Goal:  Students will better understand the reasons for emigration and the challenges involved in starting over in a new country.

Objectives:

1)      Students will read and analyze a historic document.

2)      Students will test their reading comprehension skills by answering three observation questions about the letter.

3)      Students will be able to name at least two challenges that pioneer immigrants faced.

4)      Students will make a prediction about the frequency with which the Verstegen family would have been able to visit their family in Holland.

5)      Students will envision the emotions involved in being a new immigrant child by writing a letter from the point of view of one of the Verstegen children.

6)      Students will incorporate Arnold Verstegen’s positive opinions about Little Chute into the design of a promotional brochure for the area.

Read Arnold Verstegen’s letter of August 12, 1850.  Arnold Verstegen, his wife Anna Maria Biemens, and their three small children immigrated to Little Chute, Wisconsin from Holland in 1850.  Between 1850 and 1880, Verstegen wrote back and forth with his father-in-law in Erp, Holland, giving him news about the family.  This letter, translated into English, gives us a glimpse into Pioneer life.

1)  How did Arnold feel at first about his new home in Wisconsin?  What reasons does he give for his feelings?

2)  On what date did the Verstegen family depart Rotterdam?  On what date did they arrive in Little Chute?  How many days did their journey last?

3)  What is the last piece of news that Arnold gives his father-in-law?

4)  What is Arnold doing in Little Chute?  (How is he making his living?)

5)  At the time of writing the letter, how does Arnold seem to feel about life in Little Chute?  Why do you think he changed his mind?

6)  Do you predict that the Verstegen family will be able to visit with their family in Holland often?  Why or why not?

7)  Imagine that you are one of the Verstegen children arriving in Little Chute for the first time.  How do you think you would feel about your new home?  What worries might you have?  What might be exciting about this new place?  Based upon the information given in the letter, can you imagine what chores or jobs you might have to do to help the family out as they start their new life?  Write a letter from the point of view of a Verstegen child to a relative back home, describing your new home and how you feel about it.

Read the excerpt from Arnold Verstegen’s letter dated June 16, 1852.  Arnold wrote this letter after his family had lived in Little Chute for two years.

1)  From this description, do you think Arnold prefers life in America or in Holland?  Cite evidence to support your answer.

2)  Use the information provided by Arnold to create a brochure or flyer encouraging other immigrants to choose to settle in Little Chute.  You may choose to focus on the law and order, low taxes, lack of forced military service, open hunting and fishing, etc.

Treaty of the Cedars - Activity #2: Letters From A New Home

This activity uses the primary source document:

Letters - Transcript of Dutch immigrant Arnold Verstegen's letters, 1850 and 1852

Click here for a printable worksheet for this activity (PDF file)

Click here for a printable worksheet for this activity (PDF file)