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German and American Sources for German Emigration to
America
by
Michael P. Palmer
I. German Records: 18th Century.
1. Types of Records:
- Abzugsgeld.
- Manumissions.
- Church registers.
- Notarial records.
2. Individual German States:
- Not only is the literature of German emigration to America in
the 18th century increasingly extensive, but the bibliography
is made more complicated by the fact that many of the
pioneering works, in particular the short articles of Fritz
Braun and Friedrich Krebs published originally in the 1950's
and 1960's, have been reprinted, often in translation and in
amalgamated form, many times. The following list therefore
represents only the most significant and easily accessible
works on the subject. For fuller details and further references,
researchers should consult P. William Filby, Passenger and
Immigration Lists Bibliography, 1538-1900 (2nd
ed.; Detroit: Gale Research, c1988), and, for works published
after 1988, the annual volumes of P. William Filby, Mary K.
Meyer, and Paula K. Woolverton, Passenger and Immigration
Lists Index (Detroit: Gale Research, 1981ff.).
- Alsace.
Annette Kunselman Burgert,
Eighteenth Century
Emigrants from the Northern Alsace to America,
Publications of the Pennsylvania German Society, 26
(1992).
- Baden.
- Annette Kunselman Burgert, Eighteenth-Century
Emigrants from German-Speaking Lands to North
America, Vol. 1: The Northern Kraichgau,
Publications of the Pennsylvania Dutch Society, 16
(1982).
- Werner Hacker, Auswanderungen aus Baden und dem
Breisgau (Stuttgart und Aalen: Konrad Theiss
Verlag, 1980). 743 pp. 11,544 emigration cases,
many of them to America.
- Werner Hacker, Auswanderungen aus dem nördlichen
Bodensee im 17. und 18. Jahrhundert, Hegau-Bibliothek,
29 (Singen: Verein für Geschichte des
Hegaus, 1975). 3,394 emigrants.
- Werner Hacker, Auswanderungen aus dem
südöstlichen Schwarzwald zwischen Hochrhein, Baar
und Kinzig, Buchreihe der südostdeutschen
historischen Kommission, 29 (München 1975).
- Werner Hacker, Kurpfälzische Auswanderer vom
Unteren Neckar, Sonderveröffentlichungen des
Stadtarchivs Mannheim, 4 (Stuttgart und Aalen: Konrad
Theiss Verlag, c1983).
- Nassau-Dillenburg.
Adolf Gerber, Die Nassau-Dillenburger Auswanderung
nach Amerika im 18. Jahrhundert (Flensburg: Flensburger
Nachrichten, 1930). Reprint in Carl Boyer, 3rd, ed., Ship
Passenger Lists: Pennsylvania and Delaware (1641-1825)
(Newhall, California: Carl Boyer, 1980; reprint
Westminster, Maryland: Family Line Publications, 1992),
pp. 17-47.
- Palatinate.
- Institut für Pfälzische Geschichte und Volkskunde
Benzinoring 6
D-67657 Kaiserslautern
Germany
The Institut (formerly known as the
Heimatstelle Pfalz) maintains a card index of all
known emigrants from the Palatinate, from the 17th
century onwards.
- Peter Brommer, Karl Heinz Debus and Hans-Walter
Herrmann, ed., Inventar der Quellen zur Geschichte
der Auswanderung 1500-1914 in den staatlichen
Archiven von Rheinland-Pfalz und dem Saarland,
Veröffentlichungen der Landesarchivverwaltung
Rheinland-Pfalz, 27, Schriften zur
Wanderungsgeschichte der Pfälzer, 35 (Koblenz
1976).
- Annette Kunselman Burgert, Eighteenth-Century
Emigrants from German-Speaking Lands to North
America, Vol. 2: The Western Palatinate,
Publications of the Pennsylvania Dutch Society, 19
(1985).
- Werner Hacker, Auswanderungen aus dem früheren
Hochstift Speyer nach Südosteuropa und Übersee im
XVIII. Jahrhundert, Schriften zur
Wanderungsgeschichte der Pfälzer, 28
(Kaiserslautern 1969).
- Werner Hacker, Auswanderungen aus Rheinpfalz und
Saarland im 18. Jahrhundert (Stuttgart: Konrad
Theiss Verlag, 1987).
- Switzerland.
- Albert Bernhardt Faust and Gaius Marcus Brumbaugh,
comp., Lists of Swiss Emigrants in the Eighteenth
Century to the American Colonies, vols. 1-2
(Washington, DC: National Genealogical Society,
1920-1925; reprinted Baltimore, Maryland: National
Genealogical Society, 1968). Reprinted with Leo
Schelbert, "Notes on Swiss Emigrants," National
Genealogical Society Quarterly, 60 (1972).
- Ernst Steinmann, "A List of Eighteenth-Century
Emigrants from the Canton of Schaffhausen to the
American Colonies 1734-1752," Pennsylvania German
Folklore Society Yearbook, 16 (1951), 185-196.
Reprinted in Don Yoder, ed., Pennsylvania German
Immigrants, 1709-1786; Lists Consolidated from
Yearbooks of the Pennsylvania German Folklore
Society (Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Co.,
1984), pp. 327-338. Originally published in
Beiträge zur vaterländischen Geschichte, hrsg. vom
Historisch-antiquarischen Verein des Kantons
Schaffhausen, Nr. 13 (1936).
- Wertheim.
