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THIS LETTER CONTAINS THE OFFICIAL SEAL OF THE NIEDER OHMEN, GERMANY, BURGERMEISTER AND IS WRITTEN IN EARLY GERMAN SCRIPT. THE NEW YORK 15 POSTAL MARKING IS A RARE POSTMARK WITH A 1990S ASCC $120 CATALOG PRICE. CERTAINLY WORTH MORE TODAY. IT ALSO BEARS A LIGHT RED MARITIME MARK STARTING IN THE LOWER PORTION OF THE NEW YORK MARK. WHILE THERE IS SOME OVERALL DUST, THE CONDITION, AS SHOWN IN THE SCAN, IS OUTSTANDING. THE STOCK IS HEAVY BROWN PAPER AND THERE ARE NO HOLES OR TEARS. A PREMIUM MARITIME, INTERNATIONAL POSTAL HISTORY STAMPLESS FOLDED LETTER. Our thanks to Jean McLane who provided the translation for this letter. It reads as follows:
[The] bearers of this, Adam Kuhl and Karl Schnabel of Nieder Ohmen will and also for their travel legitimation are to travel to America, their passports are in Mainz at the agency and that they leave here with good conduct. --Nieder Ohmen on the 16th of June 1858 --Grand Duchy Office of the Mayor of Nieder Ohmen [stamp] [signature] Gr.Hessian Office of the Mayor --Nieder Ohmen
[letter]Le Havre, the 25th June 1858
Dear Brother-in-law I want to let you know that I and your son left home the 16th of June and still must lie in Le Havre until the 27th so you can imagine what it costs us. I did an accord [arrangement?] at the agency in Le Havre as you will see in the letter which the agent wrote the 21st of this month. Namely, I have [?] from New York by railroad as far as Lima, that costs 12 dollars of which I have paid 5 dollars and in New York 7 dollars are to be paid. Will you be so good as to send the 10 dollars [mentioned] in the letter and [to?] the agency mentioned
[page 2] so that we do not have to lie in New York so long, the address is Mr. Henry M. Wend, New York & Erie Railroad Office, Cor[ner] of Redde & West Streets, New York. That's all I know and everyone sends you greetings--Adam Kühl
Jean McLean's notes: Both Adam and the official write grammatically incomplete syntax, so a smooth translation is difficult. Adam's spelling implies the French port of Le Havre as departure; using "lie" in reference to a port implies that he was already aboard a ship lying in the harbor. I infer New York as their destination, based on the railway name. Schnabel is an unusual German name, meaning "bird's beak".