My grandmother always told a story that I would LOVE to check out, and find if it’s actually true. According to her, my great-grandfather was the last count of some province or other in late 19th century Prussia. Supposedly, there was a peasant uprising and the whole family got killed except for the baby, who was adopted by a peasant family and taken to America. He was Carl Beske, but I don’t know what the original name of the family was. I would think that if this actually happened, there would be SOME record of it, somewhere. Does anyone have any idea of how to go about starting to look for this information??
Without names, dates and exact locations, it’s not going to be easy. The story of a sole surviving heir being taken in by peasants and smuggled away sounds suspiciously like the plot of many a fairy story, and I would be very surprised to discover it was true. Families are filled with legends that are based on half-truths, misunderstandings and out-and-out lies, and I’ve become pretty cynical about them during the last fifteen years while researching my family tree.
The first thing to do is to find everything you possibly can about your ancestor. If you can find things like his marriage certificate and death certificate, they may list his place of birth. Census results likewise. Check newspapers for death notices that may give you more information - if this story was widely known in his community, there may even been a reference to it. I can’t do much more than direct you to www.familysearch.org because I’ve never traced American records and don’t know where to start with them. I’m sure someone else will be along soon to recommend a good place to begin your research, and they may know more about how much (or little) information you can expect to find on the various birth, death and marriage certificates. It may help if you can tell us where he lived in America (over here, certificates vary by state and I’m assuming the US is no different).
next time the Mormon’s come knocking on your door instead of sending them away ask them they are the experts.
No, they’re not. The Mormons keep extensive genealogical records, but the accuracy of them is highly suspect. You might find some leads there, but take it with a large grain of salt.
The best place to start is by interviewing all living older relatives. Get names (including middle names), dates and places to the greatest extent possible. If you know about when your ancestor emigrated, check ship arrival records for the name. Also look at citizenship filings, which may only include an ‘intent’ to become a citizen.
Prussia is difficult (that’s where my ancestor came from). I ended up hiring an American living in Germany who was fluent in both modern and old German to research church records, which is about the ONLY source for those of low birth. The churches recorded births and marriages, but you can only get so far before the information just peters out.
There are many sites on the Web that are searchable, but most require an enrollment fee. It’s worth it for the first year or two, if you are seriously researching. Ancestry.com has a good search engine that allows you to search posted lineals for your family names. Rootsweb is an excellent free site that has tons of information. USGenweb is a terrific state search engine, and I believe there is a worldwide version, as well. Cindi’s List has a huge number of links, including international. There are links to sites in Germany and Prussia.
If Carl was born between 1873 and 1900 and in the US at the time of the
WWI draft, it’s very likely he filled out a draft card. Those are available thru
the National Archives. If he knew the accurate info and filled the card out
correctly, you would learn his date, place of birth and the name of his parents.
If Carl lived well into the 20th century, then he might have applied for a social security card and those applications are available and should show the info
as stated above.
Start with what you know and work backwards in time. If your grandmother is alive, ask her about her date and place of birth, her siblings data and her father’s date and place of death etc. If your grandmother is deceased, then ask your
mother or father about their mother’s data etc.
My overall sugggestion is to lookup a genealogy club in the phone book and
someone there can help you with records and methods.
Thanks for all the replies! 
Well, my hopes aren’t high, but I might do a little digging anyway. There are no relatives to talk to. They’ve either passed away, or we aren’t speaking to each other. There’s nothing but the information I have right now. That’s it. Still, I might look a little and see what I can find.
I typed in “carl beske” on Google and found a family of Beskes who emigrated in 1885 on the SS Rein, including a Carl Beske with the following info:
227 Carl Beske 60 m farmer Germany A 2 int. prot. sojourn Immenthal
228 Elise Beske 50 f wife Germany A int. prot. sojourn Immenthal
229 Helene Beske 29 f none Germany A int. prot. sojourn Immenthal
230 Wilhelm Beske 20 m farmer Germany A int. prot. sojourn Immenthal
231 August Beske 8 m child Germany A int. prot. sojourn Immenthal
232 Emil Beske 7 m child Germany A int. prot. sojourn Immenthal
233 Gustav Beske 6 m child Germany A int. prot. sojourn Immenthal
Immenthal would be the town from which they came.
Another family of Beskes came in 1883 on the SS Herman:
246 Carl Beske 32 M Farmer Germany 5
247 Alwine Beske 27 F Germany
248 Anna Beske 2 F Germany
249 Auguste Beske 11mo F Germany
250 August Beske 65 M Barber Germany
251 Friedrika Beske 60 F Germany
There are several hits on Ancestry.com that have to do with census reports and naturalization records from Minnesota.
Professional genealogist here. The LDS Church has the world’s largest genealogy library. And some of the most accurate genealogical records that exist: For decades now, the church has been microfilming original church records and civil records throughout North America, the United Kingdom, and Europe. These microfilms can be rented from the Family History Library in Salt Lake City, via your nearest LDS Family History Center, for a nominal shipping fee. Anyone can use those Family History Centers; you don’t have to be a Mormon.
These records have been abstracted into their International Genealogical Index, which is the world’s largest vital records index (note: most of the records are for events that occurred between 1585 and 1905). Records are not added to the IGI without source documentation. The LDS Church’s ongoing controlled extraction program has trained personnel, doing double entry of the data from the original church or civil records into the IGI. This means that two different persons index the same set of documents; if there is any discrepancy between the indexing, the discrepancy must be resolved before the data enters the IGI.
The Pedigree Resource File, on the other hand, is a user-submitted collection of family trees, which the church does not verify, and for which the church makes no claim for accuracy.
As long as you understand the difference between 1) original micofilmed records, 2) the IGI, and 3) the Pedigree Resource File, you will find some excellent resources available for free at FamilySearch.org.
As for the World War I draft registrations: Every male U.S. citizen, or foreign male intending to obtain citizenship, who was born between September 1872 and September 1900, and who was residing in the United States between June 1917 and September 1918, had to register for the draft (unless he had already volunteered for military service, was incarcerated, or was mentally incompetent). All of those draft registrations have now been microfilmed by the National Archives and indexed by Ancestry.com, and are available online (both images and index) from Ancestry.com. If you are not a subscriber to Ancestry.com, your local library may be. More information here.
Looking through that database, I find only one Carl Beske, and he was William Carl Albert Beske, a native born American (8 July 1884) residing in Fergus Falls, Minnesota, where he was a farmer.
I find no records in the World War I draft registrations for Carl Boeske, Karl Boeske, or Karl Beske.
In the 1930 U.S. Census, I find only one Carl Beske who was born abroad in the 19th century. Carl Beske was 62 years old (hence, born in 1867/1868) and was born in Germany. He immigrated to the United States in 1889, and was a naturalized citizen. He resided in Brookfield township, Renville County, Minnesota. His wife Ernestine, 62, was also born in Germany. They had been married 39 years. They owned and lived on a farm, and their son Edward, 34, lived with them. Would this be your great-grandfather?
No record in the 1930 U.S. census of a Carl Boeske, Karl Boeske, or Karl Beske.
The Minnesota Death Index, 1908-2002 has:
- Adolph Carl Beske, born 6 April 1892, died 16 October 1963, Becker County.
- August Carl Beske, b. 12 March 1873, d. 8 April 1956, Renville County.
- John Carl August Beske, d. 7 January 1908, Otter Tail County.
- Ludwig Carl Beske, b. 22 February 1900, d. 12 February 1965, Renville County.
- Robert Carl Beske, b. 12 November 1860, d. 3 October 1955, Faribault County.
The U.S. census taken on January 1, 1920, has in Brookfield township, Renville County, Minnesota:
Carl Beske, 51, born in Germany (hence, born 1868). Immigrated in 1885, naturalized in 1892 (1897?). His wife Ernestine, 51, was also born in Germany, and immigrated in 1873. They owned and resided on a farm with their sons Edward, 24, and Adolph, 18.
The same couple appears in Renville County, MN, in the 1900 U.S. census, which says that Carl was born in Germany in February 1868 and immigrated in 1885; and Ernestine was born in Germany in November 1866, and immigrated in 1871.
No records in the U.S. censuses of 1900, 1910, or 1920 of a Carl Boeske, Karl Boeske, or Karl Beske.
Check your local library, they might be subscribing to some expensive genealogical sites.
If I go to my local library I can access all of Ancestry.com. From home I have free access with my library card # to Heritage Quest which has scans of all the US censuses and all the many indexes. Why spend money you’ve already spent in taxes?
Also if you think they’ve come through Ellis Island you can search there for free. Ellis Island
I concur the best start would be to order every single certificate (birth, death, marriage, citizenship, whatever) you can get about all members of this line.
But all these will get you are recorded simple facts, birth date and place. Only an extremely small amount of stories get written down before they’re forgotten by the family and are recoverable. The vast majority are gone forever, annoyingly enough.
The only real confirmation I can see you getting would come from DNA. Your great grandmother will have given your grandmother a copy of her mDNA. She in turn would have passed that along to her daughters. All practically unchanged. Assuming you have survivors of that female line alive, and can find surviving female lines from the suspected Count’s female line willing to go along you could have the mDNA compared and be told the likelihood that they share a common ancestor (y-axis) with respect to the # of generations since (x-axis).
These are obviously the worst of the records available from the LDS archives. Children are listed with birthdates before their parents, etc. Not even minimal sanity checking of data. (Most people aren’t usually the children of their father’s first and second wives!)
In addition, they have copied various other records, especially censuses recently. Such transcriptions are naturally prone to error (in addition to the errors made during the census itself). Much more so than the IGI stuff in my experience.
Always check the originals. As mentioned, you can order copies of the microfilms for fairly cheap from an LDS Family History Center. But many of the microfilms I have rented turned out to be very poorly made. Sigh.
You can use Ancestry.com as a guide to where to look for things. But don’t take it as gospel.
My comments on the Mormon references was regrettably short and incomplete. I shouldn’t post when in a rush. Thanks, Walloon.