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Top 10: Emigration and Immigration Museums

10. November 2022, Andrea Bentschneider - Archives, Societies, Museums, Emigration, Genealogy, German-American

Did your ancestors (or their family members) emigrate? If they did, you are probably interested in learning more about their journey and the conditions the might have had to endure.

Hopefully, our blog series on emigration from Germany can give you some interesting insight. If you would like to get a more direct feeling, emigration and immigration museums can be a great way to walk in your ancestors footsteps. We can highly recommend the following ones.

Many of them will also give you the opportunity to access documents and information that could help with your genealogical research.

Top 10: Emigration and Immigration Museums

Emigration from Germany: Sources for overseas research (destination country)

20. October 2022, Andrea Bentschneider - Archives, Societies, Museums, Emigration, Genealogy, German-American, Germany, Historical Documents, Knowledge

Are you looking for traces of your emigrated German ancestors in their destination country? Then you are exactly right here, because after we have already presented a number of sources and contact points in Germany recently, today will write about sources for research in the respective immigration countries (destination countries).

Of course, these differ greatly according to the respective country of arrival/immigration so that we can only give an overview for some countries here.

Some of the sources are also available online through a wide variety of platforms (including paid ones). As always in genealogy, you should keep an eye on the seriousness and reliability of the source before adopting the information.

 

 

North America

  1. Arrival passenger lists

    In some countries, for example in the USA, all arriving passengers of emigrant ships were registered. Due to the variations from nation to nation, we cannot give an exact list here. However, the lists of passengers arriving in the US on ships from all over the world are collected in the National Archives in Washington, D.C. The original lists were destroyed after being backed up on microfilm.  Various databases record arriving passengers by port of arrival or nationality. The collection "Germans to America" should be mentioned here, one of the various efforts to at least partially reconstruct the Bremen passenger lists in particular on the basis of the arrival lists in the USA.

    For the Port of New York, there is also a separate database for arrivals at the immigration center at Castle Garden on the southern tip of Manhattan from 1820 until the official founding of Ellis Island in 1892.


  2. Census records

    Censuses have been taken in the United States every ten years since 1790. Lists of these censuses are also preserved at the National Archives in Washington, D.C. Other regional census lists may also be of interest for your genealogical research if, for example, they document stops of your ancestors along the way to the US. Changes of residence in the destination country and family members, occupations, etc. can also be traced through census lists if you are lucky.


  3. Obituaries

    In the USA, it is customary at the time of a person's death to list in an obituary his or her life story with the various stages, occupations, places of residence, spouses, children, and grandchildren. These were published in local newspapers and some are searchable online.


  4. Immigration museums

    The best-known example here is the Immigration Museum in New York Harbor on Ellis Island. Its Immigration Center was established in 1892. There, much can be learned about the stages of emigration, arrival in the US, and the quarantine period on the island. A database is also available at the in-house research center.  

 

 

South America

  1. Immigration organizations and societies for the study of immigrants

    The Martius-Staden Institute in Sao Paulo for the cultivation of German culture in Brazil and Latin America provides a fine example. 

 

 

Australia

  1. Newspaper articles about arriving ships

    Especially in Australia, it was often common to publish the arrival of ships, sometimes even listing the arriving passengers.


  2. Immigration museums

    A fine example of such a museum in Australia is the Immigration Museum of the State of Victoria in Melbourne.

 

 

You do not even know where to start? Of course, we will be happy to try to help you with your research abroad. Please contact us!

 

 


Emigration from Germany: Sources for research in Germany

06. October 2022, Andrea Bentschneider - Archives, Societies, Museums, Emigration, Genealogy, General, German-American, Germany, Hamburg, Historical Documents, Knowledge, Tips and Tricks

If you have found among your ancestors some who dared to emigrate despite all the risks of the journey and adversities of arrival, you may want to shed more light on their path. But how do you go about it? Here, as in other genealogical researches, there are always various possibilities, depending, among other things, on the circumstances in the various states and countries.

