EXCERPT FROM GREAT UNCLE PETE MEULLER'S DIARY, CIRCA 1866

The original copy written in German does not have a complete start so we take the privilege of beginning the translation a few lines beyond.

My father and mother were married in the year 1840, mother at the age of 18, father at the age of 29, and they took possession of his fathers property. I was never able to find out how many sisters and brothers my father had, but I do know that one sister, the wife of Johann Bruenings, migrated to America in 1844 or 1845. About the year 1850, my fathers half-brother Claus Moeller migrated to America. My mother had two brothers Peter and Detlef. If I remember correctly those two migrated with Bruenings to America, and also two sisters, Magaretha, and she married Hans F. Schultz in Herweg and she died in the year 1889, and the other sister Johanna was married in Eckernforada to Fredrich Jensen, a fish peddler, and died in the year 1852 in that city.

I do know that a sister of my fathers was married in Schleswig to a man by the name of Juergensen. I only know of a son of another sister by the name of Henry Legband. The other brothers of my father moved as I understood to Denmark.

In the year of 1852, my parents sold their farm which they had worked since the year 1840, and bought a restaurant connected with a dance hall, bowling alley, and delivery stable in Echernforede. We lived there until the year 1859 as this business seemed not to pay very well, we lost everything through foreclosure. I can remember my father saying, "You can take everything but my fair reputation. You must leave me that".

During the last few years in this business we lived very poorly and I being the eldest son, had to earn a few pennies, so I walked to Spethmanns, a tobacco factory and spent all my hours there when not in school. In the morning from 7 to 8 in the factory, then from 8 until 12 in school, and from 1 until 2 in the factory, back to school from 2 until 4, and again in the factory from 4 until 8 in the evening. On Wednesday afternoons and Saturdays we had no school so I spent my time in the factory. On Sunday afternoons in the summer I set up pins in a bowling alley. All this time I earned about 2 or 3 marks, about 50 or 75 cents.
Late in the evenings I helped to make fishing nets and unloaded turf. I also for a while worked in a carpenter shop where I had to run a power wheel.

My father died in December of 1860. He worked the last few years by the day and we were very very poor. At the time of his death there were 7 children in the family, 5 sisters and 2 brothers. Margaretha was born in 1843, Anna in 1850, Lena in 1852, Jenny in 1858, Louise in 1861, and two brothers, Nicolaus, twin brother to Anna, born in 1860, and myself born in 1846. My sister Margaretha migrated in 1863 to America and there married Christian Lang. He also had migrated from Fleikebye to America. They lived in Teeds Grove where he operated a blacksmith shop. My sister Margaretha died in 1878 and left five children, two girls and three boys, Neta, Rosa, Christian, Earnest and Willy. Neta was married to Soern Kyhl in Charlotta Clinton County and she died in 1888 and left two children Anna and Louis. Rosa my sister's daughter is now in Colorado with my sister Jenny. My sister Anna came to America in 1858 and was married to Hans Lund in 1869 in Charlotta Clinton, Iowa. He ran a blacksmith shop until 1888 and from there they moved to a farm in Dickinson Country, Iowa where she now lives with her seven children, four girls and three boys, Anna, Jenny, Olga, Myrtle, Nicolaus, Cartus and Robert. My other two sisters Jenne and Louise and my mother can to America in 1867. Jenne was married to August Beuck in 1878. They now live on a ranch near Gate Colorado with three children, two sons Freddy and Henry. Louise died a single girl in Dennison, Iowa in 1885.

My mother married again to a man by the name of Marks in Sabula, Iowa. He died shortly after they were married and I never had a chance to meet him. After a few years mother married again to John Struck in Sabula. He had a boy from his first marriage by the name of Henry. After a few years they moved to Charlotte, Iowa where they now live in that town. My brother Nicolus came to America in 1868 and he worked a short time on a farm. Then he became a clerk in a store and in 1877 and married Tina Frahm in Westside Iowa and now lives with his three girls, Anna, Lily and Nellie in Dennison Iowa.

I was hardly fifteen when my father died and our provider had left us so we had to go to my mothers parents in Fleikebye. We stayed there for sometime and I was confined in winter, so in the evenings and when we had no school, I helped the farmers threshing and all kinds of work that had to be done. This helped me to pay part of my board. The following Easter I was hired out to a farmer near Begglers and my pay was $2, and a suit, the suit being partly homemade for which I worked all summer and until the first of November. I was hired out to another farmer, Peter Boerne, in Olfskrug near Fleikebye. There my pay was, as being the only helper, $16.00 and two new suits. It was a much better place. The work was not so hard and the board very good, compared to the other places where I had to get up at 4 o'clock in the morning, milk the cows, work very hard in the fields and the board being very miserable, getting hardly any meat.

