Robert Reppel's Journey to United States

My grandfather, Robert Reppel, was born in the small village of Mussig in Alsace, France. He was the third of 3 sons born to Melanie Breitel and Francois Joseph Reppel. His father Joseph was the village baker.

His oldest brother Rene would inherit the family business. Papa and his other brother Maurice would need to find their own livelihoods. As a child Bob was trained as a baker in the family business. He also worked in the fields as a farm hand.

Bob was a mere 16 years old when he was conscripted into Kaiser's army. At the end of the war, his job prospects in his native Alsace were poor. He was also facing additional military service due to France's required military service. So Robert made the decision to immigrate to North America. His planned destination - Leipzig, Saskatchewan, Canada where his brother Maurice who emigrated in 1911 was living.

Robert made his way to Le Havre, France. Le Havre is the second largest port in France.  It is located in North Western France. It was the home port to Compagnie Générale Transatlantique (CGT), France's most important cruise lines. CGT provided cargo and passenger service to the Americas and the Mediterranean.

Traveling with Robert was 16 year old Marie Sittler. Due to illness or injury, Marie was left behind in Alsace when her family immigrated to Canada. Robert escorted her to Leipzig where she was reunited with her family.

Bob secured passage to Canada on the S.S. Californie. The Californie was brought into service in November 1905 for service between Le Havre and New York. In 1919 and 1920 it made 3 voyages to Canada. In 1927 it was transformed into cargo liner and finally demolished in 1934.

SS Californie

A record of Robert's journey can be found in the Canada Passer Lists, 1881-1922 database on the Family Search website. According to the ships manifest, the S.S. Californie departed Le Havre, France on October 30th, 1919 bound for Quebec with 130 passengers on board. The ships Manifest shows the ship arrived in Quebec on November 19th.

Robert was enumerated on line 22 of the first page of the passenger list and Marie is listed on line 25. The following is a transcription of his information.

  1. No on list: - 22
  2. Ticket Number: 11730
  3. Amount of cash in Dollars: 450 Frs.
  4. Name in Full - Reppel Robert
  5. Age of adults male . - 19
  6. Age of adults female . -
  7. Age of children under age 14 male -
  8. Age of children under age 14 female -
  9. Married, Single, or Widowed - S

10. Have you ever been in Canada before? - No
11. If so When: -  Brother Maurice Reppel
12. If so Where: -
13. If so How Long: -
14. Do you intend to permanently reside in Canada? - No
15. Are you able to read: YES
16. Are you able to write: YES 
17. Country of birth:. - France
18. Number of Passenger. - 22
19. Race of People: - French

20. Destination Post Office: - Leipzig

21. Destination Province: - Sask

22. Occupation in your former country: - farmer

23. Intended Occupation in Canada: - farmer

24. Have you ever worked as a farmer, farm laborer, gardener, stableman, or miner: - Yes

25. If so which: - 

26. How Long: - 3 years

27. When: - 1912 - 1915

28. Religious Denomination: - Catholic

Robert was carrying 450 French Francs. According to Insee currency converter, 450 old French Francs is worth approximately 592 Euros or 775 US dollars in today's currency.

A year later, Robert, Maurice and Maurice's family left Saskatchewan. Their final destination was Peoria, Illinois and the home of George Yehl, a friend  from their home town of Mussig, Alsace, France.

They purchased tickets from the Canadian Pacific Ocean Services, Ltd. The exact embarkation and debarkation ports are unknown. But their journey included a stop in the port of Winnipeg, Manitoba where on December 24, 1920 they applied for admission to the United States.

The Canadian Pacific Line was a company under the Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR). The Canadian Pacific Railway Company was formed in 1881, and the company soon entered into ship-owning. In the beginning, passenger service was limited to Lake Superior and the Great Lakes.

Robert was enumerated on line 3 of sheet 4. The following is a transcription of his Admission request.

Form 3 Canada - List or Manifest of Alien Passengers Applying for Admission to the United States from Foreign Contiguous Territory - Required by regulations of Secretary of labor of the United States under the Immigration Act

Sheet No. 4 Port of Winnipeg, Man.  Month of Dec 24, 1920. Class D

  1. No on list. - 3
  2. Head Tax Status. GN 43665
  3. Name in Full - Family name - REPPELL ; Given name - ROBERT
  4. Age Yrs. - 20
  5. Sex - M
  6. Married or Single - S
  7 Calling or Occupation - Baker
  8. Able to - Read: YES   What language: French  Write - YES
  9. Nationality. (citizenship). - France
10. Race or people. - French
11. Last permanent residence - Leipzig, Sask. Canada
12. The name and complete address of nearest relative or friend whence alien came -
          father, Joseph living in Mussig, Alsace Lorraine
13. Final destination (Intended future permanent residence) -
          State - Illinois     City or Town - Peoria



























