Maria Kulhmann was born on April 7, 1894 in Bokel, Germany. She is Walt’s 1st cousin twice removed. Her mother was Maria Elisabeth Wellman, Gerhard Wellman’s sister. I found out a bit about her from the ship’s manifest from her emigration from Germany.

Maria was one of 10 children born to Heinrich Kuhlmann and Maria Elisabeth Wellman between 1877 and 1896. Maria was the only member of her family to immigrate to the United States.

It took a bit of searching, but I found the ship she traveled on. In my search I found more than one Maria Kuhlmann from the same area in Germany and about the same age.

The ship was the SS Berlin, sailing from Bremen. It arrived in New York on February 7, 1929. This ship’s manifest showed more information than some of the others that we have found. The first page has much of the standard information. Name, age, country of origin and so on.

The second page tells us the name and address of the nearest friend or relative in the country of origin. In this case, it was her brother Gerhard Kuhlmann, living in Ankum/Bersenbruck. The manifest also tells us that she was going to join one August Fuchs, and acquaintance who lived at 607 Eagle Avenue in New York City. Her information is on line 26.

I found her declaration of intention to become a citizen in the records. Maria was working as a cook at this time. It is dated May 24, 1932. I did note that the date of arrival on this document is February 17, 1929.

I wasn’t able to find much else about her. She may have been married, but I couldn’t confirm the information. She died on October 9, 1970.

More interesting travel information

I did find some other interesting items with the ship’s manifest. There were affidavits from the captain and the ship’s surgeon regarding the mental and physical condition of the aliens wishing to enter the United States.

The first is by the master of the ship, one Herman Von Thulen. The second is signed by the surgeon, Doctor Hans Kruger. It states that he has 25 years of experience and studied at the University of Rostock. The University of Rostock is still operating in Rostock, Germany, and has been since 1419.