Desire to maintain strong German heritage led to first Schuetzenfest
BOW VALLEY — Just look at the last names of most northern Cedar County residents, and you'll see a pattern begin to emerge.
Becker, Hesse, Hochstein, Kathol, Klug, Lammers, Noecker, Schmit, Schulte, Suing, Wuebben, Wiebelhaus ...
Yes, it's obvious by looking at this list of last names in the Bow Valley area, that German heritage runs deep here.
That heritage is celebrated every few years by the Bow Valley Park Association in the form of the Schützenfest celebration. This year's event, which will be held almost exactly 125 years after the first such event here, will take place July 31 and Aug. 1.
Bow Valley’s Schützenfest origins began with the immigration of German settlers to Bow Valley and northern Cedar County.
In 1860, only 48 of the 246 settlers in Cedar County were of German origin. After the Civil War, German immigration to the county exploded and by 2015, nearly 60 percent of the county population was of German descent. Only Cuming County in Nebraska has a higher percentage.
Historians agree, the primary reason for German immigration to the United States and the Midwest was simply an “opportunity for a better life.” Most German immigrants did not own property in the old country. Economic depression and lack of jobs, as well as German cultural, inheritance, and religious rules, made it impossible for families to improve their economic and social status. Farm owners in the old country were considered privileged and most people could only dream of owning land or property. Revolution and frequent wars in Europe also made the life of ordinary families difficult and seemingly hopeless.
By contrast, opportunities for land ownership in America were seemingly infinite. Railroads, banks and land agents in the U.S. advertised in Germany for immigrants to settle in the Midwest. Added motivation for migrating came from letters by early immigrants to families and friends in Germany telling of cheap, fertile land waiting to be farmed. Though most land in Illinois, Iowa and Wisconsin had been claimed prior to the Civil War, Nebraska was largely unsettled well into the 1860s. Then, in 1862, the Homestead Act provided the huge incentive of almost free land, pulling even more immigrants to Cedar County. Many of these migrants had rented land or worked in Illinois, Iowa and Wisconsin prior to moving to Cedar County.
Most of Cedar County’s immigrant settlers arrived in the U.S. through either New York, Baltimore or New Orleans, on ships powered by wind or a combination of wind and steam power. Those coming before about 1850 took from three to six weeks to make the arduous journey. From the 1860s to about 1900 steam-wind powered voyages required 12-16 days for the trip. The cost of ship’s passage in “steerage” for an average farm laborer at that time was equal to roughly two years of German wages. Steerage passengers were crowded into sleeping quarters below deck measuring less than six feet high and a berth roughly 30 inches wide by 5 feet in length. New York arrivals reached the Midwest by rail, or on steam ships via the Erie Canal and Great Lakes. Baltimore arrivals typically traveled cross county by rail, while New Orleans arrivals moved up the Mississippi River to St. Louis, then on the Missouri to Sioux City, Iowa, or Yankton, S.D. Because railroads did not reach Sioux City until 1868 and Yankton in 1873, most immigrants still had to complete their journey into Cedar County by wagon.
Initially, immigrants did not migrate directly to Cedar County. The Klug, Kohls, Lammers, Suing, Wieseler and Wuebben families, for example, came to the St. Helena area in 1861 after spending a few years in eastern Iowa. The Bow Valley area was first settled in 1865 by the Heger, Hochstein, Kaiser, Rameil, Stappert and Wiesner party after working in the Northern Michigan copper mines for several years. Herman Wiebelhaus’ first marriage was to Maria Stappert in 1857 in Buffalo, N.Y., on their way to Michigan. After Maria’s 1874 death in Bow Valley, Herman traveled to Detroit, Mich., and married Maria (nee Peitz) Kathol. As a result, there were 20 Wiebelhaus-Kathol children in the Bow Valley area. In 1869, Wilhelm Arens’ wife and children remained in Detroit with a brother-in-law and sister, Frank and Otillia (nee Arens) Thoene, while he proceeded to the Bow Valley area to look for land. Wilhelm soon returned to Detroit and brought the family to Bow Valley; the Thoenes joined the Arenses in Bow Valley about three years later. The Henry Kramer family landed in Baltimore in 1880, lived near Milwaukee, Wis., until about 1883, then joined other Wisconsinbased German immigrant families in Cedar County.
However, some immigrants came directly from Germany.
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