Our maternal great great grandparents the Mazasitiszs came from Prussia, Janice and Alastair Watson's paternal great great grandparents the Rothermels came from Baden Wurttemberg in the German Empire, both sets of ancestors left Germany around 1870 to seek a new life abroad. Isidore (Irving ) Slome's family originated from Lithuania. Janice's quest to discover their origins and the secrets of her grandparents were the foundations of creating this website, much to most of the family's disapproval. Dorothy told one of her sons that she had had a 'charmed' upbringing having been born on a farm in Wales! A far cry from Chatham Street and then the shadow of the gas works in Battersea!
What stories we were told!
When Florence Gertrude Ellen Mazasitisz died Janice went to register her death, this was the first time she had seen the name. She asked her father where it originated from , he became very 'hot under the collar' and replied - " No-one ever talked about it in the family as it's Jewish!

Mazovia
MAZOVIA [Mazovia] or Masovia Pol. Mazowsze, historic region, central Poland. At the death (1138) of Boleslaus III, Mazovia became an independent duchy under the Piast dynasty. It became a suzerainty of Great Poland in 1351 and was finally united with it in 1526. Mazovia passed to Prussia during the 18th-century partitions of Poland and was later a part of the Russian Empire. It reverted to Poland in 1918.

Immigration grew sharply between the turn of the century and 1880. During this time, the U.S. experienced an influx of 10 million immigrants, not including the several million Africans who were brought to the U.S. as slaves.

In the mid-1800s, the potato famine in Ireland and political unrest in Germany prompted thousands to make the treacherous trek across the Atlantic. The overcrowded sailing ships and unsanitary conditions lead to spread of diseases. Hundreds of would-be immigrants died without reaching the American shore.

According to the German passenger lists database Morris Powell sailed from Liverpool to New York on the ship 'Caroline Nesmith'

POWELLS LISTED 1851

Powell A. Georgia Cuba unknown New Orleans, LA 21-May-1851

Powell Henry Ohio Havana, Cuba unknown New Orleans, LA 10-Mar-1851

Powell J P Dolaratis Belize, Honduras unknown New Orleans, LA 29-Mar-1851

Powell Jno R. Pampera Chagres, unknown New Orleans, LA 09-Apr-1851

Powell Mary 22 Margaret Evans London, uk unknown New York, NY 01-Mar-1851

Powell Milo Rozelinn Chagres, unknown New Orleans, LA 21-Jan-1851

* Powell Morris Caroline Nesmith Liverpool, uk unknown New York, NY 25-Jan-1851 *

Powell Mrs Wm Nelson Liverpool, uk unknown New Orleans, LA 18-Mar-1851

Powell W L Pampero Chagres, unknown New Orleans, LA 04-Mar-1851

Powell Walter Wm Nelson Liverpool, uk unknown New Orleans, LA 18-Mar-1851

Powell