Immigration to America
2
Grandmother Kirmse, said that Julius Kirmse arrived in New York City on board a ship named “Cosmos” (my spelling).
Norma (Kirmse) Rauh unsuccessfully searched for when and where Julius Kirmse arrived in America as is noted in the following entry of a report from the professional genealogist she contracted to search the passenger list microfilm records.
From the report, the search was made for February, 1853 through part of March 1853. I assume this time period was chosen because Julius received his permit to emigrate on 03 Feb 1853 in Altenburg, Duchy of Saxe-Altenburg (See Chapter Julius Kirmse – Permission to Emigrate).
I contemplated starting the task of scanning through the microfilm of passenger lists and then realized that there would be hundreds of passenger manifests containing hundreds of thousands of names for the time period to be searched. According to the United States National Archives and Records Service there are 785 reels of microfilm holding passenger lists of vessels arriving at New York between 1820 and 1897.
Database Search
When I began my search for Julius Kirmse, there were databases being made available on the internet Initially, a search of the available databases yielded no candidate entries for my Julius Kirmse. Then I came across the web site, Immigrant Ships Transcribers Guild LLC. and on searching for Julius Kirmse found the following:
ISTG Vol 13 – Bark Kosmos
Julius Kirmse 19 m rustic Altenburg Buffalo.
The ship was the Bark Kosmos. The 19 year old male passenger was Julius Kirmse, a rustic (Meaning he is of the countryside) from Altenburg and his destination was Buffalo. This appeared to be the Julius Kirmse that I was looking for.
Passenger list databases have continued to evolve and now a search of Ancestry.com gives:
| Name: | Julius Kirmse |
|---|---|
| Arrival Date: | 22 Apr 1853 |
| Birth Date: | abt 1834 |
| Age: | 19 |
| Gender: | Male |
| Place of Origin: | Altenburg |
| Port of Departure: | Bremen, Germany |
| Destination: | Buffalo |
| Port of Arrival: | New York, New York |
| Ship Name: | Kosmos |
Source Citation:
However, the age of this Julius was listed as 19. My Julius had just turned 18. Julius had obtained an emigration permit, but given the emphasis the Bremen port authorities placed on having completed military duty, maybe Julius increased his age a bit to avoid being held for possible lack of completing his military duty.
Arrival
A search of New York Times archives found this sighting of the Bark Kosmos, Bremen approaching the Port of New York.
The next day the New York Times reports the Bark Kosmos, Bremen had arrived:
The Bark Kosmos, Bremen with ship master Hortsman from the Port of Bremen has arrived after 42 days at sea with merchandise and 197 passengers to Oelrichs and Company.
The date the Bark Kosmos docked was April 22, 1853 – a month after the time period that the genealogist had searched. Apparently the time to travel to the port where Julius boarded a ship and the time to cross the Atlantic were not taken into account. From the above it took 42 days for the Bark Kosmos to sail from the Port of Bremen to the Port of New York. Thus, from the time Julius received his permission to emigrate on February 3, 1853 it took him about 35 days to travel from Altenburg to the Bremen and board the Bark Kosmos.
Manifest of Passengers
A copy of the Bark Kosmos, Bremen Passenger Manifest from Ancestry.com is shown below:
Source Citation
The passenger list of the Bark Kosmos, Bremen arriving in the Port of New York City on 22 April 1853 includes Julius as traveling in steerage.
An examination of the Passenger Manifest for the Kosmos which arrived at New York City harbor on 22 Apr 1853 shows that Julius as traveling in steerage and is listed among a group of young travelers.
Manifest of Passengers – Transcription
A transcription of the Kosmos manifest of passenger is available on-line at the Immigrant Ships Transcribers Guild LLC website. Below is the transcription for page 4 Lines 2-8 shown above:
176* Gottfr. Wagenbreidt 27 m carpenter Preussen New-york 177 Hermann Heimke 17 m rustic Preussen Buffalo 178 Justine Titze 24 f serving maid Baiern Missouri 179 Julius Faupert 23 m rustic Baiern Missouri 180 Julius Kirmse 19 m rustic Altenburg Buffalo 181 Louise Franke 23 f Hüringen Buffalo 182 Michael Rau 25 m rustic Altenburg New-york Columns are: passenger name, age, gender (m or f for masculine/feminine), occupation, origin, and destination.
Source Citation
Immigrant Ships Transcribers Guild LLC. Downloaded from: http://www.immigrantships.net/v13/1800v13/kosmos18530422.html
Discussion
Several observations can be made from this passenger manifest:
-
- Julius Kirmse is not a stow-away. His name is near the middle of the list of passengers. Passenger manifests were created at the time the ship left port – If Julius were a stow-away and he was found, his name would been added at the bottom of the list or as a note.
- There are several other passengers whose destination is Buffalo, New York.
- Louise Franke from Thungia
- Hermann Heimke from Preussen
- The 12 members of the Trier (or Frier) family from Weimar:
- Several passengers are from or near Altenburg:
- Michael Rau
- Louise Franke is probably from Thungia.
- Some of the passengers listed as being from Preussen could actually be from near Alternburg.
- Two passengers whose destinations are Missouri have been identified by Fred Eggers as being from Kriebitzsch (See Appendix: The Perry County Connection for Julius Kirmse)
- Justine Titze – is Justine Dietze (22 Mar 1829-22 Mar 1913))
- Julius Faupert – is Julius Theodor Saupe (4 Mar 1830-31 Oct 1907))
- Julius Kirmse and many other male passengers are listed as being a “rustic” which means that they are “from the country” and do not have a profession such as tanner, carpenter, etc.
- The Anna Frier who appears next to the bottom of the list is likely a daughter belonging to the Tier/Fier family listed as passengers 32-42. She possibly was missed or got separated from her family at the time the family was signed aboard. And, when it was found that the passenger count was off and she was not on the list, her name was added.
- The ship surgeon, Johann Conrad. Dinkel , is from Baiern with the destination New-York – During that time period, New York meant New York City. There are no other medical doctors listed. Hence, it appears that Julius’s benefactor doctor who paid his passage did not travel on the Kosmos.