Prussian Migration to the United States Team Proposal

Question

Hi Wikitreers!

The Prussia Team (a team of the Germany Project) has been discussing the idea of a new team to cover Prussian migration to the United States. This is a purposely broad topic and it is hoped that the team will generate new member interest, and grow to a thriving team with many team pages like the Prussian Settlement in Australia Team and how that team grew.

I am seeking feedback from the wikitree community and seeking interested members who would be interested in joining this team and working on its goals and contributing to wikitree by adding profiles etc.

Thanks guys. I look forward to your comments!

Answer 1

Hello Kylie, I'd be interested in participating. Please let me know how I can help.

Answer 2

Kyile, I'd like to join the team. I can point to a few profiles.

Comments

fantastic Steve. The team page needs a lot of work. But i will be adding to it soon.

---

Cheers. I wouldn't do too much until you see who else is interested.

---

In 1859 the Ober arrived in Galveston with some families from Prussia

https://immigrantships.net/v12/1800v12/olbers18590611.html

---

Thanks Laura. I note that many German speaking emigrants chose Texas as a good place to go to. Please note the ships carrying emigrants from Lusatia to USA: https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Space:Sorbs_/_Wends_of_Lusatia

Answer 3

I'd be interested in joining this group. I have at least one line that came from Prussia to the US in the 1880s, and zero experience with any research in places other than the US.

Thanks!

Answer 4

ISTG - Germany Departures (immigrantships.net)  ships departing from what is now Germany

galveston arrival database  Texas Seaport Museum - HOME of the 1877 Tall Ship ELISSA - Welcome

Comments

I am happy to help

Answer 5

I can contribute the names of dozens of emigrants from Herford, Nordrhein-Westfalen.

Answer 6

I have several families who emigrated from mostly Bielefeld to the United States, one of them coincidenty also settled near Galveston.

Answer 7

I have ~ 420 German head of family immigrants, of the same surname, who arrived in America from ~ 1820 to 1963.  But only 4 were identified as coming specifically from "Prussia".

With more than ten thousand descendants, I'd like to connect them with their origins.  But I'd need much help to understand what is in-scope of this "Prussian migration" project.

Answer 8

This would be of interest to me.  My Prussian/German ancestors came from just south of Bremen and settled in Galveston, even tho their siblings settled in Minnesota, unknown why.  I've had so many questions that go unanswered.  Their US records have been almost impossible to find, presuming due to the great hurricane's destruction.  Don't know how much I have to contribute but I'm sure there's much to be learned here.

Comments

Hi Lyn,  You mention south of Bremen, todaymuch of this area is considered Lower Saxony, or Niedersachsen.  If the time period your family emigrated was before 1866 they might be from the Kingdom of Hannover.  I have a freespace page of almost 3100 names from there that emigrated from Hannover from the days of the Holy Roman Empire until Hannover area became part of Prussia.

If you haven't found emigration records yet for some of your family I might have them listed on my page here: [[:Category: Schindler-204]] or https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Category:Schindler-204

Answer 9

Any views on what time period(s) this "Prussia to US migration" project would cover? Prussian territory was changing over time, and my main interest (or ability to contribute) would be around emigrants from the Kingdom of Hanover to the US during 1830-1870.

If you look at US immigration from the perspective of the emigrants, they were emigrating from countries that would later become the Deutsches Reich. Hence, a one place study-based view of emigration would identify emigrants from a single village or parish. Since this can be attributed to one location, it might still be allocated to different countries, e.g. one village could have been a part of Prussia in 1806, but then only later from 1871 onwards. So this causes some issues.

In addition, the ships that took passengers from Bremen or Hamburg to the immigration points in the US (New York, Baltimore, New Orleans etc) would collate passenger from many countries (Prussia, Hannover, Oldenburg,...). Would you want to look at only a few passengers on a ship, or would you not want to look at a full voyage? See https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Space:Tuisko for an example that is leaning to what the Prussian/ Australian team have done, but lacks in "completeness".

Ultimately, my question is - would it make more sense to do a Germany-to-US migration project. But I might be opening Pandora's box here...

Sven

Comments

Hi Sven,

I have taken the role of Project Coordinator for Prussia in the Germany Project that Kylie retired from.

My interest is also mostly around 1850. https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Space:German_Diaspora:_Emigration_during_the_mid-19th_Century

There are have been a lot of responses to this G2G question in the last 2 days. During the next week I will try and gauge the the areas of interest of the people that have answered.

Steve