Otto Langguth, "Auswanderer aus der Grafschaft Wertheim,"
Familiengeschichtliche Blätter, 30 (1932), Sp.
53-60, 109-124, 155-164, 205-208, 263-270, 299-304, 343-352;
reprinted in the Jahrbuch des Historischen Vereins
Alt-Wertheim for 1935. Reprinted in translation by Don
Yoder in Pennsylvania German Folklore Society Yearbook,
12 (1947), 147-289; Don Yoder, ed., Pennsylvania German
Immigrants, 1709-1786; Lists Consolidated from Yearbooks
of the Pennsylvania German Folklore Society (Baltimore:
Genealogical Publishing Co., 1984), pp. 139-287.
- Westerwald.
Annette Kunselman Burgert and Henry Z. Jones, Jr.,
Westerwald to America; Some 18th Century German
Immigrants (Camden, Maine: Picton Press, 1989).
- Württemberg.
- Adolf Gerber, Beiträge zur Auswanderung nach
Amerika im 18. Jahrhundert aus Altwürttembergischen
Kirchenbüchern (Stuttgart: J. F. Steinkopf [n.d.]).
- Adolf Gerber, Neue Beiträge zur Auswanderung nach
Amerika im 18. Jahrhundert aus Altwürttembergischen
Kirchenbüchern unter Hinzuziehung anderer Quellen.
(Stuttgart: J. F. Steinkopf, [1928]).
Both the above works reprinted in translation by Don
Yoder as "Emigrants from Wuerttemberg: The Adolf Gerber
Lists," Pennsylvania German Folklore Society Yearbook, 10
(1945), 103-237; Don Yoder, ed., Pennsylvania German
Immigrants, 1709-1786; Lists Consolidated from Yearbooks
of the Pennsylvania German Folklore Society (Baltimore:
Genealogical Publishing Co., 1984), pp. 1-137.
- Werner Hacker, "Auswanderer aus dem Territorium der
Reichsstadt Ulm, vor allem im ausgehenden 17. und
18. Jahrhundert," Ulm und Oberschwaben, 42/43
(1978), 161-257.
- Werner Hacker, Auswanderer vom Oberen Neckar nach
Südosteuropa, Buchreihe der südostdeutschen
historischen Kommission, 23 (München 1970).
- Werner Hacker, Auswanderungen aus Oberschwaben
(Stuttgart und Aalen: Konrad Theiss Verlag, 1977).
- Miscellaneous.
- Annette Kunselman Burgert, Master Index to the
Emigrants Documented in the Published Works of
Annette K. Burgert, F.A.S.G., F.G.S.P. (Myerstown,
Pennsylvania: Annette K. Burgert, 1993).
- Henry Z. Jones, Jr., More Palatine Families; Some
Immigrants to the Middle Colonies 1717-1776 and
their European Origins, Plus New Discoveries on
German Families Who Arrived in Colonial New York in
1710 (Universal City, California: the author,
1991).
- Henry Z. Jones, The Palatine Families of New York:
A Study of the German Immigrants Who Arrived in
Colonial New York in 1710 (Universal City,
California: Hank Jones Publishing Co., 1985). 2
vols.
- Compilations.
- Carl Boyer, 3rd, ed., Ship Passenger Lists: New
York and New Jersey (1600-1825) (Newhall,
California: Carl Boyer, 1980; reprint Westminster,
Maryland: Family Line Publications, 1992).
- Carl Boyer, 3rd, ed., Ship Passenger Lists:
Pennsylvania and Delaware (1641-1825) (Newhall,
California: Carl Boyer, 1980; reprint Westminster,
Maryland: Family Line Publications, 1992).
- Michael H. Tepper, ed., Emigrants to Pennsylvania,
1641-1819; A Consolidation of Ship Passenger Lists
from the Pennsylvania Magazine of History and
Biography [1877-1934] (Baltimore: Genealogical
Publishing Co., 1979).
- Don Yoder, ed., Pennsylvania German Immigrants,
1709-1786; Lists Consolidated from Yearbooks of the
Pennsylvania German Folklore Society (Baltimore:
Genealogical Publishing Co., 1984).
- Don Yoder, ed., Rhineland Emigrants; Lists of
German Settlers in Colonial America (Baltimore:
Genealogical Publishing Co., 1985). Collection of
24 articles on the European origins of Pennsylvania
German families that originally appeared, in
English, in Pennsylvania Folklife.
- German Mercenary Soldiers in America:
- Anhalt:
- Virginia Easley DeMarce, Mercenary Troops from
Anhalt-Zerbst, Germany, Who Served with the
British Forces During the American Revolution,
German-American Genealogical Research
Monographs, 19 (Arizona: Westland
Publications, 1984).
- Brigitte Heinicke and Georg Jahn, "Ein
anhaltinisches Militärkirchenbuch in Jever,"
Norddeutsche Familienkunde, Bd. 13, Jg. 35
(1986), 457-476, 586-590.
- Ansbach-Bayreuth:
Erhardt Städtler, Die Ansbach-Bayreuther
Truppen im Amerikanischen Unabhängigkeitskreit
1777-1783, Freie Schriftenfolge der Gesellschaft
für Familienforschung in Franken, 8 (Nürnberg
1956). Abstracted in Clifford N. Smith, Mercenaries
from Ansbach and Bayreuth, Germany, Who Remained in
America after the Revolution, German-American
Genealogical Research Monographs, 2 (rev. ed.;
Arizona: Westland Publications, 1979).
