Fredrick came to America at age 19 perhaps because at age 20 he would be required to serve two years in the army. Others who had the money paid someone else to serve in their place.

He came with his younger brother, Charles. They sailed out of Bremen on the ship Rhein and arrived in New York on July 10, 1880. Fredrick spent a winter cutting railroad ties in Illinois, then apparently moved to Missouri (perhaps as early as 1882) where he farmed north of Mexico, Missouri, before he was married in 1888. Both Fredrick and Charles (and others?) saved money to bring their mother to America. At least three of his siblings later moved to North Daota but Fredrick did not.

His wife, Dorothea, was the cousin of Fred Doepke, who married Fredrick’s sister Margaret.

Fred Doepke, who lived in Mexico, Missouri, invited his cousin Dorothea Doepke for a holiday visit, and Fredrick Klusmann was there at the same time visiting his sister Margaret, who was Fred Doepke's wife. After he left, Fredrick Klusmann courted Dorothea Doepke "by mail" and only met her twice before they were married.

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Coming to America from a booklet created for a Klusmann reunion in New Salem on June 18-19, 2005.

By far the largest number of German immigrants went to America in search of an improved standard of living. Political and religious freedom probably motivated fewer emigrants than did the threat of Prussian military service. We do know that ever since the 18° century, detailed information about American business cycles, wages, and food prices was publicized in Germany.

In a broader sense, economic and political motivation cannot be separated. As a matter of fact, when the decision to emigrate was motivated by a desire to become a farmer with one's own land or a craftsman with one's own business, this also implied a rejection of the rigidity of the social class structure in the German states. A German official stated that “emigrams were infected with the disease of a concept of freedom and an idea about statehood and that emigration fever was making the ‘lower class’ rebellious.”

Emigrant groups who left the Old World in the 18° and early 19* centuries were also religiously motivated. In the intolerant environment of Europe, they had not been permitted to shape their own community life. In addition, wheat crop failures, poor wine harvests and a potato blight made for more misery.

The dream of most German immigrants in the 18‘ and 19 centuries was the debt-free ownership of a farm. Some would take up residence in a city first to build up savings of $50 to $150. Around 1850 in the Midwest this sum was suffcient for a down payment on a farm of about 40 acres, which was about the size needed to make a living. In addition, the immigrant needed about $500 to acquire implements, cattle and seed grains, as well as food that would last until the first harvest. The minimal amount of money needed to start a family farm on the western prairies around 1870 was a team of horses, a plow and other field implements as well as seed grain, which together cost about $1200. That was more than the average annual income of a factory worker.

The decade of 1880-89 saw 1,445,181 German immigrants come to the US, more than any other decade from 1820 to 1990.

Why people would leave a home land in search of freedom is a fascinating story. Our ancestors were part of that story, people who took risks to find a new beginning.