After a hint from the list that my Morse ancestors may have left West Prussia with the surname Moers, I succeeded in locating them on the Castlegarden website. First Last Occupation Age Sex Arrived Ship Origin (Port) (Ctry) FERDINAND MOERS LABORER 26 M 2 Dec 1881 RHEIN BREMEN & SOUTHAMPTON GERMANY ANNA MOERS WIFE 28 F 2 Dec 1881 RHEIN BREMEN & SOUTHAMPTON GERMANY AUGUSTE MOERS INFANT 7 m F 2 Dec 1881 RHEIN BREMEN & SOUTHAMPTON GERMANY Is there enough information here to lead me back to the Moers' point of departure in West Prussia? Thanks for any help you may be able to give, JB

JB: You have enough information to obtain a copy of the microfilm from the LDS that would show the original ship manifest. Sometimes the manifest gives the place of origin or last residence and sometimes not - or maybe it will just state "Germany". No way to tell until you look. (The Germans to America books ususally left that info out even if the original included it.) To make a long story short, this ship manifest (for the ship "RHEIN") should be found on LDS film #1027015. To verify my search, go to the Family Search Catalog; in the "Place Search" box enter "New York City". When results appear, click on 3rd line - "New York City, New York City; scroll down and click on "New York City, New York City Emmigration & immigration indexes"; When those results appear, click on 4th item "Passenger lists of vessels arriving at New York City 1820 - 1897; index to passenger lists of vessels arriving in New York Cit 1820 - 1846 - U.S. Immigration & Naturalization Service". When you arrive there, choose "View Film Notes". Scroll down to dates which include your 2 December 1881 - should be about item 500. There you can verify if the film number I cited is correct. A long way to go but it is always an absolute must to view the original record. I don't subscribe to Ancestry so don't know if there is an easier way to view the original on their site. Hope this helps. Sheila K. On Wed, Jul 1, 2009 at 1:23 PM, JB <[email protected]> wrote: > After a hint from the list that my Morse ancestors may have left West > Prussia with the surname Moers, I succeeded in locating them on the > Castlegarden website. > > First Last Occupation Age Sex Arrived Ship > Origin (Port) (Ctry) > FERDINAND MOERS LABORER 26 M 2 Dec 1881 RHEIN BREMEN & SOUTHAMPTON > GERMANY > ANNA MOERS WIFE 28 F 2 Dec 1881 RHEIN BREMEN & > SOUTHAMPTON GERMANY > AUGUSTE MOERS INFANT 7 m F 2 Dec 1881 RHEIN BREMEN & > SOUTHAMPTON GERMANY > > Is there enough information here to lead me back to the Moers' point of > departure in West Prussia? > > Thanks for any help you may be able to give, JB > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > [email protected] with the word 'unsubscribe' without the > quotes in the subject and the body of the message >

On Jul 1, 2009, at 11:57 AM, Sheila Kapella wrote: > JB: You have enough information to obtain a copy of the microfilm > from the > LDS that would show the original ship manifest. Sometimes the > manifest gives the place of origin or last residence and sometimes > not - or > maybe it will just state "Germany". No way to tell until you look. I have an ancestry.com subscription so I checked it for you, JB, and the manifest only lists "Germany" as the place of origin. If you want to explore this further in Ancestry, Ferdinand is transcribed as "Ferdinand Mons". The 1900 federal census shows Ferdinand, Anna, and lots of children living in Gladstone, Henderson County, Illinois; Ferdinand's birth information is July 1855. The 1920 census shows Ferdinand Morse, wife Anna, and son Adolph still living in Gladstone. Ferdinand's and Anna's birthplace is listed as "West Prussia" in this census, which might be a little clue. I can't find Ferdinand or Anna in the 1930 census. The Illinois State Archives index shows three death records for a Ferdinand Morse between 1920 - 1930 but none of them are in Henderson County and there's no way to know whether any of these are your Ferdinand because age isn't indicated in the index. A death certificate might be your best bet if you can track it down. Sometimes the informant had useful birthplace information to report. It might not hurt to phone the Henderson County court or vital records and ask them whether they have an index to death certificates in the county. They may refer you to a state archive but it never hurts to try. They may even have copies of original death certificates and may be willing to send you a copy for a small fee. Best of luck! Regards, Debra MacLaughlan-Dumes http://sakionline.net/familypage

An obituary may also be helpful as well as trying to locate the church this famiy attended in this country. The church records very often record the birthplace of German immigrant families. Sheila K.