Germany’s imprint on the area is present in the 21st century because German families arrived here in the 1800s.Warren County has many citizens who are descendents of German families from Westphalia (Prussia) who came to Warren County to seek freedom to prosper.The mass exodus from Westphalia to Missouri and the Warren County area was related to the socioeconomic structure of the region. The rural linen industry had created a large rural class of dependent tenant farmers working tiny plots who had no place to go but overseas when their sources of supplementary income such as linen weaving and migratory labor in Holland began to dry up in the 1830s and 1840s.Landowners in Westphalia looked at Missouri’s available farmland that would provide for better opportunities for their families. These immigrants were called the “48ers.” New waves of immigrants reached 200,000 per year by 1854 and half a million by 1882. Many immigrants left Prussia over the decades of the 1800s to avoid religious pressures, compulsory military service or to seek political stability and economic opportunity in the Middle West.Many of the families who came here settled here then stayed for generations. Here are some of the family names that date back to those first settlers in Warren County who came from Westphalia: Ahmann, Brinkman, Bruning, Brockfield, Bruggenjohn, Brewe, Brockfeld, Boemker, Buescher, Busekrus, Dothage, Ellerman, Engel, Gausman, Gering, Hackmann, Hase, Hagedorn, Holescher, Hollenbeck, Laake, Lichtenberg, Nieman, Peters, Rasche, Rehme, Riesmeier, Ridder, Ruge, Schneider, Schomberg, Schowe, Schroeder, Schwaryl, Suhre, Strubbe, Utlaut, Wessel, Wiedower, Witthaus and Winter.This is just a sampling of the history. The Warren County Historical Society will have more information about Warren County’s German heritage when Hermann Stuke visits. He will make a presentation 6 p.m. Thursday, May 23, at the Warren County Historical Society Museum, 102 West Walton, Warrenton.Stuke was born in Eilshausen/Herford County in 1947 in the British Administration Zone of Germany. He served in the German Army 1967-1969 then studied at the Pedagogic University of Education to teach biology, history and mathematics. He worked as a secondary teacher in Hamm, Enger, and Hiddenhausen. He retired in 2012 and specializes on local history of Herford County (Kreis Heford) and the family history of Stuke and Schmidt families.Stuke will talk about the emigration of Hiddenhausen descendants, the importance of Bremerhaven, how the World Wars negatively impacted German Americans, and more.He will talk about Westphalia and conclude with a travelogue of Northern Germany.This story was provided by the Warren County Historical Society, which is funded by donations and run by volunteers. The museum is located at 102 W. Walton in Warrenton, and is open from 10 to 4 p. m. Thursday and Friday and 1 to 4 p. m. Sunday.For more information, to attend an event or to make a donation, call 636-456-3820 or email museum@warrencountymohistory. com

Hermann Stuke