Balduin Mllhausen

Vocation

German writer, a traveler and artist who visited the United States and wrote novels based on his experiences. In 1850 he went to North America, joining Duke Paul of Würtemberg and his party in the Rocky Mountains in 1851. He was wounded by Indians but, after five months, navigated the Mississippi River to New Orleans. Back in Berlin in early 1853, he met Alexander von Humboldt and became his house guest. At the instigation of Humboldt, he became topographer and draughtsman for a scientific expedition to the far west of the United States under Lieutenant Amiel W. Whipple, departing May 1853, and returning in 1854, via San Francisco and the Isthmus of Panama, to Germany, where he was appointed custodian of libraries in Potsdam by Frederick William IV of Prussia at the urging of Humboldt. On February 6, 1855, he married Carolina Alexandra Seifert, Humboldt's ward, who he had met while living in Humboldt's household. He made another trip (1857–58) to North America accompanying an expedition under Lieutenant Joseph C. Ives exploring central Colorado and the Colorado River. His remaining years were spent mostly at home writing, which his position as library custodian provided the leisure for. He died in Berlin, 28 May 1905. Link to Wikipedia biography