Gustav F., believed to be the eldest of the children of Frederick and Henrietta, was said to have been born on 26 August 1859. His marriage certificate records his birth place as Leepenkord (or at least that is what it the handwritten location looks like), Posen, Germany. I am still trying to find it on a map, but I could be all wrong about the spelling, as the handwriting on the marriage certificate leaves questions about a few issues.
Gustav F. is the first of my immediate family line that immigrated to the USA. It appears to be him, on board the ship Mosel, arriving on 4 March 1881 possibly in New York. Interesting to note in the summary of the passenger lists, is his place of origin and Ethnicity given as Bohemia/Czeckoslovakia. The manifest of other passengers give numerous others from that location on the ship. Is this "our" Gustav F.? So far age, date etc. all match our Gustav, but his First Papers/Letters of Intention for Naturalization should clear this issue up.
We have a copy of his Naturalization Certificate but not his First or Second papers which could verify his immigration specifics. The information about the Mosel was taken from other sources, so we are not sure about its veracity either, so will continue to search for the Ships passenger lists, although some family traditions states that he may have been a stow-away. I am in question of this tradition, and feel that it may have been supposed by some earlier family historian when they could not find a list or his name spelled as it was more commonly known. Although his Naturalization Certificate was found in Rock Island, IL there is the possiblity that he filed his papers through a Superior Court, and that he was residing at the first application dates in Plainfield, Will County, Illinois and a search within that county or court records is required.
Two photos have come to me through family connections. The first came through Melba Reidell of TX and is of two boys. She obtained them from Mary Jane Kinney of Rock Island, a descendant, who thinks one of the males is the son who died in Germany. We are unsure of the other.
We have a copy of his Naturalization Certificate but not his First or Second papers which could verify his immigration specifics. The information about the Mosel was taken from other sources, so we are not sure about its veracity either, so will continue to search for the Ships passenger lists, although some family traditions states that he may have been a stow-away. I am in question of this tradition, and feel that it may have been supposed by some earlier family historian when they could not find a list or his name spelled as it was more commonly known. Although his Naturalization Certificate was found in Rock Island, IL there is the possiblity that he filed his papers through a Superior Court, and that he was residing at the first application dates in Plainfield, Will County, Illinois and a search within that county or court records is required.
Two photos have come to me through family connections. The first came through Melba Reidell of TX and is of two boys. She obtained them from Mary Jane Kinney of Rock Island, a descendant, who thinks one of the males is the son who died in Germany. We are unsure of the other.
The second photo came through another family descendant, but am not sure of exactly who passed it onto a cousin who shared it with my Aunt who shared it with me. But, these two young men, both in uniform may be Gustav Frederick and Herman, before they emigrated to the US. Based on comparing this photo with those of Gustav F. and Herman a few years later, I am going to guess that the one on the left is Herman and on the right is Gustav F.Someone has suggested that the uniforms they are wearing are non-commissioned officers in the Prussian army, but am I am looking for more conclusive identification.
Like I said above, we are not sure about the identities in these photos. And dating them and specifying the uniforms may help to really determine if they are of the sons of Frederick G. .
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