Marilyn & Sally, my Richters are from Sohland area, settled NE, WA, OR. Came to USA 1880's with Keuchler/Kichler/Kuchler/Kiichler

My friend Del has done much research on the Richter family traveling to Germany many times. She is from Minnesota. I will try to get in touch with her to join this group.

Judy Truchon, that would be great. I have an "iffy" Richter in MN, can't really connect but feel there is a relationship.

I think Del's maiden name was Richter.

Judy, anything Del would wish to share would be appreciated. One never knows when a small little thing may be the break you need!

Will let you know as soon as I hear back from her.

Thanks Judy, have a good weekend!

I have a funeral card that includes a list of siblings who are children or grandchildren of the deceased. The name Aktuar on the card baffles me, however. It doesn't match any of the names I have in my genealogy data from the parish in Germany. Can someone please translate the top half, please?

Thank you so much!
Doris (Muller) Wheeler

Sort of : at 10am this morning, softly and quietly our dear mother and grandmother completed her 91st year of life. She is deeply mourned.

Loose translation, a couple of the words I am not sure of

Thank you, Susan. I wonder if Aktuar could be a nickname? The mother of these children was Anna Margaretha Wilhelmina Braggermann Muller. She was Catholic, in case that might shed some light on the name Aktuar. Also, they lived in northwest Germany, on the Holland border.

Doris, I think you are probably right on that. I think I will see if mom can give us a better translation. My German is major rusty!!

i checked a cemetery that was in a city where i grew up. people of german ancestry went to the area in illinois. its a luthern cemetery. when checking my maiden last name i found some. on the website it has something in german that they say is one of the stones. they had question marks by it. ruhe samft in deinhr gruf? bis dich der erloe?? ruf?

Thank you again, Susan. All help is much appreciated. (And I envy you youor "rusty" command of German. Mine is nonexistent.)

Best,
Doris

Doris, I sent the link for this page to mom, maybe she can shed some further light on it!

"Aktuar" is an occupation: actuary. "Frau Aktuar Mueller Ww." would mean the wife (widow) of the actuary whose surname was Mueller.

That is interesting placing an occupation in a name. My ancestors immigration papers on one side read John Audear Frederick Furcht while on the other it has John Henry Frederick Furcht. Would this be a occupation?

Louise, the tombstone inscription means: "Rest gently in your grave until the Redeemer calls you."

Sandy, a term for an occupation would not be inserted among given names. It is common in German, however, to address or refer to people more formally by including the occupation with the surname. "Herr Aktuar Mueller" would be the equivalent of saying "Mr. Mueller, the actuary." The wife is then referred to as "Frau Aktuar Mueller" - "Mrs. Mueller, the actuary's wife." The announcement card that Doris posted uses this formal way of referring to a person.

Seek info on George Schrack (Schrag) B:1823 from Wurttemberg arriving New York
1854 with wife Anna Stumph B:C.1831 on way to Buffolo NY and later Easton Pa.
Have most of the records of the family in this country, but nothing in Germany.

thank you so much marvin. with the dates on the stone they arent my dad's grandfather but i think they might be another close relative

Marvin, Thank you! How interesting! That certainly clears up a long-standing mystery. Widow of an accountant! Talk about genealogy nightmares. How could you ever guess the person's name???!!! I am very lucky to know the relationships here.

Best,
Doris

Thank you Marvin

Doris - Schweiger-Mutter would be mother-in-law

Does anyone have a resource for family research in Griesau, Germany? I am researching a Metzger family from there.

Got a challenge on my hands. Need help. I've done family history fr quite awhile, but I'm stumped. I have a relative who just sort of "appears" I savannah Ga in the early 1800's. He showed up on the door step of an orphanage there with a horse (later identified as a Prussian War horse) and he had a gilt edged bag With a crest, and his initials on it. According to records, he was well dressed, and well fed. He spoke no english, but they managed to assertain that he was from Prussia, and his family had been "removed"....

Now what do I do?!?!? lol. Stephen Frank eventually became a Confederate soldier, and spent years in Rock Island Ill. as a POW. When he was released, he WALKED back to Augusta Ga to be with his wife, and had 8 children with her before he passed away in 1898. He left a dairy farm, and significant wealth for it's day to his wife (my great great great grandmother). He's buried in Magnlia Cemetary in Augusta, and has a marker in Atlanta Ga, in the confederate veteran memorial there..... But who was he????

Anyone have tips on finding a Prussian???????

Wow Shawn, you weren't kidding when you said you had a tough one! How old was he when he was left at the orphanage? Have you checked NARA for civil war records? Is Steven Frank an Americanized version of his name?

Judy Brooks, sorry not your family. Richter is a very common name I fear! Would like to have anything though, one never knows when a clue might appear!

