The Peter Meÿer family immigrated to Missouri via the Port of New Orleans. They crossed the Atlantic on a new steamship known as the S.S. Frankfurt, Bremen. The oldest daughter, Maria, emigrated from Germany before the rest of the family. Maria’s travel is documented in a previous chapter, Maria Meÿer Arrived in New Orleans.

Arrival

The Times Picayune, announced that the Bremen Line steamship Frankfurt arrived in New Orleans on the night of October 7 1869

Manifest of Passengers

A copy of one page the S.S. Frankfurt, Bremen New Orleans Passenger List Quarterly Abstracts of October 7 1869 from Ancestry.com is shown below:

The passenger list of the S.S. Frankfurt, Bremen arriving in the Port of New Orleans on October 7 1869 includes the Peter Meÿer family traveling in steerage. Peter Meÿer and family are listed beginning on line 4 of page 9 (the last page of the manifest).

Information Source

Manifest of Passengers – Transcriptions

Note several transcriber errors: The Origin (Country to which they severally belong) should read Germany in each of the transcriptions – see passenger manifest page 9 above.

Transatlantic Crossing Time

Departed Bremerhaven, Germany 15 September 1869 (See Chapter: S.S.Frankfurt for departure times) and arrived in New Orleans on 7 October 1869. It took a total of 23 days (or just over 3 weeks) at sea. This compares to traveling on a sailing vessel which at that time typically required 6 weeks as reported in Statistics concerning the transatlantic crossing.

Previous Research

Norma (Kirmse) Rauh took up an offer by a genealogy researcher to search the New Orleans passenger list records for the Peter Meier family as may be noted in the following letter:

The Peter Meÿer family changed the spelling of their last name from Meÿer to Meier after they arrived in America[1]. The Peter Meÿer family lived in Wenkeloh, Germany which is near Scheeßel, Germany. My own genealogy records have that Peter Meÿer was born 14 Jun 1814, so the passenger list is correct – Peter Meÿer was 55 years old at the time of his arrival in the Port of New Orleans.

Norma subsequently requested more passenger information on the Peter Meÿer family. The results of this additional research are given in the following letter:

The researcher could not find the Peter Meÿer family on microfilm copies of the S.S. Frankfurt New Orleans Passenger List. But the researcher did find them listed in the New Orleans Passenger List Quarterly Abstracts[2],

Notes

1. German surnames have undergone many spelling changes, especially for Germans who have immigrated to the United States. Meÿer, Mayer, Maier, Meier all have the same meaning – a tenant farmer.
2. A copy of the S.S. Frankfurt New Orleans Passenger List was sent to Norma – I likewise could not find a Peter Meÿer/Meier on the list. Note that on the above shown Ancestry.com copy of the Passenger List Quarterly Abstracts, the Peter Meÿer family is listed on the last page – possibly the last page is missing/lost from the original New Orleans Passenger List.
3. Ten months after their arrival, the 1870 US Census records Peter Meÿer and his family on 11 Aug 1870 as:
   

   Name	Peter Meÿer
   Age in 1870	55
   Birth Year	abt 1815
   Birthplace	Hannover / Hanover
   Home in 1870	Brazeau, Perry, Missouri
   Gender	Male
   Post Office	Altenburg
   Household Members	Name Age Peter Meÿer 55 Anna Meÿer 49 Margaret Meÿer 21 Anna Meÿer 19 John Meÿer 16 Engert Meÿer 5

4. Margaretha’s name is mangled on both the ship passenger manifest (Aug – probably Mag if you look closely at the script) and the census report (Margaret).
5. Engel’s name is also mangled on both the ship passenger manifest (Esgel) and the census report (Engert).
6. On the passenger manifest, the point of origin for the Meÿer family is listed as Germany and they intend to become inhabitants of Missouri. However, the transcriptions are incorrect.