Our previous two posts (here and here) examined the 1888 recollections of a Mequon man that migrated from Germany to Mequon-Thiensville in 1848-1849, just after completing his schooling. His recollections were published in the form of two “letters” addressed to the Cedarburg News in May, 1888. Both letters were signed with just the initial “L.” Today I’d like to see what we know about our author — “L.” — and whether we can identify him.

But—before we start solving mysteries, there are errors to correct…

Updated dates!

I goofed! I fell into a record-keeping, citation-making trap. As I started this new post, I decided to take yet another look at my sources. And much to my chagrin, I noted that the date at the head of each of our “Mequon Correspondence” letters does not agree with the date that each letter was actually printed in the Cedarburg News. That’s not so strange; I would expect that a letter would be written, dated, and sent to the paper’s editor before the newspaper’s date of publication. But in our case, the letters are dated almost a full week after the newspaper date of publication. What’s that all about?

Anyway, here’s the correct info:
• the first letter of two, titled “Mequon Corrspondeence” [sic], was published on page 2 of the Cedarburg News on May 16, 1888, but the “letter” was dated in its headline, “May 21, 1888.”
• the second letter, titled “Mequon Correspondence. [Continued.], appeared the following week, May 23, 1888, also on page 2, but the “letter” was dated in its headline “May 28, 1888.”

Now that we’ve settled that, let’s see what we can do to solve today’s History Mystery!

An authorial History Mystery! – Who was “L.”?

These reminiscences were published in the form of letters to the editor of the Cedarburg News. This was a common formula for sharing news and personal stories in 19th-century papers. Sometimes such articles would be signed with the author’s full name. Other times—as with these two items—such “letters” would close with a pseudonym. Sometimes this was done to avoid controversy, especially when discussing politically contentious matters. Or, as was often the case, if the letter was “personal” in any way, a Victorian-era author would chose preserve his or her modesty by signing correspondence with a pseudonym or, as in our letters, an initial or two.

“Mequon Corrspondeence.” [sic], Cedarburg News, May 16, 1888, page 2 (but article dated “May 21, 1888”)

The parameters

What do we know about the author? Who wrote this 1888 memoir of his 1848-1849 (or thereabouts) emigration from Germany to New York and then a new life in Mequon-Thiensville? Let’s begin by making a list of facts and inferences we can derive from the published letters:

• the letters were published in 1888, describing events “forty years ago,” i.e., circa 1848-1849
• the author had a complicated, multi-stage, crossing from Hamburg to Scotland to NYC
• some of the details in letter no. 1 about mode of transport was taken (steam, sail, rail) may be useful in tracing his journey
• the author arrive in Mequon in “May”–presumably 1848 or 1849
• our author signed each piece with the initial “L.”
• the author is male
• he attended and (presumably) completed his studies at a German Gymnasium
• he studied English and French “for the last two years” before emigrating
• he was primus (valedictorian) of his class at the Gymnasium
• usual age for completion of Gymnasium education was 18-20 years old
• that makes him about 18-21 years old in 1848-1849
• his assumed age implies a birth year circa 1828-1831 or thereabouts
• he emigrated from Hamburg, Germany
• he was accompanied to America by his mother, and by one or more brothers
• the family entered the USA at New York (city) harbor
• he sang and played the guitar
• he enjoyed pranks and other nonsense, at least at times
• he enjoyed physical activity, walking through the countryside, wrestling, etc.
• he appears to have been intelligent and perhaps a bit of a wiseguy (?)

FYI, if you are wondering about the “French and English language” and wrestling facts, they are found in parts of the second letter that I have not yet blogged about. I have saved those parts of letter no. 2 for my upcoming talk at the Cedarburg History Museum, Saturday, May 9, 2026, 6:00 p.m., part of the museum’s March 4 to Nov. 1, 2026, “First Nations” exhibit. I’ll probably blog about it after the presentation.

“Mequon Correspondence. [Continued.], Cedarburg News, May 23, 1888, page 2 (but article dated “May 28, 1888.”)

That pseudonym…

What about the choice of the letter “L.” as a signature? The L could be the initial letter for a variety of things, including:

• a first name
• a last name
• a trade or profession or activity (German or English word)
• some other descriptive or reference word, perhaps to social or political beliefs?

German male first names beginning with the letter L include Ludwig, Leopold, Leon, Lorenz and many others.

German surnames that begin with L (in Mequon, on the 1850 federal decennial census) include Loring, Longfeldt, Linden, Lattoff, Ludeke, Lampca, Lanseldorf and many others.

German activities and professions that begin with the letter L might include Leser (reader), Leiter (director), Lehrer (teacher) and others

English professions or trades that begin with L include, Lawyer, Laborer (and others?)

German descriptive words might include Liebhaber (amateur, enthusiast), Linke (leftist, possibly not in the 1800s), and probably many others, but my German skills have gone kaput for the day.

What do you think?

Discovering the identity of our 1888 correspondent is not the most pressing history question at the moment, but I’d sure be interested in knowing who wrote those memoirs and finding out more about his four decades in Mequon-Thiensville, from 1848 to 1888, and beyond.

If you care to try and solve this puzzle, I recommend you log on to your favorite database (Ancestry, FamilySearch, etc.) and start searching with the parameters we’ve outlined here. Perhaps you want to look for passenger lists from Hamburg to Leith, or Scotland to NYC? Or play with USA census data looking for our lad and his mother (and father? did he come to America ahead of the family? or is he not present at all?)

Or perhaps you’ve been doing Mequon-area history and genealogy for a long time, listened to all the family stories, and after looking at the information above thought to yourself: Hey! that sounds just like great-great-grandpa!

Help the Historian!

There are so many variables. Test your searching skills—and patience—and let me know if you have any luck. Or let me know if you bump into some interesting, but unrelated, bit of local history that you might want to share here on Clark House Historian.

I’d love to hear from you. You can make a public comment, via the Leave a comment… function (below), or send me a private message via the Contact menu. I read and reply to all your messages.

That’s all for now. Thanks for following along the detours and dead-ends of today’s History Mystery! and thanks for reading. More Clark House history coming soon.