Friedrich Gerstäcker
novelist and travel writer (1816–1872)
Friedrich Gerstäcker (May 10, 1816 in Hamburg – May 31, 1872 in Braunschweig) was a German traveler, novelist, and adventurer.
Biography
He was the son of Friedrich Gerstäcker (1790–1825), a celebrated opera singer. After being apprenticed to a commercial house, he learned farming in Saxony. In 1837, however, not yet 21 and with a yen for adventure instilled from reading Robinson Crusoe, he went to America and wandered over a large part of the United States, supporting himself by whatever work came to hand.
He became fireman on a steamboat, deck hand, farmer, silversmith, and merchant. After wandering through most of the United States, spending some time as a hunter and trapper in the Indian Territory, and in 1842 keeping a hotel at Point Coupée, Louisiana, he returned to Germany six adventurous years later in 1843.
To his great surprise, he found himself famous as an author. His mother had shown his diary, which he regularly sent home, and which contained descriptions of his adventures in the New World, to the editor of the Rosen, who published them in that periodical. These sketches having found favour with the public, Gerstäcker issued them in 1844 under the title Streif- und Jagdzüge durch die Vereinigten Staaten von Nordamerika. In 1845 his first novel, Die Regulatoren in Arkansas, appeared marking the start of a successful writing career.
“Friedrich Gerstäcker” enters the record as novelist and travel writer (1816–1872). Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Friedrich, Gerstäcker and novelist can confirm, complicate or overturn.
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The entry’s evidential value lies in the named roles, institutions and publications that can be tested against primary documentation. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 22, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q77478. VIAF identifies the subject as 41840639. The Library of Congress control number is n80064230. 4 of 4 selected statements include explicit references; 1 carry qualifiers and 1 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1816, 1872, 1790 and 1825.
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This entry incorporates text from “Friedrich Gerstäcker” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.