Name: Otto Hahnel
Arrival Date: 11 Jul 1885
Age: 25
Gender: Male
Port of Departure: Bremen, Germany and Southampton, England
Destination: United States of America
Place of Origin: Germany
Ship Name: General Werder
Port of Arrival: New York
Line: 7
Microfilm Roll: 488
List Number: 858
The Bellingham Herald
35 cents
IMMIGRANTS TO NORTHWEST
They found "impossible possiblities"
by Bob Partlow
Gannett News Service
Imagine the journey.
Cast the mind's eye back to the shiploads of huddled human beings crossing an uncertain ocean to face an even more uncertain future.
Imagine their feelings.
By the millions they came, indivduals and families, you and old, most poor, often scared, many knowing not a word of English.
Immigrants.
MOst brought precious little; their most valuable cargo was hope.
The remarkable written history of the Blomgren family, most of whom now live in Thurston and Lewis counties, recalls the new life and new hope of Sven and Elda Blomgren and their children in the early 1900's.
"It was soon clear the Sven and his family left a hard life in Sweded for equally hard life in Montana. There was just one difference. That difference was hope. It was hard not to have hope when they saw the abundance, the possibilities all around them.
Hope seems to be the thread that runs trought he stories of many who immigrated to this region.
"People want to work in this country, they can make it go, " said Otto Hahnel, of Bellingham, who came from Germany and landed in New York July 4, 1922. "It's open to everybody."
Paul Luvera, Sr., of Anacortes: " As an Italian immigrant I came to Anacortes in 1918 after working several years in coal mines in Coleman. Alberta. It could only happen in the USA. Nowhere else in the world, I would have had suck and opportunity for self-betterment."
Ruth Stark, of Lacey, emigrated to the United States with her American soldier husband in 1963. She remembers her first glimpse of the Statue of LIberty.
"I will never forget the feeling that came over me, the lump in my throat the moment I say her. " Stark wrote in a college essay. " She...menat a new beginning for me, like she had for thousands of others.
There are as amny stories as immigrants. And not all are stories of flight from hopelessness and oppression. But taken together, their stories weave the fabric of us as a people- who we are and where we've been.
The are us.
OTTO EMIL WALEMAR HANEL, of Bellinham arrived in New York Harbor on July 4, 1922 with his wife Emilie, and his daughter, Elizabeth, to start their new life in America.
He and Emilie didn't leave Europe with a child but arrived with one: Elizabeth was born one monthe early during the trip across the ocean.
"I used to be able to tell the exact longitude and latitude" where she was born, Hahnel said. He does remember the doctors charged $30.10 to deliver her and the ship's captain baptized her.
Hahnel was born in April 1895 in Germany, where he grew up and learned the butcher's trade.
When war broke out in late summer, 1914, Hahnel went inot the Army where her served in both France and Russia. By the time the war was over, he lived 20 months in a French prisoner-of-war camp.
When he got out of the Army in March 1920, he was much decorated for his work as an infantry man, but found "there was no butcher business, " he said.
He married Emilie, a young woman he had met years berfore, and the eventually decided to imigrate to the United States. Like many immigrants, they chose to move where relatives already lived. In their case, Emilie had a sister living in Silver Beach.
Hahnel's friend, Elaine Zobrist, of Bellinham, has written an account of his odyssey.
"Unable to spek the language, with their meager funds depleted, a newborn baby in their arms, not much more that the clothes on their backs, Otto and his wife went to work to fulfill the vow that they took when the applied for immigrant status...sto become self sufficeint within six months" or face deportation."
The came over on " a big, old fashioned ship" chocck full of other immigrants, including many Jews for Poland, Zobrist wrote. They encountered 50 foot waves on their odyssey.
Becasue they had their immigration papers taken care of in Leipzig, Germany, they weren't required to be processed at Eliis Island. But they did see the Statue of Liberty.
"I hate to tell you the truth, but we cried when we saw it, " Hahnel said. " That's the truth."
After crossin the country by train and arriving in Washington State, Otto's first jov was a section hand on the railroad at $2.50 per day before he was able to return to his original trade as a butcher, at Frye and Co. in Bellingham for $35.00 a week.
In 1927, he invested his money as a silent parner in B.B. Meat and Sausage, which was owned by Emil Ludwig. Ludwig soon left and Hahnel took over. He took a partner in 1934 and the business grew to 22 employees.
