Reference NKH-LAD-TO-USA-BOOK
New historical research has been done on the immigration of Germans to Auglaize County, Ohio. It is in German, but Dean Hoge and his team have translated the most important texts.
The book From Ladbergen to America, published in 2008, is mainly about Ladbergen, from where the first New Knoxville immigrants came, but one-third of the book is about the Germans who came to Minster, New Bremen, and New Knoxville.
The first part tells the historical heritage of people from Ladbergen, with articles about serfdom, early agriculture, draining the swamps, coping with invading armies, and production of homespun linen.
The second part is the history of the emigration, 1830 to 1890, including motives for going to America, the trans-Atlantic passage, and the search for new land. A large section compares Minster, New Bremen, and New Knoxville. Another chapter compares German immigrants to Ohio with those who went to Missouri.
The third part has a sample of Low German story-telling. In rural Germany, story-telling was a fine art, and the book includes thirteen examples.
Hoge and his assistants explain everything in English, so no knowledge of the German language is needed. The book is hardback, with 249 pages, 101 photographs, and 9 maps. The cover painting by New Knoxville artist Pat Wietholter, shows Bremerhaven, the seaport from which most of the Germans left for America.
