Westfalia / Westfalen
Research List Archive 981
WFARL-981

Webmaster's Note: Have you checked the 1882 Ship Passenger Lists for Hamburg (both direct and indirect passage)? Among the 47 listings for Fritz in the surname search section of the FHL Catalog, the surname FITTS is often seen and an alternate spelling. If the Hamburg ship records do not help, then as a long shot you might search Die Ahnenstammkartei des Deutschen Volkes and look for FRITZ / FITTS and BLICE listings that show a Westphalia place of origin.

Webmaster's Note: Hattingen, Westfalia has civil registration (1810) and Jewish records (1847-1874) on FHL microfilm. There are also 8 record collections of churchbooks on FHL microfilm, but you did not indicate their religion.

Wemaster's Note: Your location of origin is now called Castrop-Rauxel. In addition to a Civil registration (1810-1814 - 4 reels) Protestant and Jewish records, there are two collections of Catholic church registers (1665-1929, 7 reels; 1815-1874, 3 reels of microfilm) which should yield Henry and other ancestors from that town.

Webmaster's Note: If you are interested there is a ton of stuff on Germans from Solingen on microfilm that will permit you to determine the validity of your Solingen presumption. Lutheran churchbooks span 1659-1881 and Catholic ones cover 1752-1809. A Zivilstandregister (Civil Register - 18 reels) exists from 1822-1920. Of less interest might be a book at the FHL which includes a medieval (1487) list of Solingen subjects of Wilhelm II, Duke of Berg.

You should first look at the 35 microfilm reel FHL collection called "Auswanderungsakten" (emigrants and immigrants from 1822-1920) for the Düsseldorf district. For our German browsers, the original manuscripts are in the Hauptstaatsarchiv at Düsseldorf. They also include the locations of Barmen, Duisberg, Düsseldorf, Elberfeld, Essen-Oberhausen, Geldern, München, Gladbach, Grevenbroich, Kempen, Cleve, Crefeld, Lennep, Mettmann, Moers, Mühlheim, Neuss, Rees, Ruhrort (Duisberg) as well as Solingen. For Solingen, this collection spans 1852-1860 (film #1347246), 1860-1881 (film #1347247) and 1881-1897 (film#1347248, items 1-2).

As for your Kessel surname, there are 8 listings of German and Dutch Kessel lines in the surname section of the 17th edition of the FHL Catalog on CD-ROM.

Webmaster's Note: You must know the full name of your pedigree ancestor - the one who came to Australia. By reading the instructions above again and posting a bit of what you know as to his full name, vital dates, emigration date or era, wife's maiden name and the names of the first generation of his children, you will permit others to offer more specific help based on when he left Europe. You should also use the hotlink above to the Website Index to see if the two persons named Englebrecht (in America from Bavaria and Germany in 1872) might be related or if those in Iowa or Illinois German-American churchbook extractions give you any clues.

I suggest you contact the Immigrant Genealogy Society and request a German Telephone Book lookup for your surname in Westphalia. There are 4 sources of Engelbrecht genealogy in the FHL (Salt Lake City) but none listed from Westphalia. You should also look in the Ancestral File, available at your nearest LDS Family History Center, as it may have helpful leads.

Webmaster's Note: You need to make plans to spend some quality research time using microform resources from the FHL (Salt Lake City) at your nearest LDS Family History Center. The FHL Catalog shows 9 topics with 18 different collections. You decline to state Carl's religion, but there are 18 collections of churchbooks plus civil registration, obituaries, etc. There are four citations for Moehle in the FHL Surname Search section. Start by reviewing the resources in the FHL Catalog, looking at the IGI and checking the Ancestral File for the possibility that others are searching your line or your surnames.

Webmaster's Note: You might check the März /Maerz genealogy found in the surname search section of the FHL Catalog on FHL microfilm #1573188 item 13, available on loan for viewing at your nearest LDS Family History Center. It makes reference to family lines in Berlin, Westphalia and Bavaria.

Webmaster's Note: There is a wealth of information (14 topics, 28 collections) on microfilm about Bielefeld and its surrounding area available from the Family History Library (FHL) at Salt Lake City for viewing (on loan at a reasonable fee) at your nearest LDS Family History Center (FHC). First check the FHL Catalog (FHLC) on CD-ROM or microfiche. In particular look at the Ein- und Auswanderer records for 1856-1874 on microfilm #0957027, the 1841-1846 Census - microfilm #0582345, and one of the three Protestant Church records. There you might start with the Evangelische Reformierte Kirche which apparently covered Kreis (county) Bielefeld since your ancestors were from outside of town. It is item #2 (under church records) has 9 microfilms and the churchbook is partially indexed on film #0582916. There are also land and property records, court records and dwelling records.

Webmaster's Note: Your Emme family surname may lead you back to the Emmental valley of Switzerland where the Emme river and this surname is found. Don't be surprised to find your Wiegmann surname also spelled Wiechmann - most German surnames have several transliterations - mine has over 50.

Webmaster's Note: Too bad his wife (if any), siblings or children are not mentioned - thank greatly diminishes the effectiveness of your entry. The "Paderborn area" has many villages for you to search - see a good atlas or gazetteer.

Webmaster's Note: If he returned to Blasheim and died there and was Lutheran, it is possible he will be listed in the Evangelische churchbooks on FHL microfilm (1661-1910). Further, it may be possible to spot his parents and other ancestorsin those church records.

Kate's Note: There are two locations named Buren in Westphalia, fairly close to one another. There is yet a third not too far in Hannover (HANRL). Jeff THINKS this is too far out). He is not sure which of the two in Westphalia is his location.

Webmaster's Note: None of the Bueren locations has any FHL microfilm listings. Assuming Jeff has already searched the IGI and Ancestral File at his local FHC, he might want to try Die Ahnenstammkartei des Deutschen Volkes, looking for a REMM from Westphalia in it.