“Please Reply Soon”: Letters from West Prussia to the Schultz Family, 1902–1907.htm

While Herman Schultz Sr. and his brothers built lives in the Tonawandas, their widowed sister Auguste Ziesmer remained in Klein Albrechtau, West Prussia, now Olbrachtówko, Poland. In these letters to Herman and his wife Maria, she describes failing health, scarce food, and her dependence on children who were themselves seeking work and hoping to emigrate. Money and photographs arriving from America bring moments of relief and happiness. In one remarkable passage, she sends black and red threads cut to her children’s heights so their distant relatives can know how much they have grown.

Preserved by the family and shared by Herman’s great-granddaughter Maria De Borba-Silva, these English translations offer an intimate account of the bonds—and strains—between relatives separated by the Atlantic. Some pages may be out of sequence; the supplied order is retained, with annotations identifying uncertainties.

Introductory notes supplied with the translation

The woman writing (Auguste) was born in 1854 and is the oldest sister of Herrmann, who is Maria and Mike's great-grandfather (Grandpa John's father's father)

• she is writing to Herrmann, her youngest brother (one of several siblings)

• Her maiden name was Schultz, her married name was Ziesmer

• Her deceased husband was Friedrich Ziesmer (he died at age 40)

• Her living children (as of 1902):

Auguste Johanna Ziesmer - born August 17, 1878 (24 in 1902)
Helene Wilhelmine Ziesmer - born September 27, 1880 (22 in 1902)
Therese Emilie Ziesmer - born March 9, 1883 (19 in 1902)
Emil Hermann Ziesmer - born December 15, 1884 (18 in 1902)
Emma Clara Ziesmer - born January 13, 1889 (14 in 1902)

[Editor’s note: These are the compiler’s introductory notes, not part of the letters. Emma would have been 13 in November 1902, turning 14 in January 1903; Emil would turn 18 in December 1902. The older family booklet identifies the Ziesmer couple as Ernstine Schultz and August Ziesmer, whereas these notes give Auguste Schultz and Friedrich Ziesmer. Those conflicting identifications need checking against the original records. “Oldest sister” also conflicts with the booklet’s listing of Caroline, born in 1840.]

• Klein Albrechtau is a Prussian town, currently in Poland

• Meyer's Gazeetter entry for "Klein Albrechtau": https://www.meyersgaz.org/place/10976071

• Klein Albrechtau is currently named Olbrachtówko, Poland

All the letters are written in old German cursive

November 2, 1902

Town of Klein Albrechtau, on the 2nd of November 1902,

My well-loved, dear brother Herrmann,

God willing, I venture once again writing a few lines and wish that these few lines will find you in the best of health.

My dear brother, it's already been a few years, when you haven't even been heard from at all. Are you already dead or have you completely forgotten that you still have a sister here in Germany?

Now, I want to write to you once again, my dear, good brother, everything about how I'm doing now.

I've grown old, but I still have to work hard and I'm still sick. I'm suffering from a hernia from the hard work.

On the 14th of September, it has been 11 years since my dear husband died, and I have to feed myself so miserably, and the dear Lord knows how much longer I'll have to suffer here if death doesn't come soon.

[Editor’s note: This places her husband’s death on September 14, 1891, assuming the date and anniversary were translated correctly.]

My God, how unhappy I feel, also how lost and how deserted by all my dear siblings, likewise by my beloved dear Mother, if she is still alive?

Write me a letter as to how things are with you whether you are still single or whether you are married already and how brother Ferdinand is faring and brother Fritz and sister Henriette and sister Liesegen - how they all are, but most of all my beloved dear good old little mother who must be quite old by now. Is she dead already?

[Editor’s note: Herrmann is Herman Schultz Sr.; Ferdinand and Fritz are his brothers. Their mother is Caroline Schaar Schultz. The family booklet dates Herman’s marriage to Maria Enderle to January 25, 1902—earlier that year, but apparently news had not reached his sister. “Liesegen” remains unidentified.]

