Ancestors exidous

Gustav Meilicke was born March 19, 1851, Frankfurt on the Oder river, east of the river, in what is Poland today. We are not German, we are Polish. That explains a lot. Gustav married to Mathilda Schallert, date______. That name shows up again later. They left Prussia in 1880, with children, Mary, Louise, Frederick G, and came to Iowa or Wisconsin? After they settled in Dallas County, Iowa, they had Gustav Eberhardt., Julius Albert, William Carl, Adolph H. (Ed), and Samual Tilden.  Dallas County--->    https://maps.google.com/maps?q=Dallas+County,+Iowa,+United+States&hl=en&sll=37.0625,-95.677068&sspn=29.992289,57.304687&oq=Dallas+County,+Iowa+&hnear=Dallas,+Iowa&t=m&z=9

What was going on in the Province (or State) of Brandenburg, Prussia.

In 1657, after an invasion by the Swedes, Poland surrendered sovereignty over Ducal Prussia which then became the Kingdom of Prussia headed by the Hohenzollern line. Prussia's power grew and in 1772, under King Friedrich II (Frederick the Great), consisted of the provinces of Brandenburg, Pomerania, Danzig, West Prussia and East Prussia (modern day East Germany, northern Poland, and a small portion of the Soviet Union).

A major event in German history was the defeat of France in the Franco-Prussian War in 1871, making Germany a world power. It was during this war that, in 1870, Prussian Prime Minister Otto von Bismarck orchestrated the unification of the German states.
The German Empire was established under Prussian leadership with Bismarck as Chancellor. Wilhelm II, the last of the Hohenzollern dynasty, became Emperor of Germany (Kaiser) in 1888 and ruled until Germany's defeat in World War I. (ref http://www.kolpack.com/packnet/prussia.html)

Prussia was in a state of political turmoil. Frankfurt on the Oder is located at https://maps.google.com/maps?q=Frankfurt+an+der+Oder,+Germany&hl=en&ll=52.342891,14.537659&spn=0.332241,0.88028&sll=37.0625,-95.677068&sspn=27.643082,56.337891&oq=frankfurt+&t=m&hnear=Frankfurt,+Brandenburg,+Germany&z=10 but this Frankfurt was on both sides of the river, and Gustav was from east of the river.


more later