Along the way, he acquired farm land on Y Road and worked at both the meat business and the farm business.
" I did everythins, " he said. " I worked night and day."
As the meat business grew, Hahnel took on even more responsibility; he became active in the meat dealers union.
He finally retired from the business in 1970 and now lives on James Street Road and Orchard Drive.
Hahnel became a citizen in 1928 after taking citizenship classes at the old Washington School in Bellingham.
"Once I got that paper, I felt a foot taller, " He said of his citizenship papers, and still carries a lamitnated copy of the document.
He and Emilie, who died four years ago, ha three children. Their first born Elizabeth, lives on the Y Road farm.
As with many who have adopted America as their country, he has strong feelings about it. He recalls standing ouside his farm aat night on the Y Road in World War II, with a gun, because of rumors that enemy planes might fly over.
"Honest people can live here, exist here, make a good living and be good neighbors, " he said of the United States.
His assessment of America is summed up in one phrase: " I call the United States the land of impossible possiblities," he said.
Arrival Date: 11 Jul 1885
Age: 25
Gender: Male
Port of Departure: Bremen, Germany and Southampton, England
Destination: United States of America
Place of Origin: Germany
Ship Name: General Werder
Port of Arrival: New York
Line: 7
Microfilm Roll: 488
List Number: 858
The Bellingham Herald
35 cents
IMMIGRANTS TO NORTHWEST
They found "impossible possiblities"
by Bob Partlow
Gannett News Service
Imagine the journey.
Cast the mind's eye back to the shiploads of huddled human beings crossing an uncertain ocean to face an even more uncertain future.
Imagine their feelings.
By the millions they came, indivduals and families, you and old, most poor, often scared, many knowing not a word of English.
Immigrants.
MOst brought precious little; their most valuable cargo was hope.
The remarkable written history of the Blomgren family, most of whom now live in Thurston and Lewis counties, recalls the new life and new hope of Sven and Elda Blomgren and their children in the early 1900's.
"It was soon clear the Sven and his family left a hard life in Sweded for equally hard life in Montana. There was just one difference. That difference was hope. It was hard not to have hope when they saw the abundance, the possibilities all around them.
Hope seems to be the thread that runs trought he stories of many who immigrated to this region.
"People want to work in this country, they can make it go, " said Otto Hahnel, of Bellingham, who came from Germany and landed in New York July 4, 1922. "It's open to everybody."
Paul Luvera, Sr., of Anacortes: " As an Italian immigrant I came to Anacortes in 1918 after working several years in coal mines in Coleman. Alberta. It could only happen in the USA. Nowhere else in the world, I would have had suck and opportunity for self-betterment."
Ruth Stark, of Lacey, emigrated to the United States with her American soldier husband in 1963. She remembers her first glimpse of the Statue of LIberty.
"I will never forget the feeling that came over me, the lump in my throat the moment I say her. " Stark wrote in a college essay. " She...menat a new beginning for me, like she had for thousands of others.
There are as amny stories as immigrants. And not all are stories of flight from hopelessness and oppression. But taken together, their stories weave the fabric of us as a people- who we are and where we've been.
The are us.
OTTO EMIL WALEMAR HANEL, of Bellinham arrived in New York Harbor on July 4, 1922 with his wife Emilie, and his daughter, Elizabeth, to start their new life in America.
He and Emilie didn't leave Europe with a child but arrived with one: Elizabeth was born one monthe early during the trip across the ocean.
"I used to be able to tell the exact longitude and latitude" where she was born, Hahnel said. He does remember the doctors charged $30.10 to deliver her and the ship's captain baptized her.
Hahnel was born in April 1895 in Germany, where he grew up and learned the butcher's trade.
When war broke out in late summer, 1914, Hahnel went inot the Army where her served in both France and Russia. By the time the war was over, he lived 20 months in a French prisoner-of-war camp.
When he got out of the Army in March 1920, he was much decorated for his work as an infantry man, but found "there was no butcher business, " he said.
He married Emilie, a young woman he had met years berfore, and the eventually decided to imigrate to the United States. Like many immigrants, they chose to move where relatives already lived. In their case, Emilie had a sister living in Silver Beach.
