Mueller Research Log

Mueller - Baldinger - Mayer - Smith - Kreisle - Schirmer

Thursday, November 19, 2009

13 October 2009

I've been doing some general searching to try and flesh out some dates for Beatrice Baldinger as well as Harold Mueller. I found Beatrice Baldinger in a Natchez City Directory, teaching voice at a music school.

I also want to work on the Kreisles and Mayers. Dad's records that I have aren't really clear on things. I suspect I have an old and incomplete version. I also would not be surprised to find a more complete version in the paper files I still haven't gone through.

I located Leona Mayer in the 1910 Census for Austin, with her dad Carl Mayer Sr, at 616 Trinity.

Travis > Austin Ward 6 > District 80 > Page 18 > Line 97 - 100 and page 19

-Carl Mayer, age 63; head; born Germany abt 1847; married 24 or 29 yrs; immigration 1868; occupation jeweler

-Lauria (sic); age 56, wife; born Texas abt 1854; married 24 or 29 yrs; 3 children born & living; no occupation

-Leona; age 27 daughter; born Texas abt 1873; single; no children; no occupation

-Emily; age 24 daughter; born Texas abt 1886; single; no children; no occupation

-Carl Jr; age 18 son; born Texas abt 1892; single; no children; no occupation; recently schooled

-Emma Kreisle, age 54 sister-in-law; born Texas abt 1856; single; no children; no occupation

-WC Kreisle, age 61 brother-in-law; born Texas abt 1849; divorced; occupation insurance agent

28 September 2009

Searching Ancestry for Frederick Bleike:

Galveston City Directory entries - no new information
Cook County Ill Death Record for FW Bleike.(new)
Passport app for Frederick W Bleike dated 26 Mar 1909 (new). Passport to be sent to General delivery, Mobile Alabama.
Passenger record for Frederick W Bleike (Age 70; married; DOB 27 Jan 1857; Home Galveston, Texas), departed Havana, Cuba 15 Feb 1927; arrived New Orleans 17 Feb 1927 on the SS Munamar. Listed just below Frederick is Louise K Bleike (Age 53; married; DOB 6 July 1874; Home Ashtabula, Ohio)
Passenger record for Frederick W Bleike (age 52; single; occupation "insurance agent); departed Belize, Belize 6 Apr 1909; arrived New Orleans aboard the SS Harry T. Inge 19 Apr 1909. Listed just below Frederick with the same occupation is Theophilus Hamill, age 64. Business partner?
US Civil War Soldier record for Fred Bleike, private, serving in Company C of 1st Regiment, Texas Heavy Artillery
1920 US Census image for Joe F Bleike and wife Edvige, living in Galveston ward 7
1910 US Census image for Joe F Bleike and wife Edvige, living in Galveston ward 9
1920 US Census image for Frederick Bleike and wife Louisa, living in Chicago ward 26

Searched for Andrew Baldinger:

Found birth records for Alice Adrienne Baldinger and Andrew Louis Baldinger

20 September 2009

Searching the Hamburg Passenger Lists, 1850-1934 > 1860-1869 > Direkt Band 022 (8 Jan 1868 - 23 Dez 1868). At Ancestry, Westphalia records begin around page 500. On page 507, I found this information:

Passenger 431: Müller, Joh; Birth and city, illegible; Land, Würzburg;

18 September 2009

Success!

A post on Ancestry.com's General US Immigration and Emigration board got a reply pointing me to a passport application for John Charles Mueller of Austin Texas. There was an accompanying letter on stationery from the JC Mueller Feed Store on 322 E Pecan, and he asked for his passport to be sent there.

The application had descriptive information as well as his departure date from Hamburg, Germany on the Westphalia (28 August 1867) and the location of his naturalization (Superior Court of New York, 20 "Dezember" (sic) 1873).

http://www.progenealogists.com/germany/articles/hambpl.htm has much information on searching Hamburg passenger lists; it seems Hamburg kept very good records of passengers, and did a city census every six months.

As I dug further, trying to locate JC Mueller's passenger record, I was running in to a dead end. There were no arrivals of the Westphalia from August to December of 1867. I finally Googled "steamer Westphalia history" and got a link to Norway-Heritage, which has lists of ship crossings. They have a listing for Westphalia which lists her maiden voyage as departing Hamburg 16 September 1868, and arriving New York 28 September 1868. I have located the passenger list for that trip; there is a "Johann Muller" listed. His approximate year of birth is 1846, which somewhat makes sense; the image shows him listed as 22.

