The story makes for a romantic one but, like many family legends, the reality may be somewhat different.
A couple may not really have met for the first time on the boat. They may never have met on the boat at all. The future husband may have immigrated as a single man and then sent word back home that he had settled and was ready to marry.
Story was my great-great-grandparents met "on the boat," having been from different villages. They were born in different villages, but there's more to it than that. The future bride's family had moved to the small village where the groom was living about ten years before the couple married.
They knew of each other before they ever crossed the pond.
My family has an intriguing (and unexplained so far) marriage/immigration situation with my Aler great-great gp from Germany in 1854. We "knew" that "their" daughter had been born in Germany. However, the passenger list has "Christoph. Oehler," "Christ. Schlip," and "Carol. Schlip." That is the order in which they were recorded, strongly suggesting they were sitting together. Our family has always assumed they were Christoper, Christiana and Caroline Aler/Oehler when they arrived in the US. Have not been able to find German records for any of them. Caroline's age is also in dispute: the pax list says she was 6 months old, suggesting she was born about Dec 1853 (they arrived here May 1854). However, Caroline's tombstone says her birthdate was 04 May 1853.
ReplyDelete