From a small boy on I always had a longing to see the world. My wish was to travel the seas but the death of my father kept me from doing so and my mother and grandmother would not give me their consent, and being my duty as oldest boy in the family I had to take the place of my father as provider of the family, so I forgot about it for some time.

After some time we agreed upon that if I had a chance to come to America without any expense to them that I could go. My mother wrote to a man by the name of Koch from Fleikebye but now in America for some years and he agreed to pay for my fare if I would work for him for one year my wage being set at $80. We of course accepted his offer at once. R. Lange of Fleikebye migrated to America in the spring of 1862 and he promised to take me along. So about the 24th day of May, 1862 we left our old town and about the 18th of June we arrived at his sons home in Teeds Grove, Clinton Iowa. I started to work at once. I liked America very well from the beginning. The year was over and I had not quite paid for my fare from Germany so I again hired out to the same man for $80 per year.

I left this place after I had paid for my fare and I had bought some clothes and other small things. My own wish was to earn higher wages. It was winter time so I stayed a short while with Mr. Lange with whom I came to America with. But after a while I hired out for $150 for 12 months to August Ingwessen, Centre Grove, Iowa.

As the wages raised and the man was well pleased with my work, he gave me $30 and more years work making a total of $180. After the year was over I stayed another 8 months with him for $220. That time Nicoulas was 16 years old and I sent him money to come over to America; he arrived in America in the Spring of 1866.

They both paid what they owed me in two years. In the winter of 65 and 66 I stayed with my sister in Teeds Grove for several months but the old wanderlust was in me again and I wanted to go out farther in the world to find out if money couldn't be made quicker and easier. Just at the time Montana had the gold and silver rush so I packed my bundle and started out for Montana together with my cousin John Meevis and Detlef Bannick and another fellow by the name of Fred, a German from the southern part of Germany. Fred had been in the west before so he was our guide. This was in the month of April and my purse was $25. The little I had saved I borrowed to my brother-in-law, Christ Lange. We travelled on the train from Clinton, Iowa to Boone and from there we started a foot. 150 miles in 5 days to Council Bluffs, Iowa.

Being too early in the season to travel with oxen or mules because there would be no feed so we worked in a brick yard until the middle of June. We tried in Omaha to find a job to drive for someone over the plains, both without results. So we took the steamboat down the river to Nebraska City where we got a job $25 a month to drive 5 yokes of oxen to Fort Phil Kearney delivering provisions to the soldiers at the Fort. Then the Fort was about a thousand miles from Nebraska City only a few hundred miles from Elderado, the gold and silver mines of Montana. We were 20 men in the party with 20 heavy loads each one driving 5 or 6 yokes of oxen with a great long whip. Two trail leaders and bosses and a night herder to herd the oxen at night so we started out happy and with good hopes. We had to make our own breakfasts every morning other wise each one had its own cook. While the herder was asleep we greased our wagons and some helped the cook, others gathered fuel and water, which sometimes we had to hall some distance and often we used buffalo chips as fuel.

Our breakfast consisted of black coffee, our own baked bread, dried apples and some bacon. Our noon and evening meal was the same. Sometimes we cooked pork and beans or we had all kinds of wild game to eat. At night in camp we stopped our wagons in a circle, the wagon tongs all to the outside forming a yard for our oxen and at the same time forming a protection against the Indians. Then we strung the chains and yolks from one wagon to the other to form a regular fence. We slept in under the wagons. We only had two wool blankets to cover with. We never changed our shirts or pants and we had to do our own washing. We started at day break every morning without eating and drove until 10 o'clock then unhitched, had breakfast and two men herded the oxen while the night herder slept.

At 3 o'clock in the afternoon we again hitched up and drove until dark. At that rate we travelled about 15 miles a day. We did the same thing in the evening as in the morning, unhitched, gathered fuel and water, and helped cook at supper, and at about 10 or 11 o'clock we went to bed. The first few weeks we travelled very nicely until we left the settled country. There were no settlers on the south side of the Platte on the north we the Grand Island Settlement the most westward of them all about 50 miles west of Omaha.

