Don, Thanks for your offer to assist. On the 1900 US census, the MEIDENBAUER family reported that husband, George; wife, Margaret; and three sons, Jacob, George, and John immigrated to the US in 1882. On the 1920 census, their American born son, Frank, reported that his parents place of birth was Bavaria. Their Declaration of Intent was dated, October 13th 1884. I fully agree that information providers should be compensated for their efforts. The users should support the museums. I seek to spend my money wisely. Thanks for offering to research the primary ports. What is your information source as I have many others than the MEIDENBAUER family that I would gladly research independently? Patrick -----Original Message----- From: Don Watson [mailto:dwats@cox.net] Sent: Monday, September 26, 2005 10:18 AM To: BAVARIA-L@rootsweb.com Subject: Re: [BAVARIA] Data base in Bermerhaven Patrick, normally the years one traveled sort of dictated the port. If you'll post the years I'll look up what ports were used, primarily, in that time period. :-) Don p.s. It is ridiculous to ask our German friends to do research for us for nothing. What would you do if you received 8 hours of requests daily? -----Original Message----- From: Patrick M. Lofft [mailto:pmlofft@comcast.net] Sent: Monday, September 26, 2005 5:21 PM Subject: RE: [BAVARIA] Data base in Bermerhaven Pamela and others, Are there sites that provide history regarding the common migration roots from Bavaria to America? I am curious to learn whether Hamburg, Bremerhaven, Rotterdam or some others would be the most appropriate for searching. ==== BAVARIA Mailing List ==== Going on Vacation? Longer than 4 days? Go to http://lists.rootsweb.com/index/intl/DEU/BAVARIA.html to unsubscribe

The following chart shows the five major U.S. ports of entry on the Atlantic coast: Port Passengers Lists Indexes New York 24.0 M 1820-1957 1820-1846, 1897-1948 Boston 2.0 M 1820-1943 1848-1891, 1902-1920 Baltimore 1.5 M 1820-1948 1820-1952 Philadelphia 1.2 M 1800-1945 1800-1948 New Orleans 0.7 M 1820-1945 1853-1952 The second column shows the number of passengers, in millions, that arrived at each port between 1820 and 1920. The main ports from Europe were Hamburg and Bremen in Germany, Goteborg in Sweden, Antwerp in Belgium, Le Havre and Bordeau in France, Rotterdam and Textel Island in The Netherlands, London in England, and Ireland. Passenger Arrival Indexes, NYC, through LDS-FHC libraries: Alphabetical Index 1820-1846, National Archives Microfiche M261 (103 rolls). 1820-1897 M237. 16 Jun 1897 thru 30 Jun 1902 T519 (115 rolls). 1897-1924 T715. 01 Jul 1902 thru 31 Dec 1943 T621 (755 rolls). 1924-1932 T715. 1932-1957 T715 (5219-8892) No index for the years 1847-1896. Soundex Index 1944-1948 M1417 (94 rolls). 1854 through 1882 saw high levels of German emigration. During this time period Hamburg and Bremen were the ports most frequently used. The LDS genealogy library has a book for those who emigrated from Hessen-Nassau. It is otherwise out of print. It is known, in the German, as Band IV, Die Auswanderung aus dem Herzogtum Nassau (1806-1866), Wolf-Heino Struck. Franz Steiner Verlag GMBH Wiesbaden, 1966. That translates to: Volume 4, The Emigration from the Duchy of Hessen-Nassau (1806-1866), compiled by Wolf-Heino Struck. Published by Franz Steiner Verlag GMBH in Wiesbaden, Germany, in 1966. LDS Microfiche number 6001623 or Book Call number-location 943.41, Salt Lake City, Utah. Search by author or title. In many cases a company or an individual posted articles in town halls, at the town square, and newspapers, advertising passage to North America (Canada and the USA). Emigrants could sign up as a group, or as a family, or as an individual. In many cases those who made it to a stopover in England remained there, or later journeyed on to the USA. Stopovers were London, Hull, and some ended up going overland or by boat to ports for Ireland. Usually, the company or individual organizing the voyage required emigrants to use certain ports - the ones where he profited the most. See http://germanroots.home.att.net/1709palatines for an example of ship travel while the USA was still a colony of Great Britain. Up until 1861 a cotton market flourished between Louisiana and various European locations. Shiploads of cotton arrived usually at Le Havre, and then on the return voyage they carried a shipload of emigrants. In some cases the Le Harve to New Orleans route detoured to drop emigrants off in Baltimore, then continued on to Louisiana. See also: http://www.ancestry.com/search/db.aspx?dbid=3713 See also: http://members.cox.net/hessen/ships.htm