Crossing the Atlantic, continued

While doing the research for "Great-Grandma's Trunk," I read the book "The Immigrant in American History," by Marcus Lee Hanson, edited by Arthur M. Schlesinger.  The author described a typical emigrant's experience aboard ship during the 1860's and 1870's era, which helped me picture the Pequegnat family crossing the Atlantic in the Westphalia.

The emigrants had to provide their own straw for a mattress, and bring cups, plates, and eating utensils. The ship's food was rationed, so they were advised to bring extra provisions in containers that were impervious to rats.  Most of the ships used for transporting emigrants had an upper deck for first class passengers and the crew.  A ladder conveyed the rest of the passengers down to the steerage area, also referred to as "between decks."  There would be approximately six feet of space between the floor and ceiling.  Around the sides of the steerage ran two layers of berths, which were cumbersome shelves wide enough for five persons.  This filled most of the floor space.  The lowest part of the ship, called the hold, contained the heavy baggage and chests, casks of water, and the cord wood used for fuel.

The ship's provisions for the passengers in steerage consisted of salt beef, barreled pork, tinned mutton, highly smoked bacon, and salt fish.  Preserved potatoes, carrots, miscellaneous other vegetables, and hard biscuits were served with main meals.  Sweets were rice and sago pudding.  Oatmeal was the breakfast staple.

The information from this book, plus others that I found on shipping and emigration, enabled me to imagine the daily life aboard ship.  The "crossing" was a hardship that all emigrants to America had to endure.  From the time of the earliest American colonists until the mid-nineteenth century, a time span of nearly 250 years, emigrant ships were prone to disease and epidemics.  'Ship fever,' or typhus, was highly contagious and often fatal.  Associated with poverty, filth, and overcrowding, it would spread rampantly through the steerage of an emigrant ship.  Cholera was transmitted by contaminated water, and was characterized by violent diarrhea, vomiting, cramps, collapse, and usually death within hours.  Finally, around the time of the mid-nineteenth century, every maritime country in Europe, as well as America and Canada, had built up a code of regulations.

So, it seems as if the Pequegnat family had it better than the Europeans who crossed over before.  But, Pauline Pequegnat would probably have had a word or two about this.  She was described by her descendants as being a "holy terror," and, she "ruled the roost."

Read more about Pauline and her family aboard the Westphalia in "Great-Grandma's Trunk."


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The Atlantic crossing

When I started my search for the details of the Pequegnat family emigration, I consulted the book series, "Germans to America," by Ira A. Glazier and P. Wm. Filby.  Volume 20 showed that Francois Pequegnat made the trip to America ahead of his wife, Pauline.  He traveled on the ship Bellona and arrived in New York on Sept. 23, 1867.  It is interesting to note that there were sixteen other emigrants from Switzerland on this same ship.

Volume 22 of this same book series shows the ship Westphalia.  Pauline Pequegnat is listed among the passengers, along with her brother, Adolph, her sister, Melanie, and children Emma and Anne (this should be Ami).  The Westphalia left the port of Hamburg, Germany on April 29, 1869 and arrived in New York on May 11, 1869.

By doing more research, I learned that the Westphalia was built in 1868 for the Hamburg America Line. She was a 3,158 gross ton ship, length 339.9 ft. x beam 40 ft.  She had one funnel, two masts, iron construction, single screw and a speed of 12 knots.  There was accommodation for 90 first, 130 second, and 520 third class passengers.  I found a picture of this ship, and it is hard to imagine a total of 740 people packed into such a small space.

The ship's manifest shows that the Pequegnat family was "below decks".  You can bet they were packed in like sardines.  The books I consulted gave graphic details of the horrible conditions emigrants had to endure during the crossing.  

Loveresse, Switzerland

Before the Pequegnat family boards the Westphalia and leaves the European Continent, I would like to share some photos of the village of Loveresse, Switzerland.  Two of the photos were given to me recently from a distant cousin, Allan Pequegnat.  Allan lives in Ontario, Canada, and is a descendant of Ulysses Pequegnat (1826-1894).  Ulysses was also an emigrant from Loveresse, Switzerland, who settled in Ontario, and was a prominent jeweler and clock maker.  Allen has a nice collection of Pequegnat family photos,

and he has generously given me permission to show them on my blog.

The picture of a street in the town of Loveresse, and the distant shot of the Chaindon church were taken by one of Allan's cousins, who took a trip to Switzerland.  This is the church that stands between the villages of Loveresse and Reconvilier that the Pequegnat family attended.  It is mentioned in the first chapter of my book, "Great-Grandma's Trunk."

The picture of the schoolhouse is from a booklet I have, which is about the history of Loveresse.  The picture was taken in 1900.  This would be the school that Emma Pequegnat attended.  The building is now used as the Town Hall.

Pequegnat family

At this point in my blog I should mention the main characters in my book, "Great-Grandma's Trunk."  The story is based upon the life of Emma Pequegnat.  She left a hand written note to her children, which gives a brief outline of her birth, her marriage to Frederick Schultheiss, and the names of her children.  The first paragraph is as follows:

     "I was born in Switzerland the 28 April 1861.  My father's name was Amie Pequegnat.  Mother was Adelaide.  Mother died when I was two years old, her sister, Aunt Pauline took me and she was my Mother.(She and) Uncle Frank were both good to me.  When I was 8 years old  they came to the United States to live.  I have been here ever since."