Emigration from Germany: Sources for research in Germany

Charles Pfizer & Company - How two entrepreneurs from Ludwisgburg, Germany founded a global corporation

19. October 2021, Heike Leiacker - Emigration, General, German-American, Historical Events, Knowledge, Personalities

Memorial plaque at the birthplace of Karl Pfizer, photo by Florian Hoffmann, CC BY-SA 3.0 DE (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/de/deed.en), via Wikimedia Commons (https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Gedenktafel_Pfizer.jpg)

The pharmaceutical company Pfizer is one of the largest in the world and internationally known - currently especially due to the cooperation with BioNTech in the development, production and distribution of the first vaccine against COVID-19 "Comirnaty" (usually better known under the company name BioNTech), which was approved in the US, Europe and many other countries. But did you know that the company was founded in the US in 1849 by two people from Ludwigsburg, Germany?

 

 

Charles Pfizer & Company - How two entrepreneurs from Ludwisgburg, Germany founded a global corporation

Emigration from Germany: Arrival in a new world – entering and arriving are two very different things

11. May 2020, Andrea Bentschneider - Emigration, General, German-American, Germany, Hamburg, History, Knowledge, Personalities

The immigration station on Ellis Island, New York, picture taken around 1896, source: unknown photographer, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons (https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Ellis_Island_First_Bldg_Burnt_15-June-1897.jpg).

Departing from the German emigration ports Hamburg and Bremen resp. Bremerhaven, the majority of emigrants had in mind to reach North America. A significantly smaller number departed to Brazil, Australia, Argentina, Chile and various other countries.

Emigration from Germany: Arrival in a new world – entering and arriving are two very different things

International Workers’ Day and the role of a German immigrant

01. May 2020, Heike Leiacker - Emigration, General, German-American, Germany, Historical Events, Knowledge, Personalities

Photograph of August Spies from 1886. He is called a murderer on it.Source: unknown photographer, Public domain [PD-US-expired] via Wikimedia Commons (https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:August-Spies-1886.jpg).

Every year on 01, May International Workers’ Day (or Labor Day) is celebrated in many countries in different ways. However, where does this tradition come from, why was a German-American in Chicago, Illinois (by the way a sister city of Hamburg) at least partly responsible for the introduction of this day and if this is so: Why does the US of all countries celebrate Labor Day on another day?

International Workers’ Day and the role of a German immigrant

Emigration from Germany: Going on a journey - costs, means of transport, and conditions of travel

24. April 2020, Andrea Bentschneider - Emigration, German-American, General, Germany, Hamburg, History, Knowledge

The passenger deck of the emigration ship “Samuel Hop“ on the journey via Rotterdam and Le Havre to the US in 1849, drawing by Leo von Elliot in “Leipziger Illustrierte Zeitung” from 10 November 1849, page 292, source: Bundesarchiv, Bild 137-041316 / Unknown / CC-BY-SA 3.0 [CC BY-SA 3.0 de (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/de/deed.en)], via Wikimedia Commons (https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Bundesarchiv_Bild_137-041316,_Auswandererschiff_%22Samuel_Hop%22.jpg).

Going on a journey can become adventurous! When talking about ship passengers of the third class and passengers in the times when a doctor was not necessarily on board, this can be taken literally. The conditions of travel were far from comfortable and safe. But let’s take one thing at a time; no one has gone on board yet.

Emigration from Germany: Going on a journey - costs, means of transport, and conditions of travel

Emigration from Germany: Ranging the fields – reasons for emigration and formal requirements to meet before leaving the country

11. April 2020, Andrea Bentschneider - Emigration, General, German-American, Germany, Historical Events, History, Knowledge

Mount Tambora’s eruption in 1815 resulted in massive famines in the subsequent years forcing large numbers of the suffering German population to emigrate. Source: Jialiang Gao (peace-on-earth.org) / CC BY-SA (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0), via Wikimedia Commons (https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Caldera_Mt_Tambora_Sumbawa_Indonesia.jpg).

Globalization is one of these words that have been on everyone’s lips for the past years. Currently the worldwide spread of the Corona virus illuminates once again the global interlacing between countries due to trade and tourism, or any other kind of traffic and its consequences. 

That the whole world is linked and that events on the other side of the globe can have effects on other parts of the world is, however, nothing new.

Emigration from Germany: Ranging the fields – reasons for emigration and formal requirements to meet before leaving the country

Emigration from Germany

04. April 2020, Silke Deeb - Emigration, Family, Genealogy, Germany, General, Historical Documents, Historical Events, Knowledge

Advertisement for the emigration to America, source: United States Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division in Washington, D.C., LC-DIG-pga-13282, Auswanderung nach Amerika. Amerika und seine Freuden. Public domain, via Library of Congress (https://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/2003691148/).

