A Thyme To Plant Herb Farm, Inc. wrote: > Dear ILMacoup Rooters, > > I just want to thank each of you so much for the great instructions you > gave me prior to our trip to Carlinville. snip > I have another question. My ggrandfather was a millwright. He came to > Carlinville (from Germany) sometime in the 1860's (to the best of my > knowledge). My question is...does anyone know if immigrants were sponsored > at that time...and if it may have been likely that he came, specifically, > to work on the courthouse? Without looking into my immigration law books and notes, I doubt VERY much that your ggrandfather was "sponsored" by a family or organization. As I recall, sponsering was a legal novelty introduced after the turn of the century.On the other hand, he may have heard about the project (no telling how he heard) and showed up in C'ville to offer his services. Since the project was so large and the community mostly farmers and related merchants I believe that "technical" skills, such as millwright would have been welcome. > I know they stayed until after 1881 when their > youngest child was born. They moved to St. Louis after that. Is there > any way to find out if that was the situation? I mean...are there any > records of who did the fancy carpentry on the courthouse? Unknown to me. > My husband > questioned this possibility. There was a "German" church; Lutheran as I recall. If there are any remaining records they might reflect membership. I don't know of any Germany societies or fraternities.Seems as if I've seen pictures of court house work crews? Tom