- Brunswick:
Hans Helmuth Rimpau, "'The Brunswickers' in
Nordamerika 1776-1783," Archiv für Sippenforschung,
Jg. 37 (1971), 204-219, 293-308; Jg. 38 (1972),
346-355. Abstracted in Clifford N. Smith, Brunswick
Deserter-Immigrants of the American Revolution,
German-American Genealogical Research Monographs, 1
(De Kalb, Illinois: ..., 1973; reprinted
Arizona: Westland Publications, 1985ff.).
- Hesse:
Archivschule Marburg, Institut für
Archivwissenschaft, Hessische Truppen im
Amerikanischen Unabhängigkeitskrieg (HETRINA), ed.
Eckhart G. Franz, Inge Auerbach, and Otto Fröhlich,
Veröffentlichungen der Archivschule Marburg,
Institut für Archivwissenschaft, 10 (vol. 1, 2nd
ed.; Marburg 1974-1987). 6 vols. Records of Hessian
troops who served as mercenaries for the British in
the American Revolution. Vol. 5 contains records of
mercenaries from Waldeck; vol. 6 (1987) contains
records of regiments from Hanau.
- Miscellaneous:
- Clifford N. Smith, Muster Rolls and
Prisoner-of-War Lists in American Archival Collections
Pertaining to the German Mercenary Troops Who
Served with the British Forces During the
American Revolution, German-American
Genealogical Research Monographs, 31 (3 parts;
De Kalb, Illinois: ..., 1974-1976; reprinted
Arizona: Westland Publications,
1982ff.).
- Journal of the Johannes Schwalm Historical
Association, 1ff. (1977ff.). The Journal is
published by the Johannes Schwalm Historical
Association, P.O. Box 99, Pennsauken, NJ
08110.
- Mark A. Schwalm, "The True German
Mercenaries," Journal of the Johannes Schwalm
Historical Association, vol. 3, no. 4 (1988),
19-22.
- Clifford N. Smith, British and German
Deserters, Dischargees, and Prisoners of War
Who May have Remained in Canada and the United
States, 1774-1783, British-American
Genealogical Research Monographs, 9 (2 parts;
Arizona: Westland Publications, 1988-1989).
- Nancy Rice Kiddoo, "'Of Revolutionary Memory':
German Mercenaries Who Immigrated to Western
Maryland," Der Reggeboge: Journal of the
Pennsylvania German Society, 23 (1989), 43-80.
II. German Records: 19th Century.
1. Types of Records:
- Official emigration records.
- Newspapers.
- Intentions to emigrate.
- Summons to missing heirs [Edictalladungen].
- Court declarations of death [Todeserklärungen].
Wilhelm van Kempen, "Gerichtliche Todeserklärungen
im Landdrosteibezirk Hildesheim zwischen 1849 und
1866," Norddeutsche Familienkunde, Bd. 7, Jg. 16
(1967), 321-340, 372-376.
- Lists of army deserters.
- Lists of young men who disappeared without
fulfilling their military obligations.
The Germanic Emigrants Register (P.O. Box 1720, D-49437
Diepholz, Germany), is a commercial venture to abstract
such announcements from the Deutscher Reichs-Anzeiger und
Königlich preußischer Staats-Anzeiger, the official
gazette of the imperial German government, for the years
1875-1914.
- Church registers.
2. Individual German States:
- Baden.
Surviving records of the Auswanderungsamt,
including extensive indexes, are deposited in the
- Badisches Generallandesarchiv Karlsruhe
Nördliche Hildapromenade 2
D-76133 Karlsruhe
Germany
Microfilm copies of the indexes, but not
the records themselves, are in the Family History Library (FHL), in
Salt Lake City. Some of these indexes have been
abstracted in Cornelia Schrader-Muggenthaler, The Baden
Emigration Index (Apollo, Pennsylvania: Closson Press,
1992). In addition, Friedrich R. Wollmershäuser
(Herrengasse 8-10, D-89610 Oberdischingen, Germany), a
private researcher, has compiled an extensive index of
emigrants from Baden, using the records in the
Generallandesarchiv in Karlsruhe, as well as other
manuscript and published records not located in the
Generallandesarchiv Karlsruhe.
- Bayern: Altbayern.
- Reinhard Mayer (Jägerstrasse 42, D-83308 Trostberg,
Germany), a private researcher, has compiled an
index of over 140,000 emigrants from Bavaria.
- Regierungsbezirk Schwaben.
- Wolfgang Knabe, Aufbruch in die Ferne;
Deutsche Auswanderungen nach Amerika, Afrika,
Asien und Australien zwischen 1803 und 1914 am
Beispiel Bayerisch-Schwaben (Augsburg:
DMH-Verlagsgesellschaft, 1990).
- Wolfgang Knabe, Die Neue Heimat nimmt sie auf;
Deutsche Einwanderungen in Amerika, Afrika,
Asien und Australien im 19. Jahrhundert am
Beispiel Bayerisch-Schwaben (Augsburg:
DMH-Verlagsgesellschaft, 1991).
Anhänge to both volumes contain the names of some
8117 Bavarian Swabians who emigrated overseas
between 1800 and 1914.
- Bayern: Rheinpfalz.
