Friday, November 13, 2009

An immigration story

In trying to get the facts right on the Armistice Day story that I posted November 11, I went through some old photos and documents that I have been safekeeping a long time now. One group of documents are letters and postcards that Gramps Fauster wrote to his second daughter, Alice, after she and her husband, Jim, moved to California after Jim's airplane company in Ohio closed. The letters and postcards span over a decade and are chatty and full of family news (he considered us Cullen kids to be badly mannered for one thing !). But one letter stands out. I've tried to attach it, but blogspot does not recognize pdf files, so I will provide it here:

May 12th – 54

Dear Alice
In your letter received today you said a John Schwartz was at your church.
When we lived in Archbold an old man by the name of John Schwartz told me the following:
He lived in Switzerland and went to a port in France to take a boat for America. He had no money but was told that funds would reach him there from one who was indebted to him. The boat was ready to sail and Schwartz’s money failed to arrive. He told his trouble to your grand father Fauster, a total stranger whom he had not seen before. Your Grandfather paid his passage to America. This happened in 1854. One hundred years ago.
Love,
Dad

1 comment:

Nimble said...

What a great story. It's the sort of thing that leaves you with all sorts of questions. But it's kind of perfect as is.