Hi Jerry Ann, Saw your message re Emil F. Gregor and took a look in my german-language gazetteer of Bohemia from the 1840s. There are listed there two places which might be called Garten (umlaut over the a). One of them, the primary one by this name, is, I think, the one you want. The reason I think so will become clear after you finish this message. To begin with, I looked at the 1900, 1910, 1920 and 1930 census entries for your Emil F. Gregor. In 1900, he reported having been born in July 1872. Ages in other census years suggest a birth year of 1873 or even 1875. He also waivered in what he reported as the year he came to the US. In 1900 he stated he had been in the US for seven years. In 1910 he stated that he came in 1890. In 1920 he stated he was naturalized in 1895 and came to the US in 1889. In 1930 he again gave 1889. (If you don't have his census entries for these years, let me know and I will send you the other details.) Anyway, we can be on fairly safe ground that he came some time in the interval between 1889-93. Surprisingly, I found an Emil Gregor who matches very closely to yours in the immigration indexes for Baltimore arrivals. While there are a couple of things about the entry that do not match your info, I think it is highly likely that this is him. The Emil Gregor I found arrived in Sept 1891 on the ship Dresden at age 18. He differs from what you have given in that he departed from Bremen rather than Hamburg and listed his country of citizenship as Saxony rather than as Austria or Bohemia. I still think he is a good candidate for your man. Here is why: no other foreign- born Emil Gregor shown in the 1900-1930 U.S. censuses shows a similar birth year, nor are there any that claimed to originate in Germany or Saxony. Thus we can't eliminate this passenger by tying him to some other Emil Gregor than yours. More importantly: the principal place called "Garten" was located essentially right on the border between Bohemia and Saxony. In fact it is in a little "arm" of Bohemia that projects up into and is completely surrounded by Saxony. Garten's czech name, and current name, is Zahrady, which is more or less a direct translation into Czech of the german name of the place. Its inhabitants in the 1800s were german-speaking. The other "Garten", while still a remote possibility, seems less likely to me as it is a very long way from the border. Also, its primary name in german was Gerten, and Garten is listed only as a variant name for it. Its czech name is Krty, it is located between Prague and Karlovy Vary. My surmise is that your ancestor didn't exactly stow away on a cattle boat but either 1) slipped across the border into Saxony to leave the country, and lied about his place of origin when he came through germany and onto the ship, or 2) went with a group of people who were in fact from the Saxon side of the border, and simply ended up also listed as from there, or 3) was in fact living in Saxony prior to leaving for the U.S. All would be possible given the close proximity of Garten to the border. Young men who were approaching military service age were usually required to do their military service before they were permitted to emigrate from Bohemia. So it does seem likely that he left without permission to emigrate, which could mean that he later worried that he would get in trouble over it and thus cooked up the cattle boat story and conveniently changed the port of departure to throw off the trail. Or his memory might have been inaccurate. One other thing struck me from the censuses - in 1900, 1910 and 1920 he is a soldier in the U.S. military. He seems to have had a lengthy military career which started even prior to 1900, as he already held the rank of sergeant in that census. You may want to look into whether military records can be obtained on the possibility that they might provide more evidence about his place of origin, birth date and parentage. The national archives likely have his military records. Obviously, this is all circumstantial. But if I had to put money on it, I would take odds that he is in fact the man shown on the 1891 passenger list and that his birth records will be in the churchbooks for Krasna Lipa (german name: Schoenlinde), which was the parish church serving Garten (aka Zahrady). Kevin >>> <[email protected]> 04/05/06 2:52 PM >>> This is a Message Board Post that is gatewayed to this mailing list. Classification: Query Message Board URL: http://boards.ancestry.com/mbexec/msg/an/lRC.2ACE/3447.2.2.1 Message Board Post: Zlatica Beca, Thank you so very much for all the info you have gotten in such a short time. My problem is that there is no records of Emil F. Gregor coming into America as far as I know. He came to America when he was 17 years old. Came into Baltimore, Maryland (Chesapeak Bay) on a cattle boat which he stowed away out of Hamburg, Germany. The only thing I know was that he became an American citizen Oct. 7,1895 In Baltimore. We were never told his parents names or his siblings. He told our father that he was born in Garten, Austria and that is all. So therefore you can see I do not know even where to start. I sure thank you for your kindness, it is greatly apprecicated. Jerry Ann ______________________________