Johann Wilhelm Osterhorn Papers

Collection

Identifier: A1168

Staff Only

Scope and Contents

This collection contains letters between Wilhelm and Minna Osterhorn and from friends and family. The letters from Wilhelm to Minna sometimes give first-hand accounts of conditions in the U.S. Army during the Civil War. The letters from the Buhner family in Marburg consist mostly of news about family and friends. The collection also contains Wilhelm's journal, which has untranslated receipts in German in the front and his account of his own personal history in the middle, with the rest blank. There is also a bound booklet, “The Genealogy of the Spielman Family,” put together by Armand Spielman, the great-grandson of Wilhelm and Minna Osterhorn, which contains the translation of Osterhorn's journal, translations of some of the correspondence, and photocopies of various family documents and photographs.

Dates

1849-2000
Majority of material found within 1862-1865

Creator

Osterhorn, Johann Wilhelm, 1830-1874 (Author, Person)

Conditions Governing Access

The collection is open for research use.

Conditions Governing Use

For permission to publish, quote from, or reproduce material in this collection, please contact the Archives Reference Desk at archives@mohistory.org. Copyright restrictions may apply. The researcher assumes full responsibility for conforming to the laws of copyright.

Biographical Sketch

Johann Wilhelm Osterhorn was born in 1830 in Allendorf on the Werra in Germany. He left Germany without government permission and worked and traveled extensively in the United States from 1855 to 1860. He met Juliana Gertrude Wilhelmine "Minna" Buhner (born 1839) in Marburg on the Lahn, Germany, around 1860, and they agreed to travel to America together. They emigrated to St. Louis, Wilhelm in 1861 and Minna in 1862, and were married there on June 5, 1862. Wilhelm joined the Union Army, the 3rd Regiment of the Missouri Volunteers, as 1st Lieutenant when it formed in 1862. He left the army in 1864 and moved with Minna to Bismarck, Missouri, where they operated a hotel and restaurant. They had four children. Wilhelm was shot and killed by a tenant in Bismarck in 1874. Minna later married Herman Hasenpatt. She died in 1915 in Bismarck.

Extent

0.51 Cubic Feet ( (1 box, 1 volume))

Language of Materials

German

English

Additional Description

Arrangement

The donation originally consisted of two separate sets of letters: “A Collection of Letters” contained letters to Minna from Wilhelm during the Civil War, and “Letters from Marburg” contained letters to Minna from her family. Both sets of correspondence and the journal account are all handwritten in German and were translated by Rev. Paul Spielman of St. Louis, a descendent of the Osterhorns. During processing, it was determined that a strictly chronological arrangement for the letters would be more appropriate. Additional items are arranged by subject.

Physical and Technical Requirements

The folder containing Rev. Paul Spielman's English translations arranged chronologically (corresponding to the original documents) must be consulted before using the original documents. The letters from Marburg are especially fragile.

Donor Information

The collection was donated by Armand C. Spielman in 1997 (acc. no. 1997-277). “Osterhorns, Their Oddeyssey,” an unpublished compilation of material relating to the Osterhorn family in America (along with an addendum dated 2000) was added to the papers in 2001.