HOW GERMAN INFLUX CHANGED MISSOURI

"By the beginning of the Civil War, the German influence throughout the state had changed the state's political and cultural life. Their love of music and gardens, their regard for education and newspapers, and many of the Christmas customs had spread to their non-German neighbors. The opposition of German immigrants to slavery helped shift the balance of political power in the state."

-- "German Settlement in Missouri"

The many German immigrants who came to Missouri in the mid-19th century brought with them beautiful customs such as the Christmas tree and a love of gardens, and prodigious wine- and beer-making abilities. But perhaps their greatest impact was on the state's politics, says Ken Luebbering, co-author of a new book about the German settlement in the state.

By 1860, more than half the foreign-born residents of Missouri were German. The influx of large numbers of Germans converted Missouri from slave state to free one prior to the Civil War, Luebbering said in a telephone interview.

"Missouri had been a very pro-Southern slaveholding state. Over the 25 years until 1860, Germans really transformed it."

"German Settlement in Missouri: New Land, Old Ways," which Luebbering co-wrote with Robyn Burnett, was just published by the University of Missouri Press.

Luebbering, an English professor at Lincoln University in Jefferson City, wanted to write the book because he grew up in a German-American community --St. Thomas -- after World War II.

He and Burnett, an analyst for the state, worked as much as possible with primary source materials. They gleaned information from the Western Manuscripts Collection at the University of Missouri, from books published in Germany, memoirs, business records, a Civil War diary.

They discuss the conditions in Germany -- the end of the Napoleonic Wars, the loss of jobs to new machinery, starvation due to crop failures -- that led to the large immigration, the arduous journey, frontier life, the keeping of German customs both in the cities and villages, and the devastating effect of Prohibition.

In the early years of the 20th Century, the Stone Hill Winery in Hermann was the third largest winery in the world, Luebbering points out.

One chapter of the book is titled "The Cradle of the Lutheran Church in America" and describes the harrowing journey a minister named Martin Stephan and his followers took from Saxony to Missouri. Forty-three were lost at sea, and the rest suffered under miserable conditions when they reached St. Louis.

Meanwhile Stephan, who had gotten into trouble in Dresden, spent the group's money freely and was accused of adultery and other offenses. Eventually he was exiled to Illinois.

Much of the work in establishing the Lutheran Church here was done by Stephan's lieutenants, Luebbering says. Most of the Saxons settled in Perry County, establishing the towns of Altenburg, Frohna and Wittenberg among others.

Many died under the harsh conditions, but those who survived opened a college for men and women that taught languages, religion, philosophy, music and more.

Under the leadership of pastor C.F.W. Walther, the Evangelical Lutheran Synod of Missouri, Ohio, and Other States was founded in 1847. The church later became the Lutheran Church -- Missouri Synod. It is the largest association of Lutheran Churches in the U.S.

Today, German festivals like Oktoberfest abound in Missouri and sister city relationships with German towns are common. As the authors write, "The German immigrants came with dreams of a better life for their own children. The lives we live are a result of those dreams."

The German-inflected dialect that still can be heard around Altenburg remains common in rural German communities, Luebbering says.

"It is English vocabulary with German pronunciation and German grammar."

Though his ancestors came to the U.S. more than 100 years ago, "My generation is the first one that spoke English," he said.