I checked my grandfather's death certificate at the Court House in Minn
and it did not have his
place of birth, just Germany. I did find a Johann Clausen in the New
York Passenger lists
that could be him and it shows Place of Origin as PreuBen. He sailed on
the Westphalia. He
arrived 12 May 1880.
I also found a Margaretha Clausen, near the right age, arriving in New
York on the Suevia
with a place of Origin as PreuBen, same as Johann. She arrived 20 Jun
1878.
It's possible she came first, but I have no way of knowing. Is there a
way to check the
place of Origin? I still haven't found the sister - Emma. Don't know
her birthdate either.
Edith
I think that you will have to find the birthplace here in the U.S. When
I saw that long list of Claussens (Clausens) that were on that list from
Holstein, I don't know how you can ever be sure which would be your
Claussen. On the LDS website, there are so many listings of a Peter
Claussen (as well as John) in that time period. You have John Peter's
birthdate, but there could be an error there as well.
Some passenger lists name a place of origin, but I think most do not.
Someone may know what the likelihood would be. I would be surprised if
Margaretha would have come by herself unless she was married already.
I would think the marriage license from the state of Illinois would tell
you if it was a church marriage or not. Have you contacted any Church in
Rock Island? Actually, the marriages on the Illinois index are listed by
county--do you know where John Clausen lived in Ill? I forget all the
places you have already searched.
In the Illinois marriage index, there are 4 Emma Claussen marriages in
1887, 1888, 1892, 1899. The spouses are listed if you care to look at them.
I thought since John Clausen and Mary Kroeger were married in Illinois, his
sisters may have been married there as well.
There is a Margaret Clausen marriage listed in Illinois as well, but
it's in 1908. Husband Herman Fasbender. Also, a Anna Margarethe married in
1899 in Cook county to Laurits Pedersen.
On that marriage index, you can run a search with just one last name and
see what you come up with. It's too bad not every state has such an index.
Edith!
I think I found it! Your John Peter's birthplace is Heide.
Dithmarschen Emigrants (1868-1920)
If a person wants to emigrate to another country, e.g., USA or Brazil, or
within Germany to another city or county, he has to make application to
leave. For Schleswig-Holstein, applications are available at Landesarchiv
Schleswig. Applications exist for only about 10 percent of the emigrants; 90
percent of emigrants either did not make applications or the application is
lost.
A Genealogical Researcher in Dithmarschen (Mr. Jochims) has spent two years
to built this database by the informations of the applications of emigration
[Landesarchiv Schleswig Abt.309]. He was able to locate about 3600 from
Dithmarschen emigrated persons.
Go to this page which has the names of persons beginning with C:
There are a number of Claussen/Clausen names on the LDS site that
could tie in with that family. For instance, there is a Peter Claussen from
Heide, born 1825 (parents: Peter Joh.N.Claussen and Antje Speck). He could
be the father of John Peter. There is also a listing for Clausen in
Weddingstedt, which is nearby. The spelling of that name probably goes back
and forth (s or ss)
The LDS have church records and other records for Heide that may be
helpful. I hope you are near a LDS center. There seems to be a
Norderdithmarschen and a Suderdithmarschen (north and south?) - probably
all the same at one time.