June 11, 1883

Siegelau 11 June 1883

Dear Hermann

I have received the two letters of the 21 and 22 of May on the 4th of June, the very day of your sister Rosa's wedding.  The mail carrier brought the letters to me at the Tavern of the Deer where we were gathered for the wedding feast.  As far as I can tell the wedding went off reall well.  There were approximately 60 persons present.  We had dance music.  Of course this was a little expensive.  This kind of wedding was not exactly to my wishes but to accept the inevitable is smart and intelligent, and so I did.  Rosa has regained her health, as far as I know has recovered from her illness.
You well know that a bride needs to bring along all kinds of things.  You can imagine the tremendous amount of money this costs.  On top of that the trousseau-dowry, and since I was already at my wits end to raise the money, and to be honest, your request was quite inopportune.  In spite of this I could not bring it over my heart to disregard the request of my son.  I only wish that it be God's will that it may contribute to your happiness.  Enclosed I send you bill of exchange from the Rhine Credit Bank in Freiburg in the amount of 203 marks and will you, as soon as you receive this money, report this to me?
In my last letter which I sent along for you with Miss Weiss, daughter of Drechsler Weiss*, I said how much Sepp Trenkler** had to pay for the farm property.  They did not leave it to him cheaply, 32,000 marks, of which his share was about 9,000 marks and in addition to that a very large real property share is to be subtracted.  Thus you can see that the two young people have enough to do and they also must be very frugal.
I know of no other news at present, and will close with the request that you answer as soon as possible.  I am sending the money by registered letter.  Our wishes of good fortune, wishes of happiness from all your loved ones, and in particular your father.
When you arrive at your new place of residence according to your present intentions, then report this to us immediately.***
Again best wishes.

   Your Father,
                                                                                                                           Fr. Anton Fahrlander.

*"Drechsler" means cabinet maker.
**Sepp Trenkler is Rosa's husband, Joseph Kury.  "Sepp" is a dimunitive of Joseph.  Schweder, the translater, thinks "Trenkler" could possibly be      the name of the farm.
***This is prior to Dad's departure from New York City for Iowa, and he evidently needed some money for train fare.

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