We travelled on the south side of the Platte until Julesburg about 600 miles from the Missouri River. It was hard to cross the Platte River plenty of water and quicksand if we only stopped about 1 minute with the wagons we would start to sink in the sand. When we crossed the river - the niche 24 yokes of oxen to each wagon it took us several days to make one crossing. I had the mission to come in a deep place as we drivers had to stay on the up stream side to drive the oxen, the stream was so swift that it drove me against the oxen but luck was with me. I grabbed one of the yokes and held on until we crossed the river. Ten minutes seemed to be ten years to me. My body lay crossed in front of the ox but with only a few scratches and with lots of scare I came out alright.

The first few weeks passed without any extraordinary happenings. The fearfulness for Indians grew more and more. Several times during the night we were alarmed by our cattle herder. We saw the little graves along the road as evidence of those who had preceded us. Terrible news of Indians from the west reached us and for that reason all travellers and covered wagon trains were stopped at Lanarmie, Wyoming until about a hundred men had gathered. We then started again on our journey. Everyone carried an old muzzle loader and a loaded revolver always ready for action. We looked like soldiers. We had to be very careful as we saw many evidences of Indians. An occasional Indian served to remind us that the dangers were imminent.

Each evening brought the hazardous task of herding the cattle. The view of the mountains and scattered rock was very interesting to me and the wild romantic land was much to my liking. I started several trips afoot but the fear of the Indians took away all the joy. At last we arrived at our destination. We unloaded everything and received our wages but there was no way to continue our journey to Helena, Montana, about 300 miles from here, unless we walked, so we were forced to remain here. Our boss took a contract to furnish the fort with hay for $10 a ton and cords of wood for $30 a cord so we took a job from him at $60 a month and board, or we could subcontract to him to cut the hay at the river bottom for $5. We had to go 30 miles from the fort before we found grass suited for hay. There were about 30 men in our party and we had started to cut hay the first day out and late in the afternoon the cry of "Indians" was heard so each one of us took a team and ran for our camp but before we got there the Indians started to shoot and attempted to steal our oxen. They were successful in making away with the biggest part of them and I never will forget the hollering of the Indians, the cracking of guns, and the bellowing of the oxen.

We tried to follow them but it was of no use as we only had two ponies. Our oxen gone and we had lost one man who fell with an arrow in his heart. The country was no longer safe for us. Buffalos started to come in and the number of Indians increased so our only thought was for our own protection because we knew that the Indians would not be satisfied with only the oxen and would soon be back.

That same evening the Indians came and we barricaded ourselves in the wagons as the Indians started to encircle our camp. Several shots were exchanged but the red skins were hard to hit as they rode in a wild circle around our camp, within reach of our guns, because they leaned over their horses body and shot their arrow from under the horses neck. At last they came as thick as a swarm of bees all howling their war-whoops. By dark the battle was over so we improved our defences with the yolks of the oxen as our wagons gave us very little protection with the exception of those loaded with hay and provisions. We then dug trenches and as we had only a few shovels we changed about. We finally made shovels out of wood and worked all night like wild men in order that we might have protection in case of another attack. In the distance we could see the Indians holding their war dances about their fires to celebrate the victory. This was something I had never seen before and hope never to see again. The following morning the attack was renewed. The Indians circled our camp at some distance and only a few shots were fired and no one was injured. The Indians being afraid to come closer. They were waiting for reinforcements. The most trouble for us was to get water for ourselves and the 5 oxen we had left as the water was some distance from our own camp. We had to chase some of the Indians away in order that we might reach our water supply.

This happened in the month of September and the rains started forcing us to lay in the mud and water in our trenches which was not very comfortable, but the worst was yet to come as our ammunition and provisions were being rapidly exhausted with no help in sight and isolated from the rest, so our boss made offers to secure someone to ride to the Fort. First he offered his horse and $100, then $300 and at last $1000, but no one would attempt the hazardous ride. After a day or two a German fellow offered to ride to the camp so he started and with in 10 minutes the shooting started again and he returned to our camp with being hurt. After another day or two the same man started again, this time at 1 o'clock at night and he rode in the opposite direction of the fort and didn't come back so we didn't know if he made it or not.

After two days at high noon we could see the bayonets of the soldiers coming. We were grasped by a feeling which I am unable to explain. There were 100 infantry men coming in big wagons and we broke camp at once and under the protection of these soldiers we made for the fort. We had 20 yoke of oxen left, 100 being stolen by the Indians.

