An Immigrant’s Journey
The story of Anna Henriette (Jette) Geisberg Bruns, a German immigrant woman who eventually settled in Jefferson City.
“I cannot describe the impression that the days of wandering in this river valley have made upon me. One can travel hundreds of miles between gigantic tree trunks without a single ray of sunlight falling upon one’s head. The soil is so black here from the plant mold that has been accumulating since primeval days that one seems to be walking on a coal bed.” -Report on a Journey, Thirteenth Letter, Gottfried Duden
In 1825, Gottfried Duden wrote a letter describing the wonders of the state of Missouri. He gives vivid descriptions of ancient forests and fertile hills throughout the region, encouraging more immigrants from his homeland, Germany, to follow his footsteps and immigrate to Missouri. The letters worked wonders, and soon Germans were pouring into the region.
Two of these German immigrants were Jette and Dr. Bernhard Bruns. Bernhard had gone to America after hearing Duden’s report and fell in love with it. A year later, in 1836, Jette and their son came along with two of Jette’s brothers. They would create a German settlement in Westphalia, Missouri with other immigrants. They faced many hardships when first establishing the community, and some families would return to Germany. While they had originally feared the natives and wilderness in America, diseases actually came to be their biggest obstacle.
Jette quickly began to struggle with homesickness and loneliness. She constantly wrote home to her family, who she had hoped would join her in America. These letters were compiled into a book and translated by Adolf Schroeder. The letters written and received by Jette allow us to understand how she was feeling and how the new community developed. In one instance, Jette wrote:
“How lonely I am. No female being who thinks as I do, with whom now and then I can share my feelings when I need that kind of relief, when I want to forget my daily troubles and sorrow, when these could be set aside for a little while”.
Despite missing home, Jette was determined to make life in America work. Her husband, Dr. Bruns, soon became interested in politics. They relocated their family to Jefferson City, the capital, in 1854 where he would become the mayor. Around this time, the Know-Nothings had become a prominent political party (Forty-Eigthers and Know-Nothings, O’Connor) This party was based largely around anti-immigrant sentiments and greatly concerned Jette due to their rising influence.
Dr. Bruns would serve as mayor during the Civil War up until his death in 1864. At this point, Jette had lost a son during the war, and would lose another in 1872. This stands out and shows the strong Union stance held by the Jette and her family; they were willing to fight and die for their new country. She also lost five of her children in their youths, and several moved away to live with relatives.
Even after the passing of Dr. Bruns, Jette continued to be active in and informed about the politics of the country and state. She held gatherings of radical German politicians at her home (which was directly across from the capital building). In one letter she expressed her excitement that Missouri had been declared a free state. If you look at both Jette’s letters along with the translated texts from Germans for a Free Missouri, by Rowan and Primm, you can see that Jette was not alone in holding these views. Many other German immigrants were also pro-union and anti-slavery.
Dear Heinrich:
I now have to send a few words to you! Missouri is a free state! The State’s Convention in St. Louis has declared it unanimously, and a dispatch is reporting it to the legislature. The governor delivered a very enthusiastic speech to the thundering enthusiasm of the members, and then they went home to invite the ladies and all who are interested to gather with them this evening again. Now everybody has gone there: the gentlemen, with Effie and the children, Heinrich Geisberg, the girl, and the boy. I am sitting alone in the house, and at times I look at the brightly lit State House and think, “I wish our father could still have seen this.” It brings Missouri a promising future! If God wills it! Still years will pass before laws and extermination will drive away the murdering bands. But let us hope! It excites me and I have hope for my children!
Jette continued to be plagued by homesickness and loneliness for the rest of her life. She would continue to write letters back to her family in Germany until she could no longer read and write. Jette died in 1899, but her letters were passed down through the family. After Schroeder discovered her letters through one of Jette’s descendants, he decided they would be a valuable resource for the public to understand the history and hardships of immigrant life in Missouri.