Hahnel's friend, Elaine Zobrist, of Bellinham, has written an account of his odyssey.
"Unable to spek the language, with their meager funds depleted, a newborn baby in their arms, not much more that the clothes on their backs, Otto and his wife went to work to fulfill the vow that they took when the applied for immigrant status...sto become self sufficeint within six months" or face deportation."
The came over on " a big, old fashioned ship" chocck full of other immigrants, including many Jews for Poland, Zobrist wrote. They encountered 50 foot waves on their odyssey.
Becasue they had their immigration papers taken care of in Leipzig, Germany, they weren't required to be processed at Eliis Island. But they did see the Statue of Liberty.
"I hate to tell you the truth, but we cried when we saw it, " Hahnel said. " That's the truth."
After crossin the country by train and arriving in Washington State, Otto's first jov was a section hand on the railroad at $2.50 per day before he was able to return to his original trade as a butcher, at Frye and Co. in Bellingham for $35.00 a week.
In 1927, he invested his money as a silent parner in B.B. Meat and Sausage, which was owned by Emil Ludwig. Ludwig soon left and Hahnel took over. He took a partner in 1934 and the business grew to 22 employees.
Along the way, he acquired farm land on Y Road and worked at both the meat business and the farm business.
" I did everythins, " he said. " I worked night and day."
As the meat business grew, Hahnel took on even more responsibility; he became active in the meat dealers union.
He finally retired from the business in 1970 and now lives on James Street Road and Orchard Drive.
Hahnel became a citizen in 1928 after taking citizenship classes at the old Washington School in Bellingham.
"Once I got that paper, I felt a foot taller, " He said of his citizenship papers, and still carries a lamitnated copy of the document.
He and Emilie, who died four years ago, ha three children. Their first born Elizabeth, lives on the Y Road farm.
As with many who have adopted America as their country, he has strong feelings about it. He recalls standing ouside his farm aat night on the Y Road in World War II, with a gun, because of rumors that enemy planes might fly over.
"Honest people can live here, exist here, make a good living and be good neighbors, " he said of the United States.
His assessment of America is summed up in one phrase: " I call the United States the land of impossible possiblities," he said.
Name: Otto Hahnel
Arrival Date: 11 Jul 1885
Age: 25
Gender: Male
Port of Departure: Bremen, Germany and Southampton, England
Destination: United States of America
Place of Origin: Germany
Ship Name: General Werder
Port of Arrival: New York
Line: 7
Microfilm Roll: 488
List Number: 858
The Bellingham Herald
35 cents
IMMIGRANTS TO NORTHWEST
They found "impossible possiblities"
by Bob Partlow
Gannett News Service
Imagine the journey.
Cast the mind's eye back to the shiploads of huddled human beings crossing an uncertain ocean to face an even more uncertain future.
Imagine their feelings.
By the millions they came, indivduals and families, you and old, most poor, often scared, many knowing not a word of English.
Immigrants.
MOst brought precious little; their most valuable cargo was hope.
The remarkable written history of the Blomgren family, most of whom now live in Thurston and Lewis counties, recalls the new life and new hope of Sven and Elda Blomgren and their children in the early 1900's.
"It was soon clear the Sven and his family left a hard life in Sweded for equally hard life in Montana. There was just one difference. That difference was hope. It was hard not to have hope when they saw the abundance, the possibilities all around them.
Hope seems to be the thread that runs trought he stories of many who immigrated to this region.
"People want to work in this country, they can make it go, " said Otto Hahnel, of Bellingham, who came from Germany and landed in New York July 4, 1922. "It's open to everybody."
Paul Luvera, Sr., of Anacortes: " As an Italian immigrant I came to Anacortes in 1918 after working several years in coal mines in Coleman. Alberta. It could only happen in the USA. Nowhere else in the world, I would have had suck and opportunity for self-betterment."
Ruth Stark, of Lacey, emigrated to the United States with her American soldier husband in 1963. She remembers her first glimpse of the Statue of LIberty.
"I will never forget the feeling that came over me, the lump in my throat the moment I say her. " Stark wrote in a college essay. " She...menat a new beginning for me, like she had for thousands of others.
There are as amny stories as immigrants. And not all are stories of flight from hopelessness and oppression. But taken together, their stories weave the fabric of us as a people- who we are and where we've been.
The are us.
