DAFFODILES

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MY DIFFICULT RESEARCH INTO A PENNSYLVANIA GERMAN IMMIGRANT FAMILY : STEP ELEVEN : POST #7

To recap: So far we've looked at actual books on shelves in an honored genealogy research library - the Los Angeles Public Library - for biographies and other information about the surname immigrant German-Prussian family in the city and county where they were found on the 1860 United States Census. The potential was there to be lead to important family members, perhaps participants in local history, to the ownership of land or businesses, as well as on those German - Prussians who came to America on sail ships. 

We've looked at the United States census focusing on the County and City that family lived in 1850 and expanded out to other nearby counties in Eastern Pennsylvania.

We've looked at maps and land and property records,and the history of the area when it comes to waves of German Immigration. We are pretty sure this family came with the Second Wave of Immigrants who brought crafts and skills and were not land owning farmers. 

We went back to Pre and Revolutionary War times and forward to the Civil War and there is some evidence that men with the same surname served but they cannot be linked to the immigrant nuclear family. If we do send money to the Pennsylvania Archive it may be speculative. We might find the name of a town in Prussia that is the origin of that soldier but that might now be a family member.

We went on a foray into Old German language newspapers on databases and got frustrated.

There is evidence of the surname in other counties in Eastern Pennsylvania but not connections to that immigrant nuclear family. There is no record of them being in the country earlier. What is next?

Step Eleven: Ship records for Sail Ships coming into Philadelphia or New York.

Sadly, these records are notoriously spotty. If this were an immigrant family who came through during the steamship era, this search would be a priority because of all the information collected on ship manifests. 

There were some index type cards that might again be of members of an extended family but not the names on that 1850 census, and with near no information.  A lot of people over many years have devoted themselves to these records, finding them and adding them to databases and so on. While there is always the possibility of more being found, nudda.

Back at Los Angeles Public Library I checked all their books (information that links to databases now) and found nothing new... but just in case there had been some indexing error...

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MY DIFFICULT RESEARCH INTO A PENNSYLVANIA GERMAN IMMIGRANT FAMILY : STEP TEN : POST #6

Step 10:  Newspaper search

Ok I have to warn you all that this was the most hopeful and frustrating aspect of this research path.  But here goes.  Using a popular newspaper database (which I'll call database #1), and using the surname and a slight variant (removing the s at the end as the family currently spells it) and the State and City, up came some OLD GERMAN newspapers!  But these databases usually have a way of getting you close to the article where the name appears by throwing a yellow tint where your search term appears.  And that was not going to work since the newspaper was not in English (darn AI!).  As newspapers go these were only a few pages each, but large.  I could not get the larger paper to print, to download and open.  So I reached out for help.

I reached out to FamilySearch volunteers but that went nowhere.

I reached out to the Historical Society in the very town where these newspapers had been printed in the 1840's.  I felt that they might give the names of recent immigrants to the town, perhaps news of a baptism or church membership or - what I would love - the names of new citizens.

A volunteer from the Historical Society contacted me and I tried to send to him from the database to his e-mails the newspapers.  But that didn't work either. Finally weeks later a person who volunteers there and said reading OLD GERMAN was easy for her and that she was willing to accept a donation, blessed us with heroic work. She went on another database (which I'll call database #2) and summoned up the same newspapers. 

She got back to me and said she thought basically the surname had not really come up, that what it all was, was gibberish.

What a dissapointment!

However I had a third party in San Francisco who is certified to read OLD GERMAN documents go to a library there where yet another database was on their computers (which I'll call database #3) and same thing.

I may always wonder if I could print out these newspapers in the original size on that size paper and put them in the hands of an OLD GERMAN reader if indeed they would find the surname but enough time had been spent on this!

However, newspaper searches sometimes do pull up interesting and useful information so I can't tell you not to do them!

