Since I have been unable to find anything on immigration of my ggmother and her family from Germany to USA, is it possible that they left from a different place than Germany? If they left from someplace else, how would I go about finding where and when? I do have a date of 1861 for immigration, but still cannot find any record. The only place I have found the name Helstern is on her death certificate, which from past experiences, could be spelled wrong. Any suggestions?

Hi Dolores, I know it can be so frustrating to keep searching. Ports of Departure inside of Germany could have been Bremen, Bremerhaven, Hamburg, or Cuxhaven. Here are a list of other possible Ports of Departure: Amsterdam, Netherlands Antwerp, Belgium Bremen, Germany Cherbourg, France Hamburg, Germany Hull, England Le Havre, France Liverpool, England Rotterdam, Netherlands Southampton, England at: http://www.cyndislist.com/portsdepart.htm (copyright C. Howells) It can be possible your ancestor went to Canada first as sometimes the cost of passage was less expensive to disembark there and then come into the U.S. Here are other links/URLs: German & European Passenger Departure Records and Emigration Records: http://home.att.net/~wee-monster/ei.html (copyright Joe Beine) Ships and Passenger Database http://www.saxonyroots.com/ships/ U.S. Diplomatic Mission to Germany: List of Links: http://usa.usembassy.de/germanamericans-genealogy.htm Cuxhaven from Cuxaus: http://hapag-halle-cuxhaven.de/auswandererdatenbank/ Emslanders to the American Mid-West: http://www.emslanders.com/ Emigration from Lippe to the USA: Naturwissenschaftlicher und Historischer Verein für das Land Lippe e.V http://www.lippe-auswanderer.de/AuswandererLippe-USA/html/frames.htm Some of the above have databases where you can enter the surname. If you want to research the individual Ports, in any search engine type in Archives of Belgium , or Archives of Antwerp (passengers) or in brackets type in (emigration) after the Archives of _____ name. Liverpool has a website regarding their ships and emigrants, as well as a few other ports in England. Or, search Port of Rotterdam (passenger lists) in any search engine. You may be surprised but many Germans left through Irish or Scottish ports of departure too. There were many destroyed passenger lists due to the various wars or natural disasters. Some organizations are trying to reconstruct passenger lists from old, antique newspaper accounts. That is a very large project & time-consuming project. Others may have suggestions for you. I found one Helstern for 1861 - Ship Name: Saxonia Name: Herrm Hellstern Age: 14 Gender: Male Place of Origin: Germany Port of Departure: Hamburg, Germany and Southampton, England Port of Arrival: New York Arrival Date: 20 November 1861 Microfilm Roll: M237_216; List No. 1076; Line No. 37 RE: Records of the U.S. Customs Service Record Group 36 National Archives, Washington, D.C. If you are certain of the year, have you considered contacting The National Archives to search for you? Not everything is on-line. Information: US National Archives: Immigration Records (Ship Passenger Arrival Records) 1820 - 1982 http://www.archives.gov/genealogy/immigration/ Hang in there and best of luck! Kathleen _________________ --- Dolores wrote: "Since I have been unable to find anything on immigration of my ggmother and her family from Germany to USA, is it possible that they left from a different place than Germany? If they left from someplace else, how would I go about finding where and when? I do have a date of 1861 for immigration..." ____________________________________________________________________________________ Sponsored Link $420k for $1,399/mo. Think You Pay Too Much For Your Mortgage? Find Out! www.LowerMyBills.com/lre