Treasure Chest Thursday: Simon & Ethel Liebross 1890 USA & Hamburg Passenger Lists

Early passenger lists for the port of New York often do not provide much information, but if the passengers embarked from Hamburg (or any of the other handful of places where a port of departure manifest might have been created and still exist), the genealogical researcher may be in luck. Simon and Etel (Ethel) Libros (Liebross) arrived in the United States on 25 January 1890 aboard the Rhaetia. [1] (This was Simon's second arrival in the US, the first was described in last week's "Treasure Chest Thursday" post.)

Passenger number 188, Simon Libros, age 35,  a male from Austria, arrived with his wife Etel, age 28, a female also from Austria. They had departed Hamburg, Germany and journeyed to the Port of New York via Le Havre, France.

The corresponding Hamburg manifest includes some additional information about the couple. [2]

Passengers 190 and 191, Simon and Etel Libros, age 35 and 28, respectively, were from Krasno, Austria.

Initially, I was stumped by "Krasno." There are several locations in Eastern Europe that include the name "Krasno" (including locations in today's Poland, Romania, Belarus and Ukraine) and none of them, that I knew of, were anywhere near the communities of origin for other Liebross relatives: Zaleszczyki, Galicia, Austria (today, Zalischyky, Ukraine) and Radautz, Bukovina, Austria (today, Radauti, Romania). [3]

It wasn't until I was contacted by another genealogist, Ava Cohn (aka Sherlock Cohn), that I learned of the small community of Krasna Ilski, Bukovina, Austria (today, Krasnoyil's'k, Ukraine) which is 17 miles NW of Radauti, Romania. [4] Ava is related to the Hammer family of Krasnoyil's'k. She had heard the surname Liebross in her family lore. Ethel's maiden name was Hammer. We believe that Ethel and Simon's marriage is Ava's Liebross connection, but are not yet sure of how she is related to Ethel.

While neither of the 1890 passenger lists provide much data, together they provide critical information to further our research.
 
Notes:
1. "New York, Passenger Lists, 1820-1957," digital images, Ancestry.com
 (http://www.ancestry.com: accessed 28 May 2008), passenger list, Rhaetia, Hamburg to Le Havre to New York, arriving 25 January 1890, Simon and Etel Libros; citing National Archives Microfilm Serial M237; Microfilm Roll: 543; Line: 35; List Number: 93.
2. "Hamburg, Passenger Lists, 1850-1934," digital images, Ancestry.com
 (http://www.ancestry.com: accessed 28 May 2008), passenger list, Rhaetia, Hamburg to Le Havre to New York, departing 5 January 1890, Simon and Etel Libros; citing Staatsarchiv Hamburg; Hamburg, Deutschland; Hamburger Passagierlisten; Volume: 373-7 I, VIII A 1 Band 066; Page: 0; Microfilm No.: K_1740.
3. Radauti is 31 miles south of Chernivtsi (once called Czernowitz), Ukraine. Zaleszczyki is 26 miles NNW of Chernivtsi. 
4. And 25 miles SW of Chernivtsi.