Please, please much beloved brother Herrmann I beg you quite warmly for an answer - don't give up on your poor sister in very faraway lands because we won't see each other in this world any more. In the other world, if we have earned it to be with God, we'll get together - yes everything by God's will He sees and knows everything. He will guide it all for the best.

My much beloved brother, my youngest daughter Emma is already attending classes. [judging by the height mentioned later, this must be not school, but some kind of professional education]

[Editor’s note: The bracketed explanation is supplied with the translation and is conjectural. Height does not establish the kind of classes. Emma was thirteen; confirmation instruction is another possibility, but the German wording is needed to decide.]

The last Friday in October she went for the first time and when my dear Mother moved to America, Emma was just 2 months old but she is now taller than I.

[Editor’s note: If Emma’s January 13, 1889 birth date is correct, this places Caroline’s departure around March 1889, rather than the 1891 date in the older family booklet.]

I still have expenses with the children. I must buy shoes for her and on November 11, Martina is [not said what] then I also have to pay 5 Thalers rent and here everything is very expensive.

[Editor’s note: “Martina” may be a misreading or rendering of the St. Martin’s Day reference that appears explicitly in the 1904 letter. Preserve it pending inspection of the German.]

As far as potatoes [post-harvest] there aren't many they are all rotten it's very hard to make do.

Dear brother, I don't keep any pigs and don't have a goat and nothing at all when you will have received this letter.

Dear brother, go to Mother and tell her I send her many thousands of regards and kisses and to all others too.

When I'll receive an answer, I will write more next time. Warmest greetings and kisses from your dear sister and my children also.

[Editor’s note: This reads like a closing. The following passage may be a postscript or a displaced continuation. Its opening does not identify who “They” are.]

To all other please reply. They have not written for a long time since their daughter got married to which we had been invited - Emil and Emma did attend the wedding. They very much wanted to attend because they didn't know Uncle and Aunt at all. They liked it very much and they are well - they are all better off than I am - even if the children leave home the husband still stays the husband is the hat of the wife if the dear Lord blesses both of them with good health.

[Editor’s note: “The husband is the hat of the wife” is retained exactly. It may express shelter or protection, but the underlying German should be checked before interpreting or replacing it.]

Now my dear beloved good sister-in-law Mariegen (phonetic spelling of "Mariechen" = "little Mary") and my beloved brother [smudged] above all, I'm sending my heartfelt thanks for the nice Christmas present and wish you much luck and blessings in the New Year.

[Editor’s note: This is the clearest possible sequence break. The November passage asks whether Herman is married; this passage addresses his wife and thanks them for a Christmas gift. It likely belongs to a different letter or continuation, but the present copy does not establish which year. “Mariegen” refers to Maria Enderle Schultz.]

I forwarded your dear letter to Helene. She will be glad, but she feels very slighted about the fact that Uncle Ferdinand is not writing. Helene was only at home for 3 weeks then she again left for work, she has a good job there. Therese is also in Berlin.

January 26, 1904

Town of Kleine Albrechtau, January 26, 1904:

My much beloved brother and dear good sister-in-law, with many warm regards, as God is willing, I allow myself to report how I am living here with my children and politely ask to excuse that it has taken me that long. You might be angry, my dear beloved brother, but I was unable to write earlier since I was very ill again.

I received your expensive gift while in hospital - I can’t describe the great joy, my dear ones. When I received the first letter, I thought our dear mother had passed, but no, my loyal beloved brothers have shown a loyal heart towards their poor deserted sister.

How many thanks do I owe you, my dear beloved brother and dear good sister-in-law! May the dear Lord strengthen and bless your home because I myself feel very deserted.

(down the side: Now be a thousand times greeted and kissed from me and my children among strangers because where it is too low, everybody steps over it oh how I would like to be with my dear siblings and mother but I am not granted the joy I first have to perish here and die now.

[Editor’s note: The supplied translation opens this marginal passage with a parenthesis but never closes it. Its exact endpoint should be checked against the manuscript.]

I want to describe everything to you my dear brother how things are here with me - I have harvested few potatoes this year, so I went with my daughter Emma to the Brausner field pick leftover potatoes [the verb "stoppeln" refers to going onto a field after its rightful owner has already harvested, and digging or picking up whatever he has overlooked or rejected as not worth collecting] but that was torture and I got very ill immediately after St. Martin's Day and had strict bedrest on November 20th.

The doctor was called but it didn't get any better and on January 3rd he visited again and prescribed powder and drops for me. After that I felt somewhat better again, but I'm not entirely cured, and this had been very expensive for me.

If my dear son Emil wouldn't take care of me I would be forced to perish in my sin. Now the good Lord has helped me so far, I'm already able to get up this week now I've been writing letters the whole week.

The second letter contains a matter close to my heart - I hadn't been able to write earlier - I want to ask for my beloved brother and sister-in-law please have a picture made of you with your little son - oh, how much I would like to get acquainted with your dear wife [by photo]

[Editor’s note: “The second letter” deserves checking: it may indicate another letter, enclosure or sheet. The “little son,” if this passage belongs to January 1904, is Herman K. Schultz, born April 7, 1903.]

Oh, what great joy has my dear brother Ferdinand given to me - the beautiful large photograph - now that's a very nice and strong wife and very demure. Little Emma is a very pretty girl, my dear sister-in-law and brother do have a lot to care for in their household, but do my beloved brothers and sister-in-law have still something to spare [to give to the writer]?

[Editor’s note: This appears to describe Ferdinand’s family photograph, including his wife Ernstine. “Little Emma” here may be their daughter Emma, rather than the writer’s daughter of the same name; the photograph would help settle that.]

Thanks are all I can send to reciprocate - please write to me dear brother - how many children there are with brother Fritz?

Mrs. Böhner [?hard to read] writes that she is very well. They own their own house but they never send anything to their elders.

My dear son Emil works in the forest during the winter, but doesn't earn much,1.30 Marks per day or even less. He has grown tall and strong and turned 19 years old on December 15. He has already been to the district, but when he'll be required to become a soldier, then what will I do? I can't do heavy work anymore.

Emma had been 15 years old since January 13, but she is already taller than Emil. Therese is in Berlin and Helene in Westphalia.

[Editor’s note: Both children’s ages fit January 1904 and the birth dates in the introductory notes. They provide useful anchors when checking the page sequence.]

Emil still will be an apprentice this summer, then he will be a journeyman, Emil son would very much like to come to America when he completes his trade education. Carpenters earn more there than here. As an apprentice, he earns only 1.40 marks and he has to give one mark, 20 pfennigs for food, so he has little left and 15 marks for apprenticeship. The master deducts 5 marks every summer, and then the many tools of the trade which he needs and clothing is very burdensome for me.

[Editor’s note: A journeyman is a worker who has completed an apprenticeship. The translation leaves the accounting periods for some payments unclear; they should not all be treated as daily amounts.]

The poor children have already cried dreadfully that I will die, but the dear Lord has helped me again, even if I can't do anything yet, it would be very bad for the poor children, especially for my Emil.

Beloved brother, the letters and the picture I received on the second day of Christmas on Saturday [= December 26] and the money on Monday the 28th of December - the postal carrier brought me 20 Marks and 83 Pfennigs - what a great joy for us - tears of joy I cried and the beautiful picture is our great joy I will have it framed.

Now I will conclude with many warm regards.

Dear brother, the black thread - that's how tall my son Emil is and the red thread - that's how tall little Emma/Emmy is.

[Editor’s note: She appears to have enclosed lengths of thread representing the children’s heights. Whether those threads survive with the originals is worth asking.]

Please my dear beloved brother and sister-in-law, please submit my regards to the other siblings and Mother. Please reply again soon.

January 2, 1905

Town of Klein Albrechtau on the 2nd of January 1905,

My beloved brother Herrmann and my beloved, faithful sister-in-law Mariachgen, I received your dear letter and the money with the greatest joy. So unexpected that my beloved sister-in-law and brother have once again given their poor sister and brother-in-law [her deceased husband] a beautiful Christmas present.

