Treasure Chest Thursday: Louis Liebross' 1897 Passenger Manifest

When I started my research several years ago, the first manifest I located was for the Liebross family: Bertha and her children on arriving in New York Harbor on 1 July 1898. [1] The surname was written as "Libros" and the manifest was mostly eaten by insects. I discussed this manifest in a prior post. On that manifest Briendel Libros  (later Bertha Liebross), my great grandmother, noted that she and her children would be joining her husband (and their father) in New York City. It was at that point that I started my search for Leiser (later Louis) Liebross, who had arrived in the United States sometime earlier than his family.

I located Louis indexed (on Ancestry.com) as "Lewer Lebros." I read the name entry as "Leiser Lebros." [2] On 4 December 1897, Leiser departed Bremen, Germany on the Kaiser Wilhelm Der Grosse and arrived at Ellis Island on 15 December 1897.

"New York Passenger Lists, 1820-1957," digital images, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com: accessed 5 September 2009), manifest, Kaiser Wilhelm Der Grosse, Bremen to New York, arriving 15 December 1897, Libros, citing National Archives Microfilm Serial: T715; Microfilm Roll: 115; Line: 4; Page Number: 107.

 Here is a detail of the left side of the manifest. 

Name in Full: Leiser Lebros
Age: 37
Sex: m
Married or Single: m
Calling or Occupation: merch [merchant]
Able to Read:   /    Able to Write:  /  [marks indicate yes]
Nationality: Austrian
Last Residence: Radincz [Ellis Island Foundation indexed it as Rahnicz. It likely should have been the town Radautz (today, Radauti, Romania).]
Seaport for Landing in the United States: N.Y.
Final Destination in the United States (State, City or Town): Bklyn NY [Brooklyn, New York]

We sometimes hear that it is best to view originals rather than images of documents. In most cases views of digital images will not provide any less information that originals and may, with enhancements, provide more information. This manifest, however, is a case where there are pencil markings likely correcting information provided in the occupation and reading/writing columns. The pencil markings are not readily readable on the black and white manifest image. I have not yet tried enhancing these digitally to see if that would help.

The right half of the passenger record: 

Whether having a ticket to such final destination: - [indicates yes]
By whom was passage paid: self  
Whether in possession of money. If so, whether more than $30 and how much if $30 or less: 100 
Whether ever before in the United States, and if so, when and where: " [indicating no]  
Whether going to join a relative, and if so, what relative, their name and address: brother NY
Ever in Prison or Almshouse or supported by charity. If yes, state which. no
Whether a polygamist. no
Whether under Contract, express or implied, to labor in the United States. no
Condition of Health, Mental and Physical. good
Deformed or Crippled. Nature and Cause. no

It was the indication of "brother" under "Whether going to join a relative..." that started me on my search for another, previously unknown to me, male Liebross lurking around Brooklyn in 1897. That's when I was able to locate Simon Liebross. When I asked my mother's first cousin Stanford Liebross if he'd ever heard of Simon, he told me that he'd been named after him. Bingo!


Notes:
1. "New York Passenger Lists, 1820-1957," digital images, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com: accessed 13 May 2009), manifest, Britannic, Liverpool to New York, arriving 1 July 1898, Libros, citing National Archives Microfilm Serial: T715; Microfilm Roll: 25; Lines: 20-28; Page Number: 2.
2. I sent Ancestry a correction on the transcription. It is always a good idea to enter a correction for Ancestry's index when one finds a faulty transcription. Ancestry will not changed their entry, but will, once reviewed, add yours and make it also searchable. So, one does oneself and future researchers a favor by taking a few moments to correct transcriptions and make indices more accurate.  
The Ellis Island Foundation website has Louis indexed correctly as Leiser.