Question of the Week: Have you found your immigrant ancestors?

Question

Where are they from? What do you know about their journey to their new country?

You might benefit from one of the many projects on WikiTree that can help you find other members who are working together to research their immigrant ancestors.

Wishing all of you the happiest of new years and success in your search for your family!

Comments

My Great Grandfather, Carl G. Laurin, came to New York from Visby, Gotland, Sweden on Sept.10, 1881. He made his way up to Lowell, Massachusetts and continued his trade as a stone cutter. I firmly believe that I would not be here if he and my Great Grandmother (from Klara, Stockholm) hadn't immigrated from Sweden.

 

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My childrens paternal Grandmother

Frieda (Lotz) Weatherford

Born 16 Mar 1897 in Saxony (Sachsen), Germany

Frieda's mother died when she was young. Don't know what happened to the father. There were several siblings and all were farmed out to different homes. Some were used for labor and Frieda worked for a German General, keeping house.

Frieda told me stories of living out of town on a farm, riding a horse to town and the horse would get her back after dark; German officers,

• Frieda met an American soldier in WWI stationed in Coblenz Lutzel, Germany
• Harvey and Frieda were in their late 70's or early 80's when a friend and I asked them how they met. Harvey told us, A soldier buddy pressured him into a blind date that he refused several times. A reluctant Harvey finally gave in with the clarification that if he didn't like it, he was leaving. The guys entered the home and Frieda stuck her head around the corner of the kitchen to say hi. Harvey told me, "Right then and there, I took my hat off! I knew I was staying."
• Harvey Weatherford, applied for a Passport to travel to Germany and Belgium 26 May1922 and planned to depart from the States in Jul.
• Frieda arrived in Ellis Island 13 Jul 1922
• Married  about 1922

Frieda told me stories of returning to visit Germany during Hitler's reign, people greeting her with a Heil Hitler! salute. She would reply, "nein"

1980's I met Frieda's Nephew, Herbert Lotz, married to Hildagard (? ) Lotz, kids Angelic / Anjelic? and Wolfgang. Herbert's father was Frieda's Brother, a POW held by Russians in Siberia.

They married had 8 children and lived in Colorado then El Monte, L.A, CA, U.S.

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My 3rd g. grandfather John Acres b. abt 1795 in Nenagh, County Tipperary Ireland. The Acres brothers were owners of tenant properties in Ireland and these two sold their properties to leave Ireland.John and brother Thomas probably left Limerick June 25, 1819 together on the Camperdown with 256 passengers and arrived in Quebec Sept 7, 1819 losing only four settlers on the journey. The original homestead still is in use. Other lineage from this branch were Scots. 

 A serious depression at the end of the war with Napoleon left many people in Ireland homeless and poor. Crop failures occurred in 1800, 1807, 1817. Farmers were targets of terrorist gangs such as the Whiteboys who burned crops, Anglican small farmers could see no future and left while they still had money to buy passage it was cheaper to go to British North America than the USA. There were 6,000 Irish immigrants in 1819 including the " prosperous farmers" such as the 256 who left Limerick on the Camperdown described as "one of the best appointed vessels which has cleared this port in a long time." Most settlers were bound for the Military Settlements (E.G. at Richmond) or the Northern Tipperary settlements in the Ottawa Valley or London Area. Another group settled York (now Toronto). John and Pheobe died close together and were buried November 24 at the Christ Church in Huntley. 

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My 6th g. grandfather Beals/Bales b. 1650 in Wales. was a Quaker. John Beals came to Pennsylvania sometime prior to 1677. In a 1691 court case in Chester County, Pennsylvania, John testified that he had plowed the land in question some fourteen years earlier, placing him in Chester County in 1677. He would have come somewhat earlier. His father in law, William Clayton, had come in 1677 and he may have arrived at the same time. There is no arrival record that exists today.

One researcher states that John Beals, yeoman, arrived aboard the ship Griffin in 1675 and settled first in Fenwick's Colony. There is documented proof that the Clayton family arrived on board the ship Kent on August 16, 1677.

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Linda Davis, you are one lucky person to find such a dedicated

and sharrp genealogy volunteer.  She/He deseerves a medal.

Thank you for sharing that Never Give Up story.

