Saturday, September 3, 2011

Where can I find Outbound Ship Logs for Port of New York? Researching Grimmer's that went back to Germany from the Port of NY

I spent all day researching the internet on how to locate Outbound Ship List from the Port of New York, with no luck.  They had to have kept these records also right?  Especially when Ellis Island was turning away immigrants and making them return to where they came from.  I remember watching this on the History Channel, very sad!! 

Ok...I will start from the beginning... My 2nd great Aunt Bertha Grimmer (supposedly-another story) committed suicide in Dolgeville, Herkimer, NY in 1894.   My 2nd great Uncle Ernst Karl Grimmer found his wife and just from that moment on could not cope.  They had six children together, four of which were being sent back to Germany to Bertha's family.   My Uncle Karl was from Leipzig, Stotteritz, Sachsen, Saxony, Germany.  Karl, Bertha and two children came to America aboard the "Rugia" in 1888.

I only know from a newspaper clipping that on 20 Jul 1894 they [four Grimmer children] were to sail back to the "faderland" that afternoon, unaccompanied.  I  do not have their names, unfortunately.  I only know the older children's names Oswald, William and Curt.  Two of the children remained with their father. 

The last time anyone saw Ernst Karl Grimmer was on 14 Aug 1894 when he was taken, by a friend, to Little Falls with two children and never seen nor heard from again.  From his arrival in 1888 to 1894 I have been able to document his life in America by the use of newspapers, city directories and census records.  I have not been able to find one piece of evidence that he remained in America since that time.  I don't know which children remained in America with him.  I was hoping if I found the outbound passenger ship logs that I would be able to locate the four children who were sent back to Germany.

Has anyone else experienced this in their research?  I could really use some help with this one.