Those who engage in genealogical research will probably sooner or later discover that family members packed up and emigrated. Emigrants left Germany for overseas mostly from the cities Hamburg or Bremen. North and South America and Australia were common destinations. However, it was not unusual either to travel eastwards, all across the continent to reach Bessarabia (Southern Russia) for example.

Emigration from Germany

Friedrich Hecker, „Forty-Eighter“

02. September 2018, Heike Leiacker - Emigration, General, German-American, Germany, Historical Events, History, Knowledge, Personalities

Colonel Friedrich Hecker, unknown author [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons (https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Colonel_Friedrich_Hecker.png).

Friedrich Hecker was one of the faces of the German revolutions of 1848-1849. Like many of his companions he emigrated after the failing of the revolution or single uprisings. On 20 September 1848, he boarded a ship to New York in Le Havre and became a farmer in Illinois. Later, He fought in the American Civil War.

Friedrich Hecker, „Forty-Eighter“

Religious refugees during reformation

31. October 2017, Andrea Bentschneider - Emigration, Genealogy, General, Germany, Historical Events, Knowledge

Detail of a church window in the War Memorial Chapel at the Washington National Cathedral in Washington D.C. Martin Luther nails his 95 theses to the church door in Wittenberg. Picture by Tim Evanson [CC BY-SA 2.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons (https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Clerestory_window_12_-_War_Memorial_Chapel_-_National_Cathedral_-_DC.JPG)

On 31 October 1517 Martin Luther is supposed to have nailed his 95 theses against the sale of indulgences to the door of the church in Wittenberg. Today it is debatable, if this really happened, but for many the date still stands for the beginning of the reformation. It is celebrated as Reformation Day in Germany and Austria.

Religious refugees during reformation

A small step for [a] man – From Germany to the moon

25. August 2017, Heike Leiacker - Emigration, General, German-American, Historical Events, Knowledge, Personalities

Neil Armstrong working on the moon near lunar module Eagle, 20 July 1969. Picture by NASA / Edwin E. Aldrin, Jr. [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons (https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:As11-40-5886,_uncropped.jpg)

The first man on the moon, a German? No, of course not. But Neil Alden Armstrong had indeed German ancestors.

He was born on 5 August 1930 in Ohio and died in the same state on 25 August 2012 when he was 82 years old. Inbetween Neil Armstron made history with one step on 20 July 1969 (American time).  It is not surprising that Armstrong, sometimes compared to Columbus, descended from immigrants as most Americans do. His ancestors had the courage to take steps on unfamiliar ground. To start all over in a new country was certainly not an easy thing to do. Especially as keeping in touch with the people that stayed behind wasn’t as simple as today.

A small step for [a] man – From Germany to the moon

Hamburg’s sister city Chicago

31. July 2017, Heike Leiacker - Emigration, General, German-American, Hamburg, History, Knowledge

Chicago Skyline at sunrise (2009), Photo by Daniel Schwen (Own work) [CC BY-SA 4.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0)], via Wikimedia Commons (https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Chicago_sunrise_1.jpg)

Since July 1994, to be precise since 20 July 1994, Chicago is Hamburg’s twin city. After the first initiative was made in 1957, the idea was readopted in the 1990s.

There are good reasons for being sister cities. Both are characterized by their waterside location (at Lake Michigan and the Elbe), despite at the same time being located at the inland. They are both economical as well as cultural centers and there are furthermore historical parallels and connections. Just to mention it briefly, both cities were affected by great fires (Hamburg in 1842, Chicago in 1871) that changed their appearances permanently. But most of all, both cities played an important role in the migration from Germany to America in the 19th century: Hamburg as an emigration harbor, Chicago as a place of refuge for immigrants.

Hamburg’s sister city Chicago

John D. Rockefeller – a man with many facets

23. May 2017, Heike Leiacker - General, German-American, Germany, Knowledge, Personalities, Emigration

John D. Rockefeller, around 1875; picture [Public Domain] via Wikimedia Commons (https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:John-D-Rockefeller-sen.jpg)

On 23 May 1937, John Davison Rockefeller Sr. died in Ormond Beach (Florida) at the age of 97. The businessman with German roots was the first billionaire of the world (in US-Dollars). If you consider not only inflation, but also his share of America’s economic strength, he was, according to Forbes, even the richest man in history. Until today, he is remembered for his ruthless business practices as well as his philanthropy.

John D. Rockefeller – a man with many facets

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