Immigrant Ships
Transcribers Guild
Schooner Johannes
Emden, Germany to Norfolk VA
The arrival date is presumed to be 1 August 1857 at Norfolk VA (see correspondence)
Columns represent: name, age, gender, place of origin is the town or
village
(all are in Ostfriesland, a former territory in Germany on the North
Sea Coast)
Cabin Passengers: 1 Jurgen Janssen 29 male Rorichum 2 Margarethe Habben 30 female Rorichum 3 Renske Janssen 18mo female Rorichum 4* Elske Gortemaker 52 female Warsingsfehn 5 Engelke J. Hemmen 49 female Warsingsfehn 6* Enne Schmidt 20 ? Neu-Firrel 7 Christian R. Becker 35 male Neermoor 8 Metje Weerts 30 female Neermoor 9 Roelf Becker 18mo male Neermoor 10 Hemme J. Bonjer 35 male Warsingsfehn 11 Maria Boyen 31 female Warsingsfehn 12 Elisabeth Bonjer 2 female Warsingsfehn 13 Jan Bonjer 1 male Warsingsfehn 14 Geeske Bonjer 21 female Warsingsfehn 15 Johanna Feldmann 24 female Terborg 16 Evert Bohlen 16 male Terborg 17 Bernhard Janssen 30 male Veenhusen 18 Johanna Hoffmann 32 female Veenhusen 19 Heinrich Janssen 4 male Veenhusen 20* Peter Aneas Freerksen 51 male Logumer Vorwerk 21 Foelke Else de Groot 50 female Logumer Vorwerk 22 Aneas Freerksen 19 male Logumer Vorwerk 23 Else Freerksen 16 female Logumer Vorwerk 24 Petrus Freerksen 14 male Logumer Vorwerk 25 Willem Freerksen 7 male Logumer Vorwerk 26 Harm Freerksen 6 male Logumer Vorwerk 27 Jan Oltmann Akkermann 40 male Veenhusen 28 Antje Hinr. Busker 38 female Veenhusen 29 Oltmann J. Akkermann 7 male Veenhusen 30 Etje Akkermann 6 female Veenhusen 31 Hinderk Klaas Wildfang 52 male Simonswolde 32 Taatje Wiards Wildfang 47 female Simonswolde 33 Doede Wildfang 16 male Simonswolde 34 Siebrand Wildfang 14 male Simonswolde 35 Klaas Wildfang 12 male Simonswolde 36 Meentje Wildfang 7 female Simonswolde End note: We attest herewith in honor and consientiously that none of the above entries are subject to paragraph 15 of the law of 19 March 1852 which would prohibit their being taken on board. Emden, the 22 May 1857 Y. B. Brons u. Co. Schulte und Janssen
Transcriber's Notes: * An asterisk indicates an error on the part of the original recorder, not the transcriber, or is used to call your attention to additional information in the transcriber's notes. ? Indicates a letter or number which could not be determined due to the condition of the manifest or handwriting of the original recorder. Corrected information: The arrival date is presumed to be 1 August 1857 at Norfolk VA (see correspondence below) The names of the women are their maiden names because the male/head of the household is usually listed first and then a female name and then the children with surnames the same as the father's. At this point I have not found a NARA microfilm of the list and believe that it does not exist for the port of Charleston. The list has been renumbered to conform with ISTG editorial guidelines. I have added the gender column using a question mark in where I was uncertain about the gender. 1 Jurgen is spelled with u Umlaut to read Jürgen. 4 Surname has an "o" Umlaut thus Görtemaker or Goertemaker. 6 Gender of the given name can be male or female.
Correspondence added December 7, 2007 - passengers #27-30 AKKERMANN and BUSKER
My great-great-grandfather, passenger number 27, Jan O. Akkermann, along with wife and family (including my great-grandfather) arrived on the Johannes.
Passenger # 28, Antje Hinr. Busker, was the wife of Jan O. Akkermann. I also have another spelling for her surname. Per the civil and church records of Veenhusen, Germany her surname was spelled Busscher. Per her gravestone it was also spelled Busscher. And the German pronunciation was probably Busker.
JO and Antje Busker Akkerman are also found on the passenger manifest of the Schooner Antje Brons which left the German port of Emden 18 April 1857. However they did not board that ship.
From the Veenhusen church records we know that JO and Antje Akkerman lost a 3 year old son--name was Hinderich Jansen Akkerman --on 14 April 1857 and his burial was 15 April 1857. It is assumed that the death is the reason they did not board. But perhaps the cause of death is also pertinent here. It is listed as "Scharlachfieber". [Scarlet Fever]
An article from a 1916 "Ostfriesische Nachrichten" when he celebrated
his 100th birthday states that their trip was a very burdensom journey
of ten weeks and two days. My mother wrote that they disembarked in
Norfolk VA and had come down with yellow fever (in South Carolina).
Please contact me
Jean Sietsema
Further note by transcriber: The arrival date and place of this ship is a problem. If Jean Sietsema's information from the 1916 news article is correct the ship would have arrived about July 31, 1857.
Corrections added August 24, 2008 - passengers #27-30 AKKERMANN and BUSKER
The mystery as to whether the Schooner Johannes did arrive at her destination of Charleston, or instead landed in Norfolk, Virginia, was solved by Harlan D Oelmann, great-grandson of Jan O. and Antje Akkermann, by a detailed research conducted during July 2008.
On the suggestion of Gene Janssen, the Transcriber, Harlan Oelmann set out to either validate or negate two key bits of information provided by Jean Sietsema, great-granddaughter of Oltmann J Akkermann,
One was a story typewritten by Jean’s mother Frances Akkermann Sietsema, which stated, “In 1857, the Akkerman Family came to the United States. They landed at Norfolk, Va. Enroute to Freeport, Illinois they became ill with yellow fever in North Carolina.”
The other piece of information was from an Ostfriesische Nachrichten newspaper article published on 10 March 1916. This article told about Jan O. Akkermann’s 100th birthday observance and it related, “In 1857, the family came to America and it was a very burdensome voyage which took 10 weeks and 2 days”.
Harlan Oelmann’s research found the following:
· The sailing route the Johannes most likely would have taken was the Mid-Atlantic route, from Emden to the Madeira Islands and then west to Charleston.
· However, about the time she would have reached the half way point across the Atlantic she would have encountered a Tropical Cyclone, designated Tropical Storm #1 according to Stormpulse, a website which provides historic storm data. Thus, her evading maneuvers would have taken her to the northwest, and the evasion track plus possible storm damage most likely caused her to go to Norfolk. The whole trip would have taken about 72 days.
· The research, which dealt with determining if railroad travel from Norfolk to Freeport was possible in 1857, found that the only train travel available from Norfolk was from Portsmouth, Virginia, just across the Elizabeth River from Norfolk. That railroad would have taken them through North Carolina and eventually to Charleston, South Carolina. In fact this route was the only way to eventually get to Illinois.
· Then from Charleston it was found that the only route of travel which would take them to Illinois was by taking the newly finished, in April of 1857, railroad connection from Charleston to Memphis and the Mississippi River. Then a Mississippi River Steamboat would have carried them to Cairo, Illinois. At Cairo they connected with the Illinois Central Railroad, just completed in 1856, which took them to Freeport, Illinois, their final destination.
Both key pieces of information provided by Jean Sietsema were validated as being correct.
This conclusion was, coincidentally, reached on 1 August 2008; 151 years to the day after the Johannes arrived
in Norfolk. Further, it was concluded that the most likely reason the Johannes was destined for Charleston
in the first place, was solely because of the new railroad connection from the Atlantic to the Mississippi.
It was deemed to be a new route for Ostfriesland immigrants to reach the German Valley area of northern Illinois
where an Ostfriesland Colony had been formed in 1847 by Ostfriesens from Neermoor.
I have transcribed this from a list in the newspaper in Emden, Germany. Its intended destination was Charleston SC, but due to either storms at sea or disease it may have left off passengers at Norfolk VA. The shipping company in Emden lasted only about ten years and sent about five ship loads of emigrants to the U.S.
Transcribed and donated by Gene Janssen
a member of
the
Immigrant Ships Transcribers
Guild
29 May 2004
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