Lorri, [I gave the thread a proper name] As you may know, Henry Schmidt emigrated to Baltimore, MD with three other people from Bargfeld, Hesse-Kassel, namely Nicolaus Volkert, 20 Shoemaker, Reinhard Scheitler, 17, who like Henry is also a Tailor, and Elisabeth Scheitler, 15, who is listed as a Tailor but was probably a dressmaker or seamstress. Regarding the town of "Bargfeld", I checked the Hessen Gazetteer for "Bergfeld", "Borgfeld", "Burgfeld" and Bargfeld but found no such place. This leaves me to believe, that the reference to "Hesse-Kassel" may be wrong. There is a "Bargfeld" in Niedersachsen [Lower Saxony] and another one in "Thueringen" [Thuringia], disregarding the one located in Schleswig-Holstein as that is in far field. I'm going on the assumption that these guys knew each other either because of their occupation or hometown. Since they arrived in Baltimore rather than New York, it stands to reason that they would either continue on to visit relatives in other states or remain in Baltimore, looking for work. I was lucky to locate Nicolaus VOLKERT, the shoemaker, on the 1860 census in Baltimore; He is married by then. I had hoped of perhaps finding Henry Schmidt or Reinhard Scheitler in Baltimore as well, but so far I haven't been able to locate either in Maryland. So perhaps these two tailors did continue on to Pennsylvania. With there being no shortage of "Henry Schmidts or Smiths" all born about 1834 in "Germany" it would be sheer luck if I were to find him in Pennsylvania in 1860. It seems to me that you need to do more research in PA, marriage record, children's birth records, death records, obituary and so on, before you can definitely say that he came from Hesse. You didn't mention the name of his wife, or the names of any children on the 1870 census; would you please? Also, would you please let me know the Ward number mentioned in the 1870 or 1880 census so that I can look him up? Ursula ____________________________________________________ There'll come a time, when you'll have no more time. ----- Original Message ----- From: "Lorri" <[email protected]> To: [email protected] Sent: Thursday, January 14, 2010 10:32:45 AM GMT -05:00 US/Canada Eastern Subject: Re: [G-P-L] Place in Germany Ursula, thanks for replying. I found my Henry Schmidt on Ship Anna sept 20 1851 age 17 town of origin Bargfeld destination Baltimore occ. tailor I cant find him on 1860 census, the first I find him is his marr in 1864 he lived all his life in Phila. Pa. Thank you for any help. Lorri

Subject: Re: [G-P-L] Henry Schmidt from Bargfeld, Hesse - Kassel The Family History Library has a book by Inge Auerbach Listing documented emigrants from Hessen-Kassel 1840-1850. I checked that for the three surnames mentioned and did find Scheidler from Barchfeld emigrating in 1848. So I suspect tha the group of Schmidt, Scheitler, and Volkert also came from Barchfeld. A 'g" can be pronounced with a "ch" sound. Unfortunately we don't have the church records for Barchfeld an der Werra, Kreis Schmalkalden, except for 1808-1812, but they are available at the Landeskirchliches Archiv in Kassel. In the past they did answer mail and e-mail queries for a fee. I am not sure if their staffing still allows them to do that. You can contact them at [email protected] You can write in English. It's been interesting to follow the discussion on places and jurisdictions. This is a very complicated subject in Germany. Good luck! Baerbel NOTICE: This email message is for the sole use of the intended recipient(s) and may contain confidential and privileged information. Any unauthorized review, use, disclosure or distribution is prohibited. If you are not the intended recipient, please contact the sender by reply email and destroy all copies of the original message.