Saginaw Genealogical
Society |
||||
| Home | Agenda | Membership | Publications | Board Members |
| Newsletters | Timbertown Log | Websites | Workshops/ Seminars | Mailbag |
| Databases | Volunteer | Society News | Society's Past | History |
| Projects | Genealogy Tips | |||
|
State Archive Nuremberg: 19th Century Emigrants from Central
Franconia to North America |
| A | B | C | D | E | F | G | H | I | J | K | L | M | N | O | P | Q | R | S | T | U | V | W | Z |
|
INTRODUCTION: Staatsarchiv Nuernberg (State
Archive of Central Franconia) Archivstrasse 17 90 408 Nuernberg Germany Telephone (from U.S.A.):
011-49-911-35 74 37 or
-35 75 01 (if calling from within
Germany, 0911-35 74 37) A. “Emigrants from Central
Franconia 1837-1874”: This
is the first of the two indexes at the State Archives and was compiled
from newspapers whose purpose was to announce the intention of the
applicants to emigrate. Anyone
who had claims against these applicants had to report the fact to their
county office within a fortnight. If
no claims were made and if the applicants had paid their taxes as well as
other obligations to church and state, they were given their passports
with a visa of the provincial administration, thus dismissing them from
all duties to the King of Bavaria. It
is important to note that the date of publication was not
the date of their actual emigration (some people changed their plans),
but it may be an indication of the year they left.
Also, if someone wanted to emigrate prior to the fortnight (or
before their financial affairs were settled), they had to name a sponsor
from their home village. Anyone
who emigrated legally would post a listing in one of these newspapers.
Illegal emigrants were not listed for obvious reasons, although a
few who were already in America, subsequently asked for permission to be
released from their Bavarian citizenship (“Nachtraegliche
Auswanderungsgenehmigung”). Most
emigrants from the City of Nuremberg were listed separately in the City
Archive of Nuremberg, Department C 7 (1811-1871), and are not in this
list. 1.
The original book (1837-1854) was compiled from an official newspaper,
“Intelligenzblatt fuer Mittelfranken” (abbreviated “Intellig.Bl.f.Mfr.”) The
remainder of the reference is the: year, part (Beilage), number, column
and date of publication). 2.
After 1854 the newspaper title was, “Kreis-Amtsblatt fuer Mittelfranken”
(abbreviated “Krs.A.Bl.f.Mfr.”)
The remainder of the reference is: year, Part (Beilage), number,
column and date of publication. 3.
A few listings are from a newspaper from the area just east of
Nuremberg: Boten von Altdorf
(1837-1870). Frankenmuth
Historical received this information from another source. B. The second index was a card
file, compiled by the State Archive of Nuremberg after 1980.
The cards refer to records collected as part of the emigration
procedure . . . A person applied to their county office for permission to
emigrate, giving their reason (such as bad ecomical prospects).
There were warned of the perils of emigration, especially that
involving travel to N. America. If
they insisted on emigrating, they were told to produce several documents
and testimonials (village tax receipts, church receipts, baptism document,
property list, proof of ability to pay passage, and sometimes proof that
they had a valid ticket from a reliable agent).
They also had to testify that they had no criminal record and were
honorable subjects. All these
documents were bound into a file and deposited in the local county
archive. Later these files
were either thrown away or handed over to the State Archive.
On these records, “Abgabe”
(abbreviated “Abg.”) refers to the year of the transfer to the State
Archive in Nuremberg. 1.
“K.d.I.” is the abbreviation for “Kammer des Inneren” (Chamber of
the Interior), a department of the provincial administration.
In Mittel Franken, this was located in Ansbach and was abbreviated,
“Reg.v.Mfr.K.d.I.”.
As an example, if one wished to see copies of the papers of Mathias
Abelein, one would order them from the State Archive in Nuremberg,
refering to, “Reg.v.Mfr.KdI Abg.1932, Titulus Ia, Nr.57740/I” (the
reference listed for that record). 2.
