The Immigration of the Hockert Family

John Hockert (26), John Pinter (18), Jacob Heil (31), John Weidig (27), and Jacob Weiten (32) all arrived together aboard the Charlemagne. From Havre, France to New Orleans, arriving 25 May 1854.

1. In the spring of 1866 the Nickolaus Hockert family left their home in Schwemlingen in the Saarland and travelled, probably by rail, to one of the Belgian or Dutch ports on the English Channel.
2. From there they crossed the Channel to London.
3. In London they boarded the ship William Penn for the voyage across the Atlantic.
4. The William Penn arrived in New York on June 28, 1866. Recorded in the passenger list were Nickolaus (35) & Anna (38), their children Barbara (Bertha) (7), Emma (6), Nicolas (4), Maria (2), and Michel (.03), and Anna's brother Peter Boesen (29).
5. From New York they took a coastal ship to New Orleans.
6. Travelling on a Mississippi river steamboat, the family went to Jefferson County, Missouri, and settled there for 2 years.
7. Hearing about the "gut grund" in Minnesota from Nickolaus' brother John, the family travelled upriver again. They probably landed at St. Paul and went by wagon to Millerville where they settled for good in 1868.