N.B.: The Hamburg America Line had two vessels named Westphalia. One was launched in 1868, sold to British owners in 1887 and renamed Atlantica; sold to Italian owners, and renamed Provincia Di Sao Paulo in 1888; renamed each of the next two years, and finally scrapped in 1901 in Genoa. This is generally listed Westphalia (I) . The second Westphalia is actually listed as Westphalia (3).She was launched in 1923, transferred to South American service as the General Artigas in 1930, sold to Hamburg South American Line, bombed out by the British in 1943, and scrapped in 1946.

Next steps:

Search 1889 for a passport application for Louisa Schirmer Mueller. I don't know if she traveled with JC or not (or even where JC traveled, or if he did). But it's worth looking for. John's passport application has the words "and wife, and my minor children" struck through. Also search 1895 - 1905; she traveled to Ober-Ingelheim in 1905 to meet J. C.'s relatives with Aunt Tillie.
Search Customs records for John's trip. If he took it, he traveled between 1889 and 1894. Is it reasonable to assume he went back to Germany for some reason? There are no obvious events in my records (birth, death, etc) that might trigger a trip.
Search New York court records in 1873 for JC Mueller's Naturalization proceedings
Search Hamburg Passenger Lists in August 1867 (stated) or September 1868 (Westphalia maiden voyage, more likely). Westphalia departed Hamburg 16 September; arrived Southampton 18 September, and arrived New York 28 September. It's not clear to me if he would be on the Direct or Indirect lists.
o Direct List for 1868: 0472899 Bd. 22

o Direct Indexes for 1867-1868: 0473073 Bd. 7 (1867 - 1868 Aug) and 0473074 Bd. 8 (1868 Aug - 1869 Oct)

o No Indirect List for 1868; see instead 1049008 Bd. 14 (1867) and 1049009 Bd. 15 (1869)

o Indirect Index: 1049068 Bd. 2 1866 - 1871
Check Austin City Directory for 1889 on Pecan/6th St. Try to verify the name on the Passport Application. JC Mueller had his application verified by "A. H. Yarrington (?) 325 East 6th St." When did it change from Pecan to 6th?

6 September 2009

Received letter from Vedder Research Library. Raymond Beecher, listed on several websites as the Greene County NY historian, apparently passed away last fall, well before I wrote a letter to him. Shirley McGrath asked if I was still interested in research on Johann Carl Mueller; I emailed to say yes, I was.

Also posted query on the Ancestry General Immigration Board asking about Texas Naturalization Petitions and courts.

Located the death certificate for Louis Mueller. He died of pneumonia after surgery for a ruptured appendix.

I found a post on the Ancestry Travis County message board regarding a copy of the 1935 Austin City High School Yearbook. The list of names includes Harold, Louis and Homer Mueller, as well as Jim and Peggy Kreisle and Clara Louise Mayer. The last three are almost certainly cousins, although I haven't done much data entry on that part of the family.

6 April 2009

According to the Family Search wiki:

Requirements for Naturalization

The requirements and process of naturalization have changed many times. The basic requirements have been residency in the country for a given period of time, good moral character, and an oath of loyalty or allegiance. The following describes the major laws and circumstances that have affected requirements for naturalization:

Changes in Requirements, 1700s to Present

Pre-1790: British immigrants were automatically citizens of the colonies (British empire). A few Protestant immigrants from other countries gave oaths of allegiance or appeared before a civil authority to request citizenship (a process sometimes referred to as denization). Seven of the original colonies had their own laws for naturalizing foreigners as citizens of the British empire colony. After the Revolutionary War, the individual states established their own naturalization laws and procedures.

1790: The first federal law regarding naturalization required residency in the United States for two years and in a state for one year, but each state continued to provide naturalization under a variety of requirements and procedures until 1906.

1802 to 1868: An individual had to prove residency in a state for one year and in the country for five years. A declaration of intention had to be filed at least two years before the final papers or petition could be filed.

1906 to present: The Bureau of Immigration and Naturalization (now United States Citizenship and Immigration Services or USCIS) was created to standardize laws and procedures. Residency in a state for one year and in the United States for five years continues to be a basic requirement.

So it seems I could confine my search for JC Mueller's immigration proceedings to the span 1872 - 1875, based on the 5-year requirement. Since his obit puts him in the Austin (Oak Hill) area by 1873, his immigration proceedings probably are in Texas. What's the history of immigration courts in Texas in the 19th century?