Karl Heinrich Buchmiller - Part Three

     When Karl's schooling was completed he was apprenticed to I. A. Binder. Herr Binder published the county paper and he also had a bookbindery connected with the business, Karl was to learn the printing trade. The family had been in Bonndorf about three years when Johann died November 18,1874. The mother, Barbara, could not earn a living in Bonndorf, so she and Mary decided to go back to Mannheim to find work. Emil was also apprenticed to Herr Binder. Binder promised their mother that both boys would be treated as part of his family.

Train Station in Mannheim

      Barbara sold most of their furniture and prepared to leave. She gave Karl and Emil each five marks in case they wanted to come and join her some day. Then she and Mary, with Emil accompanying them, walked 15 miles to catch the train for Mannheim. The long walk was made to save money. Emil then returned to Bonndorf.

Cemetery in Bonndorg

     The boys, now 14 and 11, were put in a filthy garret or attic to sleep. It was not long before they knew they were not being treated as family. One nice moonlit night they decided to leave. They smuggled their scant belongings through a back door and found themselves on the main highway on a hill above the village. They passed the cemetery where their father was buried. When they were hungry they ate cherries from the trees along the way. They walked all night, arriving in Freiburg about nine the next morning in time to take the train to Mannheim. Emil boarded the train, but Karl had spent his money so had to telegraph his mother for the fare. He arrived in Mannheim the next day.

    

Mannheim was a city of about 150,000 inhabitants, located where the River Neckar enters the Rhine. A long bridge crosses the river at this point and on the other side is the city of Ludwigshafen. Barbara had found work in a shoe factory and later was employed by the General Hospital, where she cleaned the nurses' rooms and did odd bits of work. The family was very poor and they moved often. They finally found an apartment near the hospital. The family was poor enough that the children were eligible for a Christmas benefit. They remembered gathering in a room with a very large illuminated tree in the center and being given handsome gifts by St. Nicholas. The packages contained school supplies, socks, underwear, etc.

     Karl found work as a typesetter but gave it up and went to work in a rubber factory. Leonhart and Konrad, now out of the service, were on their own and working as shoemakers. Emil was sent to learn bookkeeping. When Mary was 13 she left school. She was sent to work to learn the art of dressmaking, but all she was allowed to do was sew on buttons. She next worked at a laundry, but it was much too hard for her. Later she learned hairdressing and wig making.

     Karl wanted to see some of the world while he was still young. When he was in his late teens he decided to travel to Rome. He had a tooth out on one side of his mouth on the bottom. He had taken up smoking and his pipe stem fit perfectly in the opening. His sister Mary remembered the day he left. He had his belongings tied to a pole with a little bird in a cage hanging from the end. He left smoking his pipe and singing. He probably traveled through part of Switzerland an route to Rome. When he returned home he said he had enjoyed the trip but was disappointed because he didn't see the Pope.

     Their home by the hospital was three rooms on the first floor looking into a courtyard. An extremely poor family by the name of Drussell lived in the garret. On different occasions the Buchmiller family heard people going up and down the creaky stairway. The men had long beards. At times the rattle of dishes and other sounds were heard as the people came and went. Barbara wondered if this group was going out on stealing and robbing expeditions. 

     When Karl was 19 he began leaving his family in the evenings without telling his mother where he was going. One night she asked Emil to follow him. Emil discovered that Karl was going to meetings held by the missionaries of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Near the same time Karl's mother learned that the people upstairs were also members of this Church and were holding cottage meetings. Emil became interested in the Church, too, and it wasn't long before he and Karl asked for baptism. The brothers were baptized November 30, 1879, and confirmed by Elder A. Heppler. Elder Abraham H. Cannon and Elder G. Enz were in attendance as they had taught the family the gospel. The ice was banked in the Rhine River house-high. Those involved had to crawl very carefully over this ice to get to the shore of the river. A hole then had to be chopped through the ice to the water so the baptisms could be performed. Barbara attended a Church meeting and heard her son Karl speak. She was baptized in January and Mary joined in March. 

     The older brothers, Leonhart and Konrad, were angry about the baptisms. They threatened to beat Karl and Emil up because they had joined the American church. Neither of the younger brothers paid much attention to the threats. They knew they had found the true Church and angry words would not change their minds. Karl gave up his pipe as part of his commitment.