The romantic description of the free life in the US motivated the Protestant minister Friedrich Münch and the attorney Paul Follenius/Paul Follen in 1833 to found the Gießen emigration society.
Members were required to post dues in advance, have enough funds for all of their travel, their land purchased and the first few years of living.
At the same time, unbeknown to the first group, the second contingent led by Friedrich Muench was encountering their own difficulties in Bremen, and was delayed several weeks.
Both leaders, Friedrich Muench and Paul Follenius, settled on farms next to that of Gottfried Duden near the German-populated Dutzow, Missouri.
These families were actively involved in efforts regarding the abolition of slavery during the Civil War, and many created and joined companies of the Union Army that were made up completely of Germans.
This area, also called the Missouri Weinstrasse, still retains much of the early German influence in its culture and historic architecture.