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The question of immigration is a tricky one. Supposedly, when my ancestors arrived to Finland, there may not have been any nation-states, so where to immigrate to? -and from? Dna research tells me, my genome is all Finnish made, yet I belong to the oldest European male haplogroups, I1, and have distant cousins e.g. in the British isles; especially in Lanarkshire. This branch of the dna tree was separated from mine over 1,500 years ago. Following the dna mutations it can be concluded that my forefather arrived to the south-western coast of present-day Finland some time 700 - 1,300 years ago. A Danish tradesman? Swedish Viking? Could be. But if this adventurous man stayed here and started a family, do we call that immigration? Immigration to me is a relatively new concept, it hints to state level bureaucracy and the burdens of the organized society. I'm inclined to say, I don't have immigrant ancestors; they just wandered here and stayed.

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I have a great many immigrant ancestors whom I have discovered and some who are quite close to me. I will start with my mother:  Gladys Turner https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Turner-19808 who married my father in London, England during WWII and came to Canada as a "War Bride". My Labossiere line goes directly back to my 5X GG grand father, Jean Baptiste Laboissiere   https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Laboissiere-7  This summer, we are celebrating the 300th. anniversary of his arrival in New France.  In addition, I am directly descended from at least 35 Filles du Roi ancestresses; four Filles à marier and nine Carignan soldiers, all who were early immigrants to the new world.  In addition, I have at least 100 other GG grand parents of various levels ( 5X to 10X) who were also early immigrants to New France.  Notable, among these many ancestors, is Louis Hebert https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Hebert-1312 who is my earliest known immigrant ancestor to arrive in 1606.  He is a 10X GG grand father to me.  I also am descended directly from two of New France's blackest sheep, Gillette Banne https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Banne-1 and her husband, Jacques Bertault. https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Bertault-2.  They are one of my sets of 8X GG grand parents.  I am proud and honoured to be descended from such a varied group of pioneer people.

 

 

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I've found several interesting immigrant ancestors. My family has always passed down the lineage from Henry "The Puritan" Way, who arrived on the John & Mary in 1630. Then there are Thomas Fox and Thomas Woodford, whom wikitree thinks are descended from noble houses and royalty. I'm slowly realizing just how difficult those lines are to verify, however. I've even been forced to question our descent from Henry Way, since I've discovered there's controversy over whether his "son" George was his son, brother, or cousin!

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Julie Ricketts:  This conversation is so intriguing, and all of us have immigrants at one time or another in our families' histories. If we had a category (as in: https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Immigrants) we would be consistently reminded to place a tag or/and a project membership on our profile pages. It's a refresher for the users and when someone checks out or into another tree, the information is automatically indicated--and then even more steps toward a unified one-world family tree are taken.

Please consider at least adding a tag. The Project establishment took me a year of work to do, and it just simply drove my life during that year. Way too much work involved for some people, yet we would be happy to use one.

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The main question remaining is, Immigrants to where from where?  I've had immigrants to "Canada" from Scotland, from New York colony, etc.  I've also had immigrants to the 13 original colonies from elsewhere including immigrants to New Netherlands from Holland.

We must remember we serve a worldwide audience.

Answer 1

My great-great grandfather, Johan Peter Ferdinand Borgquist, immigrated to the U.S. from Denmark as a sailor.  He joined the  US Navy and served in the Civil War, including the bombardment of Ft. Fisher, NC.

In 2014 with my daughter and cousins from a different line, I visited his circa 1790s home in Hornbaeck, Denmark.  We all enjoyed the discovery.

Answer 2

David Friederich Gerlack (https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Gerlach-385) was my great great grandfather.  He left Lauffen am Neckar  about 28 May 1854 traveled to  Le Havre, France, to board the Lamont and arrived New York  21 Aug. 1854.  In 1894 he applied for a passport and came through Ellis Island as a U.S. citizen on 29 May 1895 from Antwerp aboard the   Westernland His name on the manifest was Fredeerick Gerlach.  He was known as Frederick Gerlach (Gerlack) in Harrisonville, N.J.

 

George Turner, (https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Turner-18765), his wife Margaret (Ward), and sister Sarah left Liverpool, England they arrived  12 Jun 1848 in Philadelphia.

"Traveled with wife Marg't Turner age 20 and sister Sarah Turner 19. All native of England, Destination Philadelphia, had five packages.
George was a cotton dressor. Marg't no occupation, Sarah listed as sister of G. Turner

Also on board was a Noah Turner age 45, native of england, blacksmith, destination Pennsylvania, four packages. (page 2)"

George and Margaret settled in Chester, Delaware County, Pennsylvania.  I haven't found anything on Sara.

