Photograph taken about 1912, during Herman's visit home.
rear row: brothers (l to r) Adolf, Moses, Julius and
Gustav
middle row: sisters Dora and Jettchen, parents Minna and Samuel
front row: Herman (left) and brother Salli.
The Stern family traced its history in
Oberbrechen back to the 1600s. For the most part, the Sterns made their living
from the land. Samuel Stern (who may well have written his first name as "Smuel")
owned a small plot of land near the town of Oberbrechen. He made his living
by what he could raise there -- which mostly went toward feeding his family
-- and by selling the remnants of slaughtered cattle to a small paste factory
in the area. Samuel and his wife, Mina Strauss Stern, raised eight children.
The oldest, Moses, would inherit the farm. Moses's brother Adolph would become
successful in the buying and trading of cattle and horses, while most of the
other brothers also went into agriculture-related trades.
The youngest son of the family was Hermann,
who was born in 1887. Hermann later remembered that the family diet consisted
mostly potatoes and sauerkraut, with a bit of beef occasionally. Hermann went
to work early on, doing odd jobs around Oberbrechen and helping his older
brothers out when necessary. In 1901, he became the apprentice to a clothing
merchant in Mainz, for which he received room and board, but no pay. He didn't
much like the job or his boss, but the apprenticeship was a lucky break, nevertheless.
Because in 1903, Morris G. Straus, a cousin from Mina's side of the family,
came to visit from the United States. Straus had emigrated to the United States
many years before and had opened a clothing store in Casselton, North Dakota.
Straus had done well in Casselton, and was making plans to expand his business
when he made his return visit to Germany in 1903. He met Hermann Stern and
decided that here would be a trustworthy young man who could help him with
his plans. He offered the young Stern a job and gave him the cost of a ship
ticket to America.
Hermann Stern left Germany in September
1903, little knowing how vital his presence in North Dakota would later become
to his family.
Sources: Heidi und Cornelius Bormann,
Heimat an der Erft (ca. 1992); Interview with Edward Stern, 1994.
