Ship Manifests and Oaths of Allegiance: Finding the Origin Stories of 19th Century Immigrant Familie

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This presentation follows the journey of the Stielow family — a widow, her six children and several grandchildren — emigrating from rural Pomerania to the booming U.S. Midwest over 12 years starting in 1871. We trace the immigration of this ethnically German family from a small village in modern-day Jeremy Verdusco | V Squared Services LLC jeremy@simplyv2.com 1 of 3 Poland to the growing lumber town of Saginaw, Michigan, as they search for opportunity in the postCivil War U.S. This case study uses newspapers, ship manifests, census records, declarations of intention, and oaths of allegiance, among other documents. Learn tips for discovering your ancestors’ origin stories in these important records.

Genealogist Jeremy Verdusco has done family research for about 20 years, and research on behalf of clients since 2023. He belongs to the Association of Professional Genealogists (APG), as well as the group’s Great Lakes Chapter. He also serves as an at-large board member for the Michigan Genealogical Council and as editor for the group’s quarterly newsletter. He specializes in Michigan research, but has also researched families from across the U.S. Midwest, Ontario, Canada and parts of Mexico. He spent 20+ years working for newspapers and magazines, but now helps genealogy clients follow their roots. He has a B.A. in journalism from Michigan State University.