Thanks to Tom Steichen, Kathy Severance, and especially Mary Kay Amberg, I've been able to further piece together the story of our Ethen family in this country.  From a paragraph in what was probably a Stearns County business atlas it was revealed that the Ethen family immigrated to this country in 1852. This is verified by a passenger manifest from the ship Maria that arrived in the U.S. on June 23, 1852 from Antwerp, Belgium. Details of this list are shown on the Ethen Origins page.  They first settled in Guttenburg, Iowa, in Clayton County, where a 39 year-old H. Ludwig Ethen signed a Declaration of Intentions, on July 20, 1852,the first step in the naturalization process.  Note that the Declaration was signed 'H. Ludwig Ethen', probably indicating that he went by the name Ludwig, not Heinrich or Henry.  His tombstone is also inscribed 'Ludwig Ethen', supporting that notion.

On April 15, 1853 a land transfer from Samuel Wardall, a Private in Captain Hook's Company of the Maryland Militia in the War of 1812 was made to Henry L. Ethen.  This document, along with the Declaration of Intentions, firmly establishes the Ethen family in the Guttenburg area in the early 1850s.

Additionally, the IAGenWeb Project shows records for an 1854 census in Jefferson Township, Clayton County, Iowa.  The record is for a Henry L. Ethen, with 9 males and 3 females in the household.

A few words are appropriate here concerning how the Ethen family came to be in the Guttenberg area.  A valuable resource is the document "Guttenberg, Iowa, The "Limestone City" of Clayton County, Its Architecture and History, 1854-1951" written by James E. Jacobsen in 2001.  This document was prepared under provisions of the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966 in order to inventory the historic resources of the Guttenberg area and to suggest preservation efforts.  The following excerpts are from that document; the document is available through the Guttenberg city web site.

A daughter, Maria or Mary, was born to Ludwig and Catherine in Clayton County, but the family soon moved to Stearns County, Minnesota, where their youngest child, Joseph Clemens, was born.  He was said to be the first white boy born in St. Cloud.  Joseph was born in 1856, so the move to Minnesota occurred fairly soon after the family's arrival in this country.  Stephan Schafer has discovered and provided a scan of Joseph's birth record.  This record is significant, in that it provides documentation of Joseph's parents names and the date of Joseph's birth.

On March 18, 1859 Ludwig signed a second naturalization document, which was also signed by his son Peter and an Anton Smith, who testified to the good moral character of Ludwig.  Peter had signed his own Declaration of Intentions in 1858 in Stearns County.  Son Stephan's naturalization papers were signed on August 11, 1868.  They indicate that the family arrived in the U.S. on June 15, 1852.  [Other documents and census records spell his name as 'Stephen'; however, his own signature is spelled 'Stephan'.

In all, we have records for 9 Ethen children, although a tenth, possibly named Henry, has also been suggested.  The Steichen family history indicates that three Ethen brothers married three Schäfer sisters, one of the Ethens being named Henry.  The census data don't indicate a child by this name, so perhaps this Henry was unrelated to our family.

Of Ludwig and Catherine's children, we know that only one, Maria, died in childhood, which was remarkable for those days.  Records are incomplete for two other children, Nicholas and Sebela [Sybilla].

As the children grew up they married and established their own households.  I've gotten some interesting homesteading patent documents from the General Land Office for land obtained by various Ethen men and for Claudius Weber (father-in-law of John Ethen) and for John Meyer (father-in-law of Claudius Weber). Homesteading was done from the years 1865 through 1888, in the terms of Andrew Johnson, Ulysses S. Grant, and Grover Cleveland.

For reference, the farms of Ludwig (in Le Sauk township) and Peter (in St. Joseph township) were located about 6 miles northwest of St. Cloud, and about 5 miles apart. Joseph's land was 7-8 miles southwest of St. Cloud (in Rockville township), and Stephan's another 6 miles southwest of Joseph's (in Maine Prairie township). The land John settled was farther to the west--about a mile north of and 35 miles west of St. Cloud; 1½ miles due west of Greenwald (in Grove and Getty townships). The land homesteaded by Claudius Weber was just southwest of Richmond (in Munson township).  I've plotted the general locations of the farmsteads on an old railroad map of Minnesota. (Note: each square on this map is a township--6 miles x 6 miles.)  Not shown on the map is the location of John Meyer's land.  It was about midway between Peter and John's, northwest of the town of Albany.

By date, the patents were issued to: John Meyer (1865), Claudius Weber (1865), Ludwig (1865), Peter (1866), Stephan, (1866), John (1873), and Joseph (1888). The patents issued to Claudius, Ludwig, Peter, and Stephan were under the 1820 Cash Entry Act, which was based on a claim and auction system of transfer; the patents issued to John and Joseph were under the 1862 Homestead Act, based on a combination of outright sale or on transfer for a small fee after residence and improvement of the land for 5 years.

These documents can be accessed from the Historical documents page.

The following tables are some census data collected by M.K. Amberg.  I'm showing the spellings of the names as the original documents showed them.  Note that there are several variations of some names, especially for Catherine, the wife of Ludwig.

1860 U.S. Census, Minnesota, Stearns County

*No real knowledge of who this 'Hellin' is.  Perhaps a servant or niece?

1865 Minnesota Census, Stearns County

1870 U.S. Census, Minnesota, Stearns Co.

1880 U.S. Census, Minnesota, Stearns Co., Maine Prairie Twp.

1885 Minnesota Census, Stearns County, Maine Prairie Twp.

1900 U.S. Census, Minnesota*
*Original list includes 9 individual Ethens, ranging in age from 17 to 39, and classified as student, servant, hired man, or boarder.  These individuals may or may not be related to our family of Ethens.  Data are insufficient to say for sure.

1920 U.S. Census, Minnesota*
*There are several other Ethens on this census, some individual and some families, not all of whom are related to our family of Ethens.  I only showed the families with children that are related.