- Peter Brommer, Karl Heinz Debus and Hans-Walter
Herrmann, ed., Inventar der Quellen zur Geschichte
der Auswanderung 1500-1914 in den staatlichen
Archiven von Rheinland-Pfalz und dem Saarland,
Veröffentlichungen der Landesarchivverwaltung
Rheinland-Pfalz, 27, Schriften zur
Wanderungsgeschichte der Pfälzer, 35 (Koblenz
1976).
- Institut für Pfälzische Geschichte und Volkskunde
Benzinoring 6
D-67657 Kaiserslautern
Germany
The Institut (formerly known as the Heimatstelle Pfalz
maintains a card index of all known emigrants from the
Palatinate, from the 17th century onwards.
- Braunschweig.
Fritz Gruhne, Auswandererlisten des ehemaligen Herzogtums
Braunschweig, ohne Stadt Braunschweig und Landkreis Holzminden,
1846-1871, Quellen und Forschungen zur Braunschweigischen
Geschichte, 20 (Braunschweig 1971).
- Bremen.
Peter Marschalck, ed., Inventar der Quellen zur
Geschichte der Wanderungen, besonders der Auswanderung,
in Bremer Archiven, Veröffentlichungen aus dem
Staatsarchiv der Freien Hansestadt Bremen, 53 (Bremen:
Staatsarchiv, 1986).
- Hannover.
- Renate Vollmer, Auswanderungen des 18. und 19.
Jahrhunderts aus dem Raum Niedersachsen in der
Literatur des 20. Jahrhunderts, Niedersächsischer
Landesverein für Familienkunde,
Sonderveröffentlichung 26 (Hannover 1993).
- Regierungsbezirk Osnabrück. The Niedersächsisches
Staatsarchiv Osnabrück (Schloßstrasse 29, D-49074
Osnabrück, Germany) maintains an index of known
emigrants from the former Regierungsbezirk
Osnabrück; I do not, however, know anything about
the source(s) from which this index was compiled,
or how complete it can be considered.
- Hessen-Darmstadt.
- Eckhart G. Franz, et al., Quellen zur
Auswanderer-Forschung im hessischen Staatsarchiv Darmstadt,
Darmstädter Archivschriften, 7 (Darmstadt: Verlag
des Historischen Vereins für Hessen, 1984).
Hessisches Staatsarchiv Darmstadt, Abt. R 21 B
(Auswanderer-Kartei), is an alphabetical card
catalogue of approximately 40,000 emigrants from
Hessen-Darmstadt, primarily to America between 1821
and approximately 1871.
Microfilm copy in the Family
History Library in Salt Lake City.
- Peter Brommer, Karl Heinz Debus and Hans-Walter
Herrmann, ed., Inventar der Quellen zur Geschichte
der Auswanderung 1500-1914 in den staatlichen
Archiven von Rheinland-Pfalz und dem Saarland,
Veröffentlichungen der Landesarchivverwaltung
Rheinland-Pfalz, 27, Schriften zur
Wanderungsgeschichte der Pfälzer, 35 (Koblenz
1976). Includes records for the former province of
Rheinhessen, now incorporated into Rheinland-Pfalz.
- Ella Gieg, Auswanderungen aus dem Odenwaldkreis,
vols. 1ff. (Lützelbach: Ella Gieg, 1989ff.).
- Peter Assion, hrsg., Über Hamburg nach Amerika;
Hessische Auswandernde in den Hamburger
Schiffslisten 1855 bis 1866 (Marburg: Institut für
Europäische Ethnologie und Kulturforschung, in
Kommission bei Jonas Verlag, 1991).
- Hessen-Kassel.
- Inge Auerbach, Hessische Auswanderer (HesAus),
Index nach Familiennamen, Bd. 2: Auswanderer aus
Hessen-Kassel 1840-1850, Veröffentlichungen der
Archivschule Marburg, Institut für
Archivwissenschaft, 12 (Marburg 1988). Volumes
covering the years 1850-1866 have also been
prepared, but have not yet been published.
- Grafschaft Schaumburg.
- Heinrich Rieckenberg, Schaumburger
Auswanderer, 1820-1914, Schaumburger Studien,
48 (Rinteln: C. Bösendahl, 1988).
- Heike Matzke, Schaumburger Auswanderer,
1820-1914: Ergänzungen, Schaumburger Studien, 54
(Melle: Ernst Knoth, 1995).
- Peter Assion, hrsg., Über Hamburg nach Amerika;
Hessische Auswandernde in den Hamburger
Schiffslisten 1855 bis 1866 (Marburg: Institut für
Europäische Ethnologie und Kulturforschung, in
Kommission bei Jonas Verlag, 1991).
- Lippe.
Fritz Verdenhalven, Die Auswanderer aus dem
Fürstentum Lippe (bis 1877), Sonderveröffentlichungen des
Naturwissenschaftlichen und Historischen Vereins für das
Land Lippe, 30 (Detmold: Naturwissenschaftlicher und
Historischer Vereins für das Land Lippe, 1980).
- Mecklenburg-Schwerin.
- Staatsarchiv Schwerin
Graf-Schack-Allee 2
D-19053 Schwerin
Germany
The Staatsarchiv contains Auswanderungskonsensakten
[permissions to emigrate] for Mecklenburg-Schwerin for
the periods 1826-1861 (index only; the originals were
destroyed by fire in 1865) and 1862-1914 (originals and
indexes).
- Mecklenburg-Strelitz.