As Emma stated in her little autobiography, her father, Amie Pequegnat, gave his little two-year old daughter to his brother-in-law and sister-in-law, Frank and Pauline Pequegnat.  The Pequegnat genealogy is confusing, because distant cousins married.  Adelaide (Emma's mother) and Pauline's maiden names were Pequegnat, as well as Pauline's husband, Frank (Francois, Franz).

Frank Pequegnat was a Swiss watchmaker.  He emigrated to America a little over a year before his wife in order to secure a job with the Elgin National Watch Company, located in Elgin, Illinois.   Pauline followed, accompanied by her brother, Adolphe, her sister, Melanie, eight-year old Emma, and Pauline's young son. They traveled from Loveresse, Switzerland to the port of Hamburg, Germany.  Their ship, the Westphalia,
departed April 29, 1869.

So, the first part of the book centers upon Emma, Frank, Pauline, Adolphe, and Melanie.  Some family background is mentioned, along with the fears and apprehension they must have endured as they left their life-long homes and set out for an alien country with foreign speaking people.  I am sure that they were also well aware of the dangers of crossing the wide Atlantic, and had fear of the unknown.

To be continued.

This blog will be a continuation of explaining my quest for finding those extra tidbits of insight into the Pequegnat family.  In my last blog I mentioned that I had a copy of the ship's manifest.  This document solved a mystery for me.  On the front side of Emma's trunk is the name "Adolph Pequegnat," with "New York" written under the name.  I had always assumed that Emma had come to America with her Uncle Francois and Aunt Pauline Pequegnat.  Why did the trunk have Adolph's name on it?

The ship's manifest shows the Pequegnat family as: Adolph, age 32, Male, Farmer, Switzerland, USA.  Listed with him are: Pauline, Melanie, Emma, and Anne (which should be Ami).   The Pequegnat genealogy shows that Adolph is Pauline's brother, Melanie is her sister, Emma is her niece, and Ami is her son.  A little more research and I found that Pauline's husband, Francois, had actually emigrated to America about one and one-half years before his wife.  So, Adolph accompanied his sisters to America and then returned back home to Switzerland.

The ship's manifest shows that they left from the port of Hamburg, Germany on April 29, 1869, and they arrived in New York on May 11, 1869.  The name of the ship was the Westphalia, built with a combination of steam engine and sails.

To be continued.

"Great-Grandma's Trunk" can be purchased from Amazon.com.
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The beginning of "the book".

I would like to introduce you to a historical fiction book that I have written, "Great-Grandma's Trunk."  It is based upon the life of my Great-Grandmother, Emma Pequegnat, who was eight years old when she emigrated with family, from Loveresse, Switzerland, to America in 1869.  I am the "keeper" of the trunk they used for packing their bare essentials while making the Atlantic crossing.  This trunk traveled with Emma throughout her life, and was among her possessions when she died in 1940.  This is not a pretty truck, such as found in antique stores.  It is handcrafted, wooden, and sturdy, and is now covered with scratches and dents.  The truck was well used, and most likely used to store Emma's wedding dress, baby clothes, quilts, and bric-a-brac.

My husband and I are "genealogy junkies."  When I started researching my Pequegnat line, I was very fortunate to have the services of a fellow genealogist in Switzerland.  He traveled to the village of Loveresse and was able to copy the birth, marriage, and death records from the Town Hall Archives for Emma Pequegnat's family tree.  So, I have the family traced back into the 1700's.

In July 2001 I took a trip to Europe with my friend, Linda Haney.  Our goal was to see the home villages of our ancestors in Germany and Switzerland.  Oh, all right, so we also did a little sightseeing and took in a couple of German festivals.  We were delighted with the quaint village of Loveresse, perched on a hillside, located in the French speaking portion of Switzerland--close to the border of France.  We drove through the narrow streets and had lunch on the outside veranda of an ancient hotel, overlooking the valley below.  The old schoolhouse where Emma would have attended school was next door--now used as the Town Hall.  We tried to find the village church, and finally spotted it half way down the hillside.   Upon entering the church parking lot, we discovered that a funeral was about to take place.  The church itself was ancient, built in 1739.  I succeeded in taking pictures of the outside, but, because of the funeral we did not care to go inside.  So, we headed for the cemetery.  (This is something all genealogists do!)  I spotted the tombstone of a relative, Ernest Pequegnat.  We noticed a very old lady nearby--scarf over her head and curved back.  She was watching us closely as she watered flowers on a grave.  I tried to ask her if she knew of any other Pequegnats buried in that cemetery, but she only spoke French.  So, I resorted to sign language--pointing to Ernest's tombstone.  She became very animated, took ahold of my arm and pointed to my watch like she was moving the minute hand five minutes ahead, then pointed to the church.  She said the name "Pequegnat" several times.  I could feel the hair raise on the back of my neck as I realized what she was trying to tell me.  The funeral was for the wife of Ernest!!  We confirmed this information with the parking lot attendant.  No, we did not attend the funeral services.  We had been spotted as American tourists, cameras around the neck and all, and did not want to interrupt this solemn occasion.

Well, that amazing coincidence threw me for a loop!  Linda and I talked about it the rest of the trip.  When I got home I realized I needed to do more research.  I wanted to know what it was like, back in 1869, and why our ancestors chose to be uprooted from a secure homeland and travel to a part of the world with a foreign language and different customs.  What was it like to cross the storm tossed Atlantic?   I sent to the National Archives for the ship's manifest, and located a picture of their ship along with a complete description of it. 

That was just the beginning, but this will have to be continued in my next blog post.