Ernestine & Elizabeth BEITSCH from Hamburg, Germany (At my wit's ends!)

[Pangela84]

Hello Everybody,

I am looking for two sisters: Ernestine and Elizabeth BEITSCH who immigrated from the port of Hamburg, Germany (according to family members) when they were little girls. So, this would have been the early 1850's.  I have found them in the 1861 Census (attached) and this collaborates with the "story" as so many of my relatives told me how they were tagged on the ship and then sent off to an orphanage in Quebec.  I have ALL the information regarding what happened to them after they got out of the orphanage but, I do not know what village in Germany they came from.  I contacted the archivist from the orphanage where they were and he had promised to look into things for me but I never heard back from him despite my following up once in a while.  Please help LOL. If you can....I have all of their marriage records from Montreal and their internment and burial records from the parish.  What I am really after is their immigration info.  On Ernestine's marriage record, she goes by Beach but her sister Elizabeth goes by her germanic name Beitsch.

Miraculously I was able to find a ship report on a website. It says: "Two German children became chargeable in this department during the past season; they were deserted by a woman, supposed to be their mother, who came passenger in the ship Mary Michison, from Hamburg, in the early part of July. Having placed them in lodgings, and every exertion being made to discover their relations or friends, I, on the close of the navigation, made application and obtained admission for them as orphans into the Protestant Female Orphan Asylum in this city; their names are Bothe, and they are of the age of 5 and 7 years respectively."

http://jubilation.uwaterloo.ca/~marj/genealogy/reports/report1853.html

So, for whatever reason...my file is too large to attach but if you search 1861 census of Canada, you will see Ernestine and Eliz.  Thanks for your help!!!

[jorose]

I take it that their marriage/death records have no helpful info regarding parents?

You might be able to find them on the Hamburg Passenger Lists (leaving Hamburg). If the 1853 report is referring to your two girls, then they may have been recorded leaving the country with their mother.

[apwright]

Trouble with the Hamburg lists is that the volume for 1/1/1853 to 14/7/53 is missing, and it's just the one you want

Adrian

[Pangela84]

Yikes! Then I guess that's just the luck of the draw and the puck ends there, so to speak?

It's too bad because it's a storyline that I have been wanting to follow to see if there is any truth to it and what really happened.  And to get the names of the parents which sadly the marriage and death records don't reveal. 

The interesting thing is that according to the census, Ernestine & Elizabeth were put into the 'Anglican Female Orphan Asylum' in Quebec which opened in 1861. However, if the 'Bothe' transcript applies to them as well then they would have been placed into the Female Protestant Orphanage in Montreal or Quebec City.  It would be a miracle if there were records existing regarding their admission but, somehow I doubt that. 

This one is a toughie for sure.  Thanks for your assistance...or any more suggestions.

Sincerely, Angela