About Michael Guelff, we know that two brothers and a cousin preceded him to the same general geographical area a few years before his voyage. One brother settled in Marquette, Michigan, another in Appleton, Wisconsin and the cousin in Austin Mower, Minnesota a few miles away from Eden Valley. Michael Guelff stayed with at least one of the brothers for a short time after his arrival.
About the family Grein, we know that they were preceded by close relatives who settled in Minnesota, Ohio and Iowa. Anna's older sister, Susanne, had married John Roler (also spelled Roller) and they had made the journey to America in 1873. A great many "Luxembourgers", the term generally used for immigrants from the southern part of Belgium and Luxembourg, settled in the Ohio and northern Mississippi Valleys in the latter part of the 19th Century. A combination of drought, poor harvests and overpopulation motivated the general exodus to the more promising and less populated United States.
Though most of the specific details on the Grein/Guelff travel arrangements remain unknown, most of the Luxembourgers found their way to the United States using package deals -- ocean passage and railroad tickets to final destination -- offered by several of the emigrant ship lines in collaboration with the expanding U.S. railroads. Not coincidentally, Eden Valley was a significant rail station on the Soo Line at the time of the Grein/Guelff arrival.
So how did this work? The Port of History Museum in Philadelphia has a very helpful exhibit, especially
considering that Philadelphia was the Grein/Guelff port of arrival. Basically, after the Civil War and with the advent of seaworthy steamships, a large number of "ocean liners" were built to ply the emigrant trade mainly from European ports in Germany and the Netherlands to Boston, New York, Philadelphia and Baltimore along the eastern seaboard.
One of the most famous lines, the Red Star Line, was only a trade name, not a corporation. It is not entirely clear who owned the name, most likely the International Navigation Company, since that is the name printed on the "Report or Manifest of all the passengers taken on board."
At Philadelphia, in 1871, some businessmen created the International Navigation Company. The company ordered in England the construction of three vessels, one of which was the steam ship Nederland, although it apparently also had two masts as depicted on the manifest. At Antwerp, in 1872, another company known as the Société Anonyme de Navigation Belgo-Américaine was founded. The International Navigation Company put into this new venture the three vessels under construction. Consequently, the newly formed company became the owner of the S.S. Vaderland, the S.S. Nederland, and the S.S. Switzerland. The Nederland was completed in 1873, and both companies started operating a line under the name of Red Star Line. The photo of the S.S. Nederland below comes from a website of old steamship photos:
The principal ports of departure and routes of those ships that routinely made a port of call at Philadelphia are illustrated by the map below, also borrowed fromthe Port of History Museum.
Like most immigrants, Michael Guelff and the Grein family booked passage in steerage, fairly cramped quarters below decks. Moreover, steerage passengers were not allowed access to the more desirable parts of the ship and certainly were not allowed to mingle with the first class passengers. At the time of their crossing in 1878, the ships typically did not have separate cabin space for families. Curtains drawn around bunks were about all the privacy anyone had. The bunks were none too commodious either, and did not have spring suspension until around 1900. A six-foot person would either need to curl-up or dangle feet over the foot of the bunk, which was very clear from the interactive exhibit at the Port of History Museum, which invites you to "Climb Rigt In." Anna Grein at 5' 4" or less, on the other hand, probably had little difficulty sharing one level of the bunk with a parent or a sibling. Her baby brother Pierre Grein was 13 months old and her younger sister Catherine was 5 at the time of the April 14, 1878 departure of the Nederland from Antwerp. Anna may have had one or both in her charge. The manifest has her age listed as 14, even though she was 16 years and four months at the time the ship set sail from Europe. The lower age probably meant a lower fare and doubling up on one of the bunks.
The steerage fare also did not allow much room for luggage, certainly nothing more than could be stowed under the lower bunk in one of the typical "steamer trunks" manufactured for exactly that purpose, a precursor of the airliner roll-on.
Given the cramped quarters and the monotony of a 17 day crossing, the Grein/Guelff party was undoubtedly very happy to arrive in Philadelphia on May 1, 1878, a bustling seaport teaming with families and adventurers ready to head west. Some contemporary lithographs, undoubtedly idealized and spruced-up, convey some sense of what the arrival and re-embarkation via railroad must have been like.
"At Dock Street Wharf" is a hand colored engraving by Schell & Hogan from Picturesque America, which was published in 1876, just two years before the Nederland brought the Grein/Guelff party to America.
Next stop, Eden Valley.
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