Other files can be inspected if you write the county from which the
emigrant came. For example, if
one wanted a copy of Walburga Abele’s records, they would give the
reference, “LRA Eichstaett,
Abgabe1981, Nr.676/1/4”. If one wanted a copy of Joh. Jakob
Ackermann’s records they would give the reference, “BA
Ansbach, Abgabe1930, Nr.427/441” (the reference listed for that
record). In these cases, the
cities of Eichstaett and Ansbach are the administrative centers (what we
call county seats). In
the “Hometown” column, the
second town listed is one of the following types of administrative towns.
Unless noted, they are the “Landgericht” of the first town
listed in that column. For example: Anna Maria Abel was from Elbersroth
whose Landgericht is Feuchtwangen; Elbersroth LG. Feuchtwangen was
translated as Elbersroth by Feuchtwangen.
If someone was from a town that was
a Landgericht, this was indicated by the abbreviation “(LG.)”
after the name of the town. A
city magistrate (“Stadt”) was indicated by “city”. A
little history is necessary to understand how the various administrative
areas were organized. In 1803-1806, Bavaria
almost doubled in territory thanks to Napoleon and, by his grace, became a
Kingdom in 1806. After 1815,
the new state was divided into “Landgerichte” and “Kreise”.
a.
A “Landgericht” (abbreviated LG.)
was a small county, whose head was “Seiner Gnaden der Herr Landrichter”
(His Grace, the County Judge). This
man was not only the judge in a lower court, but he was also the head of
the state administration. The abbreviation “Lg.ä.O.”
stands for County & Court of the Old Order as compared to
“Landgericht juengerer Ordnung” (the Court of the younger order). In
the Central Franconia area, there are places where “Herrschaftsgericht” is used instead of
“Landgericht ä.O.”: Schillingsfuerst (the family of the
princes of Hohenlohe-Schillingsfuerst), Ellingen (near Weissenburg: the
family of the prince of Wrede), and Oettingen (the families of the
princes/counts of Oettingen, etc.) are three Herschaftsgerichte.
The term refers to the fact that members of these families had
semi-sovereign rights over the residents, especially in regard to
administration and the lower court. The
princes lost their privileges in the revolution of 1848. b.
The word “Kreis” has been used in two different senses during
the last 200 years. *
When the new Kingdom of Bavaria was organised after 1806, it was divided
into 15 “Kreise” or departments, each one named after a river,
according to the French Imperial model.
The Mittel Franken area was named the “Rezatkreis”, with the
capital of Ansbach (the newspaper, “Intelligenzblatt fuer den
Rezat-Kreis” or “Intellig.Bl.f.d.Rezat-Kreis”, refers to this division).
*In
1819 the Kingdom was reorganized into 8 “Kreise”, but the name of the
area was still “Rezatkreis”. *In
1837, King Ludwig I dropped the river names and named the provinces:
Oberbayern, Niederbayern, Oberpfalz, Schwaben, Oberfranken, Mittelfranken
and Unterfranken. The 8th
province, the Pfalz with Speyer and Kaiserslautern, was west of the Rhine.
These seven provinces still exist, today, under the name of “Regierungsbezirke”.
The administrative staff at Ansbach is called “(Bezirks-)
Regierung von Mittelfranken” (the administration of the province of
Central Franconia or Mittel Franken).
The 8th province, the Pfalz, fell into the French Zone of
Occupation in 1845 and the French later incorporated it into the new State
of Rheinland-Pfalz. *In
1938, the name “Landkreis” was introduced to replace the name
“Bezirksamt” (abbreviated BA).
Both names mean something like an American county.
Each Bezirksamt had 1 to 3 lower courts (Amtsgerichte) with an
“Amtsrichter” the judge at its head.
To add to the confusion, the court of appeals was called “Landgericht”.
The office of the Landkreis is called the “Landsratsamt”, and
is abbreviated LRA. *In
1972 many were incorporated into larger counties, such as
Weissenburg-Gunzenhausen at Weissenburg, or the Landkreis Ansbach, which
incorporated the cities of Dinkelsbuehl and Rothenburg o.d.T.
In a similar manner, many small, independent villages were
incorporated into nearby cities (Frickenfelden, Aha, Gnotzheim and Wald
were incorporated into the City of Gunzenhausen).
