My g-g-grandfather, John Brenner, was born on 10 February 1836 in Adelshofen (now Eppingen), Baden. I have in my possession a copy of a handwritten transcription of what appears to be an official letter of recommendation permitting John Brenner’s emigration from Baden at age 18. I was particularly interesting in the information giving his description: 18 yrs., 5’7″, slender, long face with healthy color, brown hair, high forehead, brown eyebrows, gray eyes, medium nose, round mouth, no beard, round chin, good teeth, no other identification marks.
The copy of the transcription came from my cousin, Dana, who did most of the early work on the Brenner family line. Unfortunately, I do not have any source information regarding the transcription or its original (undoubtedly in German). Finding the original is a new research goal to add to my growing list.
Also from my cousin were copies of two obituaries of John Brenner (one in German; one in English). Since John lived in Youngstown, Mahoning County, Ohio, from about 1856 or 1857 until his death in 1909, I would surmise at the present that the obituary in German was from the Rundschau, Wm. F. Maag, Publisher and Proprietor, 16 & 18S Phelps, 30 September 1909, since the Rundschau was published every Thursday. (Another research goal: confirm publication date and that the obituary was actually from the Rundschau. From my translation of the obituary one of the most significant sentences was: “He arrived in New York on October 19, 1854.” Now, all I had to do was find the name of the ship and the passenger.
A quick search on Ancestry.com no listing for a John Brenner (both English and German variants were searched). A search of New York Times “ship landings October 1854″ and the Immigrant Ships Transcribers Guild provided no listing of a ship landing on 19 October 1854. However, a Google search for {ship “19 October 1854″ New York} sent me to a genealogical website listing an ancestral arrival aboard the Isaac Bell in New York on 19 October 1854. The Isaac Bell sailed from Le Havre France.
I quickly learned that Le Havre, France, was a preferred embarkation port for many from the Southern German states. I also learned that there are not good passenger lists for ships leaving from Le Harve.
While I previously searched the Castle Garden site (http://castlegarden.org), my son searched the site again. We found three ships that arrived at New York on 19 October 1854 – Isaac Bell, Nelson, and Waterloo. A careful review of the passenger lists of each of the three ships did not find John Brenner We had seemingly reached a dead end. Not to be daunted, my son continued on searching the Castle Garden website. Allowing for name alterations, he searched for Jo* Br* arriving in 1854 and found one Johannes Brenner, age 18, arriving from Le Havre on the William Tell on Oct. 23.
Voila! Age matches John Brenner’s; date is close to date reported in obituary; port of departure was Le Havre. Problem solved? Not completely, but we are well on the way!