Michigan’s Thumb, a Paradise for Saxonia Settlers

The story is novel and unique with half of the source material from Germany or in German. The colorful picture is painted with 440 historical photos plus 32 maps from Germany and Michigan’s Thumb. Valuable for descendants, historians and genealogists—15 pages of source material. The author, also a Saxon, arrived 150 years later and felt compelled to write this book like an eyewitness
Unbearable working and living conditions along with continuous wars in Saxony spurred a group of adventuresome men and women to emigrate. The Michigan Emigration commissioner M.H. Allardt, spent six years in Germany, helping form Colonie Saxonia, suitable for even low-income families. Obstacles arose, first, a warning from the Prussian government against leaving for the “Siberian-like” Michigan. Then settling in the Upper Peninsula, turned out to be a disaster. The second 1873 group of 30 families had already boarded their ship, and was warned in New York.
They decided to settle in Delaware Township, Sanilac County, Michigan. They bought 10,000 acres, nearly half a township and formed a co-op. By winter they were already in primitive log houses and had begun clearing land, and on July 4, 1876, they made their first public appearance. After English language classes, a theater group formed, performing in two languages. When the Englishmen took German, the “melting pot” effect was on its way.
Today, Forestville has just a few dwellings huddled around a blinking traffic light. But in 1878, there was a woolen mill with a weaving operation, a cheese making factory, plus a sawmill with planing, sash and door machinery. The novice farmers became experienced and prosperity had begun to glimmer. Then, the 1881 fire devoured the possessions, earned with hard labor and sweat, of some. Undeterred, the Saxons continued and turned Forestville into a center that exported farm products and even prefab houses to Detroit.
The events of the “Harmonie Society” and the First World War take us to a new age of farming with steam engines, tractors, threshing machines and four-bottom plows. Surprisingly, many descendants or relations of the 100 researched families are still in the area; others are spread over the United States. Road names, original log houses, and barns with silos prove the success of Colonie Saxonia.