Anna gave birth to son Rudolf in 1878 followed by daughter Anna Marie in 1879. To avoid detection by authorities before the children registered for school, the young family traveled to Bremerhaven for passage by sea to the United States of America in 1881.
Adam and Anna, along with 2 ½ year-old Rudy and 17 month-old baby Anna arrived at New York Harbor on Saturday, 4 June 1881. Most likely, the family stayed aboard the ship until the next business day on Monday, 6 June 1981 to process into the country.
After disembarking, they came through the Castle Garden receiving station on Manhattan Island, according to the records below.
Emigrants entering the U.S. at New York City prior to 1890 came through Castle Garden rather than the commonly known Ellis Island. From August 1, 1855 to April 1890, Castle Garden served as the entry point for New York City and was America’s first immigrant receiving station. The Ellis Island immigrant receiving station did not open until January 1, 1892, almost two years after Castle Garden was closed.
Castle Garden was located at the tip of Manhattan Island, near the current Battery Park. During 35 years of operation over 8 million people entered the United States through Castle Garden, accounting for close to 75 percent of the almost 11 million immigrants who entered the U.S. during this same period. Even with the difficult and emotional decision to leave the homeland, the horrible conditions often encountered during the voyage which could take 4-6 weeks, or longer with sailing ships, these problems were sometimes only exceeded by new ones upon landing in New York City. Prior to 1855, the helpless newcomers were being swindled and robbed on the waterfront as soon as they disembarked. These prevailing conditions led to the drive for and eventual establishment of Castle Garden as a receiving station where immigrants, at least initially, would be isolated from these threats. While the opening of Castle Garden certainly improved the situation, it by no means eliminated the difficulties new immigrants faced.
Source: http://immigrantships.net/newcompass/ancestral/imm_exp/castlegarden.html
Thirteen people with last name Anhalt arrived on the same ship Baltimore on 4 Jun1881 including the Adam and Anna Anhalt family.
Georg-Franz & Regina Anhalt Family including children:
- Johanna, 9 yrs
- Margtha, 7 yrs
- Alois, 6 yrs
- Carl, 4 yrs
- Christina, 3 yrs
- Valentin, 2 yrs
- Emil, 11 mo
Many Kaisers immigrated in 1881 through Castle Garden including Friedrich and Josefa Kaiser on the same boat as Adam and Anna Anhalt
Iowa newspaper accounts indicate that the Anhalt Family took the railroad from New York City to Waverly, Iowa shortly after processing through Castle Garden.
An article appeared in a local Iowa newspaper in the summer of 1921 forty years after The Anhalt Family’s arrival on 6 June 1981:
“Forty years ago today, Mr. and Mrs. Adam Anhalt and two children arrived in Waverly, having but a short time before that landed in America from their native home in Germany. When Mr. Anhalt, with his young wife and two small children, stepped off the train in Waverly, he had but thirteen cents in his pocket, and he says that a fellow experienced no difficulty in finding a way to spend thirteen cents or any other sum in those days when the country was not by any means as dry as it is today.” [Note: “Dry” refers to the prohibition period when this news article was published in 1921.]
“Mr. and Mrs. Anhalt are eminently well satisfied with the move they made in coming to America in their early life. Success has crowned their labors, and as the evening of life draws near they may take their comfort in a fine country home, with their children farming thriftily nearby, even as they themselves did in their youth.”
Whetstone brought by Adam Anhalt from Germany to the New World
Letter from Bill Anhalt (son of Martin Anhalt) conveying the whetstone to his son Jeff Anhalt
January 25, 2003
Counselor,
In the 1830’s your Great Great Grandfather George Anhalt purchased this whetstone in Saxony-Anhalt where he lived. Then it was in a squared off rectangular shape.
In 1864 when your Great Grandfather Adam Anhalt was confirmed at the age of thirteen his Father gave it to him as a sign of his having “become a man” and therefore needing manly things.
In May 1881, Adam, his wife Anna, ten years his junior, their toddler Son Rudolf and infant Daughter Anna left Germany quietly and surreptitiously leaving behind their property and most of their possessions. He wanted to avoid being conscripted into the Prussian army where he would enter with the rank of Captain because of his royal blood. They sailed out of Bremerhaven with only a small trunk but this whetstone was included. They then settled in Bremer County, Iowa. During Adam’s lifetime he was extremely proficient in its use, sharpening scythes, cycles, saws, hoes, axes, hatchets and of course all kinds of knives.
On the passing of Adam in 1938 the whetstone went to your Grandfather, Martin Anhalt. He owned it proudly and used it many times. Dad gave it to me in 1966 when I was made President of Trio-Tech International.
Now that you are practicing law and married it seems appropriate that the whetstone be passed on to you.
With love and respect,
Dr. Dad
Jeff Anhalt, Counselor,
Great Grandson of Adam Anhalt
Adam and Anna Anhalt owned a dairy farm with 240 acres approximately two miles north of Waverly, Iowa. This farm was named “The Lone Tree Farm.”
After Mother Anna passed away in 1951, her daughter Esther and son Charles continued to farm and live in the beautiful country farmhouse shown in this aerial photograph of the Lone Tree Farm. Once Charles died in 1969, the farm was sold to someone outside of the Anhalt family.
Picture below shows Bremer County Courthouse at time of Adam Anhalt’s naturalization.
The current Bremer County Courthouse was erected in 1937
Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bremer_County_Court_House
Adam Anhalt Citizenship Naturalization Papers, dated 28 September 1887
Anhalt Golden Wedding is Big Social Affair, 26 Aug 1927
A separate news article stated: “Throughout the day the most glorious weather prevailed, and from 9:00 o’clock in the morning the lovely farm home of Mr. and Mrs. Anhalt was visited by friends and relatives, coming to bring beautiful gifts and to offer felicitations on the most happy occasion. As nearly as may be ascertained, at least twelve hundred persons called on the home during the day.”
Three Generations At Peace in St Joseph’s Catholic Cemetery in Waverly, Iowa: Adam & Anna; August & Garnet; Merlyn & Edna
The Original Anhalt Family: seven brothers and three sisters lay at rest within a whisper of each other at St. Joseph’s Catholic Cemetery in Waverly, Iowa*
Note: the eldest sister Anna Marie is resting in Excelsior, Minnesota with Carl F. Wendt, her husband of nearly 63 years. They married on 22 April 1903 at St. Mary’s Catholic Church in Waverly, Iowa. Carl died 6 Feb 1966; Anna Marie followed him nine months later on 1 Nov 1966.