[Ger-Poland-Volhynia] Journey to Canada via Liepaja, Latvia, then Liverpool, England, and finally Montreal, Canada

Jack Leigh Jack.Leigh at shaw.ca
Mon Feb 11 10:04:21 PST 2008


I agree with Dave that the notation reads "See Vendsyssel London" but 
I'll add that the "3/8" after those words as also important.  This is 
probably the date on which the Vendsyssel arrived in London.  I'll 
suggest they disembarked the Vendsyssel in London on August 3, 1899.

The next question is "Why is the note there?"  The note specifically 
concerns only four families.  The KUHN family at the top of the page 
may suggest possibilities for the note being there.

The same KUHN family is also found on page 4 of the passenger list of 
the SS Californian which sailed from Liverpool on August 3, 1899 (the 
same day the Vendsyssell probably arrived in London).  However, the 
KUHN family names are crossed out in the SS Californian list 
suggesting that they were expected to be on board but either didn't 
arrive on time, or, perhaps more likely, the other (probably related) 
families with which they expected to sail didn't arrive.  In either 
case, we can speculate that the Vendsyssel was late in arriving in 
London and so passengers could not make their planned Liverpool 
departure.  The added note was perhaps a hint at an explanation as to 
why these four families were on the SS Tainui on August 10, 1899, 
instead of the SS Californian on August 3, 1899.

Of course, there are other reasons for a family having their names 
crossed out on a passenger list.  Illness is one.  In my wife's 
family, we have an example where three families boarded ship in 
Liverpool and had their names recorded on the English outbound 
passenger list.  Family lore, which has been proven accurate, says 
the ship's doctor decided that one child was too ill to sail and that 
the family had to disembark before sailing.  The other two families 
that they were sailing with also disembarked.  The child subsequently 
died in Liverpool (I have the death certificate) and was buried 
there, and two of the three families (both SCHMIDT) then sailed for 
Canada two weeks after the originally planned sailing.  I haven't yet 
found the third family (KRAUSHAAR) on any passenger list.

So perhaps the Vendsyssell wasn't late arriving in London, but 
arrived with illness aboard, thus delaying the passengers.

The means by which a passenger arrived in the UK is sometimes given 
in the English outbound passenger lists.  On some lists there is even 
a specific column for that information which often names: the port of 
departure (for example Libau); either or both of the ship or the 
steamship line on which the passenger sailed to the UK; and the date 
and port of arrival in the UK.  I say UK and not England because the 
port of arrival was sometimes in Scotland.

                                                             ................. 
Jack





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