14. No on list - 3
15. Whether having a ticket to such final destination - Yes
16. By whom was passage paid? (Whether alien paid his own passage, whether paid by relative,                whether paid by any other person, or by an corporation, society, municipally or government.)
       SELF 349029
17. Whether in possession of $50, and if less how much? - 100.
18. Whether ever before in the United States; and if so when and where? No
       If Yes- Year or period of years - , Where - .
       Date of last departure - .
19. Whether going to join a relative or friend; state name and complete address and if relative, exact          relationship - Friend George Yehl Peoria, Illinois *
20. Purpose of coming to United States.
       - Whether alien intends to returns to country whence he came after - No
       - Length of time alien intends to remain in the United States - Perm
       - Whether alien intends to become a citizen of the United States - Yes
21. Ever in prison or almshouse or institution for care and treatment of the insane or supported by             charity? If so which? - No
22. Whether a Polygamist. - No
23. Whether an anarchist. - No
24 Whether a person who believes in or advocates the overthrow by force or violence of the             Government of the United States or all forms of law etc. - No
26. Whether arrested and deported within one year. - No
27. Condition of health, mental and physical. - Good
28. Deformed or crippled. Nature, length of time and cause. - No
29. Height - Feet - 5 , Inches - 6 ,
30. Complexion. - Fair
31. Color of - Hair - Lt Bro, Eyes - Gray
32. Marks of identification. - None
33. Place of birth - Country - France, city or Town - Mussig

Supplemental Information required by Immigration Regulation

34. Seaport or Landing - Quebec 

35. Date of Landing - Nov. 13, 1919 

36. Name of SS - California 

37. Date of Embarkation - 11/26/30

Six years later while living in Gunnison, Colorado Robert obtained his US citizenship.

Robert Reppel and the Sunbeam Bakery

My grandparents Bertha McDowell and Robert Reppel met while they were both residents in Gunnison, Colorado.

Gunnison is located in central Colorado at the bottom of several valleys. Due to its location in the Rocky Mountains, cold air in all the valleys settles into Gunnison making it one of the coldest places in the United States during the winter.

Gunnison is the home to Western State College which recently became Western State Colorado University.  The college was originally chartered in 1901 and opened for classes in 1911 as Colorado State Normal School. In 1923, the name was changed to Western State College to reflect the curriculum expansion from a teaching institution to a liberal arts college. Western was the first public college west of the Mississippi River to be designated a liberal arts college. Both of my grandparents attended classes at Western.

Prior to his arrival in Gunnison, Robert was a resident of Peoria, Illinois where he was employed as a baker. Based on entries in the Peoria city directory, the last year Robert was listed as a resident in was 1923. After leaving Illinois around 1924, Robert would never live in Illinois again.

We will never know exactly when he moved to Gunnison, but in the fall of 1924 24-year-old Robert was a student at Western State College.  To finance his education, Robert was working as a baker for the "Co-op". During a recent visit to Colorado, my sister took my mother, sister, and I to the Gunnison Pioneer Museum. Hidden in one of their buildings was a repository of old newspapers. They were bound into large newspaper size books by year and by publication.

I pulled out 1924 Gunnison News-Champion book and began paging through it. In the Friday October 3rd edition, was an article listing new students attending Western State College. There is black and white was proof my 24 year old grandfather having emigrated from France a mere 5 years earlier was attending Western State College. According to my mother his classes included Chemistry and English for latter of which he failed.

In the 1925 Gunnison News-Champion book we found Bertha McDowell listed among the list of new students at Western. Since there was no photocopier in the area, I pulled out my pocket camera and attempted to get photos of the newspaper articles. Unfortunately some of the photos are out of focus or didn't capture the complete article.

Based on family stories, we knew Papa had been a partner in a Bakery business in Gunnison. The family story was the partner ran off with the assets and stuck Papa with the bills.  Articles and advertisements in the newspapers document one of my grandfather's earliest business ventures, the Sunbeam Bakery.

We found short articles regarding the soon to open bakery in two different local newspapers, the Gunnison News-Champion and the Gunnison Republican.

Beginning the first week of November Bob and his partner Ray began advertising their bakery in the Gunnison Republican. The ads appeared during every edition beginning November 5th, 1925 until June 10th, 1926.

Weekly ads appeared in the Gunnison Republican first announcing the opening and later their weekly specials.

Soon after this there was a small article in the newspaper indicating that Ray Carroll was taking over the Bakery as a sole proprietor. Unfortunately the photo of this article was out of focus and unusable.

After this article, no further advertisements were found in the following months for the bakery. The July 8th edition of the Gunnison Republican contained a list of local businesses. This was last word of the bakery that we could find; there were no weekly ads.

After leaving the museum we went to lunch on Main Street. The restaurant was less than a block from the location of the Sunbeam bakery. So after lunch we walked down the street to look at the building. We took a few pictures in front of the bakery.

Sunbeam Bakery was located in 2 story building on Main Street