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MY DIFFICULT RESEARCH INTO A PENNSYLVANIA GERMAN IMMIGRANT FAMILY : STEP NINE : POST #5

Step nine : Looking for participation in the Civil War

Since the family was on the 1860 census I wondered if we might find relatives who fought in the Civil War who might have been part of the family in Germany-Prussia but did not appear to live in the same house as the immigrant nuclear family group. In other words, perhaps brothers of the head of household. Once again the focus is on discovering where in Germany-Prussia the immigrants left so that I could get into those records and go back further.

There were TWO, one in the same county, and one in a county over.

Using the National Archives and the State of Pennsylvania Archives as well as FamilySearch I was able to find the cards for these two men. The cards showed some basic information on them including that one of them filed for disabled status pension. The question was if there is more information held that these cards lead to and what information it might have.  There was no way to prove that these two men who fought in the Civil War were relatives.

One must pay for this information, per name. I was told there was no way to tell what, if anything, of value might come up.  Because this is speculative, the client is thinking about paying for it.

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MY DIFFICULT RESEARCH INTO A PENNSYLVANIA GERMAN IMMIGRANT FAMILY : STEPS SIX and SEVEN and EIGHT: POST #4

THESE STEPS SHOW AN EXPANSION OF RESEARCH from the focus on the 1860 immigrant nuclear family in Berks.

Step 6 :  Considering the formation of Counties (Philadelphia).

Philadephia County History from the Pennsylvania Historical Society

Looking for other families with the same surname in the larger, historical county and general area (Eastern Pennsylvania).  

As the population grew and settlements grew, more cities were established and counties that were large were divided into smaller ones.  Historical and map research - along with another check at census and in databases such as Ancestry TM and FamilySearch TM were in order.

For instance, someone might say that the ancestors lived in Philadelphia and you might think of the city as it is now, but they might have meant the county named Philadelphia that was cut into three: Philadelphia, Chester, and Bucks. So though my client's immigrant ancestors appear on the 1860 in Bucks, some family members might have been in Chester or Philadelphia Counties.

NOTE THAT DATABASES ARE NOT USING PRESENT TERMS BUT PAST TERMS. So when they lived there is important. What if a child's parents were living in Philadelphia County but when the child was born, that same area was Bucks?

Step 7: Looking at Plat maps of those counties that are available.

When it comes to map that show early land owners (usually farmers) sometimes the surname will relate to other documents held in an archive, sometimes not, such as land sales and purchases or transfers or wills.  It would depend on when exactly that particular county kept these records and if they still exist. We are used to, in modern times, a certain exactitude and knowledge and obedience to the law that did not always exist back in the day when a handshake could be a contractual agreement. So though I might use a database first, what's on a Plat map might not link to what's in the database.

The term for this type of map is a Plat Map.  It shows how land is divided into lots. Some maps will show early roads and other geographical features such as lakes and rivers which may bear the names of these early residents or pioneers. Some are housed in the National Archives of the United States.

Step 8 : Looking at the census for surrounding counties.

However on the census of 1850 in the county one over I did find the surname and it appeared that it might have been a school or some sort of skill based workshop.  Why? Because the 1840 only records the head of household (assumed owner or renter of a building) and the statistical count - a group of males who are teenagers.  I think a master and his apprentices were at that location!

Will there be any way to associate this particular man with the same surname with the family that settles in Berks?  It shows the German surname in Eastern Pennsylvania at a time when it's possible that a family member was there but went uncounted. What if the boys are his sons?  Well the ages are so close.  What if one is a nephew or a son?  A tantalizing possibility.

(Sadly, this went unproven but it is in the report given to the client.)

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MY DIFFICULT RESEARCH INTO A PENNSYLVANIA GERMAN IMMIGRANT FAMILY : STEPS THREE and FOUR and FIVE : POST #2

Step three: Houses and Buildings Owned by the family

The next step was to see if there were property titles (houses or buildings) in the current county with some historical information of ownership.  There is a current database that went back a ways and there were some properties under that surname but it appeared as if the descendants of the immigrants took a couple generations to own property.  These people were once again known individuals and not the original immigrants.