Surviving lists of emigrants from
Mecklenburg-Strelitz begin in 1863. Axel Lubinski
(Danziger Strasse 31, D-18107 Rostock, Germany), a
university researcher, has compiled information on 17,000
emigrants from Mecklenburg-Strelitz for the period 1847-1893.
- Nassau.
Wolf-Heino Struck, Die Auswanderung aus dem
Herzogtum Nassau (1806-1866), Geschichtliche Landeskunde,
4 (Wiesbaden: Franz Steiner Verlag, 1966).
- Oldenburg.
Renate Vollmer, Auswanderungen des 18. und 19.
Jahrhunderts aus dem Raum Niedersachsen in der Literatur
des 20. Jahrhunderts, Niedersächsischer Landesverein für
Familienkunde, Sonderveröffentlichung 26 (Hannover 1993).
- Preußen: Brandenburg.
Dr. Rainer Mühle (Janstrasse 9,
D-18057 Rostock, Germany), a university researcher, has
compiled information on 35,000 emigrants from the
Uckermark, Prignitz, and Ruppin areas of the province of
Brandenburg, and from the Kreise of Randow and Lauenburg
in Pomerania, for the period 1815 to 1914. Another
university researcher, Uwe Reich (Siemensstrasse 12, D-14482
Potsdam, Germany), has compiled information on 12,000
emigrants from the Kreise of Arnswalde and Cottbus
(primarily overseas emigration); and Friedeberg,
Landsberg, and Soldin (primarily Continental migration),
in the province of Brandenburg, for the period 1816 to
1893.
- Preußen: Pommern.
Dr. Rainer Mühle (see above, under
"Brandenburg"), a university researcher, has compiled
information on 35,000 emigrants from the Kreise of Randow
and Lauenburg in Pomerania, and from the Uckermark,
Prignitz, and Ruppin areas of the province of
Brandenburg, for the period 1815 to 1914.
- Preußen: Rheinprovinz.
- Saarland. Josef Mergen, Die Auswanderungen aus den
ehemals preußischen Teilen des Saarlandes im 19.
Jahrhundert, Veröffentlichungen des Instituts für
Landeskunde im Saarland, 20 and 28 (Saarbrücken
1973-1987). 2 vols.
- Regierungsbezirk Aachen, Auswanderungsamt,
Auswanderungsakten, 1816-1925; original records in
the Nordrhein-Westfälisches Hauptstaatsarchiv
(Mauerstrasse 55, D-40476 Düsseldorf, Germany),
microfilm copies in the Family
History Library in Salt Lake City.
Computerized indexes to these records have been separately
compiled by the Hauptstaatsarchiv Düsseldorf and by
Henning Schröder (Postfach 10 08 22, D-51608 Gummersbach,
Germany).
- Regierungsbezirk Düsseldorf,
Auswanderungsamt,
Auswanderungsakten, 1822-1920; original records in
the Nordrhein-Westfälisches Hauptstaatsarchiv (see
above), microfilm copies in the
Family History Library in Salt Lake City. Computerized indexes to these
records have been separately compiled by the
Hauptstaatsarchiv Düsseldorf and by
Henning Schröder (Postfach 10 08 22, D-51608 Gummersbach,
Germany).
- Regierungsbezirk Köln, Auswanderungsamt,
Auswanderungsakten, 1816-1889; original records in
the Nordrhein-Westfälisches Hauptstaatsarchiv (see
above), microfilm copies in the
Family History Library in Salt Lake City. Computerized indexes to these
records have been separately compiled by the
Hauptstaatsarchiv Düsseldorf and by
Henning Schröder (Postfach 10 08 22, D-51608 Gummersbach,
Germany).
- Regierungsbezirk Trier. Staatsarchiv Koblenz, Abt.
701 Nr. 964: Josef Mergen, Die Amerika-Auswanderung
aus dem Regierungsbezirk Trier (typescript). 8
vols. Microfilm copy also in the Family History Library in
Salt Lake City (reels 0232839
through 0232842, 0197859, 0197860, and 0492839
[item 1]).
- Preußen: Westfalen.
- Friedrich Müller, Westfälische Auswanderer im 19.
Jahrhundert - Auswanderung aus dem Regierungsbezirk
Minden, I. Teil, 1816-1900 (Erlaubte Auswanderung),
Beiträge zur Westfälischen Familienforschung, 38-39
(Münster: Aschendorff, 1980-1981).
- Friedrich Müller, Westfälische Auswanderer im 19.
Jahrhundert - Auswanderung aus dem Regierungsbezirk
Minden, II. Teil, Heimliche Auswanderung 1814-1900,
Beiträge zur Westfälischen Familienforschung, 47-48
(Münster: Aschendorff, 1989-1990).
- Friedrich Müller, Westfälische Auswanderer im 19.
Jahrhundert - Auswanderung aus dem Regierungsbezirk
Münster, I. Teil, 1803-1850, Beiträge zur
Westfälischen Familienforschung, 11-13 (Münster:
Aschendorff, 1964-1966).
- Schaumburg-Lippe.
- Heinrich Rieckenberg, Schaumburger Auswanderer,
1820-1914, Schaumburger Studien, 48 (Rinteln: C.
Bösendahl, 1988).
- Heike Matzke, Schaumburger Auswanderer, 1820-1914:
Ergänzungen, Schaumburger Studien, 54 (Melle: Ernst
Knoth, 1995).
