Hello All This is a very basic request, so apologies if it seems too simple to anyone well versed in researching family history. I know the names, year of departure, ship name, departure port (Hamburg) & arrival port (New York) for ancestors of mine from Germany in 1853. Johann Wilhelm Christoph Jenssen (DOB 21.12.1812 & spelt with the german double s), wife Dorothea Sophia Christine (born Guhlstorff - with an umlaut) no DOB or death known. Travelled from Hamburg to New York on the ship 'Lea Lion' in 1853. No further details known. I would be very grateful for any tips on where/how to search for them. Have no knowledge/experience yet of American records or sites etc. and all advice would be well received - nothing would be too basic or obvious !! Best wishes Ann LuthLondon UK

On Apr 27, 2011, at 1:22 PM, Ann Luth wrote: > > Hello All > This is a very basic request, so apologies if it seems too simple to anyone well versed in researching family history. > I know the names, year of departure, ship name, departure port (Hamburg) & arrival port (New York) for ancestors of mine from Germany in 1853. > Johann Wilhelm Christoph Jenssen (DOB 21.12.1812 & spelt with the german double s), wife Dorothea Sophia Christine (born Guhlstorff - with an umlaut) no DOB or death known. Travelled from Hamburg to New York on the ship 'Lea Lion' in 1853. No further details known. > I would be very grateful for any tips on where/how to search for them. Have no knowledge/experience yet of American records or sites etc. and all advice would be well received - nothing would be too basic or obvious !! I think the ship is actually the "Sea Lion," which in 1853 arrived from Hamburg to New York on 21 November. Can you confirm this spelling? There's a free site, http://castlegarden.org , and a search for anyone named Jenssen who traveled from 1852-1854 results in a Jochen (Joachim?) Jenssen, age 25, wife Elisabeth age 20, and Mina, eight months old. But that doesn't match your fellow's birth year or the name of his wife. You can explore yourself to see what you can find. I checked the Hamburg ship lists at http://ancestrylibrary.com (a paid subscription site) for his departure and Jochen is listed, with the further information that he came from Petershagen, Mecklenburg before his departure from Hamburg. Does this match any location information you have for your Jenssens? Another free site, http://familysearch.org , may be of some use if you can determine where he may have settled. This will be the hard part of your search because you don't know what states to consider. Johann may have used any or all of his names after emigrating. He may have been known as John, William, or Christopher or some combination...or even Hans. His wife may have been known by any of her names as well. He may also have changed his last name, which might have become Johnson. So all those terms would have to be searched. A general search through U.S. census records doesn't turn up any Jenssen/Jensen/Johnson born in 1812 from Germany. Unfortunately census records didn't begin to include emigration year until 1900. I wish I could help further. This is going to be a tough one because of the early date of emigration and Johann's age at the time of emigration. If he died before the 1860 census he would not have been recorded at all unless you're lucky enough to find him in a death record somewhere in the U.S. Try the http://familyserch.org site and plug in the various names you have. You may find something of interest. Regards, Debra MacLaughlan-Dumes http://sakionline.net/familypage