A TRAVELING JOURNAL AND A GREAT--GREAT GRANDFATHER!

Sometimes I’d give anything to go back in history and meet people I’ve read about and greatly admired.  One of those “gems” was my great-great-grandfather Hilarius Rondorf. He was born in a small German village in 1828 and came to the U.S. with his wife Anna Maria and young daughter Lizzie in 1854.  He traveled by railroad with his family to Antwerp, Belgium and then on the sail ship Leopold I to New York. 

I was amazed to get a copy of his traveling journal, which detailed his family’s struggles to begin a new way of life.  Added to that wonderful discovery was the inadvertent finding that a well-known missionary to Native Americans, Pierre de Smet was also a passenger on that voyage.  In a letter to a Belgian newspaper, he described the voyage of the Leopold from Antwerp to New York:

            “They weighed anchor between 9 and 10 in the morning.  The weather was superb.  The large and beautiful ship, Leopold I was full of animation, a multitude of emigrants from Germany, Holland, Switzerland, Belgium, Russia, France, etc. were already on board.  We took but a day to reach Southampton and remained there until the next day to take in English and Irish passengers.  Our numbers increased then to more than 620 persons.”

            Pierre de Smet went on to tell about the festiveness on board—the singing and dancing, and “the sound of the violin and guitar.”  Of course no tale would be complete without the description of the “sea in extraordinary agitation.”  The ship shook violently at times and the mood of the passengers “resembled a genuine day of mourning.” The ones hit hardest were “perhaps those who looked too deeply into the wine cup.”  It sounded like the physician on board was kept busy day and night.

            My great-great-grandfather seemed to mirror those observations:

            “We enjoyed a great deal of the time in dances, theaters, and other amusements, but the seasickness kept us on the hard bed a good many days.”

Landing in New York after 63 days, Hilarius and Anna Maria started again on the railroad to Madison, Wisconsin.  Having no money or relatives or friends, they were taken in by a farmer and allowed to live in his house for free for some time.  By the spring of 1855, after saving and working for others, they were able to purchase eighty acres of land nearby.  By 1860 they were able to move again, and in early 1865, my German great-great grandfather felt it his duty to enlist in his area Wisconsin regiment in the Civil War.  He earned $300, but after eight months, returned home seriously ill with the bilious fever. 

Nearing the end of his own life after the death of Anna Maria, Hilarius wrote to his six children asking them to look out for one another if any one of them should have bad luck.  He spoke of the deep love he’d had for his wife and how they came to this country in hopes of making a better life for their children.

I marvel at the bravery and trust of my great-great grandfather Hilarius.  He was a poor, but very hard-working man who believed in the dream of a better life in America for his family, and was willing to take that risk. He was also a deeply religious and compassionate man.  That was exemplified to me in the letters he wrote to his children and his daughter-in-law, pleading with her not to blame herself for the accidental death of her daughter in a fire. 

When I was a child I met Hilarius’s son and namesake, nicknamed Hi.  My parents and I visited him and his wife Mame fairly often, but I had no idea of his family history.  I just knew that Hi was a very kind and gentle man who liked children and that it was a fun place to visit. I’m now sure that the words, like father, like son, never rang truer. 

MY GRANDMOTHER MAMIE RONDORF, GRANDDAUGHTER OF HILARIUS

My grandmother Mamie was a lot like her grandfather—a very gentle spirit—and I feel incredibly blessed to be a part of her and the Rondorf heritage.  I also feel a great deal of gratitude for the stories Hilarius left behind, and I’m glad that I can continue to share them with others.