Before I Forget

      My paternal second great-grandmother Hannah allegedly immigrated from Hamburg. Or Bremen. Both were popular seaports in what later became Germany. The first documented proof I have of her existence is an 1853 marriage to Sam Leeper in Galveston, Texas. On their marriage certificate the surname "Wosta" is handwritten. What appears to be WOSTA, that is. What spelling do YOU see? From a previous blog post, here is Hannah and Sam Leeper's marriage certificate:
http://treepig.posthaven.com/1853-marriage-of-hannah-wosta-to-samuel-leeper 

      Because it is an unusual name, I wonder if Hannah might have:

(1)  Been unaware of the correct spelling due to illiteracy;

(2)  Spoken a language that was not understood by the clerk who prepared the marriage certificate;

(3)  Been subject to clerical error. The clerk might have written phonetically what she heard the young bride say. Or what her older husband SAID was his new wife's maiden name.

      So many possibilities. Accompanying Hannah were her four young sons, whose names appear on census, guardianship and land records as WISER. (Yes, and Weiser, too. But predominantly spelled WIser) I therefore assume that the 29 year old Hannah told the Galveston court clerk her MAIDEN name--not her legal married name of Wiser. That was a custom--but not always a requirement in various jurisdictions. After all, I've no proof she was married to a Herr Wiser. Assumptions are not proof, Dear Reader. 

      WITH THAT IN MIND: Familysearch.org/ recently updated their New Orleans Passenger Lists. Attached are a few WOSTE immigrants who came to America at a time my Hannah might have arrived. You see, I've yet to find an immigration record for Hannah and her Wiser boys. These young Woste passengers require further study, as they might give clues to a family my Hannah once belonged. Might my Hannah have had family in America before she crossed the Atlantic with young children? New Orleans and Galveston were busy ports of entry for Europeans. From WHERE did you come, Hannah?

Source: "Louisiana, New Orleans Passenger Lists, 1820-1945." Database with images. FamilySearch. http://FamilySearch.org : accessed 2015. Citing NARA microfilm publication M259. Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.

      Maybe YOU can find a clue? https://familysearch.org/search/collection/1916009

      Thanks for stopping by!

Months ago I posted a dilemma concerning my earliest Wiser immigrant to Texas. Records and census images show the spelling of Hannah's four young sons to be WISER. Her maiden name has yet to be discovered. This 2nd Great-Grandmother remarried an aging San Jacinto veteran (GO TEXAS!) in 1853, and the handwriting on the marriage license indicates, oh, take a look for yourself, is it WOSTA or WOSTE or what-the?

http://treepig.posthaven.com/1853-marriage-of-hannah-wosta-to-samuel-leeper

Look on the left-hand sidebar where the Galveston Court Clerk wrote "Leeper" and "Wosta?"  See it? Many descendants have scratched their heads at this handwriting thankfully recorded for posterity. And many a researcher has run variations of Wosta through databases looking for immigration records, ship notes, earlier census records, etc. 

Phoey, it raises more questions than answers. Is Hannah's name on this marriage certificate that of her last husband or her maiden name? And could it be that our last name is NOT "Wiser" but another name? BTW, when you boarded a ship in Bremen or Hamburg long ago (in what later became Germany) you could not do so by just paying cash. You had to show papers validating your full name and residence. Captains were required to keep logs. Thousands of these logs are preserved. Many died when crossing the Atlantic. Their deaths were recorded, too. Both the originals and transcriptions of these records are available. And many cities' newspapers published the names of the first class arrivals. MORE: http://www.archives.gov/research/immigration/passenger-arrival.html

WHICH BRINGS ME TO TODAY: A wonderful new database is available of World War I prisoners of war. Two of Hannah's Texas grandsons fought in France and Germany in 1918. I've long found it curious that two sons of a native German immigrant fought "the Huns" in a war that was to end all wars. Did they know much about their dad's ancestry? Surely it crossed their minds that they might engage in hand to hand combat in a muddy trench with a cousin or two, no? If I ever asked Grandpa this, I've since forgotten his response. And goodness knows he LOVED to talk about his time in the War. Do you know more from conversations with Elton?

http://grandeguerre.icrc.org/en/  Prisoners Of The First World War 

I ran a few surnames. Found several Wisers in the German Army. Found several of my husband's surnames in the French Army (let the teasing begin). But this result below REALLY interested me. Of all the combinations of WOSTE I've not thought of or seen this spelling: Woster. Do you see the similarity to the handwriting on the 1853 document? Click on both pictures:

I shall now be on the alert for all things WOSTER.