Brick Wall

Well anyone who researches in Genealogy ultimately runs into the "Brick wall". The place where despite all the internet searches, the family records and the books you fine, you can not get the information you want. Well I have a brick wall, a transit record. To leave Mecklenburg, Germany in the 1870 you had to obtain permission. Those records are somewhere in Mecklenburg.

 The problem is where. Christian and his family would not have been an exception. Searching has not revealed where the records are kept. Clearly the documents have not been digitalized. My problem is deeper though. It appears the family may not have traveled as "Sodemann" but under the mother's name Mahnke. On the ship manifest when they traveled to the US from Hamburg they are listed as Mahnke. There are no records of why they left Falkenhagen but the ships records shows they listed their residence as Zierzow. I guess a jump off place.

Great news I now have the documents. The people in Mecklenburg who handle the records sent me a copy. They are in old German scrip but appear clear so I should be able to get them translated.