1902- Rudolph Comes to America

By Frederick Erwin Walton Copyright (C) 2013 

My great-grandfather, Rudolph Packheiser arrived in America on July 22, 1902, according to a passenger manifest found on the Ellis Island website¹. How do I know this is MY great-grandfather? Well for one thing, Packheiser is a fairly unique name and when searching the database only eight matches were found, including his wife, Ottilie, and son, Erwin, who both arrived in 1903. More on them later. I'm not exactly sure who the other five Packheisers are...yet, but I plan to focus on my immediate family before heading off on that tangent.

More telling, the passenger manifest identifies Rudolph's final destination as his brother-in-law (written as Br. I. L. on the manifest) Ed Mealwitz of 290 Eighth St Boston, Mass. This is his wife, Ottilie's, brother and his correct 1902 Address in Boston.²

Rudolph Packheiser circa 1900.  
His age appears to be in his mid 30s. 
There are no markings on the reverse to indicate 
if this was taken in the USA or Bialystock.
Photo Courtesy of Dee (Packhiser) Terry

Rudolph's last residence is listed as Bialistock, then part of the Russian Empire. Although his nationality is listed as Russian, family tradition identifies the Packheiser's as German. A search of other ships manifests reveals that anytime a resident of Bialystok was listed they were labeled Russian, even though most names were clearly of German origin. Today Bialystok is a Polish city, but it has always been in a border region that shifted from Prussia, to Russia, to Germany over the centuries.

During the 19th century the city became a major center of textile industry. Due to an industrial boom the population grew from 13,787 in 1857  to 65,781 in 1901. Over 60% of the inhabitants were of Jewish ancestry. By 1903, Bialystok had become a hotbed of anarchy and socialism, drawing support mainly from the impoverished and persecuted working-class Jews, as well as unemployed laborers, drifters and professional trouble-makers. Being a silk dyer, Rudolph may have sought work in this textile rich community. Perhaps the approaching social upheaval influenced him to seek opportunities elsewhere.³

The port he left from, Bremen, Germany, was about 700 miles from his home. He probably traveled by train which would have taken him through Warsaw and Berlin before arriving at the busy port of Bremen

Bremen, Germany, was a major point of embarkation for European emigrants seeking opportunities or refuge in America during the 19th and 20th centuries. Twice as many passengers departed from Bremen as from Germany's second busiest seaport for emigration, Hamburg.

The destruction of the Bremen passenger records is one of the great losses in genealogical history. Bremen port officials kept meticulous records from 1832- 1874, when authorities, citing a lack of space, destroyed all Bremen passenger records except for those of the current year and the two previous years.  Given this loss, researchers in search of embarkees from that port must fall back on arrival lists. In the case of emigrants to the U.S.,  the best source is the U.S. Customs passenger lists which I transcribed below.⁴

S. S. Kronprinz Wilhelm

Rudolph was a passenger aboard the newly built (1901) German passenger liner SS Kronprinz Wilhelm  built for the Norddeutscher Lloyd. The 637.3 ft x 66.3 ft ship was packed with the latest technology including Marconi telegraph, electric central heating, electric lights and electric motors for bridge cranes, fans, elevators, refrigerators and auxiliary machinery⁵. The Kronprinz Wilhelm was safe and fast, boasting a double bottom design with watertight compartments and powerful engines giving her a speed of from 22½ to 23 knots.  The crew consisted of about 500. Like most liners of the time, the Kronprinz Wilhelm's 1,761 passengers were divided into three classes. The third class, given less space on board, located below decks in not very comfortable accommodation and far from the luxurious first class staterooms, made the most profit for steam ship company's, even though a ticket to America may have been as little as $10. Rudolph was probably in one ofthe 1,054 spots designated for third class, but with only688 passengers on this voyage he was far from being overcrowded ⁶.

The Ocean trip took only seven days, leaving Bremen on July 15, 1902 and arriving in New York on July 22, 1902. According to the passenger manifest, the 33 years old Packheiser paid for his own ticket. I reviewed the manifest carefully and it does not appear that the names surrounding Rudolph's were traveling with him, nor did I find anyone else from Bialystok or Michalowo, the town nearby where he was married in 1896. It was not uncommon for a husband to travel to the new world to get settled in a new job and home before sending for his family. In this case his family joined him a year later, but that is a story for another time.
In September 1902, captained by the same Captain, August Richter, the Kronprinz Wilhelm won the Blue Riband for the fastest crossing yet from Cherbourg to New York in a time of five days, 11 hours, 57 minutes, with an average speed of 23.09 knots⁷.

The ship arrived at Ellis Island, NY on July 22, 1902, where Rudolph Packhiser would have been processed through customs and allowed to go his way to Boston. The customs records no longer exist and there is no evidence of how he traveled to Boston.

The passenger manifest form contains 21 fields of information that provide a lot of information about my Ancestor. The following is what I transcribed from line 21 of the original ship manifest (click to view) ⁸
I have also added some additional comments based on my research.

Next: Looking for Rudolph in Boston

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Norddeutscher Lloyd, Bremen, Steamship Company.

List or Manifest of Alien Immigrants for the Commissioner of Immigration

List No. 13

Required by the regulations of the Secretary of the Treasury of the United States, under Act of Congress approved March 3, 1893, to be delivered to the Commissioner of Immigration by the Commanding officer of any vessel having such passengers on board upon arrival at a port in the United States.

SS Kronprinz Wilhelm sailing from Bremen, July 15th 1902 Arriving at Port of New York [July 22, 1902]

Field Name	Data	My Comments
No. On List:	21	This is on a page labeled "List Number 13" There are 30 names on this page
Name In Full:	Packheiser, Rudolph
Age	33	matches 1869 birth date
Sex	M
Married or Single	M	Married 18 May 1896
Calling or Occupation	Dyer	Later Owned  Packhiser's Cleaners & Dyers, est. 1908
Able to read/write	Yes/Yes
Nationality	Russia	Probably considered himself German. In my research,all Passengers from Bialystok are labled Russian, even though they came from diverse cultures
Last Residence	Bialistock	Located within Russian Empire in 1902
Seaport for Landing in the US	Magyar	may indicate he had a hungarian passport
Final Destination in the US (State, City or town)	Boston, Mass.
Whether having a ticket  to such final destination	No
By Whom was passage paid	Self
Whether in Possession  of Money, If so whether more than $30 and how much if $30 or less	$ 13
Whether ever before in US	No
Whether going to join a relative and  if so what relative, their number and address	Br. I. L. Ed Mealwitz 290 Eighth St Boston, Mass.	Brother-in-Law
Ever in Prison, Almshouse or supported by Charity	No	standard answer
Whether a Polygamist	No	standard answer
Whether under contract for labor in US	No	standard answer
condition of Health	good	standard answer
Deformed or Crippled	No	standard answer

Sources:
1. www.ellisisland.org
2 The 1902 Boston City Directory lists "Mealwitz Edward Grocer 290 E Eighth, h. do." h do. means home address ditto, or same as business address. A Google Search of the address reveals some two story turn of the century buildings that would have had a shop on the street level and an apartment on the second floor.
3. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Bialystok 
4. http://wiki-en.genealogy.net/Bremen_Passenger_Lists
5. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SS_Kronprinz_Wilhelm
6. http://www.thegreatoceanliners.com/kpw.html, note: [7] reports "There was accommodation for about 650 first class, 350 second class and 700 steerage passengers"
7. http://www.norwayheritage.com/p_ship.asp?sh=krowi
8. www.ellisisland.org