In 1883 Enno Frerichs (2nd great grandfather) and family sailed from Bremen, Germany to Baltimore, Maryland. From Baltimore they would have taken a train to Freeport, Illinois joining friends and family already settled in America. Railroad companies produced pamphlets many in  German, advertising the lands for sale in the Plains: Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Nebraska. Local agents were listed along with details about crops, social life, religion and the financial make up of the specific towns. Railroads and the Making of Modern America University of Nebraska Lincoln is an educational site with plentiful sources.