Love, Louis (Research in Germany)

During my years of searching for information on Louis Rust, for the book Love, Louis, I had come to a bit of a dead end. I wanted to know more about his history in Germany, and I wondered if there were more relatives there. Often times there are mistakes in historical documentation, and sure enough there were plenty.  

The ship manifest stated Lehite instead of Lehrte as the town he was from. It also said he was coming to Chicago to see Christel Nolhre, also misspelled.
Once I figured out the correct spellings, I found genealogists in Louis's hometown. They were able to find history of the family back to the 1600's!

They also put an article in the newspaper about how they were looking for relatives of Louis. They hit the jackpot! Not only did they find relatives, they found three letters that were written in 1905 and 1906. They were stored in a secretary drawer!

The first letter was written by the Chicago orphanage, stating that little Louis and his brother would have to leave the orphan asylum for lack of support. Money would be needed to send them back home on a ship.

The second letter was from Louis's negligent father, who also went by the name Louis. His letter is below, and he also asks for his sister in Germany to pay to bring the boys back.

The Third letter is written by Christen Noehre, the same man Rust listed on the manifest. He tells what a not nice person Louis senior is, and again asks for funds to send the boys home.
The boys were not sent home.  

Why these letters were kept all these years is a mystery. 

Above:  In 2018 my boys and husband got to go to Germany to meet the Noehre family. They still live on the same family farm, with a 1000 year old Linden tree. Yes, 1000!

Above: On this trip to Germany, they were given this photo of Emily Sievers (Rust). She was Louis's mother and died from a sliver in her finger soon after giving birth to her fifth child, three months after arriving in America in 1903. She was born in 1870.
This picture was hanging on a wall in the Lange home in Immenson.

Above: The boys posed in the same configuration as Louis and his crew in Germany, 1951. Not the same town, but made me laugh nonetheless. Louis is the second from left, and it was taken in Groningen, Holland.

Above: on the left: German genealogists, and tour guides, Angie and Detlef.  

Historians from the town of Evern are on the right. They presented us with a history of the Rust family in the town of Evern. They typed it out and also did a Google translation! 

They are standing in the original Rust home.

The boys were treated like royalty! Home made cake at every stop that Angela and Detlef set up!

Angela and Detlef also invited a woman from the newspaper and she wrote an article 

in the local paper! Here is the headline below.

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