To America After deciding to take his family to America, Friedrich Lange sought approval to emigrate. Their intentions were published in a newspaper, the Braunschweigische Anzeigen, giving the civil authorities and others the chance to be sure that all debts and taxes were paid or that there were no other impediments to prohibit their leaving. These newspaper notices were the result of an ordinance enacted in the Duchy of Braunschweig-Lüneburg, which called for all officially requested permits for emigration to be publicized.
A card index of these newspaper notices includes the Lange family.                             Lange, Friedrich                     Klein köther aus Ortshausen,                       Ehefrau Johanne geb. Heitefuss                       Kinder     Louise        Minna                                      Sophie        Wilhelm                                      Johanne       Julie                                      Friederike    Christian                                         24 bis 1 Jahr alt                    Amerika                       Br. 1.1852 Nr. 194 Vg. 6165/66
The record indicated that Friedrich Lange of Ortshausen was a small "cottager" [Köther], that is, someone with a small house and some land to raise a garden and a few cattle or animals. Listed were his wife and their eight surviving children, whose ages ranged from 24 [Sophie was actually 22] to 1 year. Christian, the youngest, turned one in March of 1852. The notice said that they intended to go to "Amerika."
A published version of this record is found in the book Auswandererlisten des ehemaligen Herzogtums Braunschweig; ohne Stadt Braunschweig und Landkreis Holzminden, 1846-1871, by Fritz Gruhne (1971). Translated this title says: "Lists of Emigrants From the Former Duchy of Braunschweig [or Brunswick]; Not Including the City of Braunschweig and the County of Holzminden, 1846-1871." A copy of this record is here.
With permission and tickets in hand, the Lange family would have traveled the 110 miles from their home in Ortshausen to Bremen and on to the port of Bremerhaven. (It is also possible that they left from Hamburg, which was about the same distance away from their home.) The family has not been found on any passenger list.
	This mid-1800s drawing shows emigrants boarding a ship in Bremerhaven. Wood engraving, 1866 Historisches Museum Bremerhaven
The Lange family arrived in New Orleans sometime between January 1852—when they sought permission to leave, and 10 April 1853—when their son Wilhelm Lange was confirmed at St. Paul Lutheran Church in New Orleans. The only Lange to not emigrate together with the rest of the family was Sophie's older sister, Louise. She remained behind, and on 24 April 1853, she was married at the church in Ortshausen to Heinrich Christian Bolm, who was born in nearby Schleweke. Heinrich was a widower, with three children from his previous marriage with Magdalene Lautenbach. In 1854, Heinrich Bolm received permission to take his second wife, Louise Lange, and his three children to America. (The Bolm record in Auswandererlisten des ehemaligen Herzogtums Braunschweig; ohne Stadt Braunschweig und Landkreis Holzminden, 1846-1871 is here.)
Passenger lists showed that the Bolm family traveled from Bremen on the ship America, arriving in New Orleans on 11 November 1854. Sadly, the passenger list also shows that his daughter "Mina" died on the voyage.
The destination of the Heinrich Bolm family was listed in the passenger manifest as "St. Louis." Presumably after visiting their family in New Orleans, they would have taken a steamboat up the Mississippi River, perhaps getting off the boat at Cape Girardeau, Missouri, since Henry (as he came to be called in America) established a home for his family in Cape Girardeau County. Louise Lange Bolm died sometime between their arrival on 11 November 1854 and 24 December 1855, when Henry was married for the third time to Christina Keunecke in Cape Girardeau County. Henry Bolm made declaration of his intention to be naturalized on 10 June 1856. His age was given as 35 and he renounced his allegiance to "Wilhelm Duke of Brunswick." Perhaps Heinrich Lange and his family also intended to go to southeastern Missouri, as so many others from Braunschweig had before them. But for whatever reason, they remained in New Orleans and made a new life for themselves there.
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