Many people from the Canton of Bern emigrated to Amazonia in the US state of Missouri. Illustration by Marco Heer.
Many people from the Canton of Bern emigrated to Amazonia in the US state of Missouri. Illustration by Marco Heer.

Letters from Amazonia

The 19th century can rightly be described as a ‘century of emigration’ in Switzerland. More than 400,000 people left the country to build new lives elsewhere. Letters from the period offer a glimpse into their day-to-day existence as expatriates.

Reto Bleuer

Reto Bleuer

Reto Bleuer is a volunteer at the Archaeological Service of the Canton of Bern.

The settlement of Amazonia is not, as the name might lead us to expect, situated in South America but in the north-western corner of the US state of Missouri. In the 19th century, its fertile countryside set amidst rolling hills attracted settlers from all over Europe who had gone there in search of a better life. One of these was Peter Moser from Wattenwil in the canton of Bern. Together with his brother Johannes, he set sail for the New World around 1834 and, after much meandering, eventually made his way to the far north-west of Missouri. At that time, the indigenous peoples had already migrated west of the river to Kansas and Nebraska after being driven off their lands. Under the terms of the Platte Purchase deal of 1836, they had agreed to relocate to designated reservations and to cede their land to the state for a paltry sum. This shameful chapter of American history paved the way for settlers to get their hands on new farmland. Peter Moser was among those able to acquire land with the aid of a cheap loan from the state. In June 1857, he banded together with a diverse group of emigrants to purchase a sizeable tract of land in Andrew County. This was divided up into building lots, which were then offered for sale to other new arrivals. The township that sprang up was given the exotic name of Amazonia, supposedly derived from a ship of the same name that had foundered nearby in the Missouri River.
Peter Moser with his wife Anna. They had both travelled to America on the same ship
Peter Moser with his wife Anna. They had both travelled to America on the same ship. Andrew County Museum
To begin with, Moser was one of the few Swiss expatriates in the area. But that was soon to change. More and more of his fellow countrymen and women began arriving on the banks of the Missouri. Many of them were from the canton of Bern, and so Amazonia came to be known in the surrounding area as the ‘Bernese colony’. Thanks to two of these emigrants who wrote home about their experiences, we have a remarkable record of the settlement’s history and reports of everyday life in Amazonia. Both men, Samuel Egger and Rudolf Urwyler, originally hailed from Frutigen in the Bernese Oberland. We can only speculate about what drove Egger, a teacher and postmaster, to emigrate. For Urwyler, on the other hand, it was clearly the chance to make a fresh start. The matchstick factory he had acquired in Wydi/Frutigen in 1866 had been forced to close by the authorities following a number of incidents, and a series of court cases had left Urwyler impoverished. Samuel Egger and his family arrived in Amazonia in the spring of 1881. His first report was published in the local newspaper back home, the Täglicher Anzeiger für Thun und das Berner Oberland, on 18 March 1882 under the heading ‘Aus Amerika’ (From America). He described the situation in Amazonia as follows: “Although pretty close to the Missouri River, the colony is not likely to be flooded as it sits at an elevation above the river, almost like Längenberg above the Aare.”
The United States of America, map produced in 1877. The state of Missouri is highlighted in red.
Andrew County and Amazonia lie in the north-western corner of Missouri. Map, 1897.
Peter Moser’s land is in the area numbered 35.
In October 1882, it was the turn of Urwyler and his family to set off for pastures new. He documented their journey in a five-part series in the same newspaper optimistically entitled: ‘Aus dem Erdtheile der Zukunft’ (From the continent of the future). The Urwylers received a warm welcome from the Eggers on their arrival in Amazonia. The Egger family had already done remarkably well. In his report, Urwyler gushed that “Mr Egger […] struts around like the lord of the manor on his 100-Juchart estate, has 4 horses, 3 cows, 1 steer, 9 fat pigs, 12 weaner pigs, any number of chickens and a bumper crop of peaches and apples […]”
He prospered in his adopted homeland: Samuel Egger.
He prospered in his adopted homeland: Samuel Egger. geni.com
Following an arduous stint as a day labourer, Rudolf Urwyler had saved up enough money to take out a lease on some land. From this point on, reports from the two expatriates appeared in the Thuner Zeitung on an intermittent basis, often beneath the headline ‘Brief aus Amazonia’ (Letter from Amazonia). Naturally, the two men, who were new to farming, focused on developments in agriculture. They quoted and commented on the current price of agricultural produce, described the finer points of severe weather (cyclones, heatwaves and cold snaps) and reported on crop yields, which tended to vary. Egger seemed particularly keen to put across the harsh reality of life as a settler. As early as the spring of 1882, he wrote these words of warning to anyone back home who might be contemplating emigration: “Remember what an important step you are thinking of taking; thousands of those who have emigrated would have stayed at home had they known what awaited them here.” In spite of the difficult conditions, the population of Amazonia continued to grow. Reports of constantly rising farm prices (due to strong demand) and the inauguration of the new church (the old one no longer having enough room to accommodate everyone) illustrated this. From time to time, Egger and Urwyler also provided insights into the stories of individual settler families. We learn, for example, about the penniless Christian Bachmann who, in 1869, at the age of 51, moved from Buchholterberg (north-east of Thun) to Amazonia with his wife and ten children to start a new life. Thirteen years and a lot of hard work later, Bachmann was a big landowner, who proclaimed that: “Everything we own has been paid for and I am free of debt”. A success story that did not befall everyone who emigrated.
A restaurant in Amazonia, circa 1910.
A restaurant in Amazonia, circa 1910. Andrew County Museum
In later years, news of the deaths of Swiss expatriates increasingly featured in the reports from Amazonia. The authors themselves faced their own share of adversity. Rudolf Urwyler wrote about the death of his 2-year-old son Walter from malaria in the summer of 1888, and 10 years later about the fatal blood poisoning that carried off his 25-year-old daughter Flora. The readership also learned something about the customs and conventions in the New World. Urwyler expressed his annoyance on several occasions with the Sunday laws (no serving of alcohol, no dancing, no playing cards). Difficulties with schooling were also raised, including claims that teachers educated in the United States remained at the same level as a good primary school teacher in Switzerland: “[…] here in America good teachers, i.e. those who actually know something, are rare.” Reports of celebrations and festivities were more positive. Egger occasionally spoke at such public gatherings, and the Amazonia male voice choir delighted the Swiss settler families with their singing: “The songs of home rang out pure and clear, and melancholy tears rolled down the cheeks of many an old greybeard as he reminisced about Swiss village life.”
Samuel and Rosina Egger with their children and grandchildren. They had nine children; their oldest daughter stayed behind in Switzerland and another died shortly after birth.
Names of the people on the photograph
Samuel and Rosina Egger with their children and grandchildren. They had nine children; their oldest daughter stayed behind in Switzerland and another died shortly after birth. Andrew County Museum
The letters from Samuel Egger, now affectionately referred to as ‘Papa Egger’ by the newspaper’s editorial team, began to fall away from the turn of the century. His health appeared to fail following an accident involving a horse-drawn carriage in 1901. Rudolf Urwyler also sent fewer and fewer missives from Amazonia. His last report appeared in the newspaper of 7 May 1914. It included an obituary for his wife Albertine, who had died of a stroke at the age of 70. Today, the gravestones of Peter and Anna Moser, Samuel and Rosina Egger, Rudolf and Albertine Urwyler, and countless other Swiss settlers in one of Amazonia’s cemeteries still serve as a reminder of the ‘Bernese colony’.

Published on: 05.12.2024

URL: https://blog.nationalmuseum.ch/en/2024/12/letters-from-amazonia/

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