Baltzer Family Ancestry

Pastor Adolph Franz Hermann Baltzer

1817 – 1880

This passenger manifest documents the arrival of Adolph Baltzer in New York City on October 4, 1845, aboard the bark Minna. Baltzer (age 28) appears near the bottom of the manifest on line 14, his occupation recorded as clergyman. His traveling companions Joseph Rieger (line 4, age 34, listed as Priest) and William Binner (line 10, age 40, listed as Clergyman) are also mentioned alongside Baltzer in the biography Adolph Baltzer (1896, Eden Publishing House). Binner made the voyage with his wife and two young sons, John (age 8) and Paul (age 4).

Baltzer went on to become one of the founding figures of German Evangelical church life in America, eventually serving as the first president of the Evangelical Synod of the West in 1866, a body that grew into The German Evangelical Synod of North America, now part of the United Church of Christ (UCC).

Document Source: Passenger Lists of Vessels Arriving at New York, New York, 1820–1897; National Archives, Washington, D.C. Year: 1845; Microfilm publication: M237; Roll: M237_60; Line: 14; List number: 843.

The Bark Minna

Built by shipwright Johann Lange in Vegesack near Bremen for the firm of Faber & Fletcher, the Minna was launched in September 1844, making Baltzer's crossing one of her first Atlantic voyages. A 337-ton, 3-masted bark measuring 30.9 x 7.9 x 4.6 meters, she was employed in the passenger and freight trade with North America under her first captain Johannes Dannemann of Bremen, an experienced mariner who also commanded several other Bremen vessels. Dannemann was succeeded in 1850 by Johann Conrad Erdmann of Bremen, and in 1852 by Johann Hinrich Denker of Bremerhaven.

The Minna went on to have a remarkable history after her emigrant trade years. In 1859 she was sold, renamed Planet, and placed under the command of Eduard Dallmann (1830-1896) for whaling voyages in the South Pacific based out of Hawaii. It was Dallmann's first command; he later became famous as a polar explorer. The Planet sailed from Bremerhaven on October 17, 1859, returning June 10, 1863, after which she was sold to Norwegian interests for 8,250 gold thaler. She subsequently sailed under Norwegian, Oldenburg, and North German flags, with the last known reference to her dating to 1869. No photograph or illustration of the Minna is known to survive.

Sources: Peter-Michael Pawlik, Von der Weser in die Welt: Die Geschichte der Segelschiffe von Weser und Lesum und ihrer Bauwerften 1770 bis 1893, Schriften des Deutschen Schiffahrtsmuseums, Bd. 33 (Hamburg: Kabel, 1993), p. 205, no. 178; Seeschiffsregister, Gesellschaft für Familienforschung "Die Maus" Bremen.