05 Dec 2009

Flachsbarth Query

Where in Germany was Wilhelm born and how did he get to Kansas

The search for the origins of Wilhelm (William) Flachsbarth and the route he took to Kansas has been a difficult one. The following list gives all the known clues to this information:

1. Wilhelm was born in Germany. Based on his given age in the church records at his time of death, his birthdate would have been 04 Nov 1840. This is supported by the 1900 census which shows this to be his birth month and year as well.
2. According to the 1900 census, Wilhelm immigrated in 1868. However, this is a notoriously unreliable source for this information.
3. The same census shows that he was a naturalized citizen, but a later source states that he was still a German citizen.
4. Wilhelm has not been positively identified on the 1870 census, but there is one strong candidate. A Prussian named William Floxburg was working on the George Schafer farm in Shannon Twp, Atchison Co, KS.
5. Wilhelm is first definitely found on the 1875 Kansas State Census as a farmer living alone in the same township of Shannon. This census showed that he came to Kansas from Connecticut.
6. The 1885 Kansas State Census shows that Wilhelm had come to Kansas from Canada, not Connecticut. It could be that he had a difficult accent to understand.
7. In her old age, a daughter-in-law of Wilhelm stated that he had come from Hanford. No place by this name has been found, so it is supposed that it was really Hannover. When Wilhelm left Europe, the city of Hannover was also within the Kingdom of Hannover which was part of the vast area of Prussia.
8. Many Flachsbarth/Flachsbart individuals who show up on the LDS website are from Wennigsen, near the city of Hannover, which makes this area a good candidate for further research.

Immigration

Considering the list above, if Wilhelm did in fact come from Hannover, his most likely port of departure would have been Hamburg, Bremen, or Bremerhaven. Unfortunately, this would also be the case if he came from most other parts of Germany as well. His most likely destinations would appear to have been New York, elsewhere in New England, or Canada.

He has not been found on any ship passenger arrival lists or other immigration records in the United States. He is not on the comprehensive passenger lists held in Hamburg which show all passengers who emigrated from that port. Since the original Bremen and Bremerhaven records were destroyed in Germany, the Bremerhaven Historical Museum has attempted to recreate a German emigrant database from arrival lists in North America. Wilhelm is not on this list. I have not had an opportunity to research any lists for Canadian ports. If he did arrive in Canada, it would obviously explain why he is not showing up on any American ship passenger lists.

Naturalization

The 1900 census shows that Wilhelm was a naturalized citizen, but this is doubtful. A 1918 questionaire completed by his widow stated his citizenship as Germany. It is possible that she did not know he was naturalized, but it would have been to her advantage to say he was an American citizen. This document was only to be completed by men, or their spouses, who were from enemy nations during World War I and who were still citizens of those countries.

If Wilhelm arrived in 1868, and if he was naturalized, it could not have occurred until 1873, since immigrants had to be in the U.S. a minimum of five years to become a citizen. The only reasonable locations for its occurrence are Connecticut, or more likely Kansas.

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Links

• Wilhelm (William) Flachsbarth {fam group, lineage, fam hist, query?}
• Elise Henriette Kleinwort {fam group1, fam group2, lineage, fam hist}