However this, along with no building or land ownership in the family provided an important clue as to when they may have come to America.

Step four : Historical Research into the County

Because the immigrant family did not appear to own any land in Colonial Pennsylvania and did not seem to own any houses or other buildings until a couple generations after that 1870 census where the immigrant group appeared, it suggested that they were not of the earlier immigration of Germans that came to Pennsylvania and settled in the same County who could purchase land - the farmers.  Local history posted on the Internet by the Historical Society showed that the city they lived in was known for its bakeries.  This wave of German immigrants tended to be crafts persons bringing the skills they had in German that those farmers and the burgeoning population needed.

Looking at a web site for the city, I noted that there were some statues honoring the bakers.

Step five : Looking for family members who might have been in the Pennsylvania Militia or who served in the Revolutionary War, and/or who might be listed as members of the honorary societies such as the Sons of the American Revolution or the Daughters of the American Revolution.

The family was on the 1860 census but not the 1850 or the 1840 even though it is possible that some or all of them were in America to be counted.  At the time sail ships were coming into Philadelphia and New York though they could have come in through another harbor or off-shore landing spot.  But there is always the possibility that some relatives of theirs came earlier, providing them refuge or a start in America.  The surname was NOT in the Pennsylvania Militia, the Revolutionary War, or in the Sons of the American Revolution or the Daughters of the American Revolution. So this thoroughness further confirmed they were of a later wave of German Immigrants.

This wave is called The Second Wave.

Why would they NOT be on the earlier census?  Well, census' have never been 100% inclusive.  (I myself was not counted on two census in modern times. At the time it didn't bother me in the least.  I suspect the census taker could not get through our security.)  These people were Germans adjusting to a new country.  There might have also been some fear of being counted.  

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FAMILY RECORD

Make a page for each ancestor?

This image is held by the Library of Congress.

It was originally copyright 1878 by artist John. R. Staples.

MY DIFFICULT RESEARCH INTO A PENNSYLVANIA GERMAN IMMIGRANT FAMILY : STEPS ONE and TWO : POST #1

Let's face it.  We think Pennsylvania, one of the 13 original states, and we think Germans!  So I want to tell you about a research problem I encountered and maybe you can learn from it.

My client has an illustrious American Historical figure on one side of her family.  Heavily researched.  Books written about. Historical house tours to go on. But her other side, her surname side, the side I researched, is simply not the same.  

Step One : Census research and checking over what family had already done.

Within hours of beginning the research, though I do not go first to databases such as Ancestry TM or FamilySearch TM to see what others have come up with (too many errors and confusion) I was aware that others, likely her family members, had used those databases and posted... Basically between these databases and Find A Grave TM a lot was posted that I did not find inaccuracies with. Clearly they were all waiting for me to make the break through. I told her my goal was to try and find out where in Germany - Prussia they had come from so we could go back further, an idea she loved.

The original immigrants were on the 1850 but because a member said to be born in Prussia might have been about 2 years old when he came, calculating exactly when they came, or if they came together was up in the air.  They are not on the 1840 or 1830 in any state. (Unless going page by page brings up horribly misspelled names.  Time wise I couldn't bill her for that.)

Step Two : Finding out what might have been published in books held by a noteworthy genealogy library.

I went to the main branch of the Los Angeles Public Library, genealogy section, and spent two afternoons.  I pulled every book in the Pennsylvania section that included the county and city. That first generation was on census in 1870 had settled in by then. 

I looked in the books INDEXs for surnames exactly like and sounding like the German surname.  THIRTY BOOKS and no mention of them.

I did find a family they had married with mentioned.  That family was in the Pennsylvania reserves, in the War of Independence, and were landowners as well as - some of them - in Find A Grave.  Also Germans.

If any of those 30 books had information, in particular a biography of a family member in it from the original group of immigrants, it might have been very valuable information. 

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Woe! I had to go back in to repost a couple hours after the first post as some information got scrambled. Forgive me!