A Voyage of Hopes and Dreams

“A Voyage of Hopes and Dreams” is a work of historical fiction. The story is told by 18 year old Andreas recalling the trip he took 12 years prior with his family and other German Wendish emigrants seeking a new life in Texas. It chronicles the 1853 trip from the day that Andreas left his home by wagon with his family and then rode the train from Bautzen to Bremen. At Bremen, Andreas and his family, and the rest of the 35 Wends, booked passage on a brig named the Reform to take them from Bremen to Galveston, Texas. On their voyage the Wends experienced joy, heartache and tragedy. The joy was the birth of Agnes, Andreas’ sister. The heartache was the death of a 1 year old boy from one of the other Wendish families. The tragedy was that the Reform never made it to Texas. It ran aground off the coast of Cuba. All of the passengers and crew members survived, and with the generosity and help of many people, they eventually made it to Galveston, by way of New Orleans.

Read more in Mr. Wissel’s Wendish Blog Frank’s Findings.