30 May 2015

Fokke Wasn't the Only 16 Year Old On the Boat in 1873


The S S Weser arrived in New York City on 3 November 1873. One of those passengers was Fokke Goldenstein.

One of the items I discovered recently while in Salt Lake at the Family History Library was immigration information Fokke filed in in Germany in September of 1873. I'm still in the process of translating that information to make certain I am understanding and interpreting it correctly. One of the items in the record is a copy of the letter Fokke's father wrote. It apparently discusses Fokke's age at the time of immigration and his sister already living in the United States. I waited until I was home to review Fokke's manifest information--just to see how soon he arrived in the United States after the paperwork in Germany was completed. It wasn't very long--he arrived in the US on 3 November, a little over a month after his paperwork in Germany was filed.

It turns out that Fokke wasn't the only 16 year old on that boat. There was another 16 year old with him: Habbe Agena.

While it doesn't look like Agena's name appears in Goldenstein's emigration information, I'm curious to see if Agena has emigration file similar to Goldenstein's and if that file contains a letter from his father as well.

I'll have to add that to my list for next year. We'll have an update on the information on Fokke's emigration file when I've had that translated.