Answer 3

Charles & Margareta Paul Herbstritt came in 1837, first to Philadelphia from Ettenheim, Germany, and then, in 1842, were the first settlers of St Marys, PA

Christian and Anna Mary Tiemann Wortman, emigrated to St Marys, PA from Prussia

John B Lavey/Lavielle & wife emigrated to America and settled in Jefferson county, Kentucky

John & Nancy McCullough McCloy came from County Down, Northern Ireland in 1795 to Virginia and then moved to Hodgenville, Kentucky

Ludwig & Maria Kurzin Snyder & sons, emigrated in 1752 to Philadelphia from Midderrolebach, Palatinate, Germany and settled in Lancaaster, PA

Aquilla Chase II  & Ann Wheeler Chase emigrated from England and arrived in Massachusetts in 1636

William & Elizabeth Perkins Sargent emigrated from England to Amesbury, essex, Massachusetts\

Michael Dunn emigrated in the early 1830s to Canada. He then traveled south to Potter County, PA

Capt. & Dr Robert Ellyson  emigrated to Virginia from Windyedge, Avon, Lanarkshire, Scotland

Matthew Marvin (1600-1680) emigrated from Great Bentley, Essex, England to Norwalk, Fairfield, Connecticut, among the first settlers of Norwalk, CT.

John & Mary Scullard Rolfe emigrated from Whiteparish, Wiltshire, England to Newbury, Essex, Massachusetts

Joseph Ramsden/Ramsdell & Rachel Eaton Ramsdell emigrated from England to Plymouth Colony.

Francis Eaton m. Christian Penn emigrated from St Thomas, Bristol county, England to Plymouth in 1620 on the Mayflower.

James & Mary Parker Cudworth I emigrated in 1636 from Somerset, England to Scituate, MA

Answer 4

My immigrant ancestor is Lawrence (Laurent) Metzger became a naturalized American on 18 April 1836 in St. Joseph County Circuit Court, Indiana with his brothers Johann and Ferdinand. He immigrated to New York City from Germany in August 1829 from the Grand Duchy of Baden. He married on 06 November 1834 in Berrien County, Michigan to Elizabeth 'Eliza' Smith. They moved to Clinton County, Missouri before 1840 where they raised their twelve children and were buried in the Mount Zion Baptist Cemetery on Highway K, 300th., Starfield, Clinton, Missouri

Answer 5

Oh, I would love to know where they hailed from, and their names also, but brick walls prevent me from gleaning that information.  As the new year unfolds, maybe a wall will fall in 2018 !!  Still digging up bones!

Answer 6

I have a large number of immigrant ancestors.

Dad's side:

My grandfather, great-grandfather, great-grandmother, great-aunt and my paternal grandmother's parents all came from Italy. Not the same area though.

Mom's side:

My maternal grandfather's grandparents and his great grandparents came from Canada (Quebec)

My maternal grandmother's grandparents also came from Canada (Quebec).

Then there's that tiny sliver of US history tucked in there. I don't think anyone wants me to list all the Puritan Great Migration people. We could be here all day. =D Sufficed it to say there's over 60 of them and they all came from England.

Oh and I'll just post this link here. Take it away, Neil Diamond: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bCQ-GjHfbYw

Answer 7

My immigrant ancestors are my paternal great great grandparents.  James Gilchrist, "a native of Lennockshire", left Scotland in early May of 1821 and arrived in Baltimore the end of June of that year.  We have been unable to find him from the time he arrived until August 1826 when he married Mary Anderson in Jefferson County, Indiana.  Mary had come over from Scotland in 1819 with her parents and siblings to join her older brother John Anderson in Indiana.  We have learned much about Mary's family, thanks to a descendant of "Scotch John," the brother, a later John Anderson who went to Scotland and was able to find the estate where Mary and her siblings were born, their father having been a tenant farmer there.  Unfortunately we have "hit our brick wall" in all attempts to find James Gilchrist's parents or family members in Scotland.

Answer 8

Yes, I have several. Most of my roots are from Pennsylvania Dutch who kind of isolated themselves from everyone else. So it is easy to find them, most of the families are still there.

Answer 9

Immigrant Ancestor?

Yes!   Christian Landes age 26 arrived on the ship "Harle" at Philadelphia on 1 September 1736 from Rotterdam via Cowes, England (now Southhampton).  He was with a group of other Mennonite men who had left the area around Sinsheim, Germany earlier that year. 4th great-grandfather paternal side. Farmer.  Died in Windsor Township, York County, PA in 1782.

Yes!  Joseph Byerly age 22 arrived at Philadelphia in 1752. 4th great-grandfather maternal side.  Farmer.  Died near Harrisonburg, VA 1803.