- Thüringen: Sachsen-Meiningen.
From June 1844 (Article 9
of the Grundgesetz) permissions to emigrate were
published in the Herzoglich Sachsen-Meiningisches
Regierungs- und Intelligenzblatt. Michael Palmer (P.O.
Box 765, Claremont, California 91711-0765, U.S.A.) is
preparing a computerized index to these emigrations.
- Thüringen: Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt and
Schwarzburg-Sondershausen.
- Thüringisches Staatsarchiv Rudolstadt
Schloss Heidecksburg
D-07407 Rudolstadt
Germany
The Staatsarchiv contains an Auswandererkartei, compiled
in the 1960's by the archivist Rudolf Ruhe, containing
references to approximately 20,000 emigrants from both
principalities in the 19th century.
- Waldeck.
Karl Thomas, Die waldeckische Auswanderung
zwischen 1829 und 1872 (Köln: M. Thomas Verlag, 1983). 2
vols.
- Württemberg.
- The Family History Library in Salt Lake City has microfilm
copies of the emigration
permits and similar records in the State Archives
at Ludwigsburg and Sigmaringen. These are being
indexed in Trudy Schenk, Ruth Froelke, and Inge Bork,
ed., The Württemberg Emigration Index (Salt
Lake City: Ancestry), vols. 1ff. (1986ff.).
- Friedrich Wollmershäuser, a private researcher (see
above, under "Baden"), has compiled an extensive
index of emigrants from Württemberg, using the
records in the State Archives at Ludwigsburg and
Stuttgart, as well as other manuscript and
published records not located in these archives.
- Alsace-Lorraine.
- Cornelia Schrader-Muggenthaler, comp., The Alsace
emigration book, Vols. 1-2 (Apollo, Pennsylvania:
Closson Press, 1989-1992).
- Norman Laybourn, L'émigration des Alsaciens et des
Lorrains du XVIIIe au XXe siècle: essai d'histoire
démographique (Strasbourg: Association des
publications près les universités de Strasbourg,
1986). 2 vols.
- Nicole Fouche, Émigration alsacienne aux
États-Unis, 1815-1870, Université de Paris I
(Pantheon-Sorbonne), Série internationale, 42
(Paris: Publications de la Sorbonne, 1992).
III. American Records.
1. 18th Century:
- Philadelphia ship lists.
- Ralph B. Strassburger, Pennsylvania German
Pioneers, 1727-1808, ed. William J. Hinke (3 vols.;
Norristown, Pennsylvania: Pennsylvania German
Society, 1934; reprint Camden, Maine: Picton Press,
1992).
- I[srael] Daniel Rupp, A collection of upwards of
thirty thousand names of German, Swiss, Dutch,
French and other immigrants in Pennsylvania from
1727 to 1776, ... (2nd ed.; Philadelphia 1876;
reprint with the index from the 3rd ed. [Leipzig
1931] Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Co., 1965,
1985).
- South Carolina, Council Journals. Janie Revill, comp., A
compilation of the original lists of Protestant
immigrants to South Carolina 1763-1773 (Columbia, South
Carolina, 1939; reprint Baltimore: Genealogical
Publishing Co., 1968).
- Church registers.
- Newspapers. Edward W. Hocker, ed., Genealogical Data
Relating to the German Settlers of Pennsylvania and
Adjacent Territory (Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing
Co., 1981), a compilation of abstracts of articles,
advertisements, and paid notices that appeared in the 5
principal German newspapers published in Philadelphia and
Germantown from 1743 to 1800.
2. 19th Century.
- Naturalization records.
- Church registers.
- Newspapers.
- Obituaries.
- David H. Koss, "Some marriage and death
notices from Die Christliche Zeitschrift,
1839-1848," National Genealogical Society
Quarterly, 69 (1981), 9-10.
- Herbert, Jeffrey G., Index of Death Notices
and Marriage Notices Appearing in Cincinnati
Volksfreund, 1850-1908 (Cincinnati, Ohio:
Hamilton County Chapter, Ohio Genealogical
Society, 1991).
- See abstracts of obituaries from the religious
newspapers Der Christliche Apologete
[Methodist Episcopal], Der Christliche
Botschafter [Evangelical], Die Deutsche
Telescope [United Brethren], and Der Fröhliche
Botschafter [United Brethren], and Die
Geschäftige Martha [United Brethren], in The
Bush-Meeting Dutch, 1ff. (1984ff.).
- Missing relatives. David H. Koss, "Advertisements
for missing relatives in Der Christliche
Botschafter, 1839-1865," National Genealogical
Society Quarterly, 66 (1978), 33-41.
- Summons to missing heirs [Edictalladungen].
IV. Ship Passenger Lists.
1. German.
- Hamburg (1850-1914, with the exception of January-June
1853).
The original lists are deposited in the Hamburg
State Archive [Staatsarchiv Hamburg]. Their age and
condition prevent their use by the public. However,
microfilm copies of the lists
and of a variety of
contemporary manuscript indexes are deposited in the Family
History Library
in Salt Lake City. Transcripts of the lists for 1850 and
1851 have been published as follows:
- Clifford Neal Smith, Reconstructed Passenger Lists
for 1850: Hamburg to Australia, Brazil, Canada,
Chile, and the United States, German and Central
European Research Monograph No. 1 (4 parts;
Arizona: Westland Publications, 1980-1981). 60
passenger lists.
