Program: The First German s in St. Louis A new German Research Group Kathy went over the Mission Statement, Objectives, Meeting topics and Events. One of the items Kathy would like to work on is to leave a legacy of our families. Where did they come from in Germany, a town or village, write a short bio about your immigrant families. Tell their story, add a photo too. Then as a group we could make a book. We will donate the book so we could leave a legacy of our families, you may tell the story of as many as you like. We also are working on our surname index, where we will add our sourced ancestor s surname, place of birth and contact info (if you want) and hope to post this online to help others trying to find their ancestor s hometown. Cindy told of the free newspaper Town and Style, which is telling the stories of St. Louis immigrant families, it is called It takes a Village. Cindy had submitted a story of one of her immigrant families. What profession or job did your German family have in Germany and here in the Unites States, was this job the same or did they change? This will be a topic we will discuss at a future meeting. Many St. Louis companies employed skilled German immigrants in professions they had learned at home. Kathy told of the hangmen profession of Germany and how this was considered a dirty profession and that they had to live outside of town. Each family had to marry into another family that was of the same profession. It was said that the Lutheran Saxons settled in the town of Frohna and Altenburg, Missouri. We will be discussing this group of emigrants and how groups of immigrants first came to St. Louis at an upcoming meeting. Kathy brought several books of interest: From Westphalia Into the World by Michael Rosenkotter = a German s story of his family who emigrated and ended up in Black Jack, MO In die Neue Welt by Gerda Raidt & Christa Holtei, this is a child s book in German, but is coming out in English soon and is the story of a family s 200 year history. How a German family emigrated to the U.S. via the Hamburg port and ended up in Nebraska and built a successful farm. Many years later the family returns to their roots in Germany for a visit. (This author will be giving a talk at Kathy s upcoming trip to NW Germany in June and she hopes to record the program to show at a future meeting.)
Borgholzhausener Auswanderungegeschichte(N) by Richard Sautmann an interesting story of how and why many Germans from the village of Borgholzhausen left and settled in the U.S. Immigrant Women in the Settlement of Missouri by Robyn Burnett & Ken Luebbering Program for this evening was a discussion of how Saint Louis was settled with the accent on the Germans. We also took a tour of the St. Louis Public Library s exhibit, via the internet Lasting Impression German Americans. Go back in to the site and read even more: http://exhibits.slpl.lib.mo.us/germanamerican/index.asp We spoke of taking several outings: Learning about steamboats at the St. Louis Mercantile Library at UMSL. https://www.umsl.edu/mercantile/collections/index.html Jan Wenk, President of Monroe County Genealogical Society, invited all of us to visit their day long, or as much as you want to attend, program every third Thursday of the month. Jan begin her day and invites you to go to research at the courthouse, in Waterloo, Illinois, from 10 to noon, have lunch and at 1 to 4:30 do research at the Morrison Talbot Library. They eat again at BJ s, going back to the Morrison Talbot Library at 5:45 and researching, working on projects, getting help, and a program and their out of there at 8:30, then off to Dairy Queen. An all GENEALOGY DAY and eating too!!! If you have family over in this area find out what religion they were and give Jan the religion and the Surname. Her group will try to help you in the Monroe County area. Read your May PastPorts from the St. Louis County Library. The great fire of St. Louis on May 17, 1849 is featured plus other interesting facts of life in St. Louis in the 1800 s. Go to the Missouri History Museum Research Center to see the Genealogy and Local History Index. Here you can look up your family Surnames, as they index more and more items will be appearing, look often and collect all the great information. http://genealogy.mohistory.org/ If you can t go over, they will copy and mail for a fee.
