GERMAN-TEXAN-L Archives

Archiver > GERMAN-TEXAN > 2003-01 > 1042001338


From: Dolores Kinsey <>
Subject: Re: [G-T] Ernst Wilhelm Sonntag
Date: Tue, 07 Jan 2003 22:50:27 -0600
References: <200301072055.h07KtTR8021956@lists5.rootsweb.com> <3E1BA674.6060100@austin.rr.com>


Yes, he was Ernst Wilhelm, Jr., a half-uncle of my father. I know the family well.
Are you related?

Wife Mary's name was spelled differently, but I don't have it in front of me. They
had five children: 3 sons and 2 dtrs. Lah Trudie was the youngest.

Dolores Kinsey

Dan Sieczkowski wrote:

> Hi Dolores,
>
> I have a Ernst W. SONNTAG married to Mary BARSSER probably about 1920.
> They had at least one daughter, Lah Thrudie b. 1925 and married Donald
> Edward DREYER. I am wondering if this Ernst SONNTAG maybe a son or
> grandson of your Ernst. Did the obituary have a list of descendants?
>
> Thanks,
>
> Dan Sieczkowski
> Austin, Texas
>
> >I don't think the Galveston records for my immigrant great-grandfather exist,
> >but were destroyed in the Galveston hurricane. And, to further complicate
> >matters, records for the year of his departure from Germany probably were also
> >among those destroyed in Germany.
> >
> >His name was Ernst Wilhelm Sonntag. His obituary says he was from Gorlitz,
> >Prussia and that he arrived in Galveston on January 3, 1872. Do you know of any
> >source for finding which ships arrived in Galveston on that date? Perhaps if
> >the name of his ship were determined, there may be records in Germany of its
> >manifest.
> >
> >Ernst probably came alone; I know of no other Sonntag that was ever connected
> >with him as I was growing up--he was dead but I grew up around myriads of
> >kinfolks, and no one ever mentioned any great-aunts and uncles. He was 29 years
> >old, and he married in Colorado Co just 3 months after his arrival, to Emelie
> >Michling, who was 24 at the time.
> >
> >I have not been able to find anything on the arrival of Emelie in America. Her
> >sisters and their husbands (Frederick Keil & Ernestine (Michling) and Johann
> >Gottlieb Schonfeld & Mathilde (Michling)) arrived on December 7, 1869, in
> >Galveston on the ship Erna out of Bremen. They arrived two years and one month
> >before the arrival of Ernst Sonntag. It may be that Emelie was with them and
> >that her name was so mispelled on arrival records that it hasn't yet been
> >recognized. For example, when she and Ernst were married, the license showed
> >her name as Amelia Michlink (or something like that--I don't have it in front of
> >me). I found reference to the Schonfeld arrival in the following sources; at
> >the time, I did not know about the Keils, so I don't know if they are also in
> >these references: "Supplemental Index to Passenger Lists of Vessels
> >Arriving...Atlantic & Gulf Coast Ports (excluding New York), 1820-1874," and
> >"Ships Passenger Lists, Port of Galveston, 1846-1871," by Ella Lee Sheffield,
> >The Galveston County Genealogical Society, 1984, p. 114. The sources were found
> >in Clayton Genealogical Library in Houston, TX. (I live in San Marcos.)
> >
> >Hope you can help me. Perhaps the place to start is to try to find what ship(s)
> >arrived in Galveston on the date Sonntag's obituary says he arrived.
> >
> >Thanks so much for the offer.
> >
> >Dolores Kinsey
> >
>
> ==== GERMAN-TEXAN Mailing List ====
> http://www.hal-pc.org/~dcrane/txgenweb/gtwelcom.htm
> contains information on how to subscribe or unsubscribe
> from the German-Texan list.


This thread: