Twenty years ago, before censuses and ship's manifests were routinely found online, I bought a roll of microfilm I had reason to believe held the record of my g-g-grandfather Friedrich Schmitt's arrival in New York. Sure enough, there he was along with many family members, including youngest brother Christian. But several attempts to find Christian's subsequent whereabouts turned up nothing. Times were hard in 1829, and who knows what hazards could have befallen him.
Hoping to make someone else's research a little easier, I transcribed the list for the Immigrant Ships Transcribers Guild, at the time the only online source of ships lists. The Guild allowed transcribers to add contact information, and about once a year I'd receive an email from someone regarding the list. Then in 2005, I was contacted by retired Montana surgeon Harold Habein, explaining that his g-g-grandfather was Christian Schmitt of Hatten, Alsace. Could he possibly be the same Christian Schmitt? A wealth of evidence confirmed his suspicion.
Harold generously shared his extensive knowledge of Christian's descendants, including luminaries such as Dr. Harrison Schmitt, the astronaut featured on our Family History page. Over the ensuing twelve years, we shared experiences and information, but never actually met until 2017, when the stars were in the right place - literally! Billings is only a few hours from Caspar, Wyoming, epicenter of the August 21 solar eclipse, and my sister and I were happily able to visit the Habeins the day before the celestial event.
What a thrill to meet Harold and his family at last!
Harold and I (center) with Theresa Habein, Jeanne Habein, Peter Habein, and Helen Mitchell; August 20, 2017, Billings, MT
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