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I was born in 1842 and grown up in Germany always wanting to be farmer because we had one horse and one cow so I wanted a big farm of both. I grew up not having a lot of things I had 3 sets of cloths we were very poor. I started working at the age of 6 so I could get enough money to go to America and start my own farm. By the age of 10 I dropped out of school so I could have a full time jobs so I knew I had enough money. By the age of 15 I was working about 2 jobs. I had enough money to go to
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to America and start a farm but I wanted more so I could have some money in case something happened on the farm. I also had to work 2 jobs at the age of 15 because my mom got every sick and my dad didn’t have any money to get her treatment. I had to burry my mom 3 days before my birthday. I was determined to get to America so I could start my new life.
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I just got off the boat and now it is going to take for ever to get through to try to become a citizen of the united states. When I finally got to front of the line they gave me a pile of paper with questions on it about the size of my head. It took me about 4 hours to complete the whole thing by that time they were just closing up. So I saw a free bench with no one at it at the moment and I thought this is going to a good place to sleep for the night.
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I got there and laid down and I had about 20 people asking me to move so the could sit down but I said no because I wasn’t giving up my bed so the can sit because I need some sleep. When I finally fell asleep some guy pulled me off the bench so he could sit down but I woke up and I told him I was here first and I was sleeping. I fell asleep with the pile of papers in my hands it wasn’t going anywhere.
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It was a nice bench to sleep on because I got a good night sleep and I was going to be the first one in line with the packet.
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The just opened the door and I jumped up off the bench and I was the first one in line. It took about 15 min so they could look over my papers and finally they called my name. I was so happy and then they said that I have to fill out another pile of papers it’s the law this pile was about half the other size. They said when I got done with it to come up to the front and they will take care of me.
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Well I got the pile of papers done I went up to the front and the guy said have a seat we will call you name when we are ready. Well no more than 5 min past and they called my name and they gave me 75 dollars and a certificate that said my name and that I am a citizen of the united states. I finally got to walk out the doors and I am a free man and I am going to collect my land and start building my farm.
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I am so happy I am a free man it took me over a month to get here and become a citizen and all that hard work to get enough money.
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I walked about 5 miles to the train station so I could get on the train and go to Kentucky so I could start the construction of my farm. I got on the train and sat there waiting for it to leave the were going right where I need to go. I sat on the train for about 4 hours until they got to where I need to go. Since the civil war was going on the prices of land was down and there was a lot of land that is still for free. I got right up to the front of the line and asked for about 600 acres.
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They said no problem we have the prefect spot for that. I said it is mostly all flat and they said yes sir. Then they asked me if I wanted to pay for it now or pay it off over time. I said that I will pay for it right now so they said its going to be about 150,000 and I said here you go. That leaves me with about 400,000 to build my farm. They gave me a map that had where my property was.
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The First thing I did was went and found a group of men that I would help me build my farm so I asked them and I said that I will pay good money if they will help me. The said that would so then I went to the lubber yard and bought some fence to put up around property so people could come an say this was there's.
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Then I and the other guys Started building the horse barn. That took us about a month to do because in side we had to separate the stalls so I could put the horse in the stalls. After that all of the guys that were working for me we started making a barn were a hundred cows would come in and I would milk them. It took us about a month to complete that then we had to move on the cow barn where when the cows weren't out in the field being milked the could be in there.
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It took us men one whole week to put the fences up around the whole 600 hundred acres. The next thing we started on was the building of my house. I had 12 people work on the house at one time, I thought that we would have the house down in a week times. But I was wrong we got it down in about 2 weeks Inside and out just like how I wanted it. The I sent about 6 men out to start putting up the fences to separate my fields.
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Once we finished that I told the men that I was going to pick 6 of them that could stay and work on the farm. So that got them thinking why we built a house where they could stay and work on the farm. That took us about 2 weeks to do but while we were working on that I had two of my workers to build a gate at the start of my drive way so if a cow or horse got lose that they couldn’t get out of the farm.
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Then I had the men build a calf barn so when the calf's are born that they could go there until they will be bred or milked or sold. Then it took us about a month to create a yearling barn so the horse that are just born can go there until they are sold or go to work. We final got finished of building everything that I need and right where I wanted. The next thing I did was I picked 6 guys to help me out in farming and with the cows and horse.
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I went and bought cows and horse that filled my 50 stall barn for horse and a 300 stall barn of cows. I already am starting to make money and I am living the dream right now.
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I just turned 20 yesterday and now I am getting on the boat to go to America so I can start my new life on the farm I am going to build. I am very nervous when I got on the boat. They gave me a bed because we will be about a month to get across to Ellis island. What I did mostly on the boat is I sat on my bed and had a pencil and paper and I was drawing out what my farm was going to look like. I must have went threw about a book or 2 full of paper because I kept making changes.
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I had to sleep next to a kid that didn’t shut up he would either be asking me a question or singing o just talking it was very annoying. I asked God to keep me safe on the journey and I know he will. We were half way there and I go board so I went to the captain asking for a job to help out on the boat and they gave me a job so I was back to what I was use to.
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When I would be working I was still thinking about how my farm would look like and how I was going to set it up. So the captain said we will be arriving at Ellis Island in about a week so I was determined to a get a sketch of my farm done and how I liked it because so I wouldn’t have to waste time on how to decide where to put things I just could get right to work. I still worked on the boat but every minute I got I tried to work on my sketch so I have every thing the way I liked It.
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I heard the captain say over the income this will be our last night on the boat because in the morning we will be arriving in Ellis island. I stayed up all night to work on my sketch and by when the sun came up I had every thing just the way I wanted it. It was all worth it staying up all night even though I go yelled at a couple of times.