Shawn,

Your dilemma is quite unique. I have a few ideas that might help. First, I would check the Georgia Archives and the Georgia Virtual Vault to see if there is anything there under the NEW name. Also, check the pauper records. Possibly since he was in an orphanage, he might have gotten money. Then, there are the Georgia Land lotteries. The original applications are supposed to be on file at the Archives, maybe he applied for a lottery and they asked him his original name.

I would also ask for copies of the original records of the orphanage. Sometimes the transcripts are not complete. Maybe at one point, after he learned to speak a little English, they asked him his original name, or possibly the part of Prussia that his family came from.

Another thing I have found is that family will give you stuff in dribs and drabs. I would contact every member of the family and post this on the forum sites in the hopes that someone has kept a family Bible or has copies of an older family Bible that might tell something.

Another thing to check is to find out which families were removed just before he showed up at the orphanage. I know there will be quite a few, but one of them has to be yours.

Wish I could help more. But, maybe something here will help. Keep us posted as this one is unusual.

if you believe an ancestor you thought was from germany and find put it was prussia is this the right group?

He actually remained at the orphanage until he was an adult and stayed on as a worker after he was grown. He later went onto being in the 5th Ga. Infantry, and was decorated, then captured at chickamgua tn. He's an open book from the moment he showed up at the orphanage...it's the earlier part that eludes me. As an odd side note...100 years later, I have another ancestor who became a monsignor in the same diocese, and actually worked at the same orphanage, and never knew. Stephen Frank, was Prussian...that's all i really know about his early life. Lol. Finding him in Prussia has ben a nightmare, because the country was divided and split among three nations, so every hunt I've been on, has been done three times over, and believe me...Stephen Frank...is about he equivelant of joe smith...lol.

How do you find out about a deserter. My Great grandfather was on the SS Bussard and he jumped ship while it was here in New Zealand? I want to find out something that actually tells me about the desertion and what he used to do on the ship etc....

Looking for the Jow family (anglicized to Yow in America). Hans Jow and at least two sons emigrated from the Palitinate via Philly on 9-30-1727 on the English ship Molly. No tracings in Germany yet but believe Hans was born about 1651 and his father was Friedrich. There is a Yow site on Ancestry.com with some of the descendants, mostly via Bladen Co NC, but I am always looking for more cousins, and trying to find Hans' birthplace and ancestors. The Palitinate is a lot of places.

Researching Drexler family name - Farther - Roland J. Drexler, Grandfather - James Drexler, Great Grandfater - Anton Drexler

The group graphic is a good one, Debbie. My main research in Germany is my mother's side: Masselink and Masseling. Traced them back to 1660, with a lot of help from a great genealogy site: http://www.online-ofb.de/ They put much of the archives online here in an easy to read format.

For those who can't make out the German language, try Google translate, either from their toolbar or the Firefox FoxLingo toolbar.

What I'm looking for is any data from the Huguenots who settled mainly along the Germand/Dutch border, and from where both sides of my family came, I'm pretty sure. Once in Germany or Holland, they can be tracked usually. But before then ???

Hi, I'm researching my husband's ancestors , I am actually finished but lack photo's and documentation as I am going to publish it in book form . The progenitor of the Greyvenstein family was Johann Jacob Greifenstein born 20 March 1726 in Klein-Umstadt,Hesse,Germany . Can anyone help me with info of where I can get photo's or documentation of him . Any help would be appreciated . Thank you .

Really like the new graphic!

Liebe Vettern,

Glad I found ya! I'm doing research in 1875 and previous, in and around Hamburg, Altona, und surrounding, then radiating outward...

Earliest Vorfahren/ancestors identified are
o Johann Heinrich Zeiss or Zeisz or Zeiß (1775) PID K8WH-J9H
o Christiana Catharina Elsabe Behr (1780) PID K866-1X9
o Johann Hinrich Schröder or Schroeder (1794) PID K48F-L66
o Johanna Maria Hinrica Meldau (1796) PID K4TX-MZG

Please advise if you see opportunities for Zusammenarbeit/collaboration, let me know. Viel dank!

Juan B7)
aka Johan B7)

PS I do okay reading and transcribing Deutsch.

I am researching the Helfichs who came from Heddesheim, Georg Helfrech (1825 -1876 ) came to South Africa about 1875. He married Catharina Louis(1825 -1894 born in Germany somewhere. Their son Adam, a trader, (b. 16.12.1850 in Heddesheim) married Eva Maria Duchateau (b. 17.03.1861in Mannheim) on 16.12. 1878 in a catholic church in South Africa.. I am interested in tracing back their german ancestors but don't know how to start. I imagine that they could have been persecuted catholics but don't really know

I have been struggling to find Caspar Steininger. I have that he was born in Bavaria abt. 1845 and came to America sometime before 1870. I know he married and had three children before his death from pneumonia around 1874. I would love to find out when he came over from Germany.

