Jacob Sternberger was a grandson to Mayor of Kaaden Jakob Marzel Sternberger

Jakob Marzel Sternberger

Jakob Marzel Sternberger was the first mayor of the town of Kadaň after the municipal reform of Joseph II. He was a mayor from 1788 till 1822....

 and an immigrant to the U.S.A. on whose correspondence is based one of the project of Max Kade Institute on German immigration in America.

Jakob Sternberger came from a prominent family in Kaaden, Bohemia

Bohemia

Bohemia is a historical region in central Europe, occupying the western two-thirds of the traditional Czech Lands. It is located in the contemporary Czech Republic with its capital in Prague...

. He studied at the Charles University in Prague

Prague

Prague is the capital and largest city of the Czech Republic. Situated in the north-west of the country on the Vltava river, the city is home to about 1.3 million people, while its metropolitan area is estimated to have a population of over 2.3 million...

, where he was involved in the revolutionary movement spreading across the German states. Fleeing political persecution after 1848

Revolutions of 1848

The European Revolutions of 1848, known in some countries as the Spring of Nations, Springtime of the Peoples or the Year of Revolution, were a series of political upheavals throughout Europe in 1848. It was the first Europe-wide collapse of traditional authority, but within a year reactionary...

, Jakob emigrated to America in 1850, journeyed across the country, and eventually settled in Wisconsin

Wisconsin

Wisconsin is a U.S. state located in the north-central United States and is part of the Midwest. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake Michigan to the east, Michigan to the northeast, and Lake Superior to the north. Wisconsin's capital is...

. The Max Kade Institute has in its collection a cache of about two hundred letters of Jakob Sternberger’s correspondence. The scores of letters in the Sternberger file indicate that several of Jakob’s friends and family eventually joined him in his new home. For example, his brother Kajetan sent his 8-year-old son Ferdinand, who was born out of wedlock, to join Jakob on the farm.

The Sternberger Collection, which contains quite a few letters from several generations, provides a wealth of historically, socially, linguistically, and even politically relevant information. The collection contains a great deal of information on German immigrants in the United States.