HISTORY NEBRASKA MANUSCRIPT FINDING AID
RG1650.AM: Maria (Rickli) Schwader, 1841-1917
Letters: 1875-1902
Colfax County and Omaha, Douglas County, Nebraska: Farmer
Size: One folder
BACKGROUND NOTE
Born in Switzerland on October 17, 1841, Maria Rickli married Heinrich Flückiger, and the couple had five children. Heinrich died in 1873 and Maria immigrated to the United States with her eldest child. She, along with her brother and brother-in-law, homesteaded in Platte County in the spring of 1874. Maria also worked as a maid in Big Springs, Nebraska, and then in Omaha from 1875-1881. She brought her remaining children over from Switzerland and then married Louis Schwader in Omaha on August 19, 1881. Maria and Louis farmed in Colfax County and had two more children. The Schwaders moved to Junction City, Oregon in 1894, where they continued to farm. Maria (Rickli) Schwader died on April 23, 1917. Louis Schwader died on June 17, 1919. The couple is buried in Rest Lawn Memorial Park, Junction City, Oregon.
SCOPE AND CONTENT NOTE
The collection consists of one folder containing typed transcripts [18 pages] of letters written to Maria Rickli Flückiger Schwader by her brother-in-law, Jacob Maurer, her brother, John Ulrich Rickli, and her son, John Fluckiger. They span the dates 1875-1902. The original letters were written in old German script handwriting, from which the translated transcripts were made. The letter transcripts are accompanied by a one-page biography of Maria Schwader. The letters describe the difficulties of homesteading, inclement weather, drought, and grasshoppers, as well as the raising of crops and livestock and economic difficulties.
INVENTORY
Letter transcripts and biographical sketch
Subject headings:
Farm life — Nebraska
Homesteading — Nebraska
Fluckiger, John
Rickli family
Rickli, John Ulrich
Schwader family
Schwader, Maria (Rickli), 1841-1917
KFK 04-26-1995
Revised TMM 09-04-2020
