Finding Peter, Paul, and Margarete

This article focuses on a group of immigrants to Davenport, Iowa in the 1850s. My search initially focused on Paul Freund, the direct ancestor. The article discusses how in this case, locating immigrant origins was possible only by COMPLETELY researching the immigrant in his new location first. This plan gave me adequate information in order to locate the desired family members in passenger lists. The problem with looking for just Paul Freund is that there were several Paul Freunds from Bavaria who came to the United States.

Those who want to read more about my search for Peter, Paul, and Margarete can do so here. And anyone who is related is more than welcome to send me an email at mjnrootdig@gmail.com.

1856 Iowa State Census

One of the recently added databases at Ancestry.com is the complete set of Iowa state censuses. The image in this post comes from the 1856 state census for Scott County, Iowa. This entry is actually for Peter Freund, but the name was spelled Frent. A soundex search easily caught the entry. An upcoming article in the Ancestry World Journal will discuss using these wonderful records for the Freund family. Meanwhile genealogists can be searching for their Iowa ancestors in this Ancestry.com database.