So very many Americans have GERMAN ancestry! In fact not long after the United States became a country, there was a vote between ENGLISH and GERMAN as the official language and English won out!
Using Ellis Island database we can find many ancestors who came in STEERAGE but in fact many ancestors had better tickets and don't appear on that database. Sometimes the handwriting is really bad and you must find the people who came in when they left the port instead !
So what I do is check Ellis Island database FIRST but I go further. I use Ancestry or another genealogy database to check not only who was coming in on First and Second Class tickets from German ports to New York Harbor, I ALSO CHECK the records that ORIGINATE in GERMANY! Breman - Hamburg these were DEEP WATER PORTS great for DOCKING A STEAM SHIP!
The Germans have long been excellent at keeping records. YOU MAY BE A LITTLE CHALLENGED to read the German but you may also find yourself reading early American records in GERMAN TOO!
