The good ship Helvetia

Now I’m getting somewhere. Today at NARA, I found the name Michel Harm listed on a passenger list from the good ship Helvetia, captained by Lewis Higgins. The ship arrived in New York on June 30, 1857 from Havre, France. There were 327 passengers, one of whom, #262, is listed as Michel Harm, age 16, of Bavaria. The ship is described as having 971 burthen and weighing 67 / 95 tons. Michael is one of the many Germans, Swiss, Belgians, French and Sardinian emigrants residing “between decks” for the voyage. (The ship had predominantly German passengers, from Wurttemberg, Baden, Bavaria, Hessia, and Prussia.)

This information corroborates with Michael Harm’s obituary, which reads in part:

Born on May 26, 1841 in Freinsheim in the Rhine-Palatinate … Michael Harm’s maternal grandparents, the couple Philipp Heinrich Handrich, had already come to Cleveland in the year of 1840 and had settled there. … At scarcely sixteen, the boy started the journey. After a short rest in the port city [New York] Harm continued to Cleveland and started an apprenticeship with his Uncle John Rapparly who was established as a wagon building and blacksmith on the corner of Michigan and Seneca streets.

It also corroborates with my father’s account Michael’s voyage across the Atlantic took 46 days.

So now I’ve gone looking for the good ship Helvetia, and what I’ve turned up is a description of a ship built in 1864. Hmm. The date is off. I must keep digging.

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