It has been a challenge to find the ship arrival record for John Pajewski. However with the availability of a number of indexes, the quest has been narrowed and it is believed the extract from Bergenland ship manifest shown above is our John Pajewski. Actuals record scans are shown below.

For the record, I wish to describe the history of searches that led to the record above. Knowing all the searches can be helpful if more information becomes available.

Unsuccessful Searches

Germans to America Index:

• In April 2003, the name Pajewski and variants Pajevski, Payefski and Payevski were searched in 17 volumes of Germans to America by Ira Glazier and P. William Filby at the Newberry Library. The search began with Germans to America Vol. 41 August 1881 - October 1881 and ended with Germans to America Vol. 58 July 1889 - April 1890. Thus the range covered was August 1881 through April 1890. The index identified the individuals, ages, sex, occuupation, place from, destination, ship, embarkation port, and date and port of arrival. The result was that ships and dates were identified for Michael Pajewski and possibly Frank Pajewski, John brothers.
  
  However, there was no likely match for our John Pajewski. Although, it was believed that John arrived in 1885. The closest reasonable match was Pajanowski, Jophn, age 28, farmer, 21 May 1886, City of Berlin, Liverpool to New York. The naturalization data indicate John was a minor under 21 when he arrived and the spelling is not quite right. Thus this is probably not our John Pajewski.

Boston, Baltimore, and Philadelphia Indexes:

• Family recollections are that John Pajewski arrived in New York. For example, my dad mentioned that when John arrived in New York, someone handed him a bunch of pencils to sell as a street vendor. Even though it was thought that he arrived in New York, I felt it useful to search other ports of arrival, given the lack of success in the German indexes above. Therefore, in April 2003, the Ship Arrival indexes for Boston 1848-1891, Baltimore 1820-1897, and Philadelphia 1848-1897 were searched for Pajewski at the Chicago Public Library. No Pajewski matches were found, although the search for Baltimore should be redone for completeness due to a Soundex coding error on my part.

Successful Searches

Ancestry Search:

• In September 2005, while at BYU, a John Pajewski, age 19, with an arrival date of 9 May 1885 on the Bergenland and headed for Chicago was found in an Ancestry search of German immigrants. There were very few passengers named Pajewski in the Ancestry German immigrants index and few named John. The one for 9 May 1885 matches on name, age and destination.

National Archives Ship Manifest Microfilm:

• In February 2006 while at Family History Library in Salt Lake, I was able to search the National Archives' microfilm for the Bergenland manifest for 9 May 1885. Key scans from this manifest are shown below.

Castle Garden Search:

• Recently a new index has become available, one focused on passenger arrivals at Castle Garden which is where New York immigrants arrived before the opening of Ellis Island in 1893. An October 2007 search of "Pajewski," yielded 10 matches between 1881 and 1891.
• One match was the John Pajewski identified in previous searches who arrived on 9 May 1885.
• The Castle Garden index results also showed a Johan Pajewski, age 29, shoemaker, arriving 1 April 1881 on the Bergenland from Antwerp. Because his year of birth is way too early, 1852; this is not our John Pajewski. However, what is interesting is that in the Chicago address records a shoemaker named John Pajewski does appear in entries between 1887-1900. See John Pajewski Address Records. I had previously thought that our John took up shoemaking, but maybe that shoemaker's address listing is the 1881 arriving Johan Pajewski. This hypothesis is further enhanced by contact with a descendant of another John Pajewski in Chicago who believes her John Pajewski was a shoemaker. It is amazing to find two John Pajewski families in Chicago in the same timeframe and initially in the same neighborhood.
• The Castle Garden Index results also showed a Josef Pajewski, age 27, laborer, arriving 15 February 1890 on the Brittanic. His year of birth would have been around 1863, close to our John Pajewski. Could this have been the same Josef who was initially on the ship with our John Pajewski in May 1885?

Interpretive Comments:

From the 9 May 1885 Bergenland Manifest:

• The age on the manifest for the indicated John Pajewski was 19. Our John Pajewski celebrated his birthday on January 1 as he said he didn't know the actual date as he told his family he was an orphan. Various records support a birth year of about 1865. Thus on 9 May 1885, he would have been about 20 years old which is very close to the 19 years stated.
• The arrival year of 1885 matches the arrival year he stated on the 1910 census and 1920 census. On the 1930 census he stated the arrival year was 1887. Generally the earlier data are more accuarate as the are closer to the actual time.
• The destination of Chicago on the manifest is very helpful. John had two brothers and half sister already in Chicago by 1885 and thus Chicago as a destination increases the likelihood this is our John Pajewski.
• On the manifest, the citizenship and country of origin are listed as Poland. Other research indicates that our John Pajewski was born in the Marienburg area, which is about 30 miles from Gdansk, then Danzig. We would now indicate this was Poland but then it was part of German West Prussia. Our Pajewski family was German in culture and language though they had a Polish sounding name. Certainly the "Poland" entry puts our John in the right general geography but it is odd that if this is our John why he indicated "Poland" given his German language and culture. The indicator as Poland may also explain why John could not be found in the German American Index books.
• The "No" for John in the column: "Whether Visitor only, or intending to be permanent settler" is ambiguous. The captain was pretty consistent in entering "yes" or "no" in this column and most answers are "no." The most logical interpretation is that it referred to "Whether Visitor only." Thus John would be planning to stay in the USA.
• An interesting find on the manifest was that the name directly after John Pajewski was Josef Pajewski. There is a long crossout of that line and a note in the last column that reads: "Did not leave".
• I am unaware of another brother in the family named Josef Pajewski but it is possible he was a cousin that decided not to come, at least at that time. In addition, it may be a valuable link in tying the family together in the old country should the Marienburg area records ever be searched.
• There were no other names near John's that could be identified as family or friends and thus it appears that John Pajewski came alone. Sailing alone makes the identification more difficult to verify that this is our John, but age, year of arrival, destination, and relative infrequency of the name Pajewski argue that the above is our John Pajewski.

The Voyage

• John's ship, the Bergenland left from Antwerp, Belgium a week or so before his arrival in New York on 9 May 1885. To get there from the Marienburg area he would have taken a train, or possibly another ship from a German port such as Bremen.
• At the time of his arrival in New York, the base of the Statue of Liberty would just be nearing completion, but the statue assembly would not have begun though it was complete by October 1886.
• The Bergenland arrived in New York at Castle Garden which is at the southern end of Manhattan; Ellis Island would not open until 1893. After a short stay in New York, John, boarded a ferry to New Jersey and then took a train to Chicago.
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To Do

• Obtain the departure date from Antwerp for the Bergenland that arrived in New York on 9 May 1885. Also determine if it left from Bremen first.
• Consider finding Johan Pajewski who arrived 1 April 1881 and Josef Pajewski who arrived 15 February 1890 in the German to America List and also the National Archives Ship Manifest Microfilm.