When Rudolph Steinbach arrived at Castle Garden, in New York City, he listed his place of origin as Wronka, Prussia. While that name is not unique, I have identified the place I think most likely fits his story. Wronka may no longer exist in modern Poland, but I can identify the lake upon which it was situated in the following map of modern Poland. The town of Glowin can be found just left of center, and its name partly obscures a lake. That lake can be found in the historic maps that will follow.

When Rudolph was born, in 1864, Prussia was the leading member of the North German Confederation. It had successfully driven Austria and its southern German allies out of the German Confederation and the Hohenzollern family provided its leadership.

Wronka was in the province of East Prussia, in the Masurian Lakes District - famous for its 2000 lakes. Prussia had held its eastern provinces out of the Confederation and its resources supported the family over the Confederation.

In 1871, as the Prussian war machine destroyed the French in the Franco-Prussian War, the southern German princes (excluding Austria) joined the Northern Confederation and created the Empire of Germany under Hohenzollern leadership. All the former Prussian provinces were included in the new Germany. Soon thereafter Germany became the world's second largest economy - trailing only the United States. Dispite a long German tradition of "states rights", the Hohenzollern leadership preferred organizational efficiency to personal freedom.

In 1888 Rudolph immigrated to the United States.

In the following map, you can locate the Masurian Lakes with respect to the greater Europe. (Note: the rectagular white areas around Wronka are missing map quadrangles, not water.) The Gulf of Gdansk, straight north, is the nearest coastal area.

The next map shows the location of Wronka on the "Glowiner See", which should look familiar from our first map.