Elaine Dawley's maternal grandparents were Frederick and Emma Nicklas. They were both the children of immigrants, and the first to be born in the United States (in Hadley, MI).
Frederick's parents were Johann (John) and Wilhelmina (Mina) Nicklas, and his paternal grandparents were Johann (Joachim) and Maria Nicklas. Emma's parents were Frederick and Sophia Schmidt, and her paternal grandparents were Heinr and Sophia Schimidt. All of these people immigrated to the United States aboard the Elida. The two families both hailed from the Mecklinberg area, though the ship departed from Hamburg, Germany. It arrived at Castle Garden (the first immigration center in New York, prior to the opening of Ellis Island) on June 3, 1856. The ship record lists "labourer" under occupation for all of the men in the family.
Though it was not uncommon for immigrants who traveled together to also settle together in one area, I still found it exciting to see all of these family names on one document! Here's a picture of part of the Elida passenger list. Can you spot some family names?
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| Snapshot of the Elida passenger list. |
I love tracing family lines backwards, but I also love seeing them all come together in one little town. How many people nowadays have one starting point for genealogy research? From Germany, France, Northern Ireland, England, the Isle of Man, and colonial America, everyone found their way to Michigan, and eventually to the little town of Ortonville. This big world is a small one after all!
WHERE TO GO:
The Battery Conservancy (former location of Castle Garden), New York City
http://www.thebattery.org/
For more information on early immigration, visit castlegarden.org.
The Emigration Museum in Hamburg, Germany
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| The Emigration Museum in Hamburg. |
FAMILY LINE @ A GLANCE: Dawley-->Nicklas/ Dawley-->Nicklas-->Smith/Schmidt
I'd love to visit the museum in Hamburg!
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