Looking for German immigrant to USA 1850s

On Jan. 8/09 Linda sent a query:

Duzel, Gustav Aldolphus born: 1830, Prussia > Germany. died: 1903 Yreka, Siskiyou County, CA. buried unknown. occ: came as a fur trapper 1855-56 w/ Steven/Steve McKAY, who family says, they both hunted for the Hudson Bay Fur Company on the Canadian and Down the West Coast of USA. via Oregon into to CALIFORNIA.

Gustav then became a gold miner in the Hamburger Area of Siskiyou county. He then in 1860, m: "DOC", an American Indian, medicine lady of the KARUK trible of the Klamath River Indians, She is thought to have died in 1921, but I don't know where.

I have most of the 1850 - 1900 census and can piece together the family of sorts..what i most would like is , the boat GUSTAV came on (dates/Locals)? did he naturatlize? and the English name of DOC ?

I have looked high, low, asked, begged and just about had a heart attack trying to find these folks since 1998, but haven't been awful sucessful

Hi Linda - What a challenging family you have been hunting! I like to look at the records researchers have already found, in case I can spot something that might be an overlooked clue. In doing so I can see why you are having trouble. There are many discrepancies that need clarification.

But to get to one of your questions - did Gustav naturalize - the answer lies in the 1900 census. In that census Gustav's data shows that he is a widower who immigrated in 1850 and he is naturalized (NA in the column)

The 1870, 1900, 1910 ,1920 and 1930 USA census identify citizenship status. Some years have notations showing the individual was an Alien, or had started the Naturalization process or had his final papers. These are great clues to help narrow the time frame for finding naturalization records! For an explanation of the terms used in the 1900 census (AL, PA, NA) see The Importance of Census Records

So you will want to search for Gustav's naturalization papers. Footnote.com has Naturalization Records from NARA, and Ancestry.com also has some. The best website for free naturalizaton records and links to other sites' naturalization records is my own (I may be slightly biased....) at naturalizationrecords.com

Gustav may be the man who sailed from Bremen Germany to New York 16 June 1851. He is indexed as John Dusel but a look at the image of the manifest (passenger list) indicates to me that the first name is not John. Please see my explanation of this (and graphics to illustrate my conclusions) at To Believe or Not To Believe, That is the Question

To view the passenger list image you will need to either order the microfilm into your closest Family History Center, or use the Ancestry.com New York Passenger Lists, 1820-1957

Please be cautious in accepting the indexed names as I believe that the indexed ship name is incorrect as well. A good look at the image for the passenger list will help you to figure out what the name really is. I suggest the ship may be the Johan and not the Jalary as indexed.