Wally brought a form you can leave for your family, like a will to direct them as to what you want done with the Genealogy you have collected. We will attach a copy so you can fill out and put with your important papers! It was discussed that libraries and genealogical and historical Societies want the info in Book form. So write it down and add the proof so you can bind the information and place it somewhere, or several places. Ron W. told about a software program he uses called Dragon It types what you speak! He says it works great but you should always proof it. Jan W. said that Scott Holl was approached when he was a volunteer at Eden Archives and was asked to allow Ancestry or Family Search to film the archive there. He chose to go with Family Search, they have free access to their records. This is great for the penny pinching Germans NEVER NEVER GIVE UP says Gloria P. after 6 or more years she found her ancestor s hometown and went back one more generation. See the dream can become the reality for any of us if we work and look, and Don t Give Up on that elusive ancestor. ADVICE GIVEN OUT AT THE MEETING DURING Q & A TIME. Carolyn, said on Saturday morning there are several ladies that can read German at the Family History Center, (including Carolyn) at the Clayton Road Location. Nancy said there are several at the St. Louis County Library that can read German. You should always check to see if the church your ancestor attended has a jubilee or anniversary book. They sometime mention where the early members were from. This may be a place you can investigate as a place your ancestor was from. If your person was a farmer, and they lived on the SAME farm for many years they may have a Centennial Farm, to receive this designation the family had to provide detailed information which may contain hometown info. Search Newspapers, especially obituaries. Check if papers exist for the time your ancestor lived in the town, if so where are they?
In Missouri it is at the State Historical Society of Missouri where Newspapers are on film, check the locations too as there are 6, most item can be transferred to St. Louis, and the main library is in Columbia on the campus of Univ of MO in the basement of the Ellis Library. http://shs.umsystem.edu/newspaper/index.shtml In Illinois - Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum http://www2.illinois.gov/alplm/library/collections/newspaper/pages/default.aspx Try local libraries of the town and county libraries. St. Louis Public Library - Search for St. Louis obituaries. Currently this index contains names from the St. Louis Post Dispatch for the years 1880-1930, 1942-1945, 1960-1969, and 1992-2011. Just added 1970 http://www.slpl.org/slpl/gateways/article240117800.asp Missouri Digital Heritage, Secretary of State Jason Kander Missouri Death Certificates, Death Certificates available 1910 to 1963 adding another year each February, it must be 50 years before the information can be made public. http://www.sos.mo.gov/archives/resources/deathcertificates/ Gen Web and the county name also try the surname Roots Web and the county name also try the surname Look at all the Census records for the family of the ancestor, and all the sibling too. Many people find one of the ancestors will tell just what you need in order to fine the town. If you can locate birth, death records check these for ancestors, names and where from. Do every one in that family, don t skip Locate a church, near where they lived, and the religion you are today, but remember ancestors may not be the religion that you think they were then, begin with church records of the one you believe and also check the others. Most families went to church close to home, they did not travel far. Films for most St. Louis churches are at the St. Louis County Library, they have others check to see what they have for other counties and states. If you need to find the Church record, take the time to call and ask where records are kept and if you can view them. It is great to see the records first hand, as a transcription may not include something important and you may want the thing they missed.
Look at the Naturalization Record; this may say where in Germany they came from or give an area that you can zone in on. The St. Louis County Library has a lot of Ortssippenbuch books, family book from Churches of towns or villages in Germany, it was said that if you family doesn t appear in one they may have gone to another church. (meaning that sometime they have only transcribed the members of one of the churches in the village) Kathy said that Hanover and Osnabruck was not filmed by the Mormons. There is a gentleman from the Osnabrueck Genealogical Society that has a huge data base of names. In Rhineland which was filmed there are church records the whole record, and also civil records, can be a brief record, as this was first done for military. Many of the German coming to the United States followed their minister and came in groups, German and Irish for sure. Was your family in one of these groups? Thank you for coming, we hope you enjoyed our program and what we have in store for you is a direction you want for research in the future. Next meeting: Monday June 23, Germans in St. Louis, meeting at the St. Louis County Library, in the East room. 6:15 pm, topic will be Saxon Lutheran Emigration to Missouri. (This topic will be pushed to another date, tentative topic is Using Family Search.org for German research ) Kathy Wurth e- mail kathyinwashington@hotmail.com Nancy Von Behren e- mail nvonbehren@msn.com