What’s With All of the Numbers?

By Allen Viehmeyer, Associate Director of Research

Emigrant and Family Numbers

In previous posts, the structure of the 1848 and 1879 forerunners of the 1923 GR were explained. The structure of the 1923 GR is a significant improvement. First, the bloodlines are clearly distinguished, and the oldest immigrant of each lineage is explicitly identified, becoming the central individual whose descendants follow. Second, most of the 49 bloodlines is separated from all the others by being placed in its own “chapter” (In 9 instances 2 or 3 bloodlines are in the same chapter perhaps because these entries are so short—one or two generations, requiring ¼ to ½ page). Third, each emigrant is assigned a number. Fourth, each family unit receives a number.

Emigrant Numbers

Each emigrant’s number was determined by the original ship passenger lists. The GR editor put all seven passenger lists in chronological order. Then each person, in the order their name appeared on the passenger lists, was assigned the next number until every Schwenkfelder man, woman, and child was numbered from 1 to 219. A capital “E” is placed in front of each number and enclosed by brackets, e.g., [E 1]*. Schwenkfelders born in Pennsylvania do not have emigrant numbers.

Family Numbers

Each family unit in a bloodline is assigned a number. This number is the E number of the oldest head of the family in that bloodline. For example, Christoph Kriebel, the progenitor of this bloodline, is [E 19] so this family bloodline number is 19, which is enclosed by brackets. The family number is placed in front of his name, and the emigrant number follows his name: [19] Christoph Kriebel [E 19]….

Installment 6 of the GR Series will give more tips about finding people and understanding family entries in the 1923 GR. For more background on the Schwenkfelders, see An Immigration Story.

*The personal numbers are probably called emigrant numbers instead of immigrant numbers because not all the Schwenkfelder emigrants survived the journeys. Counting only the immigrants would result in a number less than the actual number of people who participated.