Georg of Ship SullyAA  A 

 

Georg Schmitt probably thought very little about America as a boy growing up in Hatten.  He was only seven years old when the American Revolution began, and still in his early teens when it ended.  To an even greater extent than today, events across the ocean would have seemed remote and insignificant.

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The political situation in France, on the other hand, must have touched his life in many ways.  By the time Georg was 22, political unrest in France ignited the French Revolution and years of upheaval that reached even to Alsace.  His first six children were born during this period.  This was followed by the intermittent turmoil of Napoleon Bonaparte's rise to power and military campaigns.  At one point, thousands of troops were stationed in Alsace, and at least one of Georg's son's (Friederich) fought in the French army as a teen.

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Georg was a third-generation nailsmith, presumably in business with his older brother Jacob.  Nine of Georg and Maria Eva's children survived to adulthood, a large number considering the limited resources of the region.  This was apparently not unusual in early nineteenth century Alsace, when a growing population contributed to hunger, housing shortages, and unemployment.  Some or all of these factors must have spurred Georg's extended family to eventually choose emigration. 

 

From the comfort of our 21st century homes, it's hard to fully appreciate the leap of faith taken by our Alsatian ancestors.  They had to abandon the only home, community, and country they'd ever known, embark on a long and dangerous voyage with perhaps a trunk of possessions, find work in a new country that spoke a different language and was often hostile to immigrants, and accept they'd almost certainly never again see the country or family members they left behind. 

 

No wonder they often traveled in large groups with extended family and even neighbors.  This was true of the Schmitts in 1829, whose family on the Ship Sully numbered 20 members, not to mention 26 neighbors from Hatten.  By this time, Georg and Eva were in their early sixties, and probably considered aged.  The fact that the Ship Sully's manifest lists their son Friederich first, suggests that Georg and Maria no longer took a leadership role.  Their trip took perhaps two months, as detailed in the article How Our Ancestors Traveled from Alsace in our Family History Scrapbook. 
 

​No evidence of either Georg or Maria's ultimate fate in America has come to light.  We know they survived the crossing and arrived in New York.  While they presumably moved to eastern Pennsylvania with the rest of the family, it is uncertain whether they died there or moved on to Ohio when other family members went west in 1834.  Because the family started using the name "Smith" upon arrival in America, and because of the ambiguity of the censuses of 1830 and 1840, it's hard to identify Georg and Maria anywhere with certainty.  Neither appears in the 1850 census.