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First Letter From New Glarus, Niklaus Dürst

Swiss American Historical Society Review

The following letter comprises the first official report on the emergence of New Glarus. It was written by Judge Niklaus Durst, and signed by both Durst and Fridolin Streiff, several days after the group of colonists arrived in Wisconsin. Dürst wrote beautiful but complicated German. The original letter is archived in the Pulverturm at Schwanden, Canton Glarus, where many of the records of the Emigration Society are kept. This translation, by Peter Etter and Leo Schelbert, tries to adapt to Dürst' s style as much as possible without making the letter too difficult to understand. It is based on the …