Between 1857 and 1861, several thousand immigrants from Prussia and other German-speaking states came to North America via the Hamburg-Quebec route. Many of these families and individuals settled in the Ottawa Valley as part of a Canadian government settlement scheme. Others travelled on to southern Ontario and the United States (particularly to Wisconsin). While most of the families were of German ethnic background, many Kashubian families [usually called Polish in Canada] emigrated as well, from certain regions in Prussia.
Scope and Content
This list was compiled in the spring of 1997 from printouts of a microfilm supplied by the State Archives of Hamburg, Germany [Auswanderungsamt I, VIII A 1, vol. 12]. The alphabetical list of surnames should help genealogists looking for German and/or Kashubian [Polish] ancestors.
The printouts in the Arnprior and District Archives contain the following information that can be made available upon request:
surname and first name of head of family and dependents
place of origin [town /village and state]
occupation, ages, and relationship to head of family.
The original handwritten lists were compiled by the shipping companies prior to sailing. Because they are hand-written, using the old German script, they are difficult to read, and some errors due to illegibility are inevitable. There are no lists for 1857, although some German families already arrived in the Ottawa Valley that year.
Notes
Note: In the computer folder “Archival Holdings” there is a computer file called “German passenger lists” which lists family names in alphabetical order and refers to the relevant page in these passenger lists, which are in old-German handwriting (copies of microfilm). Peter Hessel is able to decipher them.
Hard copy available for $10; display copy on desks in Reference Room.
Related Material
Reference is made to the book, “Destination: Ottawa Valley” by Peter Hessel, published in Ottawa in 1984. The book, which deals extensively with this particular immigration program, is available for $14.95 plus shipping.