Guide to the Jurgen (George) Engelland Papers 1876-1907
Cage 237

Summary Information

Repository
Washington State University Libraries, Manuscripts, Archives, and Special Collections
Creator
Engelland, Jurgen (George)
Title
Jurgen (George) Engelland Papers
ID
Cage 237
Date [inclusive]
1876-1907
Extent
1 container., .5 linear feet of shelf space.
Language
Collection materials are in
Abstract
Seaman's registration book, logbook, navigation school notebooks, 1876-1881; letters, accounts, ledgers, receipts and other papers re: farm near Tekoa, Washington. Included are a minute book of Tekoa Farmers' Alliance, and letters of Hinrich Holtorf, a German immigrant at Walla Walla, Washington.

Preferred Citation

[Item Description]. Cage 237, Jurgen (George) Engelland Papers . Manuscripts, Archives, and Special Collections, Washington State University Libraries, Pullman, WA.

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Biography/History

Jurgen Engelland was born in Schleswig-Holstein (then part of Denmark) August 27, 1859. At the age of fourteen he went to sea as a cabin-boy and worked his way up to a before-the-mast position on small vessels plying northern European waters. In 1880 he attended navigation school where he became conversant in English. After a one-year term in the German navy, he crossed the Atlantic to the United States in 1883. Moving west he homesteaded in 1884 a quarter-section near Tekoa, Washington, amidst many other German immigrants. In 1886 he returned to Germany to settle his mother's estate and returned with Frauke Stender (born 1865) to become his wife. They had three children: Bertha (born August 30, 1888); Herman (November 20, 1890); and Elfrida (January 30, 1898).

In 1907 the Engellands rented their farm and moved into Tekoa where both became very active in the community. He was elected to the town council, became street and side-walk commissioner, a member of the school board and served as clerk of the board for many years. The Engellands were strong believers in education, their children all graduating from high school and going on to college. Bertha graduated from WSU in 1912.

From 1891 until 1945, Mr. Engelland served as organizer, president and later secretary-treasurer of the Fraternal Beneficial Association, a farm mutual fire insurance concern.

Although Mr. Engelland's given name was Jurgen, he had it legally changed to George in the 1890s in order to be more fully "Americanized." He died in January, 1946. An account of his life, written by daughter Bertha, is in The Tekoa Story: from Bunchgrass to Grain (1962) 218-226.

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Scope and Content

The papers of Jurgen Engelland consist of his seafaring and navigation school papers, 1876-1881, and his Whitman County farming papers and accounts, 1884-1907.

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Administrative Information

Publication Information

Washington State University Libraries Manuscripts, Archives, and Special Collections  © 2012

http://www.libraries.wsu.edu/masc/

Terrell Library

P.O. Box 645610

Pullman, WA, 99164-5610 USA

509-335-6691

mascref@wsu.edu

Restrictions on Access

This collection is open for research use.

Acquisition Information

The papers of Jurgen Engelland were a gift to Washington State University Library by Bertha Engelland Williams in 1967 and in 1969.

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Names and Subjects

Corporate Name(s)

Subject(s) :
  • Tekoa Farmers' Alliance

Geographic Name(s)

  • Tekoa (Wash)--History--Archives

Occupation(s)

  • Farmers--Washington (State)--Whitman County--Records and correspondence

Personal Name(s)

Creator(s) :
  • Engelland, Jurgen, 1859-1946 --Archives
Subject(s) :
  • Holtorf, Hinrich
Donor(s) :
  • William, Bertha E. waps

Subject(s)

  • Navigation -- Study and teaching
  • German Americans--Washington (State)
  • German Americans
  • Washington (State)

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Detailed Description of Collection

The following section contains a detailed listing of the materials in the collection.

Series 1: Seafaring and Navigation School Papers 
folder

Seaman's registration book 1876-1880   1 item.

 1

Navigation school notebooks: English vocabulary, geometry, experiments, geography, mathematics, trigonometry, and arithmetic 1880-1881  8 items.

 2-9

Tagebuch des schooner-schiffes Marie,...gefuhrt von Stiuermann J. Engelland. [Logbook] 1881  1 item.

 10

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Series 2: Farming Papers 
folder

Ledger and account books 1887-1907  5 items.

 11-15

Letters from Hinrich Holtorf, Walla Walla, recounting a German immigrant's misfortunes.  1890-1891  3 items.

 16

Letter and typescript translations Letters from Hinrich Holtorf, from the German by Bertha E. Williams 1969  4 items.

 16

Farmers Alliance. Tekoa Alliance No. 80. Minutes and roll  1890-1891  1 item.

 17

Receipts 1890-1907  6 items.

 18

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Series 3: Accession File 
folder

Letters of Bertha E. Williams concerning her father's papers 1969  2 items.

 19

Container list 1969  1 item.

 19

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