Category: Readings

The Swiss

by Amy Schmidgall

On Wednesday, September 20th, Joy and I met with a local Apostolic historian.  In the interview, he explained to us that the first Apostolic to arrive in Morris, Chris Luthi (who happened to be his grandfather) was Swiss, not German as we (I) had previously been lead to believe.  This explains why Apostolics are still commonly, and somewhat derogatorily,  referred to as “Switzers” (prounounced swīt-z/er/).  While it is true that Germans Apostolics did eventually begin migrating to Morris, this ignorance of migration origin sadly indicates a loss of personal history.

After meeting with Mr. Luthi, Joy and I went to the public library to check out their selection of state and local resources.   It was there that we found the book, “They Chose Minnesota.”   What a gem!  It is loaded with information on nearly every ethnic group existing within our state’s borders.  For our study, the chapters of greatest interest in this book include: The Mexicans, The Germans, and especially The Swiss.   Perhaps it is just me, but when I read history books such as this one, it is easy to skim the through the facts (dates, names, maps) without grasping much of their significance.  However, because we were so fortunate to receive a brief history on Apostolic Swiss before hand, the historical data in this chapter took on much greater meaning.  Three points which I found particularly interesting, especially in conjunction with our study was that: 1. “Swiss emigration was not a result of overpopulation,” 2. “Emigration was stimulated by ‘American letters’,” and 3. there were “Government subsidies to remove poor people.1”  As I read each of these statements I compared them to what we  have already been told about Swiss history and I also considered how they applied to the emigration of the Apostolic peoples.  It is unfortunately to think that previously, I probably would have passed over these ideas.  To me, this reinforces the fact that Joy and I need to be diligent in bringing this history to life verses presenting dry facts.

This idea also rang true as I perused the the chapter,The Mexicans. Interestingly what immediately stood out  to me was a reference to migrant workers following the Red River and Minnesota River in search of agricultural work2.  Every study I have read on early Minnesota migration refers to the use of rivers as a means of land settlement.  The concept of “water highways” is not new to me, however, while reading this section, its significance in our history and the pure uniqueness of the Minnesota landscape really struck me.  We ARE the “Land of 10,000 Lakes”… 11,842 to be exact, 6,564 rivers and streams, and 10.6 million acres of wetlands.  Even more interesting is that Minnesota’s waters flow outward in three different directions: north into Canada, east to the Atlantic, and south to the Gulf3.  It is little wonder why our state has such a rich migration history.

Perhaps I’m being a little biased…

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1deGryse, Louis M. “The Swiss.” In They Chose Minnesota, 211-219. St. Paul: Minnesota Historical Society Press, 1981.

2Diebold, Susan M. “The Mexicans.” In They Chose Minnesota, 92-107. St. Paul: Minnesota Historical Society Press, 1981.

3“Lakes, rivers, and wetlands facts.” Lakes, rivers and wetlands: Minnesota DNR, www.dnr.state.mn.us/faq/mnfacts/water.html. Accessed 25 Sept. 2017.

 

Perry Klopfenstein and My AC Experience

by stephansen

George Orwall said,

“The most effective way to destroy people is to deny and obliterate their own understanding of their history.”

Perry Klopfenstein would agree. He gave many a quote like this on Saturday evening during his lecture on the history of the Apostolic Church. I needed to take a few days to reflect on my time at the Apostolic Fellowship Hall because for each piece of information that I wrote down there were two questions that came up in my mind. Amy and I both recorded the lecture on our phones and I am excited to be able to go back and listen to it again for more direct quotes. We did get permission to use Mr. Klopfenstein’s lecture as a resource for the project, so I am excited about that. I learned so much about the importance of the Church history stemming from Europe to the United States and specifically the Midwest and Minnesota. Out of my five pages of notes, I have concluded that I took two good notes on the theology of the church which really did not pertain to our research- I just found it interesting! However bit of the useful information:

  1. the Froelich movement in Germany. He was a man who “formed a sect” of the anabaptist church which is known today as the apostolic and much of the teachings and history that I learned from this lecture where based off his influence.
  2. Many apostolics in the United States and specifically the midwest may have been from a Mennonite tradition because they understood the German language and respected the anabaptist model of religion.
  3. 1848 began some of the mass migration to the US from Germany. Perry was very excited to explain that they came here, “legally” because it’s important in today’s context. This was interesting specifically because it directly relates to our project and Amy and I both looked at each other and wrote this in large print in our notebooks. He mentioned that all immigrants have similar struggles but  the apostolics found that “money grows on trees” in the context of farming and that the church community was strongest where the  land was the best. This is another proof to us that these people found that the rural Midwest had great lands.

Some questions that arose that would be pertinent to a comparison with Latinos:

  1. How is their current relationship to the community similar or different to that of the Latino community? How does this influence Morris and Stevens County?
  2. Is there a way to relate the tithes that embers of the church pay to the way that Latinos here send remittances?
  3. How does the education of these groups compare and how do they engage in schools? How are they perceived in the educational system?
  4. How does the rhetoric/ bad publicity from World War 1 about the apostolics relate to that of immigration rhetoric and Latino Immigrants?

 

What a blessing it was that Perry Klopfenstein was here in Morris during our research! We were able to meet a large variety of people and now have so many more resources to explore. I’m excited about the project and everything we find just keeps sparking more and more interest.

 

Influencing Factors

by Amy Schmidgall

Factors Influencing the Distribution of the German Pioneer Population in Minnesota

In the article, “Factors Influencing the Distribution of the German Pioneer Population in Minnesota”, published in 1945, author, Hildegard Binder Johnson, lead a study on the factors which influenced the migration and distribution of rural German settlers in specific regions throughout Minnesota during the pioneer period.   What is unique about this study is that the author did not look at German migration to Minnesota as a whole, but rather examined the major settlements individually.  In doing so, her aim was to invalidate common generalization regarding early rural German settlers.  Additionally, she hoped that a more narrow study of individual settlements would contribute to a greater understanding of the phenomenon of immigrant distribution.

Some of the generalizations which Johnson identified were:

  • The Germans were not frontiersmen who liked to settle in the wilderness (page 39).
  • The German farmers instinctively selected good soil (page 39).
  • Germans, like other European immigrants, preferred to settle where the landscape and climate were similar to those of their homeland (page 40).
  • Germans were more frequently blacksmiths, carpenters, masons, bakers, brewers, millers, and shoemakers verses bankers, real-estate dealers, merchants, attorneys, doctors, or office clerks (page 42).

According to Johnson’s findings, the factors which did influence (or not influence) the early migration, distribution, and settlement of German pioneers varied greatly.  Some examples outlined in the study included:

  • Railroads: Interestingly, railroads played a minimal role in early rural German migration due to the fact that, at that time, the railroads in Minnesota were virtually non-existent (page 56).
  • Rivers:  The main highways of German migration were rivers.  In some cases the desire to settle along navigable rivers was very strong, and it superseded the desire for timbered land. When land bordering the river was already taken, the Germans pushed inland (page 56).
  • Trade interests and opportunities: A fifth of the German pioneer population that settled in towns did so because of their trade interests and opportunities and not because the towns happened to be on waterways (page 56).
  • Chain migration: In some cases Johnson discovered that letters from friends and relatives were the main influence of migration.
  • Notional cohesion: The factor of national cohesion was exclusively responsible for Germans settling in townships where the soil, the timber supply, and transportation facilities were no better than those of neighboring townships where they did not settle (page 57).
  • Tribal character: The “tribal character” of the Germans led to distinct divisions between those from southern and southwestern Germany and those from northern Germany which also corresponded with the religious faith of the immigrants (page 57).

How does this reading apply to our study?

