Jacob HARKE

Jacob came to America to work with his uncle John Schultz for about six years in the vicinity of Vergas, Minnesota and they were thought to be among the earliest settlers of that area. He returned to "Germany" at the time of the death of his father to take care of his mother (was he eldest son? JRZ). While there, he married and this couple had six children. Julianna and Michael were thought to be the oldest and were the only ones to live past infancy. Jacob's wife died 1909, ruptured appendix. In June of 1911, he returned to America bringing the two children. They arrived at Baltimore, then took the train to Minneapolis-St. Paul. Julianna remained in Vergas with friends while Jacob and Michael went on to North Dakota looking for work.

I assume that this work they were doing may have had something to do with the railroad as this was the primary source of jobs in this area of the country at that time. This information was obtained from two letters from Julianna and Michael written to Helene Harke in 1972 as replies to questions she had about the family's history. Julianna's letter also stated that their baggage was lost when they came to America, so no photos or papers are known to exist, The family referred to "Germany" as their ancestral homeland. They spoke the German language and attended Lutheran churches in America. However, their recent origin was from present day Poland. At the time they came to America, that region was under the control of Russia due to the partitions of Poland.

According to records at Ellis Island, Jacob arrived on 9 Apr 1903 on the Pennsylvania from Hamburg.

JRZ 25-04-2001

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