Ships and journeys of the immigrant ancestors
Every known voyage and overland journey of Christopher’s ancestors: the ship, master, route, and who owned it, plus how they travelled once ashore. Christopher asked for this on 2026-10-31: find who owned all the ships ancestors came over on, and all transportation methods when available.
“Master” and “owner” are different people. The 18th-century Philadelphia lists name the ship’s master (captain) and sometimes, in an endorsement, the merchant who handled the passengers (for example “Messrs Stedman”). The owners are not on the lists. They have to be found in ship registers (see “How to find the owners” below).
Ocean voyages
| Year | Ship | Master | Route | Ancestors aboard | Owner / merchant | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1737/1738 | Charming Nancy (of London) | Charles Stedman | Rotterdam → Plymouth (1737) / Cowes (1738) → Philadelphia | Jacob Hochstetler (1712–1776), wife and children including John Hochstetler (c.1735–1805) (qualified 9 Nov 1738) | Stedman family: Charles Stedman master; the Stedmans were the leading Rotterdam–Philadelphia passenger merchants. Owners not yet confirmed | PGP lists 49, 65 |
| 1748 or 1750/1760? | Patience | John Browne (1748); Hugh Steel (1749–53) | Rotterdam → Cowes → Philadelphia | Christian Daniel Miller (c.1734–1777) (year disputed) | “Mr. Stedman” endorses the 1753 list | PGP lists 122, 134, 200 |
| 15 Sep 1749 | Phoenix | John Mason | Rotterdam → Cowes (Isle of Wight, England) → Philadelphia | Wounded John Miller (fl. 1760) (“Hannes Miller”); the Mishler family, with “Ullrich Mischler” and Veronica Mishler (c.1736–1785); also Christian and Nicklaus “Hochstatter” and Ulrich “Hostetter” | not stated | PGP list 133 C |
| 3 Nov 1750 | Brotherhood | John Thomson | Rotterdam → Cowes → Philadelphia | Jacob Mast (1738–1808) (orphan, with uncle Johannes Mast); Michael Holly (arr. 1750); Michael Troyer Sr. (d. 1807) (listed as “Holly”) | not stated | PGP; 1750 The Brotherhood |
| 4 Oct 1751 | Queen of Denmark | George Parish | Rotterdam → Cowes → Philadelphia | Hans Blank (arr. 1751) | “Messrs Stedman” (endorsement) | PGP |
| 1767? | ? | ? | ? | John Melchior Plank (m. 1767) and Margaret Plank (m. 1767) (family story: they stayed aboard overnight and the ship sailed with them on it) | ? | Plank notes |
| 1804 | ? | ? | left “the old country” 7 May 1804 → “Christel Zug’s” 12 Oct 1804 | Christian Nisly (emigrated 1804) (his date book) | ? | 1912 genealogy |
| 1835 | Richmond (436 tons) | [John?] Lenox [?] | Le Havre → New York, arrived 5 Jul 1835; six weeks under sail | Johannes Ramseyer (1780–1853), Barbara Kaufmann (1779–1844), Peter Ramseyer (1822–1880) and family | unknown | Ramseyer Family Record 2002 - documents and maps (pp. XVII-XXI) |
| 1840s–50s | ? | ? | Le Havre → New York (typical for Jura Swiss) | Neuenschwanders, Sprungers, Lehmans, Gerigs to Ohio and Indiana | ? | person notes |
| 1894 | Trave? | ? | Bremen → New York (steamship, Norddeutscher Lloyd) | Gerhard A. Wiebe (1873–1942) (arrived Beatrice 4 Jul 1894) | Norddeutscher Lloyd, if the Trave is confirmed | person notes |
| 1896 | ? | ? | Russia → America (“for freedom of conscience”) | Aron J. Wiebe (1845–1922) and family | ? | his 1922 obituary |
| 1948 | RMS Mauretania (II) | — | New York → Southampton | Alvin C. Ramseyer Sr. (1880–1948) died aboard, 23 Jul 1948 (not an emigration) | Cunard White Star | The Ramseyer farm fortune |
Overland and inland journeys
| When | Who | Route | How |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1749–50s | Northkill Amish (Miller, Mast, Troyer, Hochstetler) | Philadelphia → Northkill, Berks Co. (about 30 miles north) | on foot and by wagon |
| 1757–1770s | the same families | Northkill → Lancaster/Chester → Somerset County | wagon, over the Allegheny Mountains |
| 1757 | Jacob Hochstetler (1712–1776) | escaped captivity in Ohio country, back to Pennsylvania | a bark raft down the Susquehanna, living on grass, until seen at Fort Augusta |
| 1808–1815 | Millers, Stutzmans, Troyers, Keims, Weavers | Somerset Co., Pa. → Holmes County, Ohio | wagon trains through the mountains |
| 1835 | Ramseyers | New York → Albany → Buffalo → Cleveland → Canal Fulton/Bolivar → Minerva, Ohio | Hudson River steamboat; Erie Canal; Lake Erie; Ohio & Erie Canal boat pulled by horses; wagon |
| 1853 | Anna Ramseyer’s sons and 52 others | Stark Co., Ohio → Adams and Allen Counties, Indiana | eleven teams of horses and wagons |
| 1869 | Aron J. Wiebe (1845–1922), the Fieguths | West Prussia → Am Trakt (Saratov, Volga) | probably rail and wagon (not yet documented) |
| 1890s–1900s | Wiebes, Millers, Kuhnses | Nebraska, Kansas, Oklahoma, California | railroad |
How to find the owners
- Pennsylvania ship registers (Philadelphia port registers, 1726–1775; Historical Society of Pennsylvania / Pennsylvania State Archives): give owners’ names for ships registered at Philadelphia task/ai
- British registers: most of these ships were British (the Charming Nancy “of London”). Owners can appear in the London Port Books, the High Court of Admiralty papers, and (from 1764) Lloyd’s Register task/ai
- Rotterdam notarial archives (Stadsarchief Rotterdam): charter contracts between the shipping merchants (the Stedmans, the Hopes) and the captains for each emigrant season task/human
- Marianne Wokeck, Trade in Strangers: The Beginnings of Mass Migration to North America (1999): the standard study of the 18th-century emigrant trade, with tables of ships, merchants and owners task/human
- For 19th-century ships (Richmond 1835, the 1890s steamers): New York customs passenger lists and shipping news, which name the owners or agents task/ai
Record compiled 31 October 2026.
About this research
Supporting documentation is linked throughout. This project is an exercise in AI-assisted research and development, and I haven’t manually verified every link or conclusion. All transcriptions and translations of Swiss parish records were made with AI, and their accuracy should be treated accordingly.