Any information for my Danish ancestor - Marius George Joakim Frederick SCHMAHL -

Question

He was born in Copenhagen about 1880. Sailed to Australia in 1898 from London as crew onboard "Norfolk Island'. Deserted ship and was naturalised in Australia in 1902. Married in 1901. See his profile for other facts.

 

I have found some information on familysearch.org and have added a father and mother for George but want to check that it is correct and find any further information about their family.

thanks Megan

Comments

Try 

• WikiTree Category:Denmark
• http://www.danishfamilysearch.com/
• https://familysearch.org/wiki/en/Danish_Research_Websites

 

 

Answer 1

I have added his parents details, and one set of granparents. His grandfather was from Lübeck in Schleswig-Holstein, and area that was variously Danish and German, His father was born during the Napoleanic war (Lübeck was captured by the French), which probably had something to do with relocating to Copenhagen.

 

Answer 2

Do you have a more exact birth date than 1880. According to the 1880 census you link to, the family lived in Istedgade in Copenhagen which is in Sant Mathaeus parish. There are more than 500 boys born in 1880, so he is not easy to locate.

Apparently there is at least one more sister (although the fathers name suddently include one more first name) see this: https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:XBFW-GWB

Comments

No, I have not been able to find a birthdate for George. I have a copy of his naturalisation papers but there is not any birthdate, nor on his marriage certificate.

He gave his age as 21 when married on 19 February 1901.

He gave his age as 22 when naturalised on 16 May 1902.

so all i can narrow it down to is that his birthday is not between 19 Feb and 16 May. Which does not really help.

 

Thank you for finding his sister.

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On his fathers profile there is a link to the 1880 census, but he is not listed there, so presumably he was not born. The census is taken on Feb 1. And if he is 21 on Feb 19, 1901, he should be born before Feb 19, 1880. However, I am not sure that this should be taken as an exact age.

Could it be that he had to be 21 to marry without his parents permission, so he might have made himself a bit older than he really was?

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I am not sure if this helps to clarify anything, but i found that there is another Schmahl famly living in istedgade 23 in the 1880 census, but in a different appartment. With an unusual name like Schmahl, one would assume that they are related.

This is the family:

Samtlige personer i husstanden

 

København, København (Staden), Istedgade, Istedgade 23, 189, 106, FT-1880, D4129

Navn: Alder: Civilstand: Stilling i husstanden: Erhverv: Fødested:

Hansine Schmahl 31 Gift Husmoder, forladt Kone Vask Lyngby

Viggo Schmahl 6 Ugift Hendes Søn København

Fanny Schmahl 3 Ugift Hendes Datter København

 

Hansine is listed as "Forladt Kone" which translates into something like "deserted wife"

The daughter Fanny is found in the emigrtaion archive leaving for USA in 1891 toghether with her father:

Navn:	Schmahl, Axel	Stilling:	Detailhandler
Alder:	39	Bestemmelsessted:	NY.
Kontrakt nr.:	243500	Forevisningsdato:	19-08-1891
Fødested:	?	Fødesogn:	?
Sidste oph.sogn:	København	Sidste oph. amt:	København
Sidste oph.sted:	Kbhvn.	Bestemmelses land:	USA
Bestemmelses by:	New York City	Bestemmelses stat:	New York State
Skibsnavn:	Thingvalla
IDkode:	D8991S3411

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Navn:	Schmahl, Fanny	Stilling:	Datter
Alder:	15	Bestemmelsessted:	NY.
Kontrakt nr.:	243500	Forevisningsdato:	19-08-1891
Fødested:	?	Fødesogn:	?
Sidste oph.sogn:	København	Sidste oph. amt:	København
Sidste oph.sted:	Kbhvn.	Bestemmelses land:	USA
Bestemmelses by:	New York City	Bestemmelses stat:	New York State
Skibsnavn:	Thingvalla
IDkode:	D8991S3412

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Thank you Torben

You have given me plenty to think about and research further. I had not thought about him changing his age, but that makes perfect sense.

I have a few other pressing projects on my schedule for the next few weeks but I will get back to this.

regards

Megan

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Megan, I stumbled across the answer to your question from Torben in Denmark.   The Schmahl he identified as Axel and Fanny coming to the US are my great-great grandfather and my great-aunt.   The Schmahl's they are related to came from Westerau in northern Germany between Hamburg and Lubeck.  I've got a public tree on Ancestry.com.   The photo I saw listed on the original page in wikitree for the Schmahl's is a photo I posted on ancestry.com and it's of my great-great-great grandfather -- the one who left Germany for Copenhagen.  I looked for your relative's name in my tree and couldn't find him, but as Torben said, not too many Schmahl's in Copenhagen at the time.

Regards, Craig Schmall (my grandfather changed the name illegally in the 1930's so people wouldn't think he was German)