Hi Kathy,
Thank you so much for writing. I have been told about the split but all
I
have to go on are old census records from my great, great, grandfather
where
he states he was born in Schwerin, Mecklenburg-West Pomerania. Maybe it
would be better if I only searched Schwerin, Mecklenburg. What do you
think?
I have visited an LDS center & they have told me that I need to know the
parish where he was born & all I have is what I've told you. Would
Schwerin
be the parish? I hope that I can find his past in Germany & who his
parents
& siblings were.
The Problem with this information is the following:
Schwerin itself is a big town in Mecklenburg and is in these days the
capital of the German state Mecklenburg-Vorpommern.
In former days, when Mecklenburg was separated in Mecklenburg-Schwerin and
Mecklenburg-Strelitz.
Schwerin was also (not always?!) the place where the dutch lived.
So your information could either mean - he was born in Schwerin - town
(several churches possible), or in Schwerin - parish, some more possible
villages around Schwerin. Or born anywhere in Mecklenburg-Schwerin, probably
so far east, that is was near to West Pommerania, that would be Vorpommern.
If I where you I would probably start my search in Schwerin and the
sorrounding villages. (It would be a quick look in the LDS film.) In an
American census it would probably not be of interest if it was
Mecklenburg-Schwerin or -Strelitz. It is possible that the one person,
writing the information in the census was not to good informed about the
borderlines in Europe, so it could be mixed up.
The information you have names Schwerin ahead of Mecklenburg, so it is
possibly his hometown. Or he said he was from Mecklenburg Schwerin and the
writer thought it was Schwerin in Mecklenburg, sorry. Anything is possible.
Maybe you can find the ship. If you have the ship you can search the
archives of the emmigration port, where the information is probably more
detailed. For there was no language barrier.
You may also search in the archive in Schwerin
http://www.landeshauptarchiv-schwerin.de/pages/start.htm .
Sorry, a german page with only an english summary. They have emmigration
lists of Mecklenburg emmigrants to any country.
And last but not least - the name EGGER(S) is to find in the parish
Mummendorf, where I am searching (other names). Next to other professions
they where farmers there. In the moment I am looking in the years 1750 to
1780. But EGGER(S) is not a very rare name I believe.
Good luck
Silke Sarnow