Paul Irion

That Far Land We Dream About Paul Irion

Johann and Marta Weber are two Prussians in the 1850s, frustrated by the lack of opportunity and poor living conditions in their home country. They decide to seek their family's fortune in the New World, leaving everything behind-including an infant son too fragile to make the rigorous passage overseas-in order to seek a better life for themselves and future generations of the Weber clan. Upon their arrival in America, they find their way to a growing community of Germans and Swedes living along the Ohio River in Indiana. As they begin to settle in to their harsh and unfamiliar circumstances, the Civil War breaks out. Johann joins the Union side, desperate to defend what he now considers to be his home. Tragically, Johann is disabled in battle, which adds to the ever-present difficulty of finding a way to support his family. That Far Land We Dream About tells the tale of immigrants searching for a better way of life. Johann and Marta have much in common with the ancestors of all Americans. It is a story of great adversity, as the Weber family assimilates to a new culture and seeks a happier life within the borders of the land of their dreams.