From Germany to Ohio

On December 21, 1843, my great-great-grandfather, Ludwig Wilhelm Ferdinand Dohme, arrived in  Baltimore, Maryland aboard the ship named "Goethe".  He was 16 years old and traveled  with his parents, George Ludwig Dohme and Henrietta Amelie Cornelius, and two of his siblings, Louis and  Charlotte.  By 1846, according to the Cincinnati City Directories, Ferdinand and his family had settled in Cincinnati, Hamilton Co., Ohio at 91 12th Street between Elm and Plum Streets. Henrietta had given birth to Ferdinand's younger brother, Louis Edward, in February of 1848, and on July 17, 1848, Ferdinand married my great-great-grandmother, Justine Marie Louise Plumhoff, at the St. Mattheus German Evangelical Church.

Louisa's family came from Empede, Hanover, Germany.  She was 12 years old when her  mother, Charlotte Dorothee Louise Schierholz Plumhoff, brought her and her siblings to America aboard the ship named "Copernicus".  They arrived in Baltimore, Maryland on July 22, 1842, and although the ship's manifest indicated that their original destination was St. Louis, Missouri, they settled in Cincinnati, Ohio by 1850.  Louisa's father, Johann Heinrich Christian Plumhoff, was not with them.  He had died in Germany in 1836, a few years before Louisa's family made their trip to America.

Our Russ family came over from Wuertemburg, Germany in 1858.  My great-great- grandfather, Stephen Russ, left from Le Havre, France aboard the ship named "Galena",  and arrived in Castle Garden, New York on August 9, 1858.  He was traveling alone, and  after arriving in Cincinnati sometime by 1861, Stephen enlisted for service in the  Ohio Volunteer Infantry during the Civil War on June 13, 1861.  After his discharge  November 17, 1862, he married my great-great-grandmother, Eva Catherina Von Nida Eberling,  on April 7, 1863.

Our Von Nida branch came from Kleinfischelingen, Rhineland-Pfalz, Germany.  I haven't found them in the ship's passenger lists yet, but I did find a birth record for Eva Catherina Von Nida and her brother, Christoph, as well as a marriage record for their parents, Christoph and Anna Margaretha Von Nida, who were married October 10, 1826 in Kleinfischelingen.  Catherina, before marrying my great-great-grandfather, Stephen Russ, was married to Louis Eberling.  Her first child, Christopher Louis Eberling, was born around 1845 in Cincinnati, Ohio, so our Von Nida branch had to arrive in Cincinnati sometime during the late 1830's or early 1840's.