Need help reading this

John Winn

Lt. Colonel
Joined
Mar 13, 2014
Location
State of Jefferson
Hey kids - I could use some help deciphering the lower word. It's from a census and is the name of the place where the person was born. The upper one is "Holstein" and in other documents the person in question said she was from Hanover or just Germany. Thus, I rather think the word might be the name of a city or town but I can find no towns or states in Germany that seem to fit. Anyway, if some of you who are used to reading old script could give it a shot I'd appreciate it.

Thanks.

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Hey kids - I could use some help deciphering the lower word. It's from a census and is the name of the place where the person was born. The upper one is "Holstein" and in other documents the person in question said she was from Hanover or just Germany. Thus, I rather think the word might be the name of a city or town but I can find no towns or states in Germany that seem to fit. Anyway, if some of you who are used to reading old script could give it a shot I'd appreciate it.

Thanks.

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What year and can you show the whole lines please?
 
i don't think it's holstein - got some context, john? like a name or somesuch

In later censuses his birth place is stated as being Schleswig-Holstein and as Denmark. As I'm sure you know, parts of the former were at times part of Denmark. Thus, I'm sure the word is Holstein.

What year and can you show the whole lines please?

1860. I'm not sure what the word describing Andrew's profession is but from other documents I know he was captain of a steam boat. Anyway, since you asked here's the whole family:


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I don't think it's Baltimore because four of her children were reported born in Ohio and the death certificate of one of the grandchildren said her mother - i.e. Eliza H. above - was born in Cincinnati, Ohio. On all censuses the person of interest reported being born in Germany (specifically Hanover on one census). The family shows up on the 1850 census in Apalachicola, Florida and that's where the majority of the family remained, although a couple of the family moved to Savannah, Georgia and, eventually, my grandmother moved with her husband to Macon, Georgia. The woman I was asking about is my great great grandmother.
 
What about 'Baltimore'?

Also for profession what about 'Mariner'?
That was my first thought, but I refrained not having more info. Each census was different ... some lines referring to where someone was from weren't always clear. They have "native tongue" etc. to maybe pin point the "birth" but many people "massaged" where they were born to look more American. In Europe nations changed borders all the time, some Hungarians, like one of descendants born in Hungary, ONE time had "Austria" on the census because of the Austrio-Hungarian Empire of the time.
 
John, your great great grandmother is from Hannover?? Amazing!!
We must keep in mind that Hannover now is just a city, the capital of Lower Saxony, but in the 19th century there was also the Kingdom of Hannover.

I found a list of communities in what is now Lower Saxony and there is nothing that fits...
I think we will all agree that the first three letters are Bal...

Look here, that's all we got:
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John, your great great grandmother is from Hannover?? Amazing!!
We must keep in mind that Hannover now is just a city, the capital of Lower Saxony, but in the 19th century there was also the Kingdom of Hannover.

I found a list of communities in what is now Lower Saxony and there is nothing that fits...
I think we will all agree that the first three letters are Bal...

Look here, that's all we got:
View attachment 296958View attachment 296959View attachment 296960View attachment 296961
her husband was from hannover (why are english speaking people always skipping one of the Ns?)
 
It would be odd if the put a city for her instead of a state. What is her first name? Would that give any clues?

On the posted census it's really hard to see this but her name was Rosena, known as Rosa.

When was your great-great-grandma born? If we know the birth year, we could see if we find a German county. Germany had lots of little kingdoms, duchies and counties in the past.

Reported born in 1821 on all censuses.

being 15 years younger i don't think she's necessarily german born

Well, maybe not but that's what she reported on all the censuses and all of her children reported that their mother was born in Germany on those censuses where it asked for the birthplace of the parents. So, maybe she lied but I'm thinking she didn't. All I've got is the census records.
 
It wouldn't surprise me if she were German. My German ancestors seemed to find each other and stick together once they came over. I've found quite a few who immigrated separately, were from very different regions so likely didn't know each other, but still married in America. Could see that happening here too.

I like Lu's suggestion about trying to look at maps from the time she would have lived there. I had a terrible time trying to track down one German in the family tree. On censuses, he kept saying he was from Prussia or Northern Germany but trying to trace down the mangled spelling of the city was a real chore. Come to find out he was actually from what is now Poland, but at the time, it certainly would have been Prussia.
 
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