Cornelius Dürksen was 28 years old. His
wife Gertruda Plett was 30 and their five children (including
sister Elizabeth Dürksen Heinrich's three sons) ranged from
17 to 6 months. Eva Dürksen Guenther was only 20. Her husband
Cornelius was 23 and their child just an infant. Jacob
Dürksen was 35. His wife Elizabeth Funk was 28 and their
three children, Elisabeth, Anna and Eva ranged from 10 to 1.
Abraham Dürksen was 33 years old. Sarah Funk Dürksen was
31 with Henry 6, Sarah 4 and little Mary only 2. Their baby Lizzie
was there too, but would not be born until Dec 14, 1876. She was
the first American citizen in our family.
An immigrant aid group met them to provide
meals and accommodations for the night in an "emigrant house". The
next morning they herded the children and large trunks into an
emigrant car attached to the Pennsylvania Railroad Mail steam
train. Only seven years earlier the Golden spike had been driven
at Promontory, Utah connecting East and West and the International
Exposition had fueled railroad frenzy with the promise of
thousands of passengers to and from Philadelphia.
Our Dirksen Immigrants were only a few among
the many thousands of immigrants seeking the promise of newly
cultivated lands and increased commerce, all to be transported by
rail.
Only Twenty-two days before their arrival,
General Custer had met his now much discussed end at Little Big
Horn, just a few hundred miles further west, in Wyoming.