Although this study did not include the county in which our research is taking place, the data collected is very valuable to our study as we considering the factors surrounding German immigration as a whole.  This study also provoked a number of questions I had never considered about the Apostolics in Stevens County, such as:

  1. Were the first Apostolics in Stevens County German?  If not, what other nationalities were they? But, if so …
    • What other Germans existed in Stevens County when the Apostilic Germans arrived?
    • What part/s of Germany did Apostolic migrants originate?  Is that origin significant in any way?
    • What was the relationship with other Germans of different faiths?
  2. One of the largest churches in Morris is Assumption (Catholic church). What nationality start that church?
  3. How did the Catholic Church deal with Apostolic newcomers?
  4. The reading talks about the “tribal character” of Germans.  Did this “character” also exist within the German Apostolics?  Were they bound not only by religion but also by ethnicity?
  5. The reading also talks about scouts finding land for Germans. We know that there was a scout who brought the first wave of Apostolics to Stevens County.
    • Who was that scout?
    • Was he an independent contractor or did he work for a scouting/recruiting company?
    • How does that parallel to the scouts sent to MX for present labor needs?
  6. The migration of the Apostolics to Stevens County occurred several years after the initial migration of German pioneers. According to this study the major part of the German migration into Minnesota would have ended by the time the Apostolics arrived, however within Stevens County the increase in German migrants had just begun.  What are the past and current ratios of Apostolics in Stevens County?  Has this ratio increased over time?
  7. What have been the primary push/pull factors bringing Apostolics to Stevens County? (marriage, church building, and economy/business)

How might this reading apply to other class projects?

Although the author’s focus concentrated solely on German migration within Minnesota, her processes of investigation and overall findings can be applied to any migration and distribution of people groups.  I believe the most valuable lesson I gleaned from this study is the fact that researchers should not fall into the trap of accepting migration generalizations.  I was surprised to learn how varied the migration factors were from county to county.   By reviewing  this study, researchers will gain a better understanding of the complexities of migration factors of a single nationality which can exist within a minimal radius.

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Johnson, Hildegard Binder. “Factors Influencing the Distribution of the German Pioneer Population in Minnesota.” Agricultural History 19, no. 1, 1945: 39-57.

Social Darwinism

by Amy Schmidgall

The theory that persons, groups, and races are subject to the same laws of natural selection as Charles Darwin had perceived in plants and animals in nature. According to the theory, which was popular in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the weak were diminished and their cultures delimited, while the strong grew in power and in cultural influence over the weak. Social Darwinists held that the life of humans in society was a struggle for existence ruled by “survival of the fittest.” These ideas were embraced by the turn-of-the-century elites confronting the challenges of how to transform their “backward,” underdeveloped nations into modern, “civilized” republic.

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In the article “Is Everywhere Nowhere? Nomads, Nations, and the Immigrant Paradigm of the United States History,” author Donna Gabaccia makes and important reference to the theory of Social Darwinism.  She writes:

Curiously, however, the immigrant paradigm of American history is not a product of immigration history; it originates in a critique of racial nationalism within the Chicago School of Sociology. Rejecting social Darwinist notions that an over-heated melting pot was unable to absorb immigrants from eastern and southern Europe, the Chicago School documented immigrants’ rapid “straight-line” assimilation in American cities.

In previous studies of race and ethnicity in Latin America, I have examined the theory and effects of Social Darwinism from a historical standpoint, but I never thought to considered its connection with US’s immigrant paradigm.   For myself, I often get caught up in the study of “history” as facts and events without taking the time to relate it to the present.   The idea of “survival of the fittest” is still alive and strong in our society and for many is quite ingrained in our subconscious thought.   The spread of Social Darwinism plays a huge role in how we compare the nations, lives, culture, and migration of non-Western European nations (primarily) in to our own.   In moving forward in our local study of migration I feel it will benefit us to consider the theory of Social Darwinism in our community.

  • What role did Social Darwinism play in the formation of Stevens County?
  • Why is the question of Social Darwinism important to our research?
  • Does this theory impact/exist in our community today ?
  • By whom and how are these ideas, consciously or unconsciously, perpetuated?
  • Does Social Darwinism play any part in the current connection between the migration of the past and the migration of the present?

 

Gabaccia, Donna R. “Is Everywhere Nowhere? Nomads, Nations, and the Immigrant Paradign of the United States History.” The Journal of American History, 1999.