- Clifford Neal Smith, Reconstructed Passenger Lists
for 1851 Via Hamburg: Emigrants from Germany,
Austria, Bohemia, Hungary, Poland, Russia,
Scandinavia, and Switzerland to Australia, Brazil,
Canada, Chile, and the United States, and
Venezuela, German and Central European Research
Monograph No. 2 (5 parts in 6; Arizona:
Westland Publications, 1986-1987). 85 passenger
lists.
- Bremen.
The majority of emigrants from Germany sailed not
from Hamburg but from Bremen. Bremen began keeping
passenger lists in 1832. These lists no longer exist: in
1875, because of a shortage of space, the government
authorized the destruction of the lists for 1832 to 1872,
and instituted a policy, in effect until 1909, of
preserving only the lists for the current and two most
recent years. In 1931 the surviving lists, from 1907
onwards, were deposited with the Statistisches Landesamt
Bremen, where they were destroyed during a bombing raid
on the city on 6 October 1944. The archives of the Bremen
Chamber of Commerce [Handelskammer] contain what appears
to be a complete set of duplicate passenger lists for the
years 1922-1939.
"Reconstructions" of Bremen lists from
advertisements by shipping agents (signatures of
passengers), or reports of disasters at sea or of
mistreatment of passengers on board emigration ships, all
published in the emigration newspaper, Allgemeine
Auswanderungszeitung [AA]; Ein Bote zwischen der alten
und neuen Welt (Jg. 1-25; Rudolstadt 1846/47-1871), have
been published as follows:
- Clifford N. Smith, From Bremen to America in 1850:
Fourteen Rare Emigrant Ship Lists, German-American
Genealogical Research Monograph, 22 (Arizona, 1987).
- Clifford N. Smith, Passenger Lists (and Fragments
Thereof) from Hamburg and Bremen to Australia and
the United States, 1846-1849, German-American
Genealogical Research Monograph, 23 (Arizona, 1988).
Extracted from AA, Jg. 1-3;
includes 3 additional "notes of appreciation" from
Jg. 4 (1850) which pertain to ship voyages made in
1849.
- Clifford N. Smith, Gold! German Transcontinental
Travelers to California 1849-1851, German-American
Genealogical Research Monograph, 24 (Arizona, 1988).
300-odd partial ship lists
extracted from AA, Jg. 3-5 (1849-1851).
- Stettin.
Printed and handwritten ship passenger lists
compiled by the various shipping companies that
transported emigrants to America survive among the record
groups Pommersches Polizeipräsidium and
Schifffahrtsdirektion Stettin in the
- Vorpommersches Landesarchiv
Martin-Andersen-Nexö-Platz 1
D-17489 Greifswald
Germany
The lists cover the years 1869-1892, and contain about
500-800 passengers per year. Friedrich Wollmershäuser, a
private researcher (see above), has obtained copies of
these passenger lists, and intends to publish them.
- Emden.
Relatively few emigrants are known to have left
through Emden. Wilhelm Weitz, "Beiträge zur Auswanderung
ostfriesland im 19. Jahrhundert," Friesisches Jahrbuch,
32 (1958), 110-135: Antje Brons, Emden to New York, 1855
and 1857; Johannes, Emden to Charleston, 1857.
- Harburg.
Hans-Georg Mercker, Alphabetisches Register der
von und über Harburg ausgewanderten Personen von 1841 bis
1884 (typescript 1964), in the library of the
Genealogische Gesellschaft, Sitz Hamburg, lists emigrants
(including returning emigrants) from and through Harburg,
1841 and 1851-1854.
2. Other European Ports.
- Amsterdam.
The archives of the Waterschout [Port
Administration] contain no passenger lists, and there is
no indication that any were ever kept.
- Rotterdam.
The archives of the Waterschout, including any
passenger lists they may have contained, were destroyed
during World War II. The archives of the Holland-Amerika
Lijn, which contain registers of passengers from 1900
onwards, are deposited in the
- Gemeentearchief Rotterdam
Robert Fruinstraat 52
NL-3021 XE Rotterdam
The Netherlands
The Family History Library in Salt Lake City has microfiche
copies of these lists for 3 May 1900-26 April 1940
(6109126-6109166, fiche 1-781; 6109167-6109217, fiche 1-272).
- Antwerp.
Only the lists for 1855 (approximately 5,100
individuals) survive: all others were apparently
destroyed by flooding in 1914. Published by Charles M.
Hall, The Antwerp Emigration Index (Salt Lake City:
Heritage International, n.d.).
- Le Havre.
Surviving passenger lists for Le Havre are
deposited at the Archives Départementales de la Seine
Maritime, cours Clemenceau, F-76101 Rouen CEDEX, Fonds 6
P 6/1-600 (Affaires maritimes, Le Havre: Rôles des
bâtiments de commerce); the Family History Library in Salt
Lake City has microfilm copies of
the lists for 1750-1898 (reels 1460824-829, 1460838-845,
1460853-871, 1460916-941, 1460969-991, 1497080-123,
1497168-187, 1497212-233, 1497265-276, 1497289-300,
1497307-309, 1497326-331, 1497338-361, and 1529630-631).
The lists contain relatively few names of emigrants to
America, as only captains of French ships were required
to surrender their passenger manifests, and all but a
handful of the ships that sailed between Le Havre and
United States ports were of American registry. A card
index of passengers, containing approximately 40,000
entries, was discovered several years ago. The Cercle
Généalogique et Heraldique de Normandie, in Rouen, is
preparing to publish this index in a series of volumes.
