Origins(1) by Doug and Joyce Severt

The Sievert's lived in the German State of Mecklenburg Vorpommern(2). It is a state in northeastern Germany, bounded on the north by the Baltic Sea (Ostsee), on the west by Schleswig-Holstein, on the southwest by Lower Saxony, on the south by Brandenburg, and on the east by Poland (3). The state lies in a fertile plain containing many forests and lakes and is crossed by the Elde, Warnow, and several other rivers. Retreating glaciers during the Ice Age of Northern Europe created the rolling hills and meltwater lakes of this region of woods and fields. The glacial geography, history, and topology of the Prussian Baltic region and Wisconsin were, for all practical purposes, identical. Both regions had been affected by the same four glacial periods.

In Mecklenburg during the early 1800's a very primitive type of Feudalism existed, known as "Inherited Serfdom". The landowners controlled the economy and ruled their estates with absolute authority. The peasants were dependant entirely on the nobles who could even buy and sell them with or without their property, and the tax rate had to be reviewed every two to three years, and was usually increased at that time. They could not acquire any more land than they already had. Their Landlords produced crops for export from their vast estates by using the labor of these bonded peasants, servants and laborers.

Mecklenburg land produced grain, especially rye, in great abundance and there was a large surplus for export. The land was dotted with windmills and gristmills for processing the grain. Other crops included potatoes, sugar beets, peas, beans and cabbage. Livestock was also significant to the economy. Both horses and cattle were raised for export. Wool was another important source of income.

In the 1800's the Landlords drove away more and more peasants with their highhanded ways. They then incorporated those peasants' plots into their estates, and crop production expanded further. This callous robbery of the peasant properties was known as "peasant seizure". Ten thousand peasants lost their holdings in this way. In Mecklenburg where the Nobility owned almost all of the land and dwellings, the number of the estimated peasant vacancies went from 2,490 to nearly 12,000 by 1800 AD. The former peasants who had land left held only small holdings which ensured little more than a bare livelihood for them.

Those villagers who were without land became cottagers or gardeners. Eventually they were simply known as day laborers (Tageloehners) and lived in grinding poverty. They were deprived almost entirely of their earnings and thereafter were forced to work for a starvation wage on the Junker estates. They traveled the countryside, moving from estate to estate as the land owner required their labor for plowing, planting or harvesting crops. Peasants often had to move constantly. It was common for a man to be born in one place and get married in another place to a woman who was born in yet another place. Then, each of their children might be born in a different place. The life they lived gave no possibility of resistance in an effort to better their condition (4).

The village pastor was also entirely dependent on the Landlord and was compelled to ensure the obedience of the peasants and laborers. The school teacher had to educate children in absolute obedience concerning estate matters. Whenever a pastor came forward on grounds of conscience and took the side of the underprivileged, he was banished as the pastor. A local pastor beaten with a riding whip before his church door because he had been fishing in a small lake in the parish without the Baron's express permission. Hunting and fishing rights to all ponds, lakes and forest belonged to the Landlord alone.

Legally, serfdom was abolished in Mecklenburg in 1820 and the peasants were freed from their obligations to land owners. But this worsened the conditions for most peasants because the land owners were freed, at the same time, of any obligations under feudal law to provide their tenants with any means of supporting themselves, thus leaving the peasants in even greater poverty.

Little changed over the years and the only hope of a better life was to immigrate. The worsening economic conditions (and their great difference reported by friends, family, and neighbors in America) represented both a push from the Baltic and a mighty pull from America and elsewhere.

Mecklenburg was one of the areas in Europe that was most affected by the emigration movement. Mass emigration is a sign of severe social crisis in any country. The emigration wave was not limited to Mecklenburg alone. It also covered all other parts of the fragmented German Empire. In all, several million people emigrated from Germany. The emigration movement spread to other European countries as well, but Mecklenburg was especially hard hit. In fact, after 1850, Mecklenburg had the third highest emigration count in Europe, superceded only by Ireland and Galicia (land which is currently Poland and the Ukraine).

The Sievert's decided they just couldn't stand it any longer, so in the early months of 1876 they headed, by train, to the port of Hamburg. They like many of their countryman, especially those from the lower social classes, didn't have any prospects or future in Mecklenburg, since their lives were totally uprooted by the change from feudal rule to a civil-capitalist one. Between 1850 and 1890 approximately 146,000 Mecklenburgers emigrated overseas, most going to the United States of America, but some also going to South America. Between 1820 and 1890 those going overseas accounted for two thirds of all the emigrants from Mecklenburg. The defeat of the civil-democratic revolution in 1848/49 and the return of the old social and political problems gave fresh impetus to this emigration movement.

This loss of population was most prevalent from the so-called flat or farmland. 88.5 % of all emigrants came from rural areas. Most of them came from the lands of the knights, from the manor houses of noble and titled big landowners. These were the people who had the most compelling reasons for leaving Mecklenburg. This was mostly due to the miserable social conditions caused by the right of abode and the right of establishment rules, which existed almost unchanged between 1820 and 1860.

Probably around March of 1876 the Sievert's left Hamburg and landed in Liverpool, England for passage to America on the first leg of their journey (5). In early April they boarded the steamship "Italy" (S.S. ITALY, Courtesy The Peabody Museum of Salem) (6). The "Italy" sailed out of Liverpool and stopped to "top off the load" at Queenstown (Cobh), the port of Cork City, Ireland. The Sievert's (7) manifested (17) were listed in the following family groups. Nationality was listed as German for all, no state or village was listed and the destination for all was simply USA.  For a more complete look at the SS Italy review this page and and associated links.

NAME

AGE

SEX

OCCUPATION

NAME

AGE

SEX

OCCUPATION

There are large areas of small lakes dotted across many miles and intertwining rivers, marshes, and swamps that had to be cleared. This was the land the Baltic Germans knew how to cultivate! The seemingly endless woods that had to be cleared and the great forests that were turned into wood products were a welcome sight. Were they discouraged by the task before them? No! This was the land they knew and loved and could cultivate and produce on. It was their land!

The Sievert's first settled in Kiel, Wisconsin, a small village near the southern border of Calumet and Manitowoc counties. East Europeans settled this area almost entirely and each village represented a distinct ethnic makeup. After two years at Kiel, Albert Sievert (16) moved his family to Auburndale.