Gottfried Duden (May 19, 1789 – October 29, 1856) was a German emigration writer from Remscheid, Rhineland in the early 19th century.
As a researcher he spent his days idyllically visiting the lead mines, duck hunting with Nathan Boone, and observing nature.
His time spent in the U.S., 1824-1827 was during a period that experienced mild weather, and he failed to give an accurate depiction of the winters.
He returned to Germany in 1827, and in 1829 he self-published 1500 copies of his "Report" in the form of letters written home with addendums for those wishing to be farmers or businessmen.
The first of such groups was known as the Berlin Society arrived in October 1832, whose founder was a German Baron Johann Wilhelm von Bock, who funded the communal purchase of 500 acres of land on the southern border of Duden's farm.
Muench's property was on the south side of Jacob Haun's, which had been purchased by his brother-in-law and co-founder of the Society Paul Follenius.
For more than a generation Duden's writings formed the leitmotif of German settlement in Missouri, with the interpretation of his comments provoking endless discussion among those who came here.
Many immigrants continued to revere his memory as the father of the German migration, and even those who blamed him for their misfortunes seem to have had a grudging respect for that kindly, guileless man.