Fellow Hannover Detectives,
This is an update on my search for my ggf Frederick F Speckmann?s history and a report on the results of requesting records from the Osnabruck Archives.
Some time ago, Barbara found an entry in the German Emigration List (she has explained to all of us how it works) for a Freiderich Ferdinand Speckmann which showed up in a search of the Osnabruck list. It showed a town/location of Dom(Haste/Schinkel). Her explanation also included an email address to obtain the original record from the Osnabruck archives.
About February 3, I sent an email to Tanja Volley at the Osnabruck Archives asking her to proceed with the research in obtaining the original record.
In the meanwhile, as I reported earlier, I found the ship that a Fredk Speckmann arrived in NY in June 1860 and from that I was able to get the ship?s manifest and FFS was listed as coming from Schinkel, Hannover and was16 years and 6 months old.
Also, I received information from the Osnabruck Genealogy Center that they have a record of a Frederick Ferdinand Speckmann being born on November 1, 1843 in Schinckel (SP).
On Feb 8, I was told that the emigration information was sent from Germany. It arrived in San Francisco on Feb 14 (to give you an idea of how long it takes). It contained three sheets related to Frederick Ferdinand Speckmann?s emigration. They are hand written forms in German of course in a very fancy script. One is a bit faint. I cannot read German but I can recognize several clues. One is the date November 1, 1843 (birth date) another is the name which looks like Frederick Ferdinand Speckmann (the k on Fredrick drops well below the line however) and another is a date in March 1860 (which is probably when the emigration form was signed or when the ship was supposed to leave) and last the word Schinkel was in the record.
It appears that this all adds up with information I have on the US side (mostly US Census data) which usually showed his birth date year as 1844 but I think it was always calculated (by subtracting age from the year) rather than given as 1844. Although there is a 10 year gap in the US info and I have not tied the FF Speckman who was on the ship in 1860 to the FF Speckman who lived in SF in 1869.
So it appears that this person is indeed my ggf. I still want to have the document translated to make certain of what is says.
Any ideas about how to go about getting it translated? It contains about 100 or so words and I now have it in a Tiff file format.
By the way for those who are interested, here is the cost of the Onsabruck Archive transaction for one record look up:
Postage 3 Euros
Copying 1,50 Euros
Research 10 Euros
Packing/Handling 3 Euros
Total 17,50 Euros
A bargain!
Thanks to all who have helped me get to this point ? as I stated earlier, I did not think it possible to trace my roots back to this point and it appears that this opens the door for tracing back even further.
Thanks again,
Barney Speckman(n)