 
by other members of the company to  view the land, the land was acquired in 
1838 (approximately 4000 hectares, or 40  million square meters, or 10,000 
acres) and was distributed to the members in  the fall of that year.  On the 
suggestion of the Bishop of Cincinnati the  new colony was given the name 
Teutopolis.

Ronald J  Repking
Repkingron(a)aol.com
Flossmoor,  Illinois