German letter written in 1915

[Rufous Treecreeper]

Hi 

Below is part of a letter written to my great grandfather from August Neumann (and wife Minna and children Otto and Ella).  They went from Germany to the USA in 1913, while my Great grandfather Robert Greiner and his family came to Australia in 1911.

Is there any Rchatters out there who could translate it for me please?  I'm hoping that the names mentioned in it - Junkel and Klara I think - might help me find out if they were relations or just friends.

I can post the rest of the letter if you want.

Cheers,
Marlene

PS The Neumann/Newman family settled in Kenosha, Wisconsin.

[Karen McDonald]

Hi Marlene,

I think we'll have to wait until someone else (Dave?  ) reads this. I can make out some bits, but I am having big problems with the handwriting.

It starts off with greetings from us and (Greinisch?) Jünkel to (Klara Parniß?) and her husband (X). Beyond that, I can't make much out.
I can't see "Greiner" - it looks more like "Grinnisch" (and not even "Greinersch", which I though might have been a possibility).
At the end, he asks for a speedy reply.

I know, not much help. 

Let's see what other people can make of it.

Best regards,
Karen

P.S. Was your granny really 108?! 

[Peonie]

Hi Marlene,
Sorry but the letter doesn’t say much. If you like you can post the rest.

Greetings from us and Heinrich Jünkel an Klara Preuß and her husband will write to us the address of Brüyer Heinrich will also write to her, we are all healthy up to now, just no work that’s the Humbug here. Please write soon.

It’s a bid difficult to work out as there is little punctuation.

Hope it helps, regards Peonie

[Karen McDonald]

Hi Marlene,
Sorry but the letter doesn’t say much. If you like you can post the rest.

Greetings from us and Heinrich Jünkel an Klara Preuß and her husband will write to us the address of Brüyer Heinrich will also write to her, we are all healthy up to now, just no work that’s the Humbug here. Please write soon.

It’s a bid difficult to work out as there is little punctuation.

Hope it helps, regards Peonie

Thanks, Peonie!
I can see "Preuß" and "Heinrich" now..! 

I've had another look...
As you say, the punctuation is a bit lacking. I think that there should be a full stop after "Mann" (husband), and that the next bit is
Schreibt uns die Adresse von B.H., will an Ihr auch schreiben,
(Send us B.H.'s address, I want to write to her, too.)

What do you think, Peonie?

Karen

[Rufous Treecreeper]

Thanks Karen and Peonie    Names - Yay!

I've been working on this family, trying to see if Minnie was Robert Greiner's sister.  Found out yesterday that she wasn't     I found the death notice in the Kenosha Evening News of her sister, which I've attached.  Their maiden name was Junkel.  Perhaps Heinrich Junkel was a brother to them?  No idea how Klara fits in - does the squiggle on the end of her name translate into 'ss' or a 'z'?

Wish I could read German... unfortunately that skill wasn't passed on from either Mum's or Dad's side   

Karen, yes, my Granny certainly did reach 108!  She could speak some german at 3 but then WW1 happened and it wasn't kept up. 

I will post the rest of the letter.  Hopefully it will shed some more light.  Really do appreciate your help 

Many thanks again,
Marlene

[Rufous Treecreeper]

Here is the rest of the letter.  Hopefully you kind Rchatters will have a go at it too.

Thank you 
Marlene

[Peonie]

Dear Robert, Wife and children

I would like to let you know that we are also in America, since August 1913. We didn’t like it very much . The first year was relatively good, but now the bad times are here. Many are unemployed , I haven’t worked for 2 months and it doesn’t look good to find work. Dear Robert your parents tell us  that it is also not too good in Gerresheim.

Karl is in the war, Anna‘s husband is ill. Sofi has a little son , many people of Gerresheim have died.  Dear Robert your parents wrote that they haven’t heard from you for a long time. We would like to see if you are still alive as it is rather a bad time. We think it would be the best if we could be in Germany. Dear Robert let us know how you are and if it is as bad as it is here. Many Gerresheimer live here, but far apart.

After the war we would like to go back to Germany, it’s hard here and more people are unemployed than in Germany. People from everywhere  with foreign languages we can’t speak and no work is not too good. With all that Germany would be the best, answer quickly.
Regards August Neumann, Minna, Otto, Elli

Hi Marlene,
Here is the letter. When I read my translation I noticed that I fell into German quite often. If I missed some - sorry.
Regards Peonie

[Peonie]

Hi Karen,
I think you are quite right. The letter was written as we speak and the intonation is important. Once written it’s more difficult because the reader interprets.

Sütterlin and Kurrent are very similar. You can find charts with the same letter in up to 10 different ways.

Hi Marlene

the squiggle is called „scharfes (Sharp)s, esszet or doppeltes s“ All is correct, but the new German spelling is „ss“ or in certain words only one s. On an English keyboard it’s Alt 225.

Karen there used to be a chocolate in Germany called Esszet, is it still available?

Marlene I am jealous of you having a granny for such a long time. At age 13 all my grandparents and my father had died.

Regards Peonie

[Karen McDonald]

Karen there used to be a chocolate in Germany called Esszet, is it still available?

Marlene I am jealous of you having a granny for such a long time. At age 13 all my grandparents and my father had died.

Regards Peonie

Hi Peonie,

Thanks for your hard work on the letter! And what a sad letter it is... 
We can't comprehend what these poor people went through.

Esszet:
Yes, it is still available. To the horror of nutrition experts, I would think! 
Not the best breakfast for kids:

http://www.eszet-schnitten.de/

I am also a little jealous re: Marlene's granny! 
My maternal granny passed away when I was 10, and I unfortunately barely knew my paternal granny, who only died when I was an adult. I wish I had visited her and got to know her... 

Best regards to you both from an extremely cold and frosty Wolfenbüttel,
Karen