In hopes that some new people have joined the list since the last
time I posted this message, I'm trying again :
I'm looking for the town in Mecklenburg where my great-grandfather,
Hermann Heinrich Ehlers, was born Dec. 12, 1824. Some time before Dec.
1845 he emigrated to America (probably around 1840), when he was married in
New Orleans. I believe he may have had an older brother Hermann. I don't
know anything else about his family in Germany. I do know a lot about his
life in the US (until his death in Iowa in 1856).
Does anyone have any idea how I can search for information about
him, based only on his name, birthdate, and the fact that he gave
Mecklenburg as his birthplace when he applied for US citizenship? I can't
find him on any passenger lists -- although it's hard to know for a single
young man. I have looked through the church registers of all 28 parishes
listed in the "west" section of the 1819 census as having Ehlers families
(the west seemed to have the highest concentration of Ehlers) .. with no
luck. I've also looked in 4 of the parishes in the south section.
Obviously, I can try the rest of the south, plus the north, east, and
cities, but in the meantime, if anyone can offer a shortcut, I'd really
appreciate it! (And, of course, there's also the problem that he was born
5 years after the census, so his parents could have moved to some totally
different parish by then.)
Thanks for any clues!!!
Ann Salzmann