Thank you, Anne. I'm new to this list and am somewhat bewildered. I don't
speak German and look through the messages hoping to find my surname
(Bobzien). So far, no luck.
Census records indicate that William Bobzien was born in Mecklenburg in
1822. He appears in the Louisville, KY USA city directory in 1850 as a tailor.
He married Carlotta Wilkes in 1850; and 2nd marriage to Ameila Kaiser, or
Keiser, in 1853 (my line). He and Amelia had five children: Hugo Henry William
(my great grandfather), Emma, William, Herman and George. Since no record
can be found for his parents or siblings, I have not been able to trace him
back to Mecklenburg. If anyone on the list is researching this family surname,
I would appreciate hearing from them.
Shirley Bobzien Brinly
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You might try like I did. I used naturalization papers to learn where my (great) grandparents came into this country. Then I searched for ship manifests to see where (and through what port) they came to the USA. Then I found their names on the Hamburg lists. Very helpful searchers on this list were able to pinpoint the town that they had come from on the Hamburg lists, and voila! There they were on the 1819 Mecklenburg Census. Now I will be able to search the church books, which have been filmed, and continue to retrace my ancestors even further back. It is a lot of work trying to locate the town of origin, but with patience (and help from the lists) it can be done. Good Luck!
Did you try looking up the original marriage record for William Bobzien in Louiseville 1850 & 1853 ? It might state where he was from. Also look for his original church funeral record. I looked for Bobzien in Ship lists but I don't see William and the ones I did find arrived after 1850.
I did a search in the Mecklenburg Schwerin Census of 1819 for Bobzien and there were 127 names in different towns. There was a Wilhelm Hermann Bobzien born 1797 in Steinfeld and living in Hohen Pritz. There were several other Bobzien in Hohen Pritz, including an Andreas Bobzin born 1857 in L�bz and a Hinirich Bobzien born 1862 in L�bz.
Maybe those are related to your William ? This census doesn't cover Mecklenburg-Strelitz though. Have you tried looking on FamilySearch.org website too?