Germans in Hamilton County, Ohio: Difference between revisions

The 1870 census, which most often records the German state of birth, shows the origins of the 49,442 Germans in Cincinnati as shown below.&nbsp;5,831 Germans lived in Hamilton County outside Cincinnati in 1870.<ref>Ninth Census of the United States: Statistics of Population (Washington, DC: U.S. Census Office, 1872), 339, 368, 388.</ref> <br>  

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A search of “Germans to America Passenger Data File, 1850-1897” results in entries for 10,218 people coming to Cincinnati whose passenger records specified origins other than Germany and the U.S.<ref>Found through a fielded search for Cincinnati in this data file in the [http://aad.archives.gov/aad/series-list.jsp?cat=GP44 National Archives’ Access to Archival Databases].</ref>&nbsp;  

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These percentages aren’t precise. Many ship lists did not record the origins or destinations of passengers, and it’s likely that many people from Westfalen and other states reported Prussia as their state of origin. Only 67 passengers coming to Cincinnati are listed with Westfalen (part of Prussia after 1815) as their state of origin in this database, although many more Westphalians came to Cincinnati. At any rate, this list points out the prevalence (67%) of north German states in the origins of over 10,000 passengers coming to Cincinnati between 1850 and 1897.  

In the 1950s many Germans arrived in Hamilton County, including Donauschwaben (Danube Swabians) and others from the ethnic German areas of southeastern Europe.  

In 1850, eight Hamilton County townships had the highest numbers of Germans outside Cincinnati:  

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*''Protestantische Zeitblätter,'' 1849-1879, United Lutheran and Reformed Congregation newspaper. 1853-1865 issues are in CHLA, PLCH, and ARB, which has&nbsp;[http://www.libraries.uc.edu/libraries/arb/ger_americana/germaninventories/articles_from_protestantische_zeitbl%E4tter.pdf an article subject index] (not every-name), 1853-1864.&nbsp;&nbsp;  

*''Wahrheitsfreund,'' 1837-1907, first German Catholic newspaper in the U.S., PLCH and ARB.  

== German society records&nbsp;  ==

Hundreds of German Vereine (societies) have been formed in Cincinnati since 1819 to serve a wide variety of purposes, and thousands of Germans became members – sometimes leaving a paper trail. Before World War I over 100 Vereine were active: 12 singing societies, 12 trade unions, 59 mutual aid societies, 3 marksmen clubs, 3 Turnvereine, 13 cultural organizations, 7 charitable organizations, and 3 central organizations – in addition to 80 Catholic religious societies. In 1915 it was estimated that these societies had 11,800 members. Today there are still 30 active German-American societies in Greater Cincinnati.  

=== Deutsche Pionier Verein&nbsp;  ===

*Tolzmann, Don Heinrich. ''Cincinnati Germans in the Civil War''. Milford, Ohio: Little Miami Publishing Co., 2010.  

*9th Ohio Volunteer Infantry Records, CHLA manuscript collection Mss 505, contains numerous records including a descriptive roll printed in Fraktur type that lists the birthplace and state for each of the regiment’s 1,155 officers and soldiers, including 1,014 born in Germany, 56 born in Switzerland, and 25 born in France. Each entry includes personal description, occupation, enlistment date, remarks.  

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[[Category:Ohio]]