Friedrich Gerstäcker
Friedrich Gerstäcker (May 10, 1816 in Hamburg – May 31, 1872 in Braunschweig) was a German traveler and novelist.He was the son of Friedrich Gerstäcker (1790–1825), a celebrated opera singer. After being apprenticed to a commercial house, he le
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Friedrich Gerstäcker (May 10, 1816 in Hamburg – May 31, 1872 in Braunschweig) was a German traveler and novelist.He was the son of Friedrich Gerstäcker (1790–1825), a celebrated opera singer. After being apprenticed to a commercial house, he learned farming in Saxony. In 1837, however, just younger than 21 and having imbibed from Robinson Crusoe a taste for adventure, he went to America and wandered over a large part of the United States, supporting himself by whatever work came to hand.[1] He became fireman on a steamboat, deck hand, farmer, silversmith, and merchant.[2] After wandering through most of the United States, spending some time as a hunter and trapper in the Indian territory, and in 1842 keeping a hotel at Point Coupée, Louisiana, he returned to Germany six adventurous years later in 1843.
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