author
L. A. (Louis August) Wollenweber
1807–1888
A German-born journalist, printer, and poet, he helped carry German-language writing into American life after emigrating to Pennsylvania in the 1830s. His work is especially remembered for prose and poetry connected with Pennsylvania Dutch culture.
1 Audiobook
Die Berg-Maria, oder: Wer nur den lieben Gott läßt walten. Eine Geschichtliche Erzählung aus Pennsylvanien.
by L. A. (Louis August) Wollenweber
About the author
Born on December 5, 1807, in the Rhineland area of Germany, Louis August Wollenweber trained as a printer before political unrest pushed him to emigrate to the United States. After arriving in Philadelphia, he worked in printing and journalism and became part of the lively German-language press that served immigrant communities.
Wollenweber later settled in Reading, Pennsylvania, where he edited and published German-language newspapers and wrote both prose and poetry. He is often noted for writing in Pennsylvania Dutch as well as standard German, which gave his work a strong regional voice and helped reflect the everyday speech and experience of German-speaking Pennsylvanians.
He died in Reading on July 25, 1888. Today he is remembered as a German-American man of letters whose career joined political exile, newspaper work, and dialect writing in a way that captures an important part of nineteenth-century immigrant culture in Pennsylvania.