Document Chronicles: Christian & Henriette Jaekel, Part Two

As I discussed in my previous Document Chronicles post, the young Jaekel family immigrated to America from their small manorial villages in West Prussia. They arrived in the United States on August 1, 1863. Many relatives traveled with Christian and Henriette Jaekel and their two children including Henriette’s parents, uncle and his family, and brother and his family. The Boettcher research team could not determine which port city these immigrants entered the U.S. from or how they traversed the land to reach Minnesota. However, the main points for Germans in this period were New York, Baltimore, and New Orleans. This ocean journey usually took four to six weeks unless the immigrants travelled by steamship, which cut the entire trip in half. Oftentimes, immigrants then worked their way up the Mississippi River by steamboats. We believe the families then came up the Minnesota River to Carver, Minnesota, where the other leg of their journey began through the forest to reach Waconia.

A bit about the Waconia Township, as researched by the Boettchers:

The first settlers called this lake Clear Water Lake, which remains its official name today. The Sioux Indians used the name “Meyday Wa Koni Ya”, meaning “Lake of the Spring." The Dakot aSiux spelling later became “Waconia” which translates “out of water comes life." Most of the land that bordered the lake was claimed by 1858. Settlers soon realized the value of the lake and also were drawn by the beauty of the lake.

I already consider the Jaekels and other pioneers some kind of hopeless romantics. They journeyed so far to come to a new land and language to find what was called for a long time "The Great American Desert." The Great Plains were sculpted by glaciers, giving the land its characteristic rolling hills and innumerable lakes. Once covered in a shallow sea, the prairie was made up of layers of sediments that later allowed certain crops to thrive. However, while government propaganda spread the word of the gratifying pioneers, they neglected to mention the droughts, tornadoes, fierce blizzards and subzero temperatures, among other things, that these same pioneers had been experiencing. But still the new waves of immigrant pioneers were determined and hopeful that they could make a happy life here.

Carver County Minnesota. The Waconia Township is highlighted in yellow. Carver, MN is highlighted pink right along the Minnesota River.

By the time the Jaekels arrived, Minnesota was celebrating its fifth year as a state. But much of its land was yet unclaimed. Farther out from the lakes lay the treeless prairie, like the southern area just outside the township where the Jaekels’ land lay. Though it had its share of flaws, the Waconia area and surrounding Carver County was, indeed, in a valuable position with great farming potential. Carver, Minnesota, the major town on the Minnesota River was only 13 miles from Waconia.  From there, steamboats that travelled up and down the river, connecting with the Mississippi could easily get building materials, household goods, equipment, etc. to the nearby towns. The rivers and lakes provided plenty of fish and the prairie grasslands were full of wild game to supplement what farming put on the table.

The Patent-Deeds in the Jaekel Family Booklet supply an interesting story about the history and possession of Carver County lands. The experience of reading and decoding them has ultimately been a simultaneous refresher and giver of life to all the American history I have ever learned. Who would have ever thought that territory prairie would pass through several very different hands to become farmland typical of Middle America?

In return for his service in the Mexican-American War, the U.S. government under Abraham Lincoln deeded a Private Matias De Lion of the Captain Lakewood Company of the New Mexico Volunteers land in Minnesota. Privates serving for one year or more received 160 acres of land if they applied for reimbursement through the War Bounty-Land Warrants. The government had been giving away territory lands instead of cash rewards since the end of The Revolutionary War. Land Warrant Acts granted around 60 million acres to veterans or their heirs between 1847 and 1855, when the government stopped the program. Most veterans eventually decided not to patent the land warranted to them. Many even sold their warrants to third parties. Private De Lion seems to have either surrendered his patent back to the General Land Office or allowed a transfer to a Michael Beck. There is no indication, so far as can be read, that Beck was a veteran or veteran’s heir who also would have been deeded acreage through the War Bounty-Land Warrants Act.

Patent Deed enacting the transfer to Michael Beck

The transfer from Michael Beck to Christian Jaekel.

However, Beck did decide to sell his parcel of land. Christian and Henriette Jaekel purchased the land for a grand sum of $1,100 dollars. While public land at that time was selling for $1.25 an acre, the Jaekels averaged at approximately $7 an acre. Oftentimes, veterans sold their bounty-land to agents for very little money since they were unaware of the true value. It is unclear whether Michael Beck knew the value of his land or was trying to take advantage of the newly immigrated Germans. Either way, the Jaekels followed through their purchase. The “north west quarter of Section 34 of Township 116 of Range 25” was now theirs. The Jaekels now did not need to worry about proving their mettle under the Homestead Act of 1862, wherein a homesteader settles and farms 160 acres of land for five years in order to earn that land for free. Like my parents, I have always lived under the motto of ‘better to be safe than sorry’. Perhaps that is an inherited sensibility that has lasted throughout the generations.

The Jaekels 160 acres in the Waconia Township.

These hardy pioneer farmers cleared and settled the land only to face two seasons of drought as well as a summer of grasshoppers all within the first five years on their homestead. But German-American farmers were known for their fierce determination and survival instincts. The Jaekels worked wholeheartedly to make this country their new home for their growing family. I think Christian and Henriette’s purchase proved a worthy investment. The Boettchers found the following information in the Farm Census of 1870: “21 acres of improved land and 140 acres of woods. The cash value of the farm was $2,000. The value of the implements and machinery was $150. The value of the livestock was $325, consisting of 2 horses, 2 milk cows, 5 other cattle, 5 sheep, 2 swine, and the value of animals slaughtered was $150. The harvest consisted of Spring Wheat—170 bushels; Indian Corn—50 bushels; Oats—100 bushels; Barley—70 bushels; Wool—10; Butter – 100 pounds; Hay – 7 or 8 tons. The estimated value of farm produce was $500.”

Deed transfer between father and son.

The Jaekel land in 1898, now owned by Hermann.

Hermann, their second son and first American-born, purchased the land from his parents for $2,000. The land was officially transferred on June 16, 1890. Christian and Henriette continued to live on the land with their son and later, grandchildren. Though the land is no longer among the Jaekel descendants, it is still farmed in Waconia today. I just think that the story of the connection between the land and my family is incredibly amazing. There is so much history there. Yet, it is still existing and progressing under the watchful eyes and calloused hands of farmers, all started by the hopeless romanticism and hard work of my ancestors.

Map of Waconia today, still surrounded by operating farmland.
Courtesy of Carver County.