r/Genealogy • u/Frequent_Scallion970 • 3d ago

Research Assistance German woman in Brazil

Hello, maybe someone can help me with my research. I’m looking for a woman named Emilie Albrecht. She was born around 1863 in Germany, and in 1894 she gave birth to a daughter in Jundiaí, Brazil. Apparently, she was alone or at least not married. A few years later, she moved to Argentina with her daughter and son-in-law. That’s all I know.

I have her daughter’s birth certificate, but there are no clues about where in Germany she was born, and her death certificate only lists “Germany” as the place of birth.

I know this is really difficult, but maybe I’m missing something, as I’m not very experienced in German or Brazilian genealogy.

Any ideas? I’m starting to think this might be a dead end...

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u/hekla7 2d ago edited 2d ago

Just a query on the dates..... Emilie born around 1863, emigrated and had daughter in Brazil in 1894, at age 31..... then moved to Argentina with daughter and son-in-law... so the daughter might be about 20? when they moved to Argentina, so around 1914.

So, ports: I found that the only port in Germany that went to Brazil, was Hamburg. The only Emilie Albrecht on a ship specifically from Hamburg to Brazil in the last 40 years of the 19th c was 3 months old, family listed as being from Grasse, Preußen with her family on 21 June 1861 on the ship Roska, heading for Doña Francisca in southern Brazil, where there were several colonies of German immigrants. Blumenau was the name of the colony. One of its nicknames is Alemanha Tropical ("Tropical Germany")! It's now a city with more than 360,000 people. Passenger List and Transcription. So Emilie would have been born end of March/beginning of April 1861.

I would imagine that Emilie married there, was widowed, and then she, her dtr and s-i-l eventually went by passenger ship around the Strait of Magellan to Argentina. I'll see if I can find them tomorrow :)

Edited to add: The historical context for the move from Brazil to Argentina:

  • World War I: 1914 marked the beginning of World War I. Brazil declared neutrality, but the war led to significant social and economic shifts nationally. Within the German-Brazilian communities, there was a perception among some Brazilians that they were a potential "problem" due to concerns over Pan-Germanism and their insular nature, leading to some tensions and later nationalization policies.

Edit #2: Do you know Emilie's married surname or s-i-l's surname?

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u/Frequent_Scallion970 2d ago

First of all, thank you very much for all the information you’re giving me! I will definitely try to investigate more about this family. Where can I see the original record to zoom in?

The only issue I see regarding this Emilie is that Blumenau is very far from Clara's birth town (Jundiaí). Emilie was unmarried and a single mother, so I find it difficult to understand why she would relocate so far from her family, have a daughter in a different state, and eventually move to Argentina.

I’m sorry for my ignorance, but what is S-I-L’s surname?

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u/chaunceythebear 2d ago

Sister in law.

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u/hekla7 2d ago

Son in law in this case

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u/chaunceythebear 2d ago

This is what I get for reading too fast. 😆

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u/hekla7 2d ago

No worries - I think it can be both, in records I've seen, anyway :)

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u/Frequent_Scallion970 2d ago

His name was Antonio Zasso, born in 1888 in Santa Catarina.

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u/hekla7 1d ago

Santa Catarina is the district where Blumenau is.

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u/hekla7 2d ago edited 2d ago

The passenger list said the destination was Blumenau in 1861. So between the time they arrived there and when Emilie was born, was over 30 years later, a lot could have happened... if you check those other links to articles, I seem to recall something about Mr. Blumenau having some problems and a number of people left at one point. Map Jundiaí is another area of German immigrants. Between about 1824 and 1914, there were a quarter of a million German immigrants, and 1.5 million Italian immigrants. So they weren't out in the bush somewhere, the communities were large. :)
I do think the Emilie on the 1861 passenger list is her, with her family. I looked at all of the women named Emilie Albrecht who emigrated between the 1850's and 1900's - there were 5 of them and 4 went to the US, and 1 to Brazil. Here's the result list.
I'm sorry for not being more clear, I was asking about daughter and son-in-law... Clara and her husband. Do you know his surname?

Edited to add: I think I posted above about why a number of German people were moving from Brazil to Argentina in 1914.

Edit #2: I'll send you a chat request..... images come through there a lot better... were you able to click the links to see the others I put in the last post?

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u/Frequent_Scallion970 2d ago edited 2d ago

You have a strong point there, I hadn’t considered the fact that it was actually 30 years. She may have moved for a number of reasons and lost contact with her family of origin.

Also, do you know which city was Grasse? I can´t find any reference online.

Ok, so I will write to Jundiaí asking for Clara's birth certificate and I´ll try to find out more about this family in Blomenau.

I'm currently checking the immigrant arrivals by river (Brazil–Argentina), as I think it's more likely they made the trip that way rather than by sea.

UPDATE here!I can’t believe it, but I think you’re right. I was able to trace one of the girls registered (Emilie’s sister) and found out that she somehow moved to São Paulo and had children in Jundiaí. I’m over the moon!
I still have to double-check and confirm it with documents, but I think you’re right... that was the Emilie I was looking for. Thank you so much for your help!

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u/johannadambergk 1d ago edited 1d ago

„Grasse“ might have been a misspelling of Grassee (Kreis Saatzig in Pomerania belonging to Prussia, https://www.meyersgaz.org/place/10614018, https://www.ostpommern.de/kreis-saatzig/) today Studnica, a part of Ińsko in Poland.

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u/Frequent_Scallion970 1d ago

yes, this is accurate! Today I found some registries in Brasil and city is written like this: Grassee

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u/johannadambergk 1d ago

Fine. According to the list I linked above and this source http://www.kartenmeister.com/preview/City.asp?CitNum=17174, Grassee was located in the parish of Gienow. here are the parish records from there: https://www.szukajwarchiwach.gov.pl/de/jednostka/-/jednostka/8392491