The Fugitive Immigrant

My previous post discussed the Bayer[ische] Zentral-Polizei-Blatt found on Google Books, which I call “Bavaria’s Most Wanted” since it lists names and other information on men and women wanted for crimes throughout Bavaria.  In the collection from 1903, I found a relative listed in issue No. 128 dated 26 September 1903.  He is listed under [...]

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Better Late Than Never

In my last post, Not Worth the Wait, I complained about my research experience with USCIS, the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services.  Sometimes I complain for effect – that is, to get a response.  This time I was just publicly venting for no reason other than to post about my mysterious letter and lack of [...]

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Not Worth the Wait

Update 2/8/2011 – see the follow-up to this post for more info! Sometimes waiting to receive copies of records is worth the wait.  But sometimes it’s not.  Such was my adventure with USCIS, the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services.  As I wrote in The Waiting Game in September, I requested a copy of my great-grandfather’s [...]

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The Immigrant Saint

One of the dangers facts about being a genealogist is that no matter what you read, you will read it through a genealogist’s eyes.  It’s like having a genea-lens, and your observation of the world focuses on different things. For example, November 13 was the Catholic feast day of St. Frances Cabrini.  I don’t know [...]

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An Index is Only as Good as Its Spelling

Recently I was organizing some research related to my great-grandmother’s sisters (see some photos in my 3-part series on the Slesinski Sisters that begins here).  Three of her four sisters came to the United States on the same ship in 1920.  I found their passenger arrival records many years ago early in my research.  I [...]

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Passenger Lists: The Way It Was!

This week I am highlighting some random facts about passenger lists.  Today’s post won’t offer any helpful searching hints or useful sites.  Instead, let’s journey down memory lane to the good old days before we did our research on the internet.  Wait, why exactly do we call them the good old days? If you are [...]

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Passenger Lists: Manifest Markings

This week I am highlighting some random facts about passenger lists.  Today’s random question: did you ever wonder what all those scribbles are on the manifest? The best information I have ever found on the various markings is at Manifest Markings hosted on Jewish Gen.  If you have immigrant ancestors and have not seen this [...]

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Passenger Lists: Accidental Discoveries

This week I am highlighting some random things about passenger arrival records.  Today’s focus: accidental discoveries in Ancestry.com records! Friends in the Days Before Facebook For some ports, Ancestry.com indexes don’t just have the names of the passengers, but also the names of their friends that were already in the U.S. waiting for them. For [...]

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April 16, 1909 – Welcome to America!

Today marks the 100th anniversary of the arrival of my great-grandmother, Elżbieta Müller, to the United States.  She soon Americanized her name to Elizabeth Miller, and the following year became Elizabeth Pater after marriage. Elizabeth sailed on the SS President Grant, a ship of the Hamburg-American line.  The ship left Hamburg, Germany, on April 3, [...]

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Bank Records: Another Resource for Tracing Immigrants

I enjoy highlighting unusual genealogical resources – records other than vital records, passenger lists, naturalizations, and the federal census.  Recently I entered some of my “usual suspect” names into Ancestry and discovered a resource previously uknown to me: immigrant bank records.  The historical background about these records is described on Ancestry.com as follows: In the [...]

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Interesting Immigration Side Effect

Yesterday I posted A Salute to Gutsy Women Travelers in my family which focused on the women who immigrated to this country alone to meet their husbands or other family members.  I noted how difficult it must have been for the married couples to be separated while the man traveled to the U.S. first to [...]

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A Salute to Gutsy Women Travelers

Ever since my first transatlantic trip in 1985, I’ve been stricken with the travel bug. There is no cure. Symptoms include a desire to wander to far-away places, hopeless daydreaming, and a joy brought on by traipsing on planes and trains. I did not think my condition was genetic as no one else in my [...]

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