At darkness we stopped to feed the animals and gave them water. The soldiers kept watch and during the night we heard several shots and fifty mountaineers, gold prospectors came to our camp. They rode a donkey and led one loaded with luggage. The next morning at day break we were greeted with shots and hollering from the Indians, but they all stayed at a distance so that their arrows could not reach us, although several bullets entered our camp while we were eating breakfast. At daylight we could see the hills were just covered by thousands of Indians just as we had expected the day before, that they were waiting for reinforcements.
They started from the nearest hill and under cover of the brush came closer to us, but the soldiers and Montana gold seekers drove them away. A couple of boys received slight injuries. One of the Montanans played a little trick on them. He took a white pony and waved a white blanket, this being a Sioux war-signal, so the attackers thought we had received reinforcements from the Sioux Indians. They then withdrew. As soon as we ate breakfast we broke camp and started for the fort where we arrived the same day.

Twenty-five of the gold-seekers were hired by the authorities from the fort to protect us while working. We started out to chop wood for the winter thinking that the Indians would not bother us while in the timber but we were badly fooled. The third day three of our men were scalped by the Indians. Then the Indians became braver and came closer to the fort and tried to steal our cattle, without results as the cannon at the fort protected us. The following day at noon came the alarm "Indians" so I tried with the aid of several fellows to save the cattle. We had to cross a creek on a log which unfortunately broke throwing me into the ice cold water.

My gun and ammunition got wet so I was without protection. The others had waded across under the protection of the cannons. We were able to recover the cattle and save our herder. But it seemed that the Indians had lost respect for the cannons as we found several lodged in the end gates of the wagons during the night.

After several weeks the Indians stole all the livestock which were outside the fort. As there wasn't very much grass close to the fort, the cattle had strayed some distance from the fort in search of food. After this incident the garrison became alarmed as there were only about 500 men. Everything was ordered into the fort including the machinery. Here I must relate one of the most dangerous trips I had yet experienced. The commander of the fort told eight of us to drive eight miles to get a grass mower, one we had used to make hay. The commander must not have considered our lives of much value. We did not like the idea but if we refused we would have suffered the consequences so we started out.

We reached the spot without being molested by the Indians. On our return trip we were attacked, but as soon as they came in reach of our guns we fired at them. Then they saw the mower they were frightened which probably saved our lives, as they thought it was some instrument by which they were to be trapped.
After all our experiences with the Indians we three decided to return to civilization rather than push on to the gold mines. After three days we had a chance to join a freighter, with two wagons, who came from the mountains. He was very glad to take us along but we had to furnish our own provisions. We had to pay $30 for 50 lbs. of flour and $75 per lb. for bacon. But we were glad to have the opportunity of being able to get the provisions. By driving at night and hiding in the day we were able to escape from the Indians. After several hardships and being held up by a snow storm and our provisions being nearly used we arrived at Fort Laraime. Here we bought more provisions and started out for Fort MacPherson.

We got a job as teamsters around the fort (Fort MacPherson) after we returned from "Cottonwoods" where we heard that the Indians had massacred over 200 men in Fort Kearney. Our meals were very poor as we did not receive enough to eat. We received our pay in the form of a money order, which was only good in Omaha so we could not buy any of our own food. The rations issued were intended for 10 days use but actually lasted only 5 or 6 days. The rations were cooked in one large pot and everyone had to supply their own table and dishes. I used an oyster can and very seldom had a spoon and everything was dished out by the cook.

Around Christmas time Etlef Bamick and I decided to hew ties for the Union Pacific which was starting from Omaha. We loaded a wagon with provisions and went to the Government Lands in search of a spot to begin work, but to our great disappointment we found that the best of places had been already claimed. We slept in the open and because of the cold and snow we were forced to have a fire burning all night in order to keep us warm. We then decided to turn back.
We sold our wagon and the remainder of our provisions at a great loss. We started a foot to the Platte River and after travelling about 100 miles we arrived at Fort Kearney. Here we got a job with the railroad contractor to hew ties and to chop wood along three other men. Two of the men were farmer confederate soldiers and the other was a Canadian. We loaded the wagons with provisions and started up the Wood River. After travelling about 25 miles up we came to a nice camp spot and here we unloaded and sent the teamster back.


Thus ended the translation. The gentleman doing the translation died and his papers, including the German original of the diary, were destroyed. The rest of Great , Great, Great Uncle Pete Meuller's life is pieced together by reading the interviews and reading the manuscript written by his sister's child, Olga and drawing on the stories remembered by her children.