Answer 10

Having recently started looking into my Corkum family genealogy a year ago when I retired, I was fortunate to have found a lot of information done by others. I know of my Great (x5) Grandfather Johann Wilhelm Gorkum  who immigrated from Germany here to Nova Scotia, Canada with his brother Johann Herman Gorkum and their families in 1752. Unfortunately Herman and his wife died on the voyage but children survived. Also unfortunately I am missing some generational links in Herman's line so a lot of his descendants not yet properly matched up. The Gorkum lineage is traced back to 1525 Gorinchem, Holland (hence the family name). The maternal patriarch line was Rothenhauser (later Rodenhiser) and I haven't done much there yet on descendants but tracked back to 1650 Germany. I have much to do yet on the other two matriarchal lines although I know they both came from Germany. Genealogy is interesting and I'm learning interesting things about some of my ancestors that our family never knew, and also found a lot of local people that I never knew were related to us. (And 136 branch-to-branch connections makes the tree a little messy too!)

 

Tried to help my wife a bit. Her mother's ancestry has been done by others and goes back to France but nothing on her father. He was a MacDonald who died when she was very young. His ancestry would have been at some point from Scotland but I hit the brick wall at her grandparents who lived in Prince Edward Island. Just have names and nothing else. No one knows anything about them and their names are very common among many MacDonalds there. (We got an unexpected trip to Scotland in 2015 so she at least got to see some of the ancestral homeland ... including Glencoe!)

Answer 11

I discovered my Great Great Grandparents arrived in New York (Castle Garden) in May 1836 onboard the ship Dalmarnock along with their three year old son.  Robert and Ellen Barry lived and died in NYC and their other son William Robert was my Great Grandfather.  Their grave is unmarked but registered and I had the chance to visit the cemetery this past summer.  

Wikitree got me started last year and with help from Dorothy Barry I was able to trace a full generation further back than we had in family records.  Prior to their boarding the Dalmarnock, however, the trail runs cold.  I can make some educated guesses about where in Ireland they lived but cannot confirm unfortunately.

Answer 12

Six of my 16 great-great-grandparents were born in Ireland. One set of great-grandparents emigrated from Ireland in the 1800s. Thomas Mylon and Rose Ann Conlon (who arrived in the U.S. in 1874, when she was 4 years old) met in the U.S. and married in San Francisco, in 1887, at St. Patrick’s Church, which was known as "the most Irish church in America" (according to an article from 1953).

Answer 13

My grandfather immigrated from Utrecht, in the Netherlands to St. John New Brunswick in Canada in 1923 with his wife and two children.

Answer 14

I have found ancestors that are members of the Massachsetts Bay Colony and from immigration on the second boat from England that went to the Plymouth massachsetts colony

Answer 15

RICHARD BUSH came to Virginia Colony as an indentured servant in 1670, from Stock Harvard, Essex, by way of Bristol, England. Born about 1655, son of John and (Mary?) Bush.

Answer 16

I have found a few but have hit a brick wall with each one. One day I hope to knock down that wall and continue on.

Answer 17

Interesting question. My earliest (so far) is Edward Bangs about 1623. Lots of Great Migration ancestors and some French Huguenots, plus some other New York immigrants (Davenport, Leggett, Richardson).

Answer 18

Donald Forman's paternal 8 great grandfather,  Robert Engle Forman, left England because of religious persecutions, found asylum in Holland. Left Holland landed on Long Island, New York in 1645 along with seventeen other Englishmen with a charter from the Dutch government to form a settlement which they named Flushing.

Donald Forman's maternal 8 great grandfather, Thomas Kesterson, came to Northumber, Virginia, from England as an indentured servant in 1662.

Answer 19

Yes, i Suppose i have.

Im very new to Wikitree and, wow can it get confusing.  There can be so many branches that sometimes I loose track of who is who, especially when there are so many 'Elizabeths'. 

So far i have found that my Great, Great, Great Grandfather

 "was a convict who arrived in Australia per "Neptune' in 1818" 

But when it comes to my Mothers, Grandmothers side i cant get any further and my Mother's, Mothers side is way to big to keep track, however i am still researching. 

And the rabbit hole continues...

 

Answer 20

I have found many of my immigrant ancestors, but not all are properly documented and proven.  The earliest I know of are Peter Browne, John Alden and Priscilla Mullins on the Mayflower.  And Priscilla's parents.  (Alden and Mullins do have the proper proofs.)  The latest was the father of my mother's paternal grandmother, George Herrington, born in England and immigrated to the US in late 1840s.