The Stile and Krumme family reading shows the ups and downs of the Stile family’s experience in the United States. We start out with accounts from Wilhelm, who according to his sister has become smarter in his time in the states because his job is simple and he has time to talk with different people. Wilhelm shares with his family the different jobs he is working and how much he gets paid, he explains to his family that the economic situation is better in the states, and also adds that Americans work a lot. Wilhelm warns certain family members against immigrating because of the cost of living, as well Rudolph comes to join him and later dies of illness. We also see a lot of entries through Wilhemina’s perspective, she shares that her job is fairly easy and that she likes living in the United States, however she shares the same struggles with the cost of living. Wilhemina gets married and has a child, she unfortunately passes away from illness.

Martin Weitz was a cattle farmer from Schotten. The land in Germany was not good for farming and the weaving industry was struggling as well, there were also not as many factory jobs available in Germany. Many people were leaving the region at the time. Weitz arrives in Connecticut and finds a job. Weitz is not the most well-educated man, as can be seen by his writing, but he used a lot of words that were more commonly used by educated people in his writings so was likely an avid reader. Weitz also talked about his views on slavery, like many German immigrants he was against the system. Weitz got married and had a daughter and a son.