As I have mentioned before, my husband has the most interesting genealogy! My ancestors were here before the Revolutionary War, so I have no tales of coming from the old country. Ritchey has a few of those early colonists, but some of his German and Swiss ancestors came to the United States by ship from Europe between 1830 and 1870.
The day started out searching for Margarite Streich, his 2nd great-grandmother, who supposedly arrived on the ship Mercury in 1866 – one of those little tidbits of information that came down through the years. I started at Ancestry with immigration records and, lo and behold, there it was!
Margarite arrived November 23, 1866, from Le Havre, France, in New York City. Thomas R. Stetson was the ship’s captain. Margarite was listed on page four, passenger 148, 23 years of age, from Switzerland. I always thought she and husband Jacob Leuenberger came to America together. Evidently not. I can’t imagine traveling from one country to the next, with intentions of living in that country, as a woman, by herself – in the 1860’s! But on a whim, I checked the Johannes and Magdalena Huber family that were listed just above her, also from Switzerland. I found that John Huber, anglicized from Johannes, lived and died in Johnson County, Iowa – the very place that Margarite met and married Jacob Leuenberger. In the November 24, 1905, Iowa City Press Citizen we find that John Huber fell at his home in Solon (where Margarite lived) while doing chores in the barnyard. He left four son and two daughters, having been a resident of the area for 30-40 years. ‘He was a good substantial citizen and will be missed from the community in which he has so long resided.’ I take comfort that Margarite wasn’t on the journey by herself.
And this is where the story takes a horrifying turn. I downloaded all twelve pages of the ship’s manifest. My goal was to divide the ship’s population by country. There were 208 Germans, 180 Swiss, 41 French, 17 Prussian, 3 Italians and 2 Austrian passengers. A total of 451 (452 passengers are listed in the records, but if you look at page 3 of the manifest, a counting error occurred – whoever was writing went from 88 to 90 – which actually amounts to 451 passengers). Going through the lists I noticed several people died during the voyage – not unusual, but as I began to tally numbers, I realized this was very different. A total of 34 people died during the 35 days at sea – the ship left Le Havre, France, October 20, 1866, and docked in New York, November 23, 1866. The first deaths occurred November 3, when Johannes Blum, 26, Nicholas Marigold, 6, and Frederick Wurtz, 34, passed away. Almost every day afterwards at least one person died – exceptions being November 5, 11, 15 and 21, when there were no deaths. There were five deaths on November 9, and November 19. Death totals were 18 adults, 7 children and 9 infants, one and under. Death dates in the newspaper differ a bit from my information above, but I took what was on the manifest as date of death.
Cholera was widespread in Europe in 1866. Someone was ill when they boarded, and the sickness spread throughout the ship. There are no records of crew members dying, but those deaths may have been recorded elsewhere if they occurred.
The New York Times, New York, New York – November 23, 1866
When the ship docked in New York quick action was taken. Dr. Swinburne, Health Officer, ‘commenced preparations for the removal of the sick, of whom it is said there are quite a large number, to the hospital ship Falcon, in the lower bay where they will have the advantage of proper medical treatment under the care of Dr. Bissell, who then had the Mercury thoroughly fumigated and disinfected.’ No new cases occurred and it was felt all patients would recover. ‘Dr. Swinburne does not apprehend any extension of the disease, as the weather being very cold, with heavy frosts every morning, the cholera germs are likely to be soon destroyed.’
I cannot say if Margarite Streich became ill with cholera. Evidently she did not die. Why was this story not passed down through the generations? How long was she in New York before she and the Huber family moved to Johnson County, Iowa? Long gone were the days of traveling in wagons to reach the west. What began as the Mississippi and Missouri Railroad was bought out by the Chicago and Rock Island Railroad in 1866. It touted a 42 hour nonstop destination from New York City to Iowa City. The small town of Solon is about 12 miles north of Iowa City. Margarite and the Huber’s could have ridden in comfort from New York, so different from the way people 30 years before had to make the journey.
What if Ritchey’s great-great grandmother had succumbed to cholera during her voyage to the United States? Well, I suppose I wouldn’t be writing about this particular ship since Ritchey would not be alive. Think about that. If only one of your great-greats had died before giving birth to your ancestor, you would not be alive. Each of our ancestors add to the mixture of genes that make us who we are today. Yes, Jacob Leuenberger would have married and had children. But they would not be the children he had with Margarite Streich. If you think about all the ‘what ifs’ it’s rather amazing we are who we are today. Let us rejoice in being alive, in our ancestors living long enough to give birth to the next generation. Let us search for our ancestors, find their stories and glory in the beautiful thing we call life!
Categories: Family Stories
Such a beautiful and informative article. Many thanks!
What a wonderful account of life before us! I often marvel at what might have been or NOT been in our family. If my 2nd great grandmother had not somehow hooked up with Jacob Hoppe and driven across the country via wagon train- and was the last party before the Donner party leaving Missouri…. It goes on and on. Kind of wonderful isn’t it? Jake became a bigwig in California and signed its constitution. And I live there today.
And I see our family dwindling away. We were a relatively small family of cousins and aunts and uncles to start. But most of my cousins did not have children. So the ones who did, like myself and my brothers, have grown children who have no cousins to share life with. And my only child has an only child. It doesn’t take much for your family to disappear.
I love hearing your genealogy stories. I discovered that my grandfather Olson did not come thru Ellis Island all alone at 18 years old. He actually left his home in Mosjoen , Norway on a ferry arriving in Hull, England. From there a train to Liverpool then a ship to Canada. He took a train from Montreal to Canton, SD. He was accompanied by his older sister. She had immigrated several years prior but must have returned home to see family and bring her much younger brother to America. You can learn so much from ship manifests.
Another wonderful story! Thank you. My great=grandfather’s first wife, Julia Price also died of cholera, according to the Brunswicker, newspaper in Chariton Co., MO, brought by a boatload of German emigrants coming up river from New Orleans. Her sister or sister-in-law also died of it. Headline read “Cholera kills Mrs.Dr. Prosser and …”We had always thought was childbirth. But she was hurriedly buried in a pasture, with the baby. She died 16 June 1854, not yet 30 years old and leaving 4 older children for my great-grandmother – wife #2 – to raise. We are incredibly lucky to live in a time of good medicine. Also lucky to have people who collect and save these stories. SO, again, thank you for a very interesting report.