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be definitely fixed, it was high time to begin with
the collectoon of dates and details. For of the
German pioneers, who could tell of the beginnings, very
few were left, and every day saw their number
thinned. But, when we went to work,we did not think
it a very difficult matter to collect at least what still
was to be gotten. We expeeted, that we only needed
to state our object and purposes, to see the educated
Germans all over the state fall over each other in
the endeavor to give us their help and assistance.
We relied especially on the more than 1,200 ministers
and teachers of German religious congregations and
schools in the state, as working memzers, and trusted,
they would be willing to furnish us not only with a
history of their congregations, but of the whole
German community in their respective localities. We
had lists prepared of prominent German business and
professional men—bankers, merchants,
manufacturers, physicians, druggists, lawyers—all over the state
and sent out more than 10,000 invitations to join
the society, together with a number of
question-btanks adapted to different conditions. And what
was tlie result at the end of the first year. A
membership of not quite 200, and that nearly exclusively
in Chicago and acquired by personal solicitation,
and 42 answered inquiries.
We then decided to publish a Quarterly to be the
receptacle for contributions of historical value,
expecting that the existence of such an organ would
act as a stimulant to historical research among our
countrymen. But this hope likewise did not realize
to any marked extent. This led to the conclusion,
that the work of collecting the material had to be
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