Help for the journey

Our Russian ancestors who emigrated to North America in the last quarter of the nineteenth century were by no means the first Mennonites to call the New World home. In fact, the first Mennonites settled in the Pennsylvania area in 1683. Over the next two centuries Mennonites moved west with the rest of the country, so that by 1870 there were significant Mennonite populations in Ohio, Illinois, Indiana, and states farther west.

These U.S. Mennonites were no idle bystanders when their European sisters and brothers expressed a desire to move to North America. In fact, individual Mennonites and church bodies not only collected funds to defray the costs of relocating but also negotiated travel arrangements to smooth and simplify the long journey.

For example, in early 1874 Bernhard Warkentin (see earlier here), working on behalf of the Board of Guardians (an organization formed to aid European Mennonite immigrants), made arrangements with the Inman Steamship Line and the Erie Railroad Company to transport Mennonite immigrants from Hamburg, Germany, to locations in the western United States. The cost to travel by steam ship and rail from Hamburg to Omaha, for example, was $41.00. Traveling all the way to Atchison, Kansas, cost an additional dollar (see Schnell 1950, 212–13).

In spite of an invitation to participate in the work of the Board of Guardians, Mennonite churches in Pennsylvania made their own arrangements to assist their Russian co-religionists: transportation via the Red Star Line (see here) and the Pennsylvania Railroad. Schnell explains further the reasons behind the Pennsylvania churches’ decision:

The main obstacle to the forming of a combined committee appears to have been the desire of the Pennsylvania brethren to deal with the Red Star Line, which was largely owned by Quakers who had always been friendly to the Mennonites. Soon after the organization of the Executive Aid Committee [of the Pennsylvania churches], a contract was signed with this line whose ships sailed between Antwerp and Philadelphia. This contract afforded several advantages which had not been achieved in the Inman Line contract. The rates agreed on allowed a considerable reduction from those in the Inman contract. The Red Star Company agreed to furnish transportation from Antwerp to the desired destination in Western America for from $35 to $37 per emigrant, depending on the distance traversed and allowed reduction for the children and baggage equivalent to that of the Inman contract. The land transportation was furnished by the Pennsylvania Railroad, whose agent, Francis Funk, a brother of John Funk, provided them a special guarantee of good treatment. Furthermore, the Red Star Line ships docked at Philadelphia, and thereby enhanced the opportunity of the Pennsylvania residents to minister to the needs of the travelers before sending them West. (Schnell 1950, 215)

After several years the benefits of the Red Star Line arrangement over the Inman one became evident to all, and the Board of Guardians transferred their business to the Red Star Line as well.

Why does this matter to Bullers? It fills in a few more details about Peter D and family’s journey to America. We already knew that our forebears crossed the sea on a Red Star Line steam ship, the SS Switzerland. Now we know why that shipping company was preferred: it was operated by members of another “peace church,” the Quakers, and it offered a better fare (by $5–$7 per person) than the Inman line. We also know that they may well have been greeted and cared for by fellow Mennonites when they docked in Philadelphia.

Source

Schnell, Kempes. 1950. John F. Funk, 1835–1930, and the Mennonite Migration of 1873–1875. MQR 24:199–229.