I thank all who responded to my post re the Kingdom of Hanover. I have printed some of the replies in the event I am succsessful in my search.
This is what I am trying to do. I am searching for the birthplace, baptismal location, etc of my ggrandfather Julis Wilhelm Burgdorf. He states on a document he attested to in New Orleans that he was born 'in Hildesheim in Hanover', about 1825. A search by a professional genealogist in Germany of both Catholic and Evangelical church records in the city of Hildesheim was fruitless. This researcher told me that Hildesheim can refer to a 'territory' as well as the city. I understand this to be similar to a county or state in the US. and that all towns, villages in that 'territory are possible targets of my search. It occurs to me that I need access to a map of the Hildesheim 'territory' so that I can identify them by name. I then might be able to find a church resouce, like an archdiocese that may have records. While I think he was evangelical I cannot rule out that he was Catholic. I have an early 1900s picture of my father holding what appears to be bible and most obviously prayer beads. Yet the obituary of his father has a masonic emblem.
To be honest I do not know how to proceed. I have looked at a Hildesheim census records from LDS film, again no luck. Any suggestions will be greatly appreciated.
Max
Hello Max,
As you may know, the only Julius Burgdorf in the Wolfenbüttel
emigration records came from the area of Salder which was probably not in
the "district" of Hildesheim. Furthermore, that Julius Burgdorf emigrated in
1849. Is it possible that he came earlier than the 1859-1860?
I was looking at the Lousisiana genealogy records. Is the Max C.E.
Burgdorf I see there related to you? Have you ever checked the marriage and
birth records of the family of Julius Burgdorf to see if a birthplace for
Julius is ever mentioned? Were Julius' family baptized in a Catholic or
Lutheran church? If there is a chance that he was Catholic, you could try
to contact the Catholic diocese of Hildesheim and they may have records
there. Here is an email address:
bistumsarchiv@bistum-hildesheim.de
You could also contact the Catholic diocese in New Orleans. Many dioceses in
the U.S. and in Germany have "centralized" their church records. However, I
would think the researcher you hired in Germany would have researched those
places.
You can get a map of Hildesheim by going to: http://www.mapquest.com/
Go to Maps and click on "outside U.S. and Canada" and then fill in the blank
for Hildesheim in Germany. You can zoom in and out to get the big picture
or more detailed picture.
Good luck to you!
Barbara
Dear Max,
This might be interesting...Did you mention your grandfather had a brother named Carl?
From Castlegarden.org
Carl Burgdorf Occupation Cigar Maker
Age 32
Sex M
Literacy U
Arrived 7 Sep 1853 *****
Origin Germany
Port Bremen
Last Residence Hildesheim ****
Destination New York
Plan Unknown
Ship Elisabeth
Passage Unknown
J.w. Burgdorf Occupation Clerk
Age 33
Sex M
Literacy U
Arrived 6 Jan 1860
Origin Germany
Port Hamburg
Last Residence U
Destination USA
Plan Unknown
Ship Oder
Passage Unknown
Lucas. Feldhaus Occupation Farmer
Age 33
Sex M
Literacy U
Arrived 27 May 1859
Origin Hanover
Port Bremen
Last Residence U
Destination Missouri
Plan Unknown
Ship Adler
Passage Unknown
P.S. About Castlegarden. Lucas Feldhaus was my grandfather. I know for a fact that his ship arrived in New Orleans. I viewed the microfilm at the St. Louis County Library SPC. I think some of the passenger lists indexed at this site, especially originating from the Port of Bremen may have actually or also stopped at the Port of New Orleans.
Barbie Lew
Hello Barbie,
Both Barbecke and Barum are in the Duchy of Braunschweig.
Hildesheim was not in Braunschweig, but in Hannover. There is no doubt a
good number of Burgdorfs living in that same general area. Some will be in
the Braunschweig area and others in or near Hildesheim. In fact, there are
two towns by the name of Burgdorf not that far from Hildesheim. I would
think the district of Hildesheim would include towns closer to that city
than 20 miles. I could be wrong about that. However, if you look for those
towns (Barbecke and Barum) on the LDS site, they are listed as in
Braunschweig.
Yes, it is true that emigration records may list not the birthplace,
but the place of residence before emigrating.
I don't know what Brg.Anz. means. That is often included in the codes
given in the emigration archives on the search page:
http://app.staatsarchive.niedersachsen.de/findbuch/
There is no doubt that Julius Burgdorf could have been born in
Hildesheim and moved to Barbecke before emigration (or vice-versa), but one
cannot assume that without further information. There may have been
duplicate Julius Burgdorfs right in Hildesheim at that time as well! That is
one of the difficult problems in this odd search for dead relatives that
we're all addicted to!!
By the way, I think Max has evidence that Julius came through New
Orleans. We'll keep working on it though!
Thanks, Barbie
Barbara