# Charleston, Washington County, Kansas For the Daubel family, Charleston in Washington County, Kansas, was the first foothold in America — a place chosen not for what it could make them, but for what it reminded them of. Having left Bönfeld, Germany, in 1881, they settled in this corner of northeastern Kansas because a German settlement had already taken root there, offering the comfort of a familiar tongue and familiar ways in an unfamiliar country. ## Why They Came Ludwig Daubel (1839–1924), a blacksmith in Bönfeld, was the first of the family to come to America. He carried with him roughly 3,000 marks and a father's determination to keep his sons out of the strict German military. Freedom and safety for his children drove the move across the ocean, and Washington County — with its established community of German immigrants — was where the family paused to build a new life. They gathered near Hanover, in Washington County, where Ludwig put his trades to work as a blacksmith and mason. ## The Family in Kansas The Daubels lived in the Charleston area for about ten years, from 1885 to 1895, and it was here that the household was counted together during those years: - **Ludwig Daubel**, the head of the family, present in both 1885 and 1895 - **Henry (Heinrich) Daubel**, recorded in 1885 - **Phillip Daubel** (1869–1930), recorded in 1885 - **Charles Daubel** (1873–1950), recorded in 1895 - **August Daubel**, recorded in 1895 - **Sophia Elisabeth Daubel**, recorded in 1895 - **Magdalene Christiane Streib**, recorded in 1895 The decade in Kansas covered the years when the younger Daubels grew into men. Charles, born in Bönfeld in 1873, had come over as a boy of eight in 1881 and would have spent much of his youth in this county. The trades the family carried from Germany — blacksmithing chief among them — sustained them among their neighbors here. ## Moving On Kansas was a beginning, not an end. The sons went West in search of their own land. Henry and Phillip went first to Oregon; Phillip later settled in Thurston County, Washington. Henry, August, Louie, and Charles pushed on to the Elk area of Washington State, buying railroad land for $2.50 an acre and clearing heavy timber to raise three separate farms. Ludwig followed his sons westward, shipping the family's household goods and farm machinery by train, and was eventually buried in the Milan Cemetery. The years in Charleston bracket the family's passage — from newcomers finding shelter among fellow Germans, to a family ready to scatter and take up land of their own. It was the place where the Daubels first learned to be Americans before moving on to become farmers of the far West.