This Heuer Family emigrated from Pommern to Bremen and boarded the ship Laura to New York, arriving June 7, 1857.  They were processed at Castle Garden and set out for Buffalo, their first stop while en route to Wisconsin. There was a good reason they stopped in Buffalo, but you'll have to read the book to learn why!

After a few short weeks in Buffalo, they moved to the western shores of Lake Michigan, first to Cedarburg, Ozaukee County, Wisconsin and in late 1859 they moved to Ahnapee, Kewaunee County.  The town of Ahnapee was later named Algoma

This website is devoted to and follows the ancestors and descendants of Johann Friedrich and Catherina Sophia Heuer.  Their Children in birth order;

Name	Birth Date	Died	Place of Birth
Wilhelmine Caroline Rosaline Heuer Bergin Brandt	12 Oct 1833	8 Dec 1908	Tressin, Kreis Greifenberg,   Pommern, Prussia
August Ferdinand Heuer	2 Jul 1836	22 May 1865	Tressin, Kreis Greifenberg, Pommern, Prussia
Ferdinand Karl Heuer	9 Oct 1839	17 Dec 1919	Borntin, Kreis Greifenberg, Pommern, Prussia
Johann Friederick Heuer	28 Oct 1842	25 Oct 1872	Borntin, Kreis Greifenberg, Pommern, Prussia Johann Friederick Heuer Decendants
Ernestine Caroline Friedericke Heuer	2 May 1845	30 May 1915	Borntin, Kreis Greifenberg, Pommern, Prussia
Bertha Friedericke Sophia Heuer	25 Sep 1849	27 Nov 1911	Borntin, Kreis Greifenberg, Pommern, Prussia
Augusta Marie Elizabeth Heuer Raether	7 Jan 1855	22 Oct 1945	Borntin, Kreis Greifenberg, Pommern, Prussia

They sailed to America aboard the Laura

The Laura was a bark, a 3-masted sailing vessel, the front two (foremast and mainmast) square-rigged, the sternmost (mizzenmast) rigged fore-and-aft (for a pictorial representation of the major elements of the bark rig, see the Peabody Essex Museum's web page, "Rigging of American Sailing Vessels").  

The Laura was built by Peter Sager, of Vegesack, and launched on 26 March 1857.  196 Commerzlasten/442 tons register, 36,2 x 8,5 x 4,7 meters (length x breadth x depth of hold); Commercial Code signal letters Q.B.W.P.  

She was owned jointly by H. von Fischer, Bremen, and her captain, Hans Jurgen Wilmsen, of Vegesack, each of whom held a half share.  Wilmsen was succeeded as captain by Loius Schmidt, also of Vegesack, who was succeeded in 1867  by Wilhelm Wilmsen; for part of that year H. Maass, first mate, acted as master, during Wilmsen's illness.  

On 22 September 1866, on a voyage from Bremen to Baltimore with 210 passengers, the Laura was severely damaged by a hurricane, during the course of which 8 passengers were swept overboard and drowned.  

In 1874, the Laura was sold to M. L. Stranne, of Foglavik, Sweden, who renamed her Josefina; her new master was O. Berndtsson.  On 24 January 1877, the Josefina arrived at Buenos Aires from Bordeaux' in the course of unloading her cargo, the vessel caught fire, and became a total loss.   (Back to top of page)

The bark is a three-masted vessel with the foremast and mainmast square rigged and the mizzenmast fore-and-aft rigged. The mizzenmast carries no yards: there is a hoist-and-lower fore-and-aft sail and a gaff topsail.