They emigrated to America because their love wasn't accepted by their parents. The story of two people from the Uckermark happened 150 years ago. The marriage resulted in 13 children. The descendants of the Sydow family researching the family from both sides of the Atlantic now.
The old farmers from the Uckermark had their own class and their stubbornness. Those who did not bring at least as much farmland into the marriage were allowed to look for their bride somewhere else. The fathers bequeathed the laboriously built farms to their sons, who then passed them on to their children. In this way the prosperity should be increased.
But Eberhard Sydow's great-great-uncle from Welsow had his own mind. His head was turned by a destitute and young girl from Frauenhagen. Their love shouldn't lead them into a marriage, decided the old Sydows, which were established farmers who belonged a lot of land. "I'm going to marry her," did the rebellious son announce. He saved 300 Thalers and emigrated to America with his new wife. The story actually happened probably around 1844.
Many people from the Angermünde region packed up their belongings, sold their land and sailed across the Atlantic to America. They were no adventurers or tax evaders. Most of them were completely normal people who either couldn't support their families, sought their hope in the distance or, as adherents of the Old-Lutheran tradition were here exposed to reprisals.
Eberhard Sydow is holding a copy of an old photo in his hands. The original is still hanging in his parents' house in Welsow, just a few houses away. The emigrant family in front of their new farm in Michigan is to seen on it. Nobody know when it was taken and how it came to the Uckermark. "We have always been farmers through and through," says Sydow with pride in his voice. And also the emigrants to America did the same: They took an ox, cleared forest and started farming.
The ground seemed to give enough food because the couple had 13 children, six girls and seven boys. One of the daughters was killed in a forest clearing by fire.
The sons William and Robert - German emigrants often gave their children typical German names up to present days - took over the paternal farm. The Sydows in Michigan kept in touch with their German relatives over generations. Letters and photographs were sent. One of the emigrant grandchildren sent a catalog with agricultural machines to Germany during the Second World War. He has set up his own factory in the meantime. And one of the great-grandchildren was stationed in West Germany as an Allied soldier in the 1950s. "After 1945 my parents received parcels from the United States," says Eberhard Sydow. The 79 years old man exactly remembers his first leather jacket.
But then the contact broke off. The Sydows were insulted and harassed by the new rulers of the village because they were one of the rich farmers. Eberhard's father Hermann was arrested without any judgment by the Soviet administration and starved to death in the infamous Fünfeichen camp in September 1945.
The mother was afraid and destroyed the letters from America. Now Eberhard is guarding the photocopies of the old pictures like his eyeballs. He reads war memories and the fate of refugees. He might have to travel to Michigan to get back in touch but that was completely unthinkable in the 40 years of the GDR.
But maybe one day an American with the same name will be on his doorstep because genealogy is increasing in the United States. The descendants of the emigrants want to know more about their own origins and the European past. Inquiries on the Internet, in church archives and museums are increasing. The most frequently asked question is: Why did they emigrate? In most cases it was because of economic or social reasons. In very few cases it was the love between a rich farmer's son and a girl without means.

The report was published in the "Uckermark Anzeiger". It was written by Oliver Schwers.