- Liverpool and London.
The first British law to mandate
the keeping of passenger lists was the Act for
regulating the Vessels carrying Passengers from the
United Kingdom to his Majesty's Plantations and
Settlements abroad, or to Foreign Ports, with respect to
the Number of such Passengers, dated 24 June 1803 (43
Geo. III, c.56). Henceforth, passengers could embark only
at a port staffed by a customs officer; before clearing
from port a muster roll was to be delivered to the
customs officer, who was then, in company with a justice
of the peace, to make a personal check of passengers and
crew.
Passenger lists for vessels arriving in or departing
from British ports, including Liverpool and London, are
preserved among the records of the Statistical Department
of the Board of Trade, in the Public Record Office at
Kew. The records are divided into 2 series:
- BT 26: Passenger lists inwards, 1878-1888 and
1890-1960 (very few lists survive for 1878-1888;
the continuous series begins in 1890); and
- BT 27: Passenger lists outwards, 1890-1960.
These lists give the names of all passengers entering the
United Kingdom on voyages originating in a port outside
Europe or the Mediterranean (BT 26), or departing from the
United Kingdom for ports outside Europe or the Mediterranean
(BT 27). The lists are not indexed, but are arranged monthly
by port of arrival or departure: to access them it is
necessary to know at least the approximate date and port of
arrival or departure. Lists and Indexes, Supplementary Series,
No. XI: Board of Trade Records to 1913 (1964), lists the
ports and months for which passenger lists survive through
1913 (BT 27)/1914 (BT 26). Debbie Beavis (DataMarine, 61 Nursery
Road, Knaphill, Woking, Surrey GU21 2NW, Great Britain,
marine@netcomuk.co.uk, http://www.beavis.co.uk) is preparing
an index to the vessels for which passenger lists survive in
Passenger lists outwards (BT 27), containing the name of each
vessel, the date and port of departure, destination, and
master's name.
A computerized database of passengers from Liverpool
to New York in the year 1851, extracted from copies of 13
New York passenger arrival lists (National Archives Microfilm
Publication, Series M237) and
containing details of place of origin, is maintained by the
- Merseyside Maritime Museum
Albert Dock
Liverpool L3 4AA
England
3. American.
- For the authoritative account of American passenger
arrival lists, see Michael Tepper, American Passenger Arrival
Records (2nd ed.; Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Co.,
1993).
- Customs lists.
- Original lists.
- Copies.
- Quarterly abstracts.
- State Department Transcripts.
- Local lists:
- Baltimore "City Lists," 1833-1866.
- Boston "State Lists," 1848-1891.
- Philadelphia, 1839-1843, 1859-1867.
- Published Lists (by Port of Entry):
- All Ports.
- Passenger Arrivals 1819-1820; A transcript of
the list of passengers who arrived in the
United States from the 1st October, 1819, to
the 30th September, 1820; with an added index,
originally published as Letter from the
Secretary of State, with A transcript of the
list of passengers who arrived in the United
States from the 1st October, 1819, to the 30th
September, 1820 (Washington: Gales & Seaton,
1821; reprinted Baltimore, Maryland:
Clearfield Co., 1991).
- [Baltimore, Boston, New Orleans, New York,
Philadelphia] Ira A. Glazier and P. William
Filby, ed., Germans to America; Lists of
Passengers Arriving at U.S. Ports, vols. 1ff.
(Wilmington, Delaware: Scholarly Resources,
Inc., 1988ff.). A critical review, Michael P. Palmer,
"Published Passenger Lists:
A Review of German Immigrants and Germans to
America," German Genealogical Society of
America Bulletin, vol. 4, no. 3/4 (May/August
1990), 69-90, is available on this server).
- Baltimore.
Michael H. Tepper, ed., Passenger Arrivals at
the Port of Baltimore, 1820-1834; From Customs
Passenger Lists (Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing
Co., 1982).
- Galveston, Texas.
Galveston County Genealogical Society, Ships
Passenger Lists, Port of Galveston, Texas,
1846-1871 (Easley, South Carolina: Southern
Historical Press, 1984).
- New York.
- Bradley W. Steuart, ed., Passenger Ships
Arriving in New York Harbor, Vol. 1
(1820-1850) (Bountiful, Utah: Precision
Indexing, 1991).
- Gary J. Zimmerman and Marion Wolfert, ed.,
German Immigrants; Lists of Passengers Bound
from Bremen to New York, ...; With Places of
Origin (Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing
Co.): (1) 1847-1854 (1985); (2) 1855-1862
(1986); (3) 1863-1867 (1988); (4) 1868-1871
(1992).
- Philadelphia.
Michael H. Tepper, ed.,
Passenger Arrivals at
the Port of Philadelphia, 1800-1819; The
Philadelphia "Baggage Lists" (Baltimore:
Genealogical Publishing Co., 1986).
4. General Bibliography.
- P. William Filby, Passenger and Immigration Lists
Bibliography, 1538-1900 (2nd ed.; Detroit: Gale Research,
c1988).
- P. William Filby, Mary K. Meyer, and Paula K. Woolverton,
Passenger and Immigration Lists Index (Detroit: Gale
Research, 1981ff.).
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Last update (provisional): 19-Dec-1997 (mp)
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