German Immigrant Project  (by Charlie Hessler)

I have begun trying to identify all German immigrants (and their families) who lived in the Tri-County area.  Eventually, I hope to add at least the townships in the northern part of Dearborn, as many of those families had connections in the Tri-County area.  By combining federal census information with church records and individual family genealogies, I hope to compile a useful database of information about these immigrants.

I have begun with the 1850 census and am posting the basis census data on German immigrants (and their families) in Adams Township, Ripley County.  I invite anyone to review this information and provide any corrections and additional information on these families.  In particular, I hope to identify alternative spelling for family names, since German surnames were often ‘misspelled” by the census enumerators.  Indeed, the accepted spelling of many German surnames evolved over time, and even in German records there are often different ways of spelling a particular family name.

Please send any comments to Charlie Hessler at:  chessler@aolcom

GERMAN IMMIGRANTS & THEIR FAMILIES FROM THE 1850 CENSUS

ADAMS TOWHSHIP, RIPLEY COUNTY, INDIANA

The first column shows the house number as on the census return; the second number reflects the position on the census for each person in that house, typi9cally with “1” being the father or other head of the household, “2” his wife, and then the children arranged by age; next is the surname (as spelled on the census, with possible alternative spelling in brackets); then first name, age, sex, and state or country of birth.