[Editor’s note: “[her deceased husband]” is an existing translator’s gloss, not established fact. The reference to giving a present to a brother-in-law is puzzling if her husband had been dead for thirteen years. This sentence needs checking against the German; it could involve a mistranslation or a misplaced passage.]

How can I say thank you to my loved ones in the long-awaited distance? The supreme God will reward you and also bestow the best health and strength on you in the New Year.

I’ve come to believe that you dear brother and dear sister-in-law did not receive the photograph of my daughter Helene at all. Brother Ferdinand seems to have not enjoyed the picture because he hasn't written to Helene or myself.

The dear brother and sister-in-law might be angry at us now - I wish you happiness and blessings in the new year. May the Dear Lord keep you and your dear little son in good health.

I want to write how I’m doing - Emil and Emma are healthy. Emil works in the forest - the wages are weak - we have had a strong winter, with deep snow and heavy freezing. Emma cooking in our place and everything is also very expensive.

Regarding potatoes, I only have very little this year - I already have bought 2 Scheffel [about 14.5 gallons] of potatoes. Things are bad for me.

My dear brother and dear good sister-in-law, I am sick and will stay sick and it won't improve. I have a lung ailment and suffer from rheumatic fever and am unable to work any longer. Last year, had to spend a great lot of money on medical care and nothings helps.

[Editor’s note: “Rheumatic fever” is the supplied translation. Without the German wording or a medical record, it should not be treated as a confirmed diagnosis in the modern clinical sense.]

Now I will bear my burden with patience - what the dear Lord has tasked me with - I have to stay bed-bound more times than I'm able to get up and frequently have to apply warm poultices and apply ointment, otherwise the pain is unbearable. How long is that going to continue? The children provide for me already.

In spite of Emil, it was 20 years on the 15th of December and has already gone for the 2nd time to the Canton [an administrative unit, presumably to the next larger town] I got rid of him last year. Herr Baski was the (?)mayor; he writes a letter to Finkelstein [a place, not a person] in the office because I couldn't go, that I am always sick and he has to feed me, and this year it's a different (?)mayor.

[Editor’s note: The opening is grammatically garbled in the translation, but Emil’s twentieth birthday fits December 15, 1904. In context, “I got rid of him last year” likely means she obtained his release or deferment from military service because she depended on him—not that she expelled him from home. “Finkelstein” may be a rendering of Finckenstein; retain the supplied spelling until checked.]

God knows how it will be and he [Emil] is too stupid about things. I would like to set him free again, but he is sometimes stubborn with me and says next year he is going abroad and won't come at all any more.

[Editor’s note: “Set him free again” appears to continue the discussion of military exemption or deferment.]

Yes, yes, my dear brother and sister-in-law, that's how I live. The children don't even consider how difficult it was to bring them up. Father [her deceased husband] has been dead for 13 years. I have worked and brought them so far and have sacrificed my health, and they should take care of the sick mother; now she is too much…

Please answer again soon; I am looking forward to it.

April 18, 1907

Town of Kleine Albrechtau, April 18, 1907:

Dear beloved brother Hermann and heartily loved good sister-in-law, with many heartfelt greetings and kisses I also send a few lines from far, far away about how things are for us now. Your dear letter and the nice money we have received, with the utmost joy – after all, I hadn’t dared to hope that.

My dear beloved brothers and sisters, and loyal brothers and sister-in-law, a thousand thanks; may the dear Lord reward you tenfold with blessings and give all of you the best of health. What wouldn’t people exchange for good health!

But the joy would have been even greater if you had brought the money to me in person.

It arrived 45 days later, just in time for Easter, otherwise I wouldn’t have had a single Pfennig for Easter. The dear Lord helps, when the need is greatest, then God is closest.

Emil has been home all winter long on account of his illness, and his health doesn’t get better. I’ve already tried everything that anybody has ever advised. The dear Lord has put a burden upon me and upon my poor son, he is unhappy about his condition. It would be better if the dear Lord would receive him unto Himself.

