Re: Where does one begin?
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In reply to:
Where does one begin?
Thomas Hajnasiewicz 10/09/04
Well, we know he arrived in 1879 at the latest. So from there, you should have some luck checking passenger lists. He would have travelled from Switzerland to either Rotterdam, Hamburg or Le Havre. Which one is really a matter of which canton he lived in before leaving.
Also, they did have to get exit passports. That's a little harder to track down because you need to know where he was living since they're not centralized records. But if you can get the passenger records from the ship, then you can write a coherent letter asking for help getting the records.
After that, you really have to follow the trail wherever it leads you.
Out of curiosity, do you know know which language he spoke? Your choices are German, French or Italian. If you find that out, then you can narrow the cantons where you need to search and get a better focus on your research. Also, if you know what his religion was, you may have luck getting church records.
If you want clues on his parents' names, then look at his kids' names. Depending on whether he was French, German or Italian, there were naming traditions for kids. The French, for example, named the first born son after his paternal grandfather, next son after the maternal grandfather. Sometimes there were exceptions, but you'll usually find dad's name in the first or middle name.