31 May 2012

Flachsbarth Research

Where in Germany was Wilhelm Flachsbarth 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's full name could have been Heinrich Wilhelm Flachsbarth. The death certificate of his daughter, Lizzie, shows her father's name to be Henry, however, she obviously didn't give this information herself.
2. Wilhelm was born in Germany but it is not known where. 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 she meant 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.) Alternatively, the 1900 census for Wilhelm's daughter, Lizzie, shows that her father was born in Bavaria. Since she was 23 when he died, she could easily have been told by him directly.
3. Based on Wilhelm's 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.
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. 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

It is not known exactly when Wilhelm immigrated, whence he came, or where his ship landed. According to the 1900 census, he immigrated in 1868. However, this is a notoriously unreliable source for this information. The 1875 Kansas State Census showed that Wilhelm came to Kansas from Connecticut, so he could have landed in New York or elsewhere in New England. The same census in 1885 shows that Wilhelm had come to Kansas from Canada, not Connecticut, so he could have landed there. It could even be that he landed in Canada before travelling to Connecticut. It could also be that he had a difficult accent to understand and only one is correct.

If Wilhelm did in fact come from Hannover, his most likely port of departure would have been Hamburg, Bremen, or Bremerhaven. If he was Bavarian, you could add Havre, France to the list. Wilhelm 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 or any of the smaller New England ports. These seem more likely than usual.

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 if she did, 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. Since he was almost certainly in Kansas by 1870, it appears to be the only reasonable location for its occurrence. No serious search for the existence of any immigration "1st papers" has been made.

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Links

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