You, dear brother, are giving me poor consolation. After all, this is a heavy burden to bear.

My son Emil was in Berlin with daughter Therese. She is married there. He went on January 12 and stayed there for 5 weeks. It was also very expensive for him. They had advanced him the money for the journey there and back and had taken him to visit different doctors and a magnet healer and gave him medicine and two types of tea, which he is still taking now. He has gone through 8 bottles already, and every time, it costs 4 Marks for the tea and 2 little bottles of medicine of half a pint each, but he doesn’t improve. Just as at Easter, he has again been sick and next week will be the time again when I have to be worried. He is not allowed to do anything, just eating and drinking wine and sitting in a rocking chair

[Editor’s note: No diagnosis for Emil is given. The reference to recurring illness does not establish what condition he had, and the methods of the “magnet healer” are not described.]

Emil says when he’ll be healthy, he would like to go with Pappke to America, they want to go in the fall. Gottliebe visited with me on Sunday, they will definitely move. They have only four children, the second son will already be confirmed this year (usually at age 14 or 15) year, and two girls. They have it good here, too, but his siblings will send him a prepaid ticket.

Dear brother, I also want to let you know that brother Fritz’ son Otto was wanted here - he went to America. From Rosenberg (a town), the police constable visited with me and inquired whether I knew where in America Fritz Schulz lives because his son had fled on account of military status, but I said, no, I know absolutely nothing about them, they don’t write to me, which was sufficient.

[Editor’s note: Otto is identified here as the son of Frederick “Fritz” Schultz. This reports an inquiry concerning military obligations; it does not establish that Otto had already served and deserted.]

Now my dear brother, you wanted to know how old our mother is, she’ll be 85 years old on May 19 -that is an advanced age, indeed - I won’t forget that as long as I live. Mother has been living as long in America as Emma is old. Emma turned 18 years old on January 13, and when mother moved she was already 67 years old, you can check these calculations for yourself.

[Editor’s note: These figures broadly agree with one another: 67 plus 18 equals 85. They imply Caroline was born in 1822 and emigrated about 1889, conflicting with the older booklet’s 1820 birth and 1891 immigration dates. My earlier statement that the arithmetic here did not reconcile was too strong; the main disagreement is between sources. Exact months and completed ages still require checking.]

To my dearest mother on her birthday. (this rhymes in German, if poorly): I cannot take your hands in mine in person today, but I want to make you happy, whether I can achieve this. I wish with all my heart, may God protect you, dear beloved mother. This Pentecost, May 19, we celebrate your 85th birthday, and if I'm reading the letter correctly, the hour of your redeeming will come eventually.

[Editor’s note: “(this rhymes in German, if poorly)” is an existing translator’s comment. “If I'm reading the letter correctly” also appears to be the translator’s voice intruding into the translated passage. The German is needed to separate the birthday verse from commentary reliably.]

I have often wished for myself to be dead already, and for my ill son, too, because it pains me too much to watch this suffering, but I have to bear everything with patience until the dear Lord will relieve us.

Now I will say my heartfelt thanks to my beloved siblings for the money - it was 29 Marks and 29 Pfennig - my joy was oversized, and please, beloved brother, don't hold it against me that I didn’t reply right away, after all, I had wanted to wait because of Emil, but no hope.

Many heartfelt greetings and kisses to all of you through waves and swells, from the homeland

This wishes your beloved daughter Auguste and her children, and celebrate mother’s birthday in joy, not as I in worries. Please reply soon.

[Editor’s note: “Your beloved daughter Auguste” addresses her mother, following the birthday wishes. That change of addressee need not indicate a misplaced page.]

(down the side: Mrs. Bänke has written home and requested the mother come there)

(down the side of the page, seems to belong to another page) "her husband is kindhearted, and they are very rich, I’ve read the letter"

[Editor’s note: The supplied translation itself flags this final marginal passage as possibly belonging elsewhere. Neither its placement nor the identity of “her” can be settled from this copy.]

2

[Editor’s note: The isolated “2” appears at the end of the supplied document and looks like a page number, not part of the letter.]