From passenger ship indexes, the exact date of immigration is proven to be 15 August 1865, which is when ``Georg Nichlaus,'' age 28, from Uchtelhausen, arrived in New York aboard the SS Herzog v. Brabant. The ship came from Bremen, Germany to New York.
According to Fred Nicklaus (and also Carolyn (Nicklaus) Knock), this George Nicklaus lived in an apartment above one of the downtown businesses in Parkersburg. There was a fire in the building and George died in the fire, and his son George was badly burned trying to save him. This story is proved out by newspaper articles. The articles state that the fire was discovered about 6:00 Sunday evening in the ``Nicholas building''. The lower story held the Henry Hinrichs' barber shop and the father George and son George lived above it. The father was nearly suffocated and died the next day as a result of burns received and his inability to recover from the shock due to his age. The son George was badly burned around the face and hands and the paper stated that ``little hope is entertained of his recovery.'' The fire was thought to have started by the explosion of a kerosene stove in the upper story.
George also apparently was known by the name Carl in Parkersburg. The name Carl refers to him in two places. First, his brother Balthazar's obituary says that Balthazar's ``brother Carl'' found Balthazar and Maria after their stove malfunctioned and poisoned them. That by itself was somewhat confusing, but another newspaper obituary written when this George died in the fire also names George as Carl Nicklaus and it is unmistakenly referring to this same George.
The death certificate for George's daughter Annie says that George had a middle initial of E. No other evidence, including his birth record, has been found that shows that initial. Annie's obituaries mention a niece and several nephews of hers, making us think there might be more descendents of George that we haven't yet identified. We've found a niece of Annie's (a granddaughter of George) named Gertrude (Heffler) Hunter, but no nephews so far (1998). We now believe the nephews must have been through the family of Annie's husband.
Sources for this individual: @S10@ @S8@ @S149@ @S150@ @S16@ @S151@ @S5@ @S152@ @S153@ @S345@
