The piece below contains such important information, that could relate to some of our ancestors, that I deceided to share it with you. Though rather lengthy, it is well worth the read. BTW, this came to me from the GEN-DE-L list. Leslie ----------------------------------------- Once again: "Germans to America" really cannot be trusted ... On March 30, 1857 Jakob Damschen mailed a letter in Minden on the Weser stating that he and his wife and 5 children were on their way to Bremen and from there to Bremerhaven to cross the Atlantic for America. I searched the passenger lists published in "Germans to America" (Glazier/Filby: Germans to America, Vol. 9-13: Wilmington, DE: Scholarly Resources 1989/90) for the name of Jakob Damschen. However, his name was not in the lists covering April and May 1857. Was it possible that a list had been overlooked? The passenger lists of vessels arriving at N e w Y o r k in that period which are a available on microfilm in the National Archives did not include the name either. But when I checked the films with the passenger lists of vessels arriving at Baltimore I finally found the family Damschen. And I realized that this "Baltimore list" had not been considered in "Germans to America". Volumes 9-13 of "Germans to America" do not include any passenger lists of vessels that arrived at Baltimore in the period August 4, 1856 to January 17, 1860, whereas these lists can be accessed on the microfilm rolls 11 and 12 (National Archives Microfilm Publications, M 255: Passenger Lists of Vessels arriving at Baltimore): 79 passenger lists of vessels from Bremen/Bremerhaven with the names of approx. 10.000 immigrants from Germany. In most cases the places of origin are also indicated. The lists which have not been published by Glazier/Filby, are "CITY-LISTS". I assume that for "Germans to America" only the lists which are stored in the National Archives were utilized. The microfilms produced some years ago by the National Archives were not considered. Ira A. Glazier and William P. Filby failed to compare the stored lists with those available on microfilm. Glazier/Filby make it difficult for historians and genealogists to find names: Although the index of names they present is very helpful, every registration has to be compared with the lists available on microfilm and these films are hard to come by. In particular this applies to those Germans who emigrated from Bremen because the lists drawn up by the emigration authorities in this city were destroyed whereas the lists of those emigrating from Hamburg were preserved. The most promising way of finding the names of passengers bound for Baltimore is to check the microfilm supplies of the National Archives: - the Baltimore film-rolls (microfilms M 255), - the Baltimore index of names (microfilms M 326, M 327), - the Baltimore quarterly reports to the Federal Government: the Quarterly Abstracts (microfilm, M 596). Once again: In volumes 9-13 Ira A. Glazier and William P. Filby omitted 10.000 German immigrants. I assume that there are further 'city lists' on other microfilm rolls, so that it seems likely that the number of immigrants not listed in "Germans to America" is even bigger: I cannot rule out the possibility that Baltimore lists ("City Lists") of vessels, arriving after January 17, 1860, available on microfilm in the National Archives, have been omitted in Glazier/Filby. Before August 4, 1856 Glazier/Filby omitted only one ship: the vessel "Minerva", arriving from Bremen at Baltimore November 18, 1854. Attention must also be drawn to the following points: - In those instances in which coded names of places are given in "Germans to America" and mixed with indications like "000" or "ZZZ" ("unknown village"), it seems likely that the names of the places where the immigrants did come from nevertheless can be found on the microfilms available. But on the other hand I found that all the German passengers (338) on board the ship "Ems", Bremen - New York, November 10, 1884 (M 237, Roll 481; Glazier/Filby 50, 375-378), in "Germans to America" lost their "last residence". - For those cases in which the passenger lists of ships, arriving from Hamburg available on microfilm, only give "Germany" or one of the German regional states (e.g. Prussia) as the immigrants' places of origin, it is usually the case that the exact place of origin can be found in the Hamburger Regitraturen (1850 - 1934). The following institution will help you with your search: The Historic Emigration Office Elizabeth Sroka Postfach 10 21 249 Steinstrasse 7 20095 Hamburg Tel.: +49(0)40-30051282 Fax: +49(0)40-30051220 e-mail: esrokaheo@aol.com internet: http://users.cybercity.dk~ccc13652/addr/ger-heo.htm Glazier/Filby have crossed out on all the lists the names of all (German) passengers, coming from R u s s i a and A u s t r i a, but not the names of those (Germans), coming from Switzerland or France. (Also see: "Pitfalls" ...: http://www.uni-oldenburg.de/nausa; printed: Fallstricke fuer Genealogen. In: Genealogie 45 (1996) 9/10, 274-280; Fallstricke und kein Ende 46: (1997) 3/4, 507f. - Engl.: Germans to America. 50 volumes that are not to be trusted. In: The Palatine Immigrant 22 (1997) 2, 80-87; Pitfalls and no End to Them, 22 (1997) 3, 152f.) Antonius Holtmann e-mail: holtmann@hrz1.uni-oldenburg.de internet: http://www.uni-oldenburg.de/nausa