Andreas Ratzlaff family arrives in USA

In May, 1907, the Teddy Roosevelt era was drawing to a close in the United States.  Economic turmoil struck the New York Stock Exchange with the Panic of 1907 and Oklahoma was admitted as the 46^th State.  At midnight on the last day of the year, an electric ball was dropped in Times Square, New York City, for the first time.

Nearing Baltimore, Maryland, on May 25, 1907, the SS Weimar steamed between Cape Charles and Virginia Beach, Virginia, and headed north up the Chesapeake Bay.  Past the mouth of the Potomac River and the Maryland State border, several miles north of Annapolis, the ship finally reached its destination:

The immigrant pier was situated at Locust Point, just west of Fort McHenry, on the north side of a small peninsula jutting out from the southern edge of Baltimore:

By 1907, the rails of the Baltimore & Ohio Railway came right down to the pier and as immigrants were processed, they could board trains immediately.  Maria (Ratzlaff) Penner remembered lots of confusion at the immigrant processing station as travelers arrived with their baggage.  The Ratzlaffs, Wedels and Unruhs were confounded that no one spoke German.  Maria initially thought Baltimore was a very strange place.  She remembers that the family toured the Smithsonian Institute while they awaited their departing train, but this memory may not be accurate.  For more information regarding immigrant arrivals in Baltimore, see: http://www.gnatowski.org/Trees/baltimore/town/home.htm

and

http://mdk12.org/share/pdf/social_studies/HISTORY/PB_immigration_baltimore.pdf

and

http://www.history.umd.edu/HOH/grade11industrial/index.html

and

http://www.baltimoremd.com/charm/pointofentry.html

The Ratzlaffs, Wedels and Unruhs probably boarded a train very near the pier at Locust Point and travelled by train westward to Chicago, Illinois, where they would have needed to make a connection with their train bound for Kansas City, Missouri.  As the Ratzlaffs took their seats on the train in Kansas City, a bearded man sat down in the row behind Marie and Karoline.  Although she was told not to look at the man, Karoline indicated to her parents that the man kept staring at her and Marie.  Getting a better look, the stranger realized for sure who the party was, approached Andreas, and a joyful reunion ensued; it was Andreas’ younger brother Bernard!