hannover-l - Nachricht 2000-05 00024

[Stephen Kent Ehat <ske(a)...]

Dear Fred,

Here is what I would do in your situation.  It's called "the back door
approach."  I have shared this with others and they praise the approach as
much as I do.  It's simple.

1.  You say your ancestor Frederick LEHMAN (spelled variously) "came to the
USA from Hannover, Germany in the middle 1800s."  From that I will assume
that he can be found in the 1860, 1870, and 1880 U.S. Federal Census
reports, and perhaps in the 1900 and even 1910, depending on his longevity.
I would look him up on microfilm in every U.S. Federal Census and in every
state census in which he appears and copy not only his family's entry but
the entry for every family in town with the same surname (indexes help) as
well as the entries for the families about 10 to fifteen houses each
direction in the census pages surrounding each entry.  Keep good notes of
film numbers and page numbers.

2.  Analyze the entries.  You are almost sure to find not only that he came
to America with one or more relatives but that they lived in close proximity
to one another for a number of years.  A next door neighbor's wife, for
example, might very well be his sister; a man only three blocks away with
the same surname might very well be his first cousin and the old man and
woman living in that home might very well be that first cousin's parents,
your ancestor's aunt and uncle.  Some of these relationships can be pieced
together with all sorts of sources: burials at cemeteries, obituaries,
Centennial Histories (published count-by-county in or near 1880 in many
counties in the nation), death records, mention of the names of witnesses to
marriages, oral histories of people you contact with the same surname who
presently live in the same town or county as your ancestor, etc.

3.  Do someone else's genealogy.  Whether it be the genealogy of a now
long-deceased former neighbor who lived seven doors away and who had the
same surname as your ancestor and whose family appears in the same town as
yours in the 1880 Federal Census or whether it be the genealogy of a Lehman
who presently lives in the same town now as your ancestor did then, you
never know what you might find.  Sometimes we feel like we have run up
against a dead end on our own line.  Often that is true.  But if we simply
find a sibling or cousin of an immigrant ancestor (or even a child of the
direct-line ancestor, other than the child through whom we descend) and then
do the genealogy of the sibling or cousin (or try to trace forward in time
to discover living descendants of the other child), often we will find that
the records of the sibling or cousin are more complete and fruitful (or that
the living descendants of the child on the other line have oral tradition or
written documents that will help us along).

4.  For example, you state that "it has been mentioned by some in the
familly that he may have been from the area known as Baden, Germany. But his
Military records do state he was from Hannover."  Suppose your family did
not know that.  You likely would not be contacting "hannover-l" if that were
the case.  But if you found out through the back door approach, for example,
that some living descendant of your great grand uncle (your immigrant
ancestor's other son), knew of the Hannover connection, you would
immediately start to pursue that avenue.  Similarly, therefore, imagine the
delight if you were to find that in an 1880 history write-up or in a 1900
Census entry for your great great grandfather's brother (or cousin) some
hint were made that he was from the town of "X"; I think you would say that
the back door approach was quite fruitful.  And if some descendant of your
great grand uncle had an 1898 obituary that mentioned the town of origin,
you'd be delighted.

5.  Sometimes "going for the juggler" in the ship lists is direct and
fruitful; sometimes not.  But with this type of approach, knowing perhaps
the name of one or more other possible relatives (even if others in his
neighborhood have different surnames), one can even be more discerning when
looking at ship lists.  To devise an example that surely is impossible but
which because of its extreme nature makes the point: If you were to find a
ship list without your ancestor but listing instead a Johann LEHMAN and a
Richard KRAUS and a Fritz MERGET and a Michael FRITZ, all of whose names
(except the Johann LEHMAN) also happened to show up in a census in the same
town and in the same neighborhood as your great great grandfather (who shows
up as Frederick LEHMAN or LAYMAN), you'd be suspicious, even if the age
listed in the ship list for Johann LEHMAN were seven years off of that for
your great great grandfather.  Sometimes they slip by the record takers.
Sometimes they are listed with the wrong age or name or both or an
incomplete name.  But often performing the ancestral research on the
neighbor or on the proven cousin yields the desired results within two
generations.

Steve.

-----Original Message-----
From: owner-hannover-l(a)...
[mailto:owner-hannover-l(a)... Behalf Of SGO Design Studio
Sent: Thursday, May 11, 2000 4:53 PM
To: hannover-l(a)...
Subject: LAYMAN


I NEED HELP, I am looking for Different spellings of our surname "LAYMAN".
The only information I have is that my GG Grandfather came to the USA from
Hannover, Germany in the middle 1800"s. Upon his arrival here, his name was
Americanized to "LAYMAN". He traveled here via an indirect route (England),
and because of his enlistment into the Union Army during the Cival War, he
became a citizen without needing to apply through the courts. It has been
mentioned by some in the familly that he may have been from the area known
as Baden, Germany. But his Military records do state he was from Hannover.I
can find no listing on any ship records with the spelling of Frederick
(Layman) (Lehmann) (Laman) (Leiman) (Lyman) that matches his bith date. Any
help would be much appreciated.

He was born in Feb. 1830 and may have arrived here around 1855-57.

Thanks to everyone.
Fred Layman