roger.pape Site Admin
Joined: 17 Mar 2009 Posts: 414 Location: Liverpool, NY
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Posted: Mon Apr 20, 2009 6:15 pm Post subject: Friedrich Frerking Immigration Puzzle |
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The book Independent Immigrants by Robert Frizzell opens with an account of 25 year old Friedrich Frerking deserting the Hanoverian army in the spring of 1837 and departing for the U.S. (presumably at that time).
According to Esperke church records, Friedrich was born Jan. 15, 1812 and christened Johann Friderich Ludewig. He married Caroline Dieckenhorst in Germany and had a son Friedrich (Fritz) who was born Aug. 12, 1837 in Esperke. (That, coincidentally, is the same date that the ship Burmah left Hamburg with some of the original settlers of Concordia.) According to a March 1916 Concordian article, Friedrich, Jr. is said to have come to America with his parents when he was three years old. In both the 1900 and 1910 censuses, Fritz stated that he immigrated to the US in 1839 (i.e. when he would have been two years old).
The 1837 Burmah passenger list includes three or four of Friedrich’s younger brothers (listed as Durking because they traveled with their uncle Friedrich Dierking). But there is no Johann or Friedrich age 25 listed. One of the names is Henry “Durking” with an age of 25. Friedrich had a brother Juergen Heinrich who was born Feb. 10, 1813. Since the voyage was Aug-Sept of 1837, age 25 might possibly have applied to either of them.
Although Fritz claimed to have come to the US with his parents (plural), he was too young at that time to have known if both were on the same ship. Could Friedrich Sr. have left his pregnant wife or new-born son behind when he emigrated from Germany? |
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