Chapter Eight
George Michael Schwab Establishes a Farming Dynasty in Michigan
It is unlikely that George Michael Schwab, resident of Neuen-Dettelsau in Bavaria, realized that his decision to depart his homeland would bring to America one of Michigan’s pioneer sugarbeet farmers in the person of his son John Michael, then a babe in arms. John Michael Schwab, with his siblings and their combined descendants, would grow beets in each of three centuries, beginning in the last days of the nineteenth century and continuing into the twenty-first century. Thus, the Schwabs formed a dynasty of farmers that tilled the land for more than 150 years, enduring quietly the fate, sometimes good, sometimes bad, of all who unite with the soil.
Germans had been immigrating to America in small numbers since earliest colonial times, the first colony having arrived in 1683 from Krefeld, Germany. Three hundred years later an American president, Ronald Reagan, proclaimed October 6 as German-American Day, recognizing the contributions German immigrants made to the United States. Forty-three million Americans claim German heritage, more than any other national ancestry, according to the U.S. Census Bureau in a report issued for the year 2000. So complete has been …show more content…
The manufacturer’s obligation entailed only a guaranteed payment of $4 per ton of beets containing at least twelve percent sugar and a sum proportionate to $4 for all beets containing a greater or lesser percentage of sugar. Beets possessing ten percent sugar, for example, would draw a payment of $3.33 per ton, while beets containing sixteen percent sugar would earn $5.33 per ton (roughly equivalent to $112 in modern day dollars). The promise of such sums fired the ambition of farmers and townsmen