Thank you for writing. This is e-mail #1. In it I'll suggest some doors you might want to open, or if you've been there once already, reopen. In my next e-mail I'll provide the info you'll need to work each of these four new avenues of research. Suggest you do them all at once, rather than one at a time. Should shorten your search for John Otzenberger's personal history if you do it that way. BTW, Are you indicating you know the year of birth but not the date or place of birth? Was that from an obituary, either John's or his wife's? Or from other? And are there any written resources in your home or in the hands of relatives where we might find the hometown & date of birth? Old family bible? Other? Any passport or naturalization papers? Naturalization papers should be a matter of public records, most likely at his first permanent residence in America (Philadelphia?). ONE. The Letter of Intent: You speak of John Otzenberger's "Letter of Intent in the US." This interests me because I have not heard of any US "Letter of Intent." It is possibly the title of a written declaration one would have signed stating his intention to become a naturalized citizen of the US. In this case it might indicate the applicant's hometown or at least the canton from which he came. Do you see any of this type of information mentioned in the "Letter of Intent" you referred to? On the other hand,since his name appears in this document as "Johien," it may well be the Swiss "Letter of Intent" which I am familiar with. In some places it was called the "Legitimation," in one or two others, a "Letter of Intent." In either case, it may indicate the hometown or Canton. Also, the date would be useful, especially if early in 1877. Does the document have any of this information at all? TWO. I will provide you with several maritime website URL's, some of which may prove useful (most will not). Please check each one for the period (1877) and destination (Philadelphia). THREE. Data from the Swiss Surname Directory (SSD) on Surname Otzenberger. Familiennamenbuch der Schweiz. 1989 American Edition. This will list hometowns where Otzenberger families have held citizenship, and were still holding citizenship, as recently as 1962. That is the year the data was collected for this set of books. Bibliography of Swiss Genealogies by Mario von Moos. This is a book that lists most or all of the published genealogies of Swiss surnames as of November 1992. Swiss phonebook listings as of 2001. This can be used to "shotgun" a letter to all "Otzenbergers" listed as living in a certain canton or locale.as of 2001. Most of the Otzenbergers in any particular region will be related, or at least they will know each other. When they receive your letter they will immediately thing of the one person among them who is interested in genealogy. And they will all start hounding her or him to reply to your letter. Saves them the trouble, and after all, she or he has the information, they don't. So the return on your letters will be low, - about 7-10%, and the last letter to find its way to your doorstep is the one with all the info on Otzenberger family. First, of course, you have to know where to write.......what locale. In your case it will be easier than usually. That's because we are already quite sure your husband's Otzenbergers came one one of only three places: Eggiwil in Canton Bern, or Oberthal in Canton Bern, or Grossdietwil in Canton Luzern. FNBS ' 89 tells us that. FOUR. PASSPORT DOCUMENT FOLDER. You already know the year John (Johien) Otzenberger came to America, so you also know the approximate year he applied for his passport. And you also know he was 30 or 31 years of age when he applied. And Otzenberger is a rare, but very old, Swiss surname. The Swiss archives (Staatsarchive [plural] ) should be able to take it from there. Hereis the information you will find in the Document Folder: Register number date of application (day/month/year) Last name & Christian name Home town (community of origin) Place of residence Occupation, if employed. Otherwise, school info, etc. Description: age, height in feet & inches, hair, forehead, eyebrow, eyes, nose, mouth, chin, face, distinguioshing marks. Destination Purpose of travel accompanying persons duration legitimation FIVE. REVIEWOF CHURCH RECORDS FILMED BY THE CHURCH OF CHRIST OF LATTER DAY SAINTS (MORMONS). I assume you have already reviewed these church records, but mebbe not. If not, it is understandable why not. It is because you felt you HAD TO know the hometown where the church books (kirchenbücher) are kept. And although there are ways to get around it, this is usually true. Either way, obtaining films of the kirchenbücher and reviewing them is certainly one things that needs to be done. Thanks again for writing. In this e-mail I have listed some avenues of research you may want to try. In my second e-mail, which I'll send tomorrow, I'll provide the info you'll need to work each avenue of research. So I give you five (possibly) new doors to walk thru in your search for John Otzenberger's personal history. Between now and my next e-mail, bookmark these webpages so you can get to them when you need them. They hold a lot of good information, information that is essential to building a foundation of knowledge needed to do genealogical research in Switzerland. Swiss Genealogy on the Internet : Introduction < http://www.eye.ch/swissgen/> SwissGen Topics: <http://www.eye.ch/swissgen/gener-e.htm> Ships' Lists & Passenger Manifests: < http://www.netmender.net/genelogy/passlist.html> ONLINE SEARCHABLE PASSENGER LISTS: <http://www.angelfire.com/ks/windshipgenhelp/shiplist.html> Deutsche Auswanderer-Datenbank: <http://www.deutsche-auswanderer-datenbank.de/enframeset.htm> Cimorelli Immigration Manifests Online: <http://www.cimorelli.com/safe/shipmenu.htm> Translation Team: <http://www.genealogy.net/gene/misc/translation.html> Information about Swiss Cantons: <http://www.ethz.ch/swiss/Switzerland_Info.html#CH_Cantones> Swiss Genealogy, Personal Pages Of Swiss Families <http://iseli.simplenet.com/ch-names/hp.mv> E-MAIL CONTACTS BY CANTON: <http://www2.genealogy.net/gene/reg/CH/conreg-m.htm#ENGLISH> Best regards, Pete Mattli Clermont, FL <[email protected]> [3-ggg's] SSD Admin ========== Subj: Information Date: 2/19/2003 6:11:13 PM Eastern Standard Time From: <A HREF="mailto:[email protected]">[email protected]</A> To: <A HREF="mailto:[email protected]">[email protected]</A> Sent from the Internet (Details) Hello- I read your very informative letter to Janet on the Switzerland -L- Archives I might as well start with you. I am at a dead standstill on my husbands grandfather. His name is John Otzenberger (I did see it written as Johien on his letter of Intent in the US.) He was born in 1846 and came to the United States in 1877. His port of arrival was Pennsylvania . I do not have any other information on him- like where in Switzerland he was born or who his parents were. Many Otzenberger families are here in the United States - mostly in Louisiana , Ohio and Missori but we can make no connection with any of them. They came in the 1830,s. So far I have not located what ship he came on either. I had thought about a passport but do not know where to start looking. Was there a common port people used when leaving Switzerland. Can you lend me any assistance? Thank You for any help at all Sincerely A. Otzenberger <A HREF="mailto:[email protected]">[email protected]</A>