Monday, May 13, 2013

A 173 year old document

New old documents are still showing up online, see?  I'm not sure when Larry found this one, but look--it was signed the 13th of May, 1840--
173 years ago today.  Wow!
Johann Gerhard NABER declared his intention to become an American citizen, renouncing his loyalty to the King of Hanover.  But, you say, NEW ORLEANS??
Yes.  We're pretty sure great grandfather Gerhard Naber 
arrived in the port of New Orleans and came up the Mississippi to Iowa.
However, this man wasn't our Gerhard--
ours would have been 11 years old in 1840.

Early in our Naber research,
Larry found an account in an Iowa history book 
about a Gerhard & Elizabeth Naber traveling up the river on a paddlewheeler. 
Tragically, Elizabeth fell overboard and drowned.
Yes, we realized it couldn't have been my Gerhard 
or his Elizabeth (Rupipper), 
but it certainly was THIS Gerhard's Elizabeth. 

"All Aboard!"