Searching for family history

[Damocles]

Die Suche betrifft das Jahr oder den Zeitraum:
Genaue Orts-/Gebietseingrenzung: pre-1829
Konfession der gesuchten Person(en): Unknown
Bisher selbst durchgeführte Internet-Recherche (Datenbanken): MyHeritage, Ancestry.com, FamilySearch
Zur Antwortfindung bereits genutzte Anlaufstellen (Ämter, Archive): None

I am seeking information regarding my great-great-grandfather, Adam Velten who was born in Bavaria (according to his US naturalization papers) in August 1829 and who immigrated to the US in 1850. We have quite a bit of information following his arrival in the US but are trying to find any information regarding his life in Germany such as origin, family members, why he may have emigrated and anything that may help provide a wider history of the man and our family.

Thank you and my apologies for not being conversant in German but grateful for Google Translate:

Ich suche Informationen über meinen Ururgroßvater Adam Velten, der im August 1829 in Bayern (laut US-Einbürgerungspapieren) geboren wurde und 1850 in die USA ausgewandert ist in den USA, sondern versuchen, Informationen über sein Leben in Deutschland zu finden, wie Herkunft, Familienmitglieder, warum er möglicherweise ausgewandert ist und alles, was dazu beitragen könnte, eine umfassendere Geschichte des Mannes und unserer Familie zu erhalten.

Vielen Dank und Entschuldigung, dass ich kein Deutsch kann.

[Lerchlein]

Hello!

My English is no longer the best either, which is why I used Google too.
Bavaria is not that small to be able to write more precise information.
However, I stumbled across this page, which could possibly help a little further.

https://www.dvelten.net/vaf-o/g0/p933.htm

I wish you success!

[hionoxy]

Die Suche betrifft das Jahr oder den Zeitraum:
Genaue Orts-/Gebietseingrenzung: pre-1829
Konfession der gesuchten Person(en): Unknown
Bisher selbst durchgeführte Internet-Recherche (Datenbanken): MyHeritage, Ancestry.com, FamilySearch
Zur Antwortfindung bereits genutzte Anlaufstellen (Ämter, Archive): None

I am seeking information regarding my great-great-grandfather, Adam Velten who was born in Bavaria (according to his US naturalization papers) in August 1829 and who immigrated to the US in 1850. We have quite a bit of information following his arrival in the US but are trying to find any information regarding his life in Germany such as origin, family members, why he may have emigrated and anything that may help provide a wider history of the man and our family.

Thank you and my apologies for not being conversant in German but grateful for Google Translate:

Ich suche Informationen über meinen Ururgroßvater Adam Velten, der im August 1829 in Bayern (laut US-Einbürgerungspapieren) geboren wurde und 1850 in die USA ausgewandert ist in den USA, sondern versuchen, Informationen über sein Leben in Deutschland zu finden, wie Herkunft, Familienmitglieder, warum er möglicherweise ausgewandert ist und alles, was dazu beitragen könnte, eine umfassendere Geschichte des Mannes und unserer Familie zu erhalten.

Vielen Dank und Entschuldigung, dass ich kein Deutsch kann.

Yes, as fajo said, Bavaria is huge and, in fact, was even bigger in land mass than today.

That said, note that a good chunk of today's state of Rhineland-Palatinate as well as some places in northwestern Baden-Württemberg had been part of the Kingdom of Bavaria at said time

I just want to highlight that since the page posted by fajo lists places in the state of RP. Could've caused confusion.

Best,
Lukas

[Meggsi888]

Hi there!

I quite agree with Lukas' point and would even go further: from my experience, Velten is a rather common name in the (former Bavarian) Palatine region, while I have never heard it in (today's) Bavaria. Of course, this could only be my own (faulty) impression.
If we postulate that Adam Velten was born in Palatine, we should find him on FamilySearch since quite many of Palatine's church books and civil registers from the 19th century are subscripted in the Mormon's database.
The only hit I get for "Adam Velten", born 1829, is Christian Adam Velten, born on 28/07/1829 in Homburg, the son of soldier Joseph Velten and Barbara Geyer. The 28th of July is amazingly close to August...
(for his birth certificate see: https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61...=174&cat=79903)

Interestingly enough, a Cristino Velten, son of José Velten and Barbara Geyer, stemming from North America, has married in New Mexico 1855. (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61...3Q9M-CSHS-1QRK)
This could be a very different person, but not necessarily. For instance, I find it quite promising that his mother is called Barbara Geyer. Also, according to some MyHeritage US citizen lists, the person you're looking for is an American citizen since 1850 and nevertheless every info about Adam Velten I can find starts around 1860. So he might have lived for ten years under the name of Christian at a different spot of the US and only later have moved to the East coast.

Usually, I don't trust random search results I find in genealogy databases. But in this case it all fits together so well. I would appreciate any comments by other genealogists. Am I too optimistic in this case? Or might all those persons be the same one after all?

[gki]

https://nvk.genealogy.net/map/1890:Velten

This map seems to indicate that the name "Velten" does not occur in actual Bavaria.

[Damocles]

Thank you all.

Meggsi888 the info you provided seems to be an interesting possibility although the New Mexico connection seems unlikely. From what I understand about my Adam Velten is that he arrived in the US in 1850 and married an Irish woman, Kate Mahoney with whom he lived in New York until he enlisted in the US Union Army in 1862 and fought in the Civil War. They had 6 children together and, as far as I can tell, the family never ventured very far from New York City.

Danke euch allen.

Meggsi888 die von Ihnen bereitgestellten Informationen scheinen eine interessante Möglichkeit zu sein, obwohl die Verbindung nach New Mexico unwahrscheinlich erscheint. Soweit ich weiß über meinen Adam Velten, kam er 1850 in die USA und heiratete eine Irin, Kate Mahoney, mit der er in New York lebte, bis er 1862 in die US-Unionsarmee eintrat und im Bürgerkrieg kämpfte. Sie hatten 6 Kinder zusammen und, soweit ich das beurteilen kann, hat sich die Familie nie weit von New York City entfernt.

[Meggsi888]

I just noticed that the link to the marriage of Cristino Velten in New Mexico was wrong. Now it should work.

I can totally see why you disagree with my New Mexico theory. I guess without further information it's impossible to find out if it works out or not.

Anyway, I have found more proof that supports the idea that your Adam Velten comes from the region of Homburg.
Both parents of Christian Adam Velten (born 1829) had died before he had his 7th birthday.
(mother Barbara in 1835: https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61...i=84&cat=79903
father Joseph in 1836: https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61...=137&cat=79903)

As we can see from the father's death certificate, Joseph Velten was born in Reifenberg. The family register from the church of Reifenberg even gives the precise date of birth: 18/04/1796 (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61...i=67&cat=46467). The register also lists many other persons with the name Velten and according to the priest's notes, a couple of Joseph Velten's relatives from Reifenberg have immigrated to the US from the 1830s to the 1860s.
Maybe one of his uncles or cousins took care of Christian Adam after he became an orphan. And maybe that's why he joined them in their emigration...

[gki]

Damocles, have you searched for you ancestor in ship records, passenger arrival lists? Were you successfull? If yes: who else was on that list from "Bavaria"?