Historic Letter Links New Glarus to Switzerland
A letter mailed in 1900 from New Glarus to Switzerland, offers a rare glimpse of immigrant life, farm conditions, family longing and the old ties that still connected the village to Canton Glarus.
A handwritten letter mailed from New Glarus to Switzerland in 1900 sold Sunday on eBay for $35 after attracting 17 bids.
The letter, presumed to have been written in German with Swiss influence, was addressed to Fridolin Hammerly (likely Hämmerli) in Engi, Canton Glarus, Switzerland. The envelope bears a New Glarus, Wis., postmark dated July 30, 1900, along with receiving marks on the reverse from its journey across the Atlantic.
The stamp appears to be a blue 5-cent U.S. postage stamp featuring Ulysses S. Grant. That detail matters. At the time, 5 cents was commonly used for international letter postage, making the stamp another clue that this was ordinary family correspondence moving through an extraordinary immigrant pipeline.
The letter appears to have been written July 29, 1900, and mailed the next day. Its destination, Engi, was one of the Swiss communities tied to the settlement story of New Glarus.
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