Hi All Not to long ago, someone posted information about railroads in Baden and said that our ancestors might have used the railroads to help them reach a sea port. I started reaching Trains in Germany and France since my great, great grandfather left Baden in 1837 and went to Le Havre to catch the ship. I discovered that the first long distance train was not completed until April 1839. It was from Leipzig to Dresden. gr, gr, grandpa could not have used that. I also discovered that France did not start building long distance railways until 1842. gr, gr grandpa could not have used that. However, I discovered that France is/was full of canals which connect all of their major cities and that these canals were used to move crops and people until the railroads developed. Also no one has mentioned the stagecoach which was in use in Europe and England long before it ever came to the US. So, if gr, gr, grandpa had a little money--don't know what these things cost to ride, didn't find a site that covered that--he could have loaded his clothes, food, and family on a canal barge and rode them for quite a distance. So, down the Rhine River to Strasbourg and then onto the canals for as far as possible to eventually reach Le HAvre. Tonia

i'd gathered these links trying to better understand transport and maybe they're interesting... The first public journey [about 11 minutes long] was made at 9.00 am on 24 April 1837, the first major railway line to be built between important cities in Germany, and only the second line to be opened... The Leipziger Zeitung, the local paper, reported... The price of a single journey Leipzig - Althen was: First class - 8 Groschen; Second class - 6 Groschen; Third class - 4 Groschen. There were no children's tickets and no child under 12 years of age was allowed to travel... from http://easyweb.easynet.co.uk/~jjlace/part8.html Article on proposed reform towards standardised pricing for German passenger fares - 1869 proposed 5 groschen, 10 and 60 groschen for 3rd, 2nd and 1st class respectively. http://www.jstor.org/pss/1882970 1891 article excerpt restricted access RE: the value of a Groschen -- currency seems pretty complicated then but about 24 groschen made 1 taler ...the poor man has completed his day's work, what did he earn for his sour sweat? Only 7 1/2 to 10 silver groschen -- which is 20 cents in American money... what do they earn as journeymen? The highest income per week is 1 Thaler -- 62 cents in American money... from The Immigration Diary of Michael Friedrich Radke, 1848 http://hometown.aol.com/lhchristen/1848.htm Purchasing power of the Talers http://www.economy-point.org/t/taler.html At the end 18. Century could acquire one in the German area for a Taler 12 kg bread, 6 kg meat, 2 bottles Champagner, 1 kg tobacco or 250 g dte, a shirt, a pair of shoes or three pair Wollsocken cost likewise a Taler. Food and cost of renting for two furnished rooms amounted to approximately 100-120 Taler annually. Yearly earnings/services of a master craftsman were with 200-600 Taler, some middle Prussian official with approximately 100 Talern. The income of a simple Prussian soldier was with annually accurately 24 Talern because of the poverty border. While Johann Wolfgang von Goethe as a writer and Weimar secret advice over 3000 Taler earned, Friedrich Schiller came as a historical professor only on 200 Taler. On 16/08/2008, at 3:39 AM, TONIA NIELSEN wrote: > Hi All > > Not to long ago, someone posted information about railroads in Baden > and > said that our ancestors might have used the railroads to help them > reach a > sea port. I started reaching Trains in Germany and France since my > great, > great grandfather left Baden in 1837 and went to Le Havre to catch the > ship. > > I discovered that the first long distance train was not completed until > April 1839. It was from Leipzig to Dresden. gr, gr, grandpa could > not have > used that. I also discovered that France did not start building long > distance railways until 1842. gr, gr grandpa could not have used that. > > However, I discovered that France is/was full of canals which connect > all of > their major cities and that these canals were used to move crops and > people > until the railroads developed. Also no one has mentioned the > stagecoach > which was in use in Europe and England long before it ever came to the > US. > So, if gr, gr, grandpa had a little money--don't know what these > things cost > to ride, didn't find a site that covered that--he could have loaded his > clothes, food, and family on a canal barge and rode them for quite a > distance. So, down the Rhine River to Strasbourg and then onto the > canals > for as far as possible to eventually reach Le HAvre. > > Tonia > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > BADEN-WURTTEMBERG-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' > without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message >