Hello, My ggg-grandmother is recorded as coming from West Prussia and as East Prussia in census data and that is the reason for my posting on this mailing list. I recently received information of her birth place from my ggg-grandfather's naturalization papers. (Wives and children were naturalized under their husband/father until around 1922 in the USA). Henrietta Radke (married Michael Wagner in the USA) is recorded as born in 'Lichtenfeld, Germany' in the second papers.I have her year of birth as 1866 and year of emmigration from Germany as 1891. My limited ability to research and understand the geographical localities that are situated within a historical context is apparent. The resources I have access to are only so helpful and I am hoping somebody with more knowledge than I have will be able to answer my questions or clarify my information. I was only able to locate 'Lichtenfels' in the German state of Bavaria. Was there a locality in East or West Prussia during 1866 called Lichtenfeld? I have only been able to located persons with the surname of Litchenfeld and not a geographical location. I have not been able to glean much information about Prussia other than the two dates that it was politcally recognize. Is the historical kingdom only present day Poland? I would appreciate any information about locating sources to better my understanding of Prussia in general, and specifically during 1866-1891, and the present day political boundaries. When considering the information recorded on the second naturalization papers, I was wondering if Lichtenfeld could be a misspelling of her East or West Prussia roots. Perhaps the court recorder could not understand Grandpa Wagner's German dialect. If there is no such community in Prussia, could that be another clue to her family? She has been known to do such things in other documents. For example, each daughter shares the middle name of Mina and her rationale for doing so was to trace the family line. I appreciate any thoughts, ideas, or suggestions. And a big thank you for reading this long post. Regards, Wendy Fischbach To accomplish great things, we must not only act, but also dream; not only plan, but also believe. -Anatole France ____________________________________________________________________________________ Never miss an email again! Yahoo! Toolbar alerts you the instant new Mail arrives. http://tools.search.yahoo.com/toolbar/features/mail/

Wendy For the search in the U.S.A. If You search for some records in the U.S.A. , then check out the link http://www.loricase.com/CDs/cdlist.html They want You to use Their FFI ( Family Finders Index ) section , before You e-mail a volunteer for a free lookup. AND forGermany/ Prussia Check out http://www.familysearch.org/Eng/Search/frameset_search.asp or http://worldconnect.rootsweb.com/ or http://www.surnamenavigator.org/ Just fill out the blanks , and click " search " , or " go " If the records are not entered , then You may have to order some films , of that town, of that time , from the FHC library Karl Roussin ====================================== ----- Original Message ----- From: "Wendy Fischbach" <wfischbach@yahoo.com> To: <PRUSSIA-ROOTS@rootsweb.com> Sent: Sunday, May 06, 2007 6:37 AM Subject: [PRUSSIA-ROOTS] Questions about naturalization papers > Hello, > > My ggg-grandmother is recorded as coming from West > Prussia and as East Prussia in census data and that is > the reason for my posting on this mailing list. > > I recently received information of her birth place > from my ggg-grandfather's naturalization papers. > (Wives and children were naturalized under their > husband/father until around 1922 in the USA). > > Henrietta Radke (married Michael Wagner in the USA) is > recorded as born in 'Lichtenfeld, Germany' in the > second papers.I have her year of birth as 1866 and > year of emmigration from Germany as 1891. My limited > ability to research and understand the geographical > localities that are situated within a historical > context is apparent. The resources I have access to > are only so helpful and I am hoping somebody with more > knowledge than I have will be able to answer my > questions or clarify my information. > > I was only able to locate 'Lichtenfels' in the German > state of Bavaria. Was there a locality in East or West > Prussia during 1866 called Lichtenfeld? I have only > been able to located persons with the surname of > Litchenfeld and not a geographical location. > > I have not been able to glean much information about > Prussia other than the two dates that it was > politcally recognize. Is the historical kingdom only > present day Poland? I would appreciate any information > about locating sources to better my understanding of > Prussia in general, and specifically during > 1866-1891, and the present day political boundaries. > > When considering the information recorded on the > second naturalization papers, I was wondering if > Lichtenfeld could be a misspelling of her East or West > Prussia roots. Perhaps the court recorder could not > understand Grandpa Wagner's German dialect. If there > is no such community in Prussia, could that be another > clue to her family? She has been known to do such > things in other documents. For example, each daughter > shares the middle name of Mina and her rationale for > doing so was to trace the family line. > > I appreciate any thoughts, ideas, or suggestions. And > a big thank you for reading this long post. > > Regards, > Wendy Fischbach > > To accomplish great things, we must not only act, but also dream; not only plan, but also believe. -Anatole France > > > > > ____________________________________________________________________________ ________ > Never miss an email again! > Yahoo! Toolbar alerts you the instant new Mail arrives. > http://tools.search.yahoo.com/toolbar/features/mail/ > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to PRUSSIA-ROOTS-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message

Hi Wendy, Did you try to find a marriage record? Sometimes the place of birth is on this record. Maybe you can try to find a marriage record for them in Brookings County, South Dakota. Their daughter, Margaret was born there. South Dakota Births, 1856-1903 Name: Margaret Wagner Birth Date: 10 Aug 1893 Gender: Female County: Brookings Father's name: Michael Wagner Mother's name: Henrietta Radke File Date: 6 Dec 1956 Hope this helps, Ruth Pokorny

Hi again Wendy. I don't know if this is your Henrietta, but her age and immigration year fits. If this is your Henrietta, then she landed at Castle Garden in New York, because Ellis Island did not open until 1892. Hope this helps, Ruth Pokorny http://www.stevemorse.org/ellis/cg.html Henriette Radke Occupation Unknown Age 26 Sex F Literacy U Arrived 20 Oct 1891 Origin Germany Port Bremen & Southampton Last Residence Hipstedt Destination New York Plan Unknown Ship Aller Passage Unknown