Courtesy of
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.
I have
checked the situation for only one voyage of this period — the 1852 voyage of the “Cesar
Godeffroy” but I would think that other voyages would be
similar. The “Cesar Godeffroy” departed Hamburg 9
th August 1852 with 232 emigrants on the embarkation list. When
it arrived in Sydney 11 th December 1852, the “Sydney Morning
Herald” reported that there were 230 passengers, and
that there had been 3 deaths and 1 birth. Now these numbers
are quite consistent, BUT the Immigration Board Report listed
only 53 passengers (including one born on the voyage) with
all of those listed being vinedressers and their families.
Q. My ancestor is listed as one of the “Emigrants
from Hamburg to Australia”. Was he an “assisted”, “nominated” or “free
passage” immigrant?
A. Our source documents are the Hamburg emigration lists which
contain no classification references – eg assisted,
bounty, nominated, and so on, as were used upon arrival here
in the lists compiled by Queensland following separation in
1859. You will need to check the arrival lists held by the
Queensland State Archives (or other appropriate archive if
your ancestor emigrated to another state) for this information.
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.
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