Louis r LudwigAugust Wollenweber (5 December 1807 – 25 July 1888) was a

German-American German Americans (german: Deutschamerikaner, ) are Americans who have full or partial German ancestry. With an estimated size of approximately 43 million in 2019, German Americans are the largest of the self-reported ancestry groups by the Unite ...

German-language journalist and a writer of

prose Prose is a form of written or spoken language that follows the natural flow of speech, uses a language's ordinary grammatical structures, or follows the conventions of formal academic writing. It differs from most traditional poetry, where the ...

and poetry in Pennsylvania Dutch.

Biography

Germany

As he was orphaned early in life, he was compelled to give up any hope for higher education. He was educated at Speyer for the trade of a

printer Printer may refer to: Technology * Printer (publishing), a person or a company * Printer (computing), a hardware device * Optical printer for motion picture films People * Nariman Printer (fl. c. 1940), Indian journalist and activist * James ...

. Upon the completion of his term of

apprentice Apprenticeship is a system for training a new generation of practitioners of a trade or profession with on-the-job training and often some accompanying study (classroom work and reading). Apprenticeships can also enable practitioners to gain a ...

ship, he traveled through Germany as a

journeyman A journeyman, journeywoman, or journeyperson is a worker, skilled in a given building trade or craft, who has successfully completed an official apprenticeship qualification. Journeymen are considered competent and authorized to work in that fie ...

worker, finally settling in Homburg and working for the ''Deutsche Tribüne''. He was compelled to emigrate to the United States, via France and the

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

, in consequence of his being one of the agitators of the " Hambacher Volksfest." The journal he was working on was suppressed by the German Diet as well.

Pennsylvania

After his arrival in

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania#Municipalities, largest city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the List of United States cities by population, sixth-largest city i ...

, he was first engaged on J. G. Wesselhöft's ''Schnellpost''. He later founded a new German-language paper, ''Der Freimuethige'' (The Free-Thinker), which lasted only for a short time. He subsequently acquired possession of the '' Demokrat'', the chief German-language newspaper in Philadelphia. In 1853 he sold the ''Demokrat'' to his brother-in-law, John S. Hoffman, and afterward resided in the Lebanon Valley and in Reading. Here he was a frequent correspondent of the German newspapers, and wrote much. He wrote chiefly in ''Hochdeutsch'' (literary or

high German The High German dialects (german: hochdeutsche Mundarten), or simply High German (); not to be confused with Standard High German which is commonly also called ''High German'', comprise the varieties of German spoken south of the Benrath and ...

), but also did some pieces in Pennsylvania German dialect. He loved the Pennsylvania-Germans and their dialect, and they were glad for his book (see the first item in Works below). He was probably the only one of the 19th-century immigrants who deliberately wanted to be counted as a Pennsylvania German, and tried to speak and write, or thought he was speaking and writing, their idiom.

Works

* ''Gemälde aus dem pennsylvanischen Volksleben'' (Sketches of Domestic Life in Pennsylvania), a collection of poems and sketches in the

Pennsylvania German language Pennsylvania Dutch (, or ), referred to as Pennsylvania German in scholarly literature, is a variety of Palatine German, also known as Palatine Dutch, spoken by the Old Order Amish, Old Order Mennonites, Fancy Dutch, and other descendants of ...

. (Philadelphia, 1869) * ''Treu bis in den Tod'' (Faithful onto death; 1875) * ''Zwei treue Kameraden'' (Two loyal comrades; 1878) * ''Gila, das Indianermädchen oder die wiedergefundenen deutschen Kinder unter den Indianern'' (Gila, the Indian maid or German children found again amidst the Indians), a play * ''Freuden und Leiden in Amerika, oder die Lateiner am Schuylkill Canal'' (Joy and suffering in America or Classical scholars on the Schuylkill Canal), a play * ''General Peter Mühlenberg'', a tale of the revolutionary war * ''Sprache, Sitten und Gebräuche der Deutsch-Pennsylvanier'' (Language, customs and habits of the Pennsylvania Germans) * ''Aus Berks County schwerster Zeit'' (The worst times in Berks County), a tale of the pioneers of

Berks County Berks County (Pennsylvania German: ''Barricks Kaundi'') is a county in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. As of the 2020 census, the population was 428,849. The county seat is Reading. The Schuylkill River, a tributary of the Delaware River, ...

* ''Die drei gräber auf dem Riethen Kirchhof'' (The three graves in Riethe graveyard) * ''Die erste Mühle am Mühlbach'' (The first mill at Mühlbach)

Notes

References

* This source gives Ixheim (near

Zweibrücken Zweibrücken (; french: Deux-Ponts, ; Palatinate German: ''Zweebrigge'', ; literally translated as "Two Bridges") is a town in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany, on the Schwarzbach river. Name The name ''Zweibrücken'' means 'two bridges'; olde ...

) as his place of birth and Wirth (in

Hamburg (male), (female) en, Hamburger(s), Hamburgian(s) , timezone1 = Central (CET) , utc_offset1 = +1 , timezone1_DST = Central (CEST) , utc_offset1_DST = +2 , postal ...

) as his first place of employment. * This source reports Wesselhöft's journal as ''Die Freipost''. Attribution: *

External links

Gemälde aus dem pennsylvanischen Volksleben
at archive.org {{DEFAULTSORT:Wollenweber, Louis August 1807 births 1888 deaths 19th-century American poets American poets in Pennsylvania Dutch American writers in Pennsylvania Dutch American male poets German emigrants to the United States German revolutionaries German-American culture Pennsylvania Dutch language Poets from Pennsylvania 19th-century American journalists American male journalists Publishers (people) of German-language newspapers in the United States 19th-century American male writers Pennsylvania Dutch people