In 1854, Wilhelm Kempe, 26, and his sister Auguste, 20, left their native Kingdom of Saxony, part of today's Germany, for a new home in Texas, becoming new immigrants to America. Remaining in the Germany were their aging, widowed father, a 10-year-old sister, and an 8-year-old brother – people who struggled for decades to reconcile their lives in the Old World with that of their relatives in the New World.Their translated-to-English letters to Wilhelm tell, often painfully, of the emotional toll this disruption, which is part of the experience of all immigrants to America, took on the lives of family and friends who remained in Europe.
" Shows the pressure they received -- and resisted -- from their German relatives to end their American 'holiday' and return home to Germany." -- Galveston Daily News (Oct. 4, 2009)
"Documents the tremendous disruption that ... emigration brought to those who remained in [Europe] ... not only did emigration affect European immigrants ... but it also affected the lives of loved ones left behind for decades." -- Southwestern Historical Quarterly (October 2009)
What readers say
" Very engrossing and poignant ... having a peek into the lives of those left behind in
"Grasshoff’s research puts the correspondence in context with a thorough description of events ... that impacted the lives of family members on both sides of the
"Amazing tale of a family ... and the world they left behind in
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German immigration to Texas and other states ... and the untold story
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MAN OF TWO WORLDS
of its effects on family members left behind in Europe
