I am trying to locate Hermann Henry (Henrich) Hellmann who was born in October, 1830. Two Census documents say he came from Hanover. He came to the U.S. in 1849. I would appreciate any information you have on this surname.
Kathy Reed
Hi Kathy:
First, you need to know it the referenced Hannover was the Kingdom of Hannover, or the city of Hannover. If you don't know, you have a problem. The following URL's have maps showing the KOH, which leaves you looking at a substantial area and population. In either the KOH or the city.
http://www.koenigreich-hannover.de/ukindex2.html
This map shows Hannover as it appears in the European map about 1830 when your ancestor was born.
http://home.mweb.co.za/el/elijo/eng/origins.html
In this map, Lower Saxony is the same as the Kingdom of Hanover, although over the years, there were always border changes.
Also, Herman came to the US before registry centers such as Castle Garden and Ellis Island were formed. If you know the month he arrived in the U.S., you might find him on a ships list. Even then, you may have a problem, because for various reasons, many times only the country of origin was mentioned and you already have that information.
However, I have found that the early German churches in the U.S. maintained good records and of those, marriage records were the most complete, many times mentioning the specific town of birth. Don't forget to check records covering Best men, Brides maids, god parents, etc., because many of them may come from the same place in Germany.
Without the name of a town in Hannover, your odds are very poor,(not impossible)but very poor. The only help I can give you there is that there were Hellman's living in Achim at the time in question.
Also, give this List the location where he lived in the U.S., you may receive suggestions as to where you might obtain further information.
Good Luck
Gale
Hello Kathy,
Hellmann is a fairly common name in Germany. In the emigration
archives of Osnabrück there is a listing of a Hermann Heinrich Hellmann --
his place of origin is Hoyel which is east of Melle - a small town. There
is another name on that listing with the same code number whose name is
Christian Johann Friedrich. Do you have knowledge of a brother or cousin of
Hermann with that name?
Evidently, Hermann is not listed in the online LDS 1880 census. Is that
right? And where did he live in the U.S.? Kentucky?
Was he Lutheran or Catholic? Every little bit of information matters!
Did you actually see the ship list for 1849? And what is his wife's name?
Barbara