Other small villages were combined into large communities or
“Gemeinden” (Haundorf now includes Graefensteinberg, Laubenzedel and a
dozen other villages). The card files were compiled
under the administration of Dr. Fridolin Sollender and Dr. Otto Puchner of
the Gesellschaft fuer Familienforschung in Franken e.V. (GFF).
A list format was produced by Lydia Thumann and Berta Winter of the
Staatarchivs. Siegfried Rein of the City of Gunzenhausen organized the
record books and researched the English language introduction.
Mary Nuechterlein and Carol Cline, of Frankenmuth Historical
Association, translated and compiled these books into the database which
is reproduced here. Stadtarchiv Nuremberg (Archives
of the City of Nuremberg) Egidienplatz 23 90 317 Nuernberg Germany Telephone: 231 27 70 (In Department C 7, many
emigrants from the City of Nuremberg are registered.) Gesellschaft fuer
Familienforschung in Franken e.V. (Franconian Genealogy Society) Archivstrasse 17, 90 408
Nuernberg, Germany Telephone: 35 89 39 (This is a private association
in the same building as the State Archives. They cooperate with the State
Archives. Their rooms are open
to the public Wednesday afternoons 2:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m.) INTRODUCTION: These records are based on information in the State Archive of Central
Franconia (or Mittel Franken) at Nuremberg.
As a Sesquicentennial gift, the city of Gunzenhausen sent this
information to its sister city of Frankenmuth, Michigan.
Frankenmuth Historical Assn. translated the information, compiled
these charts and, when possible, added a location & reference as to
where in N. America the settler arrived (set off by: [ ]).
If there are any questions regarding accuracy, researchers should
request to see copies of the original records in Germany and for this
reason will need the reference and the archive’s address (there is a
fee): Staatsarchiv Nuernberg (State
Archive of Central Franconia) Archivstrasse 17 90 408 Nuernberg Germany A Very Short Explanation of Reference Abbreviations (a fuller explanation can be
found in the first issue of this series, Volume 29 Issue 3): Intelligenzblatt fuer
Mittelfranken (abbreviated “Intellig.Bl.f.Mfr.”),
Kreis-Amtsblatt fuer Mittelfranken (“Krs.A.Bl.f.Mfr.”),
Intelligenzblatt fuer den Rezat-Kreis (“Intellig.Bl.f.d.Rezat-Kreis”),
and Boten von Altdorf
are official newspapers in which prospective legal emigrants published the
fact that they were leaving Germany. The
remainder of the reference is: the year, part (Beilage), number, column,
and date of publication (the month is usually in Roman numerals). “Reg.v.Mfr.K.d.I.” is the abbreviation for “Regierung von Mittel
Franken Kammer des Inneren” (Chamber of the Interior for Central
Franconia, located in Ansbach), a department of the provincial
administration. If one wished
to see copies of the papers of Mathias Abelein, one would order them from
the State Archive in Nuremberg, refering to, “Reg.v.Mfr.KdI, Abg.1932,
Titulus Ia, Nr.57740/I” (the reference listed for that record).
“Abgabe”
(abbreviated “Abg.”) refers to the year records were transfered to the
State Archive in Nuremberg. Other references indicate the
administrative town near the emigrant’s home (see the first issue for a
fuller explanation of the various terms).
If one wanted a copy of Walburga Abele’s records, they would give
the reference for that record: “LRA
Eichstaett, Abgabe1981, Nr.676/1/4” (LRA=the
office of the “Landkreis”, called the “Landsratsamt”,
in this case the city of Eichstaett) . If one wanted a copy of Joh. Jakob
Ackermann’s records they would give the reference for that
record: “BA Ansbach, Abgabe1930,
Nr.427/441” (BA=”Bezirksamt”,
in this case the city of Ansbach). “Herrschaftsgericht”,
“Gericht- & Polizeibehoerde”
and “Lg.ä.O.” are other terms for types of administrative towns. In
the “Hometown” column, the
second town listed is one of these types of administrative towns.
Unless noted, it is the “Landgericht” (LG.)
of the first town listed in that column. |