The Holy Grail, and all too often the missing link, of genealogical research in the 18th and 19th Centuries is the ship manifest. I call it the Holy Grail because it connects the European port of departure to the North American port of entry, usually providing names, dates, co-voyagers and sometimes nationality, occupation and religion. I started my quest for the Holy Guelff Grail in early 2003 when I first became aware of Ancestry.com, the Mormon church-owned search engine that has since revolutionized some aspects of genealogical research. I got a free trial membership when I downgraded (yes, downgraded) my aol subscription. In the dark ages of the internet (before 2005), many people actually had to pay for the ability to use e-mail. Computers were often connected to telephone lines that delivered content at a snail's pace.
I should have been suspicious of the "free" part of the offer, but I know a lot of Mormons and I was pretty sure that they were not going to hijack my computer and convert me by electronic mind control. They did not come knocking on my door. They did not inundate me with literature. On the contrary, when I did make a pilgrimage to the Mecca of genealogical research, the Family History Library in Salt Lake City, they opened their doors to me, free of charge, and helped me track down and translate microfilm of 400 year old German language church registries. They are very nice people.
Of course, I had heard the stories about posthumous conversions going back several hundred years, but thought I would risk it anyway. What I did not anticipate was the extraordinarily addictive aspects of genealogical research, probably more powerful than many video games.
I noticed that electronic ship records and even digital images of ship manifests could be searched on-line. You simply entered as much of the basic information that you knew: the name of the person, the age of the person, the year of arrival, nationality and a "key word" such as "farmer." At that time, the manifests were organized by port, with four or five of the main U.S. ports of entry available for search. This looked easy since I had the age at time of entry for Anna Grein (14) and the date of birth for both Michael Guelff (1858) and Anna Grein (1861) from Great Uncle Mike's account in the Dawson Centennial book, Mom's notes and some notes left by Grandma Elizabeth Guelff Bell. Basic arithmetic: 1861 + 14 = 1875, right? Search 1875 for the port of New York (most likely port and the only one for the east coast at the time) and I should find a ship manifest that has a 14 year old Anna Grein and a 17 year old Michael Guelff. No problem. After many, many, many hours of searching and many permutations of the entered data and spellings of both names, I found nothing for arrivals in 1875 and nothing at all for a Michael Guelff from Belgium whose age matched the Michael Guelff I was looking for. I did find other Guelffs in earlier years, but more of that later.
The searchable data base, at that time, did not include the Port of Philadelphia, the mostly likely second entry point after New York. Of course, the Guelffs might have come through Canada, presenting an entirely different research problem. Fortunately, the National Archives in Washington, D.C. had a card index and microfilm for 19th Century arrivals through Philadelphia. After several hours of flipping through ship manifest index cards for 1875, still nothing. Tired and discouraged, I tried one more approach: expand the search a few years in both directions. Fortunately, I tried later years first and located an arrival index card for Michael Guelff for May 1, 1878. My hand actually shook with nervous excitement. A librarian helped me find the right microfilm. I looped and loaded it onto the reader. I spooled the film to the right spot, saw the first page of the ship Nederland, which I got from the index card. An image of the ship in the upper left corner of the document had two masts with full sail and a single steam engine stack in the center of the deck. The family story that Anna and Mike were on a "sailing ship for 90 days" was at least partially confirmed. The ship had sailed from Antwerp, so it may have stopped at Liverpool as well before crossing the Atlantic. The manifest did not say one way or the other. Though I did not know it at the time, I later learned from a helpful website that combined steam and sail ships in the Nederland class (about 2800 tons) could attain consistent speeds of 10 knots (nautical miles per hour), which suggests a trans-Atlantic crossing in about 2 weeks. From the website www.shipslists.com
NEDERLAND 1873
The NEDERLAND was a 2,839 gross ton ship, built in 1873 by Palmers Shipbuilding & Iron Co, Jarrow-on-Tyne for the Red Star Line of Antwerp. Her details were - length 329.2ft x beam 38.6ft, one funnel, two masts (rigged for sail), iron construction, single screw and a speed of 13 knots. There was passenger accommodation for 70-1st and 800-3rd class. Launched on 23rd June 1873, she sailed from Antwerp in Nov.1873 on her maiden voyage to Philadelphia. On 31st May 1877 she commenced her first Antwerp - New York voyage and between 1877 - 1896 sailed between Antwerp and New York or Philadelphia. From about 1895 she was converted to 3rd class only and on 26th Nov.1896 started her last Antwerp - New York sailing. She subsequently sailed Antwerp - Philadelphia except for her last voyage from Antwerp to New York, starting 11th Apr.1905. In May 1906 she was scrapped in Italy. [North Atlantic Seaway by N.R.P.Bonsor, vol.2,p.850]
I continued to scroll through the document paying close attention to the identifying entries for each of the passengers: Name, age, sex, occupation, "To what country belonging", "Country of which is their intention to become Inhabitants," and "Number and Names of Passengers who have died on the voyage." That last column, fortunately, was used to designate first class, second class and steerage. The entries for sex were in French, but the occupations were in English. "Farmer" was most often listed, but merchant, locksmith, lockmaker, butcher, cook, coachman, laborer, engineer, mason, lithographer, weaver, blacksmith, scrivener, artist and potter appeared as well, for a total of 185 passengers. The difference of 685 from capacity suggests that the ship made a previous port of call. The master of the vessel appeared to be German or Scandanavian. Most of the passengers were from Germany (22), Prussia (56), US (16) Italy (14), France (2), Russia (2), Switzerland (24), Luxembourg (3), Bavaria (2), Baden (1), and Belgium (10).
The Belgium group did not show up until page 11, all in steerage class:
Jean Wagener 23 Male Laborer Luxembourg US Steerage
Michael Guelff 20 " Farmer Belgium " "
Christopher Rosseler 19 " " " " "
Pierre Grein 50 " " " " "
Eliza Schwinden 45 F male " " "
Pierre Grein 1/1 Male " " "
Anne 14 F male " " "
Cath. 5 " " "
Matthias 25 Male " " " "
So why is Anne listed as age 14 on a manifest dated May 1, 1979? My guess: an adult fare is charged at age 16. Keep in min also, that the fare typically combined ship passage and rail transport to final destination. Probably this also meant that Anna shared a berth with one of the adults as did each of the younger children. Anna was also short, so it was probable that no one questioned her age, and small enough so that sharing a berth with one of the adults was not intolerable. Even so, quarters were very tight. The Port of History Museum in Philadelphia has an exhibit of a reconstructed cabin, which looks more like a large closet. There are many accounts of transatlantic passages from this time, some of which can be found at www.norwayheritage.com.
I do not think that the clustering of Wagener, Guelff and the Grein family on the ship manifest is an accident. The better working hypothesis, in my opinion, is that the manifest is very much like a census report, which lists families in the order of the street addresses on which they are found. This manifest probably signifies that their cabins were adjacent. The proximity, in turn, probably signifies that they knew each other before they all arrived at Antwerp at the same time to board ship for the same destination in the Minnesota area. As it turns out, Jean Wagener is related.
Now look at the ship manifest for the France from 1875. On it you will see the names of three Guelffs from Belgium -- Jean, Mischel and Jean ages 27, 39 and 18 respectively. All three have the listed occupation of glazier. The same is true of the other five Belgian men who are listed immediately below them. This seems to imply that they are headed for work in a glass factory of some sort. The Unified Guelff Theory predicts that these three Guelffs will turn out to be relatives. Mischel's age ties in to the sitting brother in the photo of the three Guelffs taken in Marquette, Michigan. The age of the first Jean (French for John) ties in to the standing brother on the left. The age of the youngest Jean ties into the John Guelff who first settles in Austin, Mower near Eden Valley in Minnesota.
Now we need to solve the new riddle of the glass factory.
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