To America

From the available records, it would appear that Ludwig Leonhard and his family made a decision to emigrate to America sometime in 1845. Other families from that area had chosen New Orleans as their final destination, and this seems to have been the case with the Leonhard family.

Ludwig Leonhard had to receive the approval of the civil authorities in the Kingdom of Bayern [Bavaria] before he and his family could leave their village of Jettenbach in Rheinbayern and emigrate to the United States. Preserved in the Archives of the Kreisverwaltung Kusel are four separate documents (six pages) that record some of the steps involved in their obtaining permission to emigrate. The documents are dated between 4 February 1846 and 20 March 1846.


The image to the right is one of the six pages.

Ludwig Leonhard submitted an application to emigrate on 4 February 1846. He obtained a certification releasing him from his guardianship of his wife's younger sister, Katharina Göttel. He also needed verification that he had paid all of his taxes.

On 20 March 1846, he was given permission to leave. In his application, Ludwig Leonhard asked to be allowed to emigrate to North America because he believed that "there the living conditions for his family could be better than in Europe."

Scanned copies of these four documents (and German transcriptions and English translations) can be found here.
 Page from Leonhard family emigration record.


Detail from Leonhard family emigration record.
 A detail from the above document says:
        The above-named has 3 children, two sons
        and one daughter:
        1, Daniel, born on 6. January 1839.
        2, Ludwig,   "    "  23. June 1841.
        3, Carolina, "    "  31. December 1843.


The records also indicated that "claimant has already sold his entire estate and from that has received 1900 Gulden." After an emigration fee was paid along with all debts, Ludwig was left with 11-1200 Gulden. The gulden was one of the monetary units then in use in Bavaria. It is difficult to make comparisons, but at the time the Leonhards were emigrating, a house sold for 400-800 Gulden, so Ludwig's nestegg was apparently a significant sum.

Ludwig also had an approved ship's contract. Unfortunately, the name of the ship or the company was not given. He sought approval to leave from either Bremen or Le Havre.

Presumably soon after receiving permission the Leonhards would have left their home. It is more likely that the Leonhards traveled across France to Le Havre, the port from which most emigrants from the Pfalz departed. They may have gone by way of Paris. From there, trains were available to take emigrants to Le Havre.

Possibly emigrating with the Leonhards, or somewhat earlier, were Louisa Göttel Leonhard's younger brother Heinrich, and Louisa's younger sister, Katharina, who married Michael Ries. Her first child was born in New Orleans on 31 May 1846.


Some time in the late spring of 1846, the Leonhard family, Ludwig and Louisa and their three young children, likely boarded a sailing vessel in Le Havre and began their passage to New Orleans.
A 19th-century view of the harbor at Le Havre
by Eugene Bodin
A 19th-century view of the harbor at Le Havre, by Eugene Bodin.


No passenger list, either from a ship that left Le Havre or Bremen, has been found that includes the Leonhard family, or Louisa's siblings Heinrich and Katharina. The Leonhards would likely have arived in New Orleans sometime in the spring of 1846. If they traveled with Louisa's younger sister, Katharina, they would have arrived by 31 May 1846, when she had her first child, Francis, with her husband Michael Ries. If they traveled with Louisa's younger brother, Heinrich, they would have arrived by 30 August 1846, when he and his wife, Magdalena Mees, had their first child, also named Magdalena.

Like many other immigrants, the Leonhards, once in New Orleans, made their way to the downtown part of the city, where they began a new life.


Go to next section: Life in New Orleans, Part 1


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