Road to Japan May Go Through Hawaii

Question: I am of Japanese background and wonder if tracing my roots might be different from someone with European background who would be able to use the Mormon library.

Answer: If your family settled in California, consult the LDS (Mormon) Branch Family History Library nearest you, using its catalogue on microfiche. Look under California/Minorities. You will find there are records pertaining to the Japanese in California that might be important to your research.

Because many Japanese trace their families back through Hawaii to about 1885 when Japanese laborers first began to arrive there, you may need to consult sources available for Hawaii--many of which are available at the Family History Libraries.

While the Japanese collection at Salt Lake City’s famed library is small, it numbers more than 7,000 rolls of microfilm. In addition, “East Asian Family Sources: Japan,” an excellent paper by Kenji Suzuki, was presented at the World Conference on Records in 1980. A copy of this paper may still be available for a nominal fee. Write to Family History Library, 35 N.W. Temple, Salt Lake City, Utah 84150, and also request up-to-date information about available Japanese records.

Q: Do you have the address of where Ellis Island records are kept? My ancestor was born in 1796 in New Jersey, but probably his parents came from some European country, so they would have had to come through Ellis Island.

A: Ellis Island served as the prime immigrant receiving station in the United States from 1892 to 1954, but no list of the names of the millions who landed there exists. Castle Garden, which opened in 1855, was the predecessor of Ellis Island.

Because your immigrant ancestors arrived before 1796, they did not come through Ellis Island. Likely ports of entry for them would have been Philadelphia, Baltimore or New York City.

Consult P. William Filby’s “Passenger and Immigration Lists Index” for your immigrant ancestors’ surname. Major libraries have this outstanding source of passengers who came to the U.S. and Canada in the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries.

Q: In “The History of Menard and Mason Counties, Illinois,” published in 1879, the compiler states that my ancestor, Philip Barnet (b. 1780/90), was an “Eastern” man. What area of the country was he referring to?

A: In the 1790 U.S. Census there are Barnet/Barnetts (and variant spellings) in New Hampshire, Vermont, New York, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina and South Carolina, with the most heads of families of this surname appearing in North Carolina and Pennsylvania.

Because you’ve traced your family backward from Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, to western Virginia, an “Eastern man” likely would have come from Pennsylvania. However, what the compiler meant is anyone’s guess.

Information about an ancestor’s prior residence usually appears in the land records--look for the deed to the first piece of property he purchased in Virginia. That may give you the county and state you need.

Q: My ancestor, Fritz Klieniech, came from Prussia some time before 1874, but I’ve been unable to find him on any ship passenger lists. Can you suggest a source?

A. Check the Hamburg passenger lists, available on microfilm through Family History Libraries. They contain the names of virtually all the persons who sailed from that port between 1850 and 1934. They are arranged in chronological order according to the date of departure of the ship with some indexes.

There is a fully alphabetized card index of the direct lists (passengers who sailed directly to their final destination without a stop at an intermediate port) for the years 1856 to 1871. Start with it.