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Where to Research for Prussian Ancestors?

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Don Kirkman

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Dec 18, 2009, 1:03:28 PM12/18/09
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I have three cases of immigrants to the US during the 1860s, with
their birth places or areas from which they emigrated as "Prussia" on
US documents including passenger lists and US censuses. What kinds
of resources are available that might have records for this time
period? At least one family seems to have had French influence even
though they are in US documents as from Prussia. AFAIK none of the
three cases was known to the others before their arrival in the US.

It may not be immediately relevant, but surnames were Borgmann
[Borgman in the US], Stephani [Stephany], and Wahl.
--
Don
dons...@charter.net

Henning Boettcher

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Dec 19, 2009, 2:29:48 PM12/19/09
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Hallo Don,

there many similar names to Borgman:
Borgmann, Burgman, Burgmann, Bergmann etc.

--
Kind regards
Henning Boettcher
Switzerland
Homepage(new address!): http://www.germanyroots.com/boettche/
(universally applicable hints/German language only/ last
review:Mar.2008)


"Don Kirkman" <dons...@charter.net> schrieb im Newsbeitrag
news:eggni55b7dt63gc37...@4ax.com...

Don Kirkman

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Dec 20, 2009, 3:05:07 PM12/20/09
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It seems to me I heard somewhere that Henning Boettcher wrote in
article <7p4o5k...@mid.individual.net>:

>Hallo Don,

>there many similar names to Borgman:
>Borgmann, Burgman, Burgmann, Bergmann etc.

Yes, I understand. Much of the population all over the world was
functionally illiterate until the last few centuries, so most names
had alternate spellings. I gave the names with which they arrived in
the US and the spellings they used here.

Thanks for the reminder, though.

FWIW there have been tons of Borgmans in the US starting in the 19th
century, with roots in the Netherlands, Germany as its parts existed
then, Scandinavia, and possibly some French-speaking areas, so there
are many spelling variants among them.
--
Don
dons...@charter.net

Hank

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Dec 21, 2009, 4:09:22 AM12/21/09
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On Fri, 18 Dec 2009 11:03:28 -0700, Don Kirkman wrote
(in article <eggni55b7dt63gc37...@4ax.com>):

> I have three cases of immigrants to the US during the 1860s, with
> their birth places or areas from which they emigrated as "Prussia" on
> US documents including passenger lists and US censuses. What kinds
> of resources are available that might have records for this time
> period? At least one family seems to have had French influence even
> though they are in US documents as from Prussia. AFAIK none of the
> three cases was known to the others before their arrival in the US.


I hope you can get more specific information from other family history
resources. By 1866, Prussia extended from the Rhine in the West to Russia in
the East. That's a lot of territory. You're probably lucky to get it narrowed
down to "Prussia". After 1871 the official documents would have probably
read just "Germany".

For me, marriage certificates often mentioned a town or village while
official documents like the ones you mentioned usually gave very general
information.

As for French influence, there are areas in Germany (and elsewhere) which
sheltered French Huguenots after Louis XIV revoked the Edict of Nantes which
had given French Protestants some religious protection. I have a cousin who
includes Huguenots in his German ancestry.

See the Wikipedia article on Huguenots and note the part on Germany and
Scandinavia.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Huguenot

Hank

Don Kirkman

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Dec 21, 2009, 5:00:00 PM12/21/09
to
It seems to me I heard somewhere that Hank wrote in article
<0001HW.C7548952...@news.west.cox.net>:

>On Fri, 18 Dec 2009 11:03:28 -0700, Don Kirkman wrote
>(in article <eggni55b7dt63gc37...@4ax.com>):

>> I have three cases of immigrants to the US during the 1860s, with
>> their birth places or areas from which they emigrated as "Prussia" on
>> US documents including passenger lists and US censuses. What kinds
>> of resources are available that might have records for this time
>> period? At least one family seems to have had French influence even
>> though they are in US documents as from Prussia. AFAIK none of the
>> three cases was known to the others before their arrival in the US.

>I hope you can get more specific information from other family history
>resources. By 1866, Prussia extended from the Rhine in the West to Russia in
>the East. That's a lot of territory. You're probably lucky to get it narrowed
>down to "Prussia". After 1871 the official documents would have probably
>read just "Germany".

>For me, marriage certificates often mentioned a town or village while
>official documents like the ones you mentioned usually gave very general
>information.

In this case, two of the three marriages involved were in the homeland
before the principals arrived in the US, one probably very close to
the time they immigrated and one enough earlier to have a teen-age son
on the passenger list. So I do need to find some localities to work
with.

>As for French influence, there are areas in Germany (and elsewhere) which
>sheltered French Huguenots after Louis XIV revoked the Edict of Nantes which
>had given French Protestants some religious protection. I have a cousin who
>includes Huguenots in his German ancestry.

>See the Wikipedia article on Huguenots and note the part on Germany and
>Scandinavia.
>http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Huguenot

Thanks for this advice, Hank. I need to revisit the information I
have from other (until recently unknown) branches of the extended
family searching for more specific place names, and move on from
there. Offhand I only remember one or two in the records I've found,
but every bit helps.
--
Don
dons...@charter.net

Mona

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Dec 21, 2009, 5:56:52 PM12/21/09
to nob...@lists2.rootsweb.com, gen...@rootsweb.com

> As for French influence, there are areas in Germany (and elsewhere) which
> sheltered French Huguenots after Louis XIV revoked the Edict of Nantes which
> had given French Protestants some religious protection. I have a cousin who
> includes Huguenots in his German ancestry.

I have an ancestor who was a French count, and had the wisdom to leave
the country at the time of the French revolution, about 1793, much later
than the Huguenots. He went to East Prussia and settled there.


--
Mona Houser
Herita...@Sandyviewinfo.net
Our Family -- http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~monajo/
Nahausen Families � http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~monajo/nah/
My Database � http://wc.rootsweb.com/~monahouser

earl...@gmail.com

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Dec 27, 2009, 5:24:04 AM12/27/09
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> donsge...@charter.net

Prussia was pretty large, but there are some Borgmans in Grafschaft
Bentheim, Hanover, at around this time who emigrated. There is a good
emigrants list of these, and some Borgmans are among them.
http://www.dialogos-studies.com/BIS/subpages/emigrantlist.htm
Use the search function under 'edit' to find them easily.

This emigrants list is of those emigrating mostly to western Michigan,
chiefly Allegan and Ottawa counties.

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