Hedwig and Marianna Schutze, LaSalle County

Hedwig and Marianna Schutze were sent to LaSalle County, Illinois in 1889. These sisters may have been two sisters who arrived in America in 1885 aboard the Westphalia with their mother, Elise, an older brother, Frederick and a younger sister, Anna. Four years later, the two would be sent West on the orphan train, victims of the harsh realities of life in New York.

In the first letter written by the sisters, Hedwig displayed great facility with the English language, although she had lived in this country just five years, and may have not had the best opportunities for learning English. She criticized herself for her temper and her failure to get her school lessons done. It seems that her duties around the house were very light, but she was worried about her eleven year old sister, who had many duties that Hedwig felt were onerous. Hedwig and Marianna lived just six miles from one another. Hedwig's family had the postal address of Tonica, Illinois and Marianna's Lostant. Marianna reported that she was able to visit pretty often, but that Marianna's guardians resisted her visits. Hedwig also inferred that their mother was still living, but that they would have had a very hard life with her.

Hedwig wrote again in 1893, when she was 16 years old. Marianna had adjusted to life in Lostant and Hedwig felt she had learned to control her temper. According to the report of Marianna's guardian in 1894, Marianna was having a hard time controlling her temper as well.

It is unclear whether Mrs. Gehm was truly sympathetic to Marianna's difficulties, for it would have been very common for the average person to believe that strict self-control and conforming to the expectations of society were among the highest of virtues. It is interesting that the Gehm's would be so generous as to send Marianna to a German boarding school, especially after Hedwig's assessment of Marianna's role in the house. Perhaps Hedwig was totally fair to the Gehm's. Because the girls continued to write to their relatives in Germany, they may have maintained strong ties with the family and reconnected with them once they were adults.

In 1895 Hedwig wrote another letter in which she compared her home to Marianna's, and found Marianna's lacking the same comforts. She mentioned her guardian's son, C. W. Weber, so we know who her guardians were. Hedwig was eighteen in 1895, but said that she intended to remain with her guardian as long as she could. They had left the farm and had been living in the town for three years. The visits between the sisters were much less frequent -- Hedwig said she visited just once a year.

The final letter giving news of Hedwig and Marianna was written by Marianna. She was looking forward to reaching the age of adulthood the next year. She planned to leave her guardians and wanted to be a dressmaker and receive further education. The only schooling that would have been available in a small place like Lostant or Tonica were grade schools -- the LaSalle county high schools would have been in Peru, Ottawa and LaSalle. Students expecting to attend high school had to pass an examination. Marianna did not mention Hedwig's plans or location in her letter.

Neither of these girls appears in the census or marriage records so that their later lives can be traced, nor are they the subjects of family trees on Ancestry.com. They remain mysteries, unless a descendant happens to see this post.