Central European Special Interest Group (CEG)

Q. Why does my ancestor not appear in the State Library of Queensland’s index to Assisted Passengers even though he appears on the Hamburg list of emigrants travelling to Moreton Bay in 1855?

A. In 1855, the Moreton Bay region was a part of New South Wales, with Separation not coming until 1859. Therefore immigration at that time was under the control of the New South Wales government and its regulations. It seems that there was a time in the 1850s when the New South Wales government was desirous of establishing a wine industry in the colony. To facilitate this, immigrants with skills in this area were being especially encouraged. Favoured categories of skills included vinedressers (Weingärtner) and coopers (Küfer or Böttcher), and it seems that the government was prepared to fund the immigration of such workers to a greater than normal extent — to pay a bounty.

Q. My ancestor was born in Germany in 1865, and married in Germany in 1887. How can I obtain her birth and marriage certificates?

A. This is not a simple question. Civil registration of births, marriages and deaths began at different times in different areas. In the west, some states commenced civil registration as early as 1792, whereas most of Prussia did not commence until 1874. The last states to introduce civil registration did so in 1876. So it should be possible to find her marriage certificate, but locating her birth certificate depends on the state or province in which she was born.

Since all civil records are normally kept in the local civil registry office or Standesamt , it is necessary to know the city, town or village where the event occurred. There are several reference works, such as Meyers Orts und Vekehrs Lexikon which specify the Standesamt for every locality in the old German Empire.

For places that are in modern day Germany, certificates can be obtained by writing to the appropriate Standesamt but you may be required to provide proof of descent from the person concerned. For those areas now in Poland, writing to the appropriate district archive is usually the best. Expect that you will receive a reply in the language of the current country — in German in modern Germany, in Polish from the former German eastern territories, in Danish from northern Schleswig (Danish Slesvig) and in French from Alsace-Lorraine — so be prepared and know in advance who will be able to assist you to translate the return letter.
If the event occurred before the start of civil registration, you will need to find the equivalent church records — baptism, marriage or burial.
    

Q. I know that my ancestor arrived at a port in one Australian colony but settled in another colony. Which ship took him from the first colony to the second?

A. I am not aware of any lists of passengers aboard the intercolonial and coastal shipping. The movements of the intercolonial shipping were diligently recorded in the newspapers of the day, which generally recorded the names of the first class passengers only, together with a comment along the lines of “and 45 in steerage”. Since most of the emigrants who arrived did not have much money, they would have been among the nameless ones “in the steerage”.

Q. My ancestor’s name appears in one of the “Emigrants from Hamburg” series. Can I get any extra information about him? Who sponsored him? Where was he employed?

A. Unfortunately we do not have any extra information. We have published all of the information that was recorded on the Hamburg Emigration records. As to who may have employed him, to whom he may have been indentured, and so on; no information concerning these matters was recorded in the Hamburg lists. Information regarding such matters might be found in the relevant Australian archive.
    

Q. My ancestor arrived in the 1860s. How can I find where he was living, and where he was working, between his arrival and when he was married four years later?

A. What happened to him after his arrival is not likely to be easily discovered. In Queensland in the 1860s employers needing labour would pay the fare of an immigrant who would sign a work contract in Hamburg and then be bonded to work for the employer for two or three years. Once the contract was fulfilled, the immigrant then was free to seek other work or to purchase a property of his own. It seems that many single men served out their contract, saved some money and then purchased a property. Once they had established themselves, they then married, often to a young woman newly arrived in the colony (often many years their junior).

The problem is finding a relevant document when you do not know what work an ancestor did and where he lived. Once he purchased or selected a property, he usually became easier to locate since he might appear on the Electoral Roll (in the early days, ownership of property seems to have been the main criterion for appearing on the roll). Naturalisation was usually taken out prior to purchasing property. But a man working as a shepherd for a squatter, or as a bricklayer or stone mason for a builder, or as a plumber/tinsmith for a master is not very likely to leave records that we can access today.

If your ancestor was actively involved in a church, his name might appear on the communicants’ roll, he might have been a sponsor at the baptism of a child, his name may appear in the minutes of the congregation, or the pastor might have visited him and written up some notes which have been preserved. The problem is that such records are not public documents. If they still exist, they might be at the church or they might have been transferred to the denominational archives. In any case, they would probably not be indexed.

If your ancestor had a brush with the law, you might expect to find his name in the newspaper and perhaps in some police, court or gaol records at the State Archives. I believe that such records have not been indexed fully (some partial indexes might exist). Sometimes oral histories are passed down and these will indicate where the immigrant spent his first few years. But oftentimes, even with this information to direct us, it can be difficult or even impossible to find any evidence to “prove” the oral story.