I'm trying to find some information about George (possibly Jurgen) and Caroline Elder. I have found them in the 1870, 1880 and 1900 (Caroline and the children only) census, They are listed as being born in Germany, Bayern - which I understand is Bavaria. The children - Conrad, Johanna, George, and either Anthony or George - possibly both) are list as being born in New York - possibly Brooklyn.

Anthony is my great grandfather. I find it odd that he is listed as Anthony in one census (1880) and John in another (1870). In the 1880 Census, Caroline is listed as having 4 children, with 4 living. I don't know what to make of the Anthony/John situation - it's definitely not a transcription error. Anthony doesn't sound like John - so I don't get it.

Much of the other information fits, so except for that mystery, I'm quite sure they are my Elders.

What I'm trying to fond out is if George and Caroline came over from Germany together or if they met and married here. I can't seem to find any source for either case. I thought perhaps, I would find them on the same boat in the same year, but I don't know Caroline's maiden name

Thanks, Michael, but I've already got the information from all the pertinent US Census records. What I'm trying to find is information on when they came to the US. I suspect they came through Castle Garden, since they weren't using Ellis Island in the 1850s and 60s when I think they may have come over. They had to be here in 1861 because that's when my great grandfather, Anthony was born.

I would love to find some record of them in Germany, but until I fond out when they came here and whether they came together, that's going to be tough.

My boyfriend's great, great, grandfather was Alois Enderly who came from Baden Baden Germany. He settled in Chillicothe, OH. Looking for more information on the family.

I'm researching in Schleswig-Holstein, Bavaria, Rhineland, and Saarland. The names I'm researching are: Holz, Sauber, Elligen, Greif, Fischer, Andresen, Thomsen, Arnoldy, and Terre. I've found the birthplaces for each of my ancestors, except for Louis Fischer from Bavaria and Nicholas Elligen (changed his name), possibly from Alsace-Lorraine. These ancestors ended up in Dubuque, Iowa and married people from Austria and Luxembourgh.

Hello all! I have quite a bit of German ancestry. My maiden name is Spade - we have traced the Spade line back to a John Spade (anglicised, naturally). According to the Dunbar Family History (http://www.electricscotland.com/history/world/bios/dunbar_family.htm):
John Spade, a Hessian, was the great-grandfather of John Dunbar on his mother's side. He was a brewer of Hesse. He was drafted for the army to aid the English in their war against America, but he was not found with the troops when ready to sail for America. He was drafted the second time, but again hid; but when drafted the third time he saved his life by coming across, but he deserted and fought with the Continentals for American freedom. After the war John Spade married Mary Magdalena Shafer, a German maid he had met in the Valley of Virginia. John Dunbar married their daughter, Eva. She was born in Monroe county in 1800 and died in Summers county, West Virginia, n 1859.
Other than the mention of hime being a brewer from Hesse, we have no further information. That is of course assuming that the biography printed in 1917 is fairly accurate!

Also, on my husband's side: KNIERIM
Johann Heinrich Knierim was born 7 Aug 1863 in Mitterode. He came to the US in about 1890 according to a census record. I do not know anything about his arrival. He was married to a Katherine Elisabeth Knierim (yes 2 Knierims married...) who was born 9 Dec 1870 in Niedergude to a Wilhelm Knierim and Elisabeth Schaeffer. I do not know if they met in Germany or in the US; but they settled in Wheeling, West Virginia. Their first known child, Anna, was born in 1894.

Hi, Jodi- Is it possible that your Johann Heinrich went by Henry? There are listings for Henry and Katherine Knierim on the 1900, 1920, and 1930 census and their first child was named Anna. They went on to have a total of 8 children. They do list 1890 as the year they each came over. According to the 1930 census they would have been married around 1893. The only listing on Castle Garden for a Heinrich arrived in 1887 and would have been born around 1861. I found some new passenger lists on Ancestry yesterday, but they haven't been indexed yet, so you have to search page by page. I'll let you know if I come across anything.

Thanks Barbara! Yes I believe he did go by Henry. I also have him and his family in the censuses you mentioned, as well as the 1910. I have never searched the Castle Garden records, and through that I believe that Katherine and Heinrich may have had a son with them (3 year old Ernst). The 3 Knierims are listed as arriving on the ship Fulda on 12 Jul 1887 from Bremen, Germany. Sadly, having never heard of Ernst before, I assume that he did not survive to 1900... Thank you so much!

I don't know if anyone has previously posted this or not, but I found a very interesting and helpful site on German immigration to Pennsylvania, if you want to know what your relatives may have experienced. The link is http://www.hsp.org/default.aspx?id=731
It is actually a course by the Historical Society of Pennsylvania with a lot of interesting reading material, such as Gottlieb Mittelberger’s Journey to Pennsylvania in the Year 1750.

A friend just sent me this link, I thought it might be of interest to others in this group as well.