OTTO EMIL WALEMAR HANEL, of Bellinham arrived in New York Harbor on July 4, 1922 with his wife Emilie, and his daughter, Elizabeth, to start their new life in America.
He and Emilie didn't leave Europe with a child but arrived with one: Elizabeth was born one monthe early during the trip across the ocean.
"I used to be able to tell the exact longitude and latitude" where she was born, Hahnel said. He does remember the doctors charged $30.10 to deliver her and the ship's captain baptized her.
Hahnel was born in April 1895 in Germany, where he grew up and learned the butcher's trade.
When war broke out in late summer, 1914, Hahnel went inot the Army where her served in both France and Russia. By the time the war was over, he lived 20 months in a French prisoner-of-war camp.
When he got out of the Army in March 1920, he was much decorated for his work as an infantry man, but found "there was no butcher business, " he said.
He married Emilie, a young woman he had met years berfore, and the eventually decided to imigrate to the United States. Like many immigrants, they chose to move where relatives already lived. In their case, Emilie had a sister living in Silver Beach.
Hahnel's friend, Elaine Zobrist, of Bellinham, has written an account of his odyssey.
"Unable to spek the language, with their meager funds depleted, a newborn baby in their arms, not much more that the clothes on their backs, Otto and his wife went to work to fulfill the vow that they took when the applied for immigrant status...sto become self sufficeint within six months" or face deportation."
The came over on " a big, old fashioned ship" chocck full of other immigrants, including many Jews for Poland, Zobrist wrote. They encountered 50 foot waves on their odyssey.
Becasue they had their immigration papers taken care of in Leipzig, Germany, they weren't required to be processed at Eliis Island. But they did see the Statue of Liberty.
"I hate to tell you the truth, but we cried when we saw it, " Hahnel said. " That's the truth."
After crossin the country by train and arriving in Washington State, Otto's first jov was a section hand on the railroad at $2.50 per day before he was able to return to his original trade as a butcher, at Frye and Co. in Bellingham for $35.00 a week.
In 1927, he invested his money as a silent parner in B.B. Meat and Sausage, which was owned by Emil Ludwig. Ludwig soon left and Hahnel took over. He took a partner in 1934 and the business grew to 22 employees.
Along the way, he acquired farm land on Y Road and worked at both the meat business and the farm business.
" I did everythins, " he said. " I worked night and day."
As the meat business grew, Hahnel took on even more responsibility; he became active in the meat dealers union.
He finally retired from the business in 1970 and now lives on James Street Road and Orchard Drive.
Hahnel became a citizen in 1928 after taking citizenship classes at the old Washington School in Bellingham.
"Once I got that paper, I felt a foot taller, " He said of his citizenship papers, and still carries a lamitnated copy of the document.
He and Emilie, who died four years ago, ha three children. Their first born Elizabeth, lives on the Y Road farm.
As with many who have adopted America as their country, he has strong feelings about it. He recalls standing ouside his farm aat night on the Y Road in World War II, with a gun, because of rumors that enemy planes might fly over.
"Honest people can live here, exist here, make a good living and be good neighbors, " he said of the United States.
His assessment of America is summed up in one phrase: " I call the United States the land of impossible possiblities," he said.
Arrival Date: 11 Jul 1885
Age: 25
Gender: Male
Port of Departure: Bremen, Germany and Southampton, England
Destination: United States of America
Place of Origin: Germany
Ship Name: General Werder
Port of Arrival: New York
Line: 7
Microfilm Roll: 488
List Number: 858
The Bellingham Herald
35 cents
IMMIGRANTS TO NORTHWEST
They found "impossible possiblities"
by Bob Partlow
Gannett News Service
Imagine the journey.
Cast the mind's eye back to the shiploads of huddled human beings crossing an uncertain ocean to face an even more uncertain future.
Imagine their feelings.
By the millions they came, indivduals and families, you and old, most poor, often scared, many knowing not a word of English.
Immigrants.
MOst brought precious little; their most valuable cargo was hope.
The remarkable written history of the Blomgren family, most of whom now live in Thurston and Lewis counties, recalls the new life and new hope of Sven and Elda Blomgren and their children in the early 1900's.
"It was soon clear the Sven and his family left a hard life in Sweded for equally hard life in Montana. There was just one difference. That difference was hope. It was hard not to have hope when they saw the abundance, the possibilities all around them.
Hope seems to be the thread that runs trought he stories of many who immigrated to this region.
"People want to work in this country, they can make it go, " said Otto Hahnel, of Bellingham, who came from Germany and landed in New York July 4, 1922. "It's open to everybody."
Paul Luvera, Sr., of Anacortes: " As an Italian immigrant I came to Anacortes in 1918 after working several years in coal mines in Coleman. Alberta. It could only happen in the USA. Nowhere else in the world, I would have had suck and opportunity for self-betterment."
Ruth Stark, of Lacey, emigrated to the United States with her American soldier husband in 1963. She remembers her first glimpse of the Statue of LIberty.
"I will never forget the feeling that came over me, the lump in my throat the moment I say her. " Stark wrote in a college essay. " She...menat a new beginning for me, like she had for thousands of others.
There are as amny stories as immigrants. And not all are stories of flight from hopelessness and oppression. But taken together, their stories weave the fabric of us as a people- who we are and where we've been.
The are us.
OTTO EMIL WALEMAR HANEL, of Bellinham arrived in New York Harbor on July 4, 1922 with his wife Emilie, and his daughter, Elizabeth, to start their new life in America.
He and Emilie didn't leave Europe with a child but arrived with one: Elizabeth was born one monthe early during the trip across the ocean.
"I used to be able to tell the exact longitude and latitude" where she was born, Hahnel said. He does remember the doctors charged $30.10 to deliver her and the ship's captain baptized her.
Hahnel was born in April 1895 in Germany, where he grew up and learned the butcher's trade.
When war broke out in late summer, 1914, Hahnel went inot the Army where her served in both France and Russia. By the time the war was over, he lived 20 months in a French prisoner-of-war camp.
When he got out of the Army in March 1920, he was much decorated for his work as an infantry man, but found "there was no butcher business, " he said.
He married Emilie, a young woman he had met years berfore, and the eventually decided to imigrate to the United States. Like many immigrants, they chose to move where relatives already lived. In their case, Emilie had a sister living in Silver Beach.
Hahnel's friend, Elaine Zobrist, of Bellinham, has written an account of his odyssey.
"Unable to spek the language, with their meager funds depleted, a newborn baby in their arms, not much more that the clothes on their backs, Otto and his wife went to work to fulfill the vow that they took when the applied for immigrant status...sto become self sufficeint within six months" or face deportation."
The came over on " a big, old fashioned ship" chocck full of other immigrants, including many Jews for Poland, Zobrist wrote. They encountered 50 foot waves on their odyssey.
Becasue they had their immigration papers taken care of in Leipzig, Germany, they weren't required to be processed at Eliis Island. But they did see the Statue of Liberty.
"I hate to tell you the truth, but we cried when we saw it, " Hahnel said. " That's the truth."
After crossin the country by train and arriving in Washington State, Otto's first jov was a section hand on the railroad at $2.50 per day before he was able to return to his original trade as a butcher, at Frye and Co. in Bellingham for $35.00 a week.
In 1927, he invested his money as a silent parner in B.B. Meat and Sausage, which was owned by Emil Ludwig. Ludwig soon left and Hahnel took over. He took a partner in 1934 and the business grew to 22 employees.
Along the way, he acquired farm land on Y Road and worked at both the meat business and the farm business.
" I did everythins, " he said. " I worked night and day."
As the meat business grew, Hahnel took on even more responsibility; he became active in the meat dealers union.
He finally retired from the business in 1970 and now lives on James Street Road and Orchard Drive.
Hahnel became a citizen in 1928 after taking citizenship classes at the old Washington School in Bellingham.
"Once I got that paper, I felt a foot taller, " He said of his citizenship papers, and still carries a lamitnated copy of the document.
He and Emilie, who died four years ago, ha three children. Their first born Elizabeth, lives on the Y Road farm.
As with many who have adopted America as their country, he has strong feelings about it. He recalls standing ouside his farm aat night on the Y Road in World War II, with a gun, because of rumors that enemy planes might fly over.
"Honest people can live here, exist here, make a good living and be good neighbors, " he said of the United States.
His assessment of America is summed up in one phrase: " I call the United States the land of impossible possiblities," he said.
Bio by: Renee (Mayhew) Ellestad
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