The legend
in my husband’s family was that his great-great-grandfather
Friedrich Albert Sempsrott and brother Johann Heinrich were stowaways on a ship
from Germany. According to family lore Friederich had been apprenticed as a
cigar maker, when their mother, fearful of conscription into the Hanovarian
army, put Friederich and Johann on a ship bound for New York.
“The Family of SEMPSROTT
1. FREDERICK ALBERT SEMPSROTT (1829-1907)
was born near Berlin, Germany in 1829. He completed his apprenticeship in the
cigar-making trade in 1844. His father was dead and his mother cared for him
and his brother, John. As he approached the age when he must be inducted into
the Army for military service, his mother decided to send him to America because
she did not wish to see him sent to the Army for military training.
She watched for an opportunity to
place him upon a boat coming to America. Finally she learned of a boat and she
stowed these two boys away with a family who were coming to America. The boys
worked on the boat for their passage and after they landed in America, they
went to Cincinnati, Ohio. There Frederick obtained work in a butcher shop.”[i]
The
following spelling variants of the name have made record finding challenging:
Semporste, Semporstt, Sempscote, Semmsrote, Semfarote, Simprod, Semporatt,
Semport, Seniprot, Semparote, Sempsrote, Sempirote, Simpsrott, Sempscott, Senpscott,
Sampsroth. I am sure that there are others that I have either forgotten or not
found yet! As far back as 1698 the church books in Martfeld, Germany reveal the
spellings: Semsrott, Sempsrott, and Semsroth.[ii]
After
searching the records at Castle Garden and checking both Ancestry.com and
FamilySearch.org without success, I turned to the Immigrant Ships Transcribers
Lists and found a record of the D H Watjen, arriving in New York on 26 June
1855 from Bremen, one Johann Heinrich Sempsroth was listed as passenger number
397 in “popdeck” and steerage travelers. Johann was a 21-year-old laborer from
Hanover.[iii]
These details fit with previously known information about Friedrich’s brother
Johann. He was known to have been born in 1833 in Hanover as reported on
several US censuses.
At present
the earliest record I have found of Frederich Albert Sempsrott is the 1870 census of Jasper
County, Illinois. At that point he was married to Anna Margaret Steinfort, who
had immigrated with her parents in 1845.[iv]
The 1870
census for Willow Hill, Jasper County, Illinois shows Fred Simporod and his
wife Annie to be the parents of seven children with the oldest three born in
Indiana, Charles, Henry, and Caroline. Charles’s Family Register indicates that
he was born on 7 Jan 1859 in Ripley County, Indiana and a self-reported account
in “The Counties of Cumberland, Jasper and Richland, Illinois”, says that
Frederick settled in Indiana for several years before moving to Jasper County,
Illinois in 1862. This article also gives the marriage of Frederick and Anna
Steinforth as taking place in 1842.”[v]
I haven’t
yet found all the the facts about the immigration of Frederick Albert Sempsrott
but I haven’t quit looking either. Writing this article has actually given me
several ideas for places to look for additional information. I tend to believe
the ship’s record of Johann Heinrich Sempsroth’s immigration since it is possible
that the two boys sailed under a single ticket, underscoring the “stowaway”
part of the story.
Anna’s parents appear in Ripley County in the 1860 census
but Frederick and Anna are not there. If Anna and Frederick married in 1842, why
was their first child not born until 1859? So many riddles! I am not finished
with you yet Frederick Albert!
[i]
From a typed manuscript of the family history of the Sempsrott Family of Jasper
County, Illinois. 1829-1952; author unknown. Manuscript in the possession of Donna
Hansen Peterson
[ii] Email
dated 27 Jan 2001 from Johann Semsrott of Germany to Donald Sempsrott
(ddescendant of Johann Heinrich Sempsrott) . Copy of email in possession of
Donna Hanen Peterson
[iii]
Immigrant Ships Transcribers Lists: search on “Sempsroth”; Immigrant Ships
Transcribers Guild
Passengers and Captains Including Names -Referenced in
Correspondence Sci-Sha; https://www.immigrantships.net/v7/surnamesv7/splsci_v7.htm
[iv] National
Archives and Records Administration (NARA) ; Washington, ADC; Records of the US
Customs Service; Series: M255; Roll 5 accessed through Ancestory.com .
[v] Counties
of Cumberland, Jasper and Richland, Illinois. Historical and biographical;
publisher F. A. Battey & Co., Chicago, IL;
publ:1884; pages 521-522; digitized 2008; digitizing sponsor: University
of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
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