I have been reading about the Citizenship records referring to Germany. I have my husband records of his Declaration of Intent dated September 1856 and it referred to William 1st King of Wurtemberg. Then Oct 1860, when his petition read in court referrs to the same "1st King of Wurtemburg William. which makes wonder if Wuertembug was a country of its own before it became a part of Germany. Marilyn Bartenslager -------------- Original message -------------- From: "BW List Co-Administrator" <mscarlah@earthlink.net> > -----Original Message----- > From: Sheri Martin [mailto:elm121147@verizon.net] > Sent: Saturday, August 16, 2008 7:59 AM > To: mscarlah@earthlink.net; baden-wurttemberg@rootsweb.com > Subject: Re: [BW] Why Ancestors' EMIGRATION Records Might Be Hard to Find > (orNon-Existent) :-) > > I am now in receipt of the "applications to become a citizen" of both of my > maternal great grandfathers. One is from 1876 the other from 1880. They > both reference the Emperor of Germany. I have read on this list that > Germany did not actually exist at that time. Also there is no other > information of any assistance in locating the town of origin. Any further > suggestions? > ===================== > Dear Sheri, > > I think we've managed to create some confusion for you. What you need to > understand was that what we know as "Germany" did not always cover the same > amount of territory throughout its history, nor was "Germany" always a > single, unified nation with a single sovereign ruler. I will attempt to > super-condense the historical facts into a nutshell for you, and you can > research it further if you are so inclined. > > For a long part of "Germany's" history, it was it was made up of hundreds of > individually sovereign states, each with its own particular ruler (kings, > princes, grand dukes, margraves, etc.) These were not united into a single > nation until the formation of the German Empire, a semi-constitutional > monarchy which came into existence (and along with it the "Emperor of > Germany") on 18 January 1871, when the existing king of the German state of > Prussia, King Wilhelm I, was proclaimed German Emperor ("Kaiser" in German.) > (He and those who followed him on the imperial throne remained King of > Prussia while also being Emperor of Germany.) There were only three > Emperors of Germany: Wilhelm I (who died in March, 1888), Wilhelm's son > Friedrich III (who was ill will terminal cancer and died only 3 months after > his accession in June 1888) and Friedrich III's son, Wilhelm II (who was > Emperor of Germany from 15 June 1888 until 9 November 1918.) > > Your problem is that the naturalization or other documents you have which > tell you the place of origin for your grandfathers apparently do NOT specify > their exact villages, towns or cities of origin WITHIN the overall German > Empire or even within the state of Baden or Wuerttemberg or Hohenzollern or > wherever else they may have been from. Just knowing that their sovereign > was the Emperor of Germany (regardless of which one was reigning at the > time) unfortunately does not sufficiently pinpoint your ancestors' specific > places of origin. Even knowing that they may have been subjects of say, the > King of Wuerttemberg is not going to be too helpful. (Wuerttemberg was a > kingdom at the same time there was a German Empire in existence, and again, > that still doesn't tell you where in either the kingdom or the empire your > ancestors came from---darn it all!) > > If that is the only documentation you have for those persons, you still do > not yet have something which will provide a sufficient clue to their roots > in "Germany." Not knowing what other records on them you may have (or not), > or what other types of research you may have done, it is difficult to make a > reasonable suggestion as to how to might proceed from here. Can you tell us > anything else that might be pertinent to these men? > > Hope we can help you if we have more details, if you have any to share. > > Best wishes, > > Carla HELLER, Los Angeles, California USA mscarlah@earthlink.net > List Co-Administrator, RootsWeb's Baden-Wuerttemberg Mailing List > > > > > > > > > > > > > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > BADEN-WURTTEMBERG-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the > quotes in the subject and the body of the message