Introduction

The goal of the Galveston-Bremen Project was to document the immigrant voyages from Bremen, Germany (inclusive of Bremerhaven) to Galveston, Texas between the years 1865 to 1896. This is the period most affected by Galveston's missing passenger lists. If we know when the voyages occurred, then we can maximize our efforts in searching for the missing lists.

The Bremen to Galveston route was selected as previous research indicated that the lion's share of immigrants that entered the United States through Galveston during this 31 year span, embarked at Bremen, or its outer seaport Bremerhaven. The port of Hamburg, Germany was not selected because passenger lists for this period of study are available for Hamburg departures. The first immigrant ship that we documented from Hamburg to Galveston after the American Civil War was the steamship Scotia in 1896.

The port of Liverpool, England was not selected; however, there was an organized effort to develop a Liverpool-Galveston route. Therefore, we documented as much as possible about this route without loosing focus of our primary goal. The post Civil War Liverpool-Galveston route is an excellent subject for future research.

With the help of many volunteers, and the support of several organizations, the Galveston-Bremen Project successfully reached its goal. That is, we documented the immigrant voyages from Bremen (Inclusive of Bremerhaven) to Galveston starting immediately after the Civil War in 1865 to the New Immigration period in 1896. The subject of this web site is to present these findings.

Along the way we stumbled on some very significant treasures - passenger lists. These unofficial lists come in various forms. Each list is transcribed here. The references are included within the fiscal year summaries.

Lawrence Konecny

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Sources

  • NEWSPAPERS
    • The Galveston Daily News
    • The Picayune - New Orleans
    • The Times - London
    • The Deutschen Auswanderer Zeitung (courtesy Houston Genealogical Forum)
    • The Freie Presse für Texas (courtesy Barker History Center, University of Texas, Austin, Texas)
    • Die Texas Post - Galveston (courtesy Barker History Center, University of Texas, Austin, Texas)
    • Texas Volksbote (courtesy Texas State Library: Archives Division, Austin, Texas)
    • The Slavie - Wisconsin (courtesy S.P.J.S.T. Museum, Temple, Texas)
  • PASSENGER LISTS
    • Microcopy 575, Roll 3: Copies of Lists of Passengers [Quarterly Abstracts] Arriving at the Port of Galveston, Texas, 1846-1871
    • Microcopy 1359, thirty six rolls: Passenger Lists of Vessels Arriving at Galveston, Texas, 1896-1948 (sic. 1892-1948)
  • OTHER SOURCES
    • The Harbor Account Books, Bremerhaven (courtesy Staatsarchiv, Bremen, Germany)
    • The Monthly Reports from the Bureau for Bremen Statistics (courtesy Staatsarchiv, Bremen, Germany)
    • Souvenir passenger lists (as noted)