- The topmost extract was found in the Baltimore 1820-1897 Ship Arrival Index. The index identified the individual, ages, where from, the ship and the date of arrival. The spelling was Filipeck, with the first name as Wenzel.
- The information in the Baltimore Ship Arrival Index was also found in Leo Baca's Czech Immigration Passenger Lists, Volume IX: Baltimore 1880-1899. The index identified the individual, ages, where from, the ship and the date of arrival. The spelling was Filipeck, though with the first name as a question mark.
- The Munchen Ship Manifest was found in National Archives microfilm entry 45. An extraction of the key data is provided above. Scans from the manifest can be found below.
- The National Archives Munchen manifest provides the same information as the Baltimore Ship Arrival Index card.
- No other Filipek family members could be identified on board the Munchen. However, a Thomas Zika also from Bohemia and also traveling to Illinois was listed on the entry just before Wenzel Filepeck. It is not know who he is, but his name was extracted in case it might be helpful later on.
- This Baltimore Index must have been created before the Baca index and the National Archives Microfilm as it is the only one that show Wenzel, as part of the paper has broken off which showed the name. See scans below.
- Note, the National Archives Microfilm for the first page of the Munchen Passenger List is for New York. I believe the Munchen continued to Baltimore after stopping in New York and I did not copy the page header showing Baltimore arrivals.
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So the question is: Is this our James Filipek?
Some Key Matches:
- Our James Filipek was born 10 September 1863 and on 18 June 1889 he would have been 25 years old, a very close match.
- We also know that he was heading for Chicago, and this record unlike so many which only indicate they are traveling to the USA, actually indicates he is headed for Illinois.
- Wenzel is German for James, possibly due to the ship being from Bremen.
Expected Arrival Year is 1889
There are two key records which indicate James (Vaclav) Filipek arrived in 1889:
His Wife's Arrival:
- Only one record to date has been found in the indexes for a Katherine Filipek arriving in America after 1882 and before 1890, Possible Katherine Filipek's Ship Arrival Records - 18 June 1889. In fact it is for the expected year of 1889 but on a different ship, the EMS arriving at a different port, New York. But coincidentally on the same date 18 June 1889 as the Munchen with both ships having left from Bremen, Germany.
Problems:
So if this is our James Filipek,:
- Why isn't he with his wife? Did he miss the ship? Or was it too full?
- Where was his son, John? Could this be him: Possible John Filipek's Ship Arrival Records - 5 December 1889.
- And how to explain, the arrival in June when the Passport Applications indicated May, May 15 in particular. Could their memory be off a month while trying to recollect 22 years later, or was it really May.
Overall Assessment:
- While the data match with our James Filipek isn't all we would want for confirmation, there is fairly good evidence this is our James Filipek. The strongest are: 1) that this is the only James Filipek (or variants) in any immigration index from 1882 to 1890, 2) the year of 1889 is the expected year, 3) the year of birth is in the right range, and 4) there is a possible match with his wife's arrival in 1889 on the same day but on a different ship.
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