The story which ends here in Grimsby, begins much earlier as in 1902 in Kiel. It turns out, Wilhelm is in Kiel already in the year 1891. He is 22 years old. He is on a travel to Hamburg and on the 26th March 1891 he goes on board of the ship “Bohemia” of the HAPAG. The ship’s destination is America! Wilhelm reaches New York on the 11th April 1891. During that time, from 1891 to 1900, over 3.5 million immigrants travel to the USA. Obviously, Wilhelm is one of them. On the Hamburg passenger list, he is listed as Ernst Engellenner. He wants to go to Brooklyn, at that time a quarter with a distinctive worker environment. There, he meets his later wife Sarah. It seems (further research needed) she was born 21st February 1866 in Cashel in Ireland. She also immigrated to the USA. According to her own testimony, she arrives in New York in 1894. Already a year later, the couple is married! On the 20th June 1895, Ernst Engellenner marries Sarah Battle in Brooklyn. Not long after, on the 8th December 1897, their first child is born and they name him Ernest Adam. Wilhelm, who calls himself Ernst (his second first name) in the US, works as a carpenter at that time and the family lives in number 558 of the 17th street in Brooklyn. Shortly after, two more children follow: James Thomas (* 22th June 1899) and Sarah (1st May 1901). In the year 1989, Ernst has swithced job. In the address book of Brooklyn, he now is listed as Ernest Engellenner, so he has adapted his first name to american style. The entry says he is a motorman. This is the name for the people driving the electric cars or trams. In the US census from 1900, we can find the family. There, he says to have arrived in the US already in 1888 and that he is a butcher. In 1902 another child is born. In the birth register we find the girl Margaret, born 22nd September 1902.

Now, in the same year, Wilhelm Ernst emerges in Kiel in Germany again. He lives, probably together with his family, in the Metzstraße 45. So, in the time between 1902 and 1911, the family is in Kiel. When Sarah leaves Germany in 1911 together with her children, the daughter Margaret is no longer with her. She is not listed on the passenger list and we must assume he died.

So, the ends meet here. We do not know why Wilhelm and why Sarah left their home country to immigrate to the US, how they met and why they returned to Germany in 1902. Maybe the conditions in Brooklyn were not as favourable as they had hoped? Maybe her daughter Margaret already died before they left for Europe? How did it happen that Wilhelm met his cousin and their relation resulted in a child? Did Sarah know about this? We do not know.

The surprising truth is, that my grandfather Jacob, probably without even knowing this himself, had four more half-siblings: Ernest Adam, James Thomas, Sarah and Margaret. At the same time, they are my half-granduncles and half-grandaunts. My father had an idea when I started researching the family history, and this idea was not really meant to be serious: “Maybe, I have an uncle in America!” In a surprising and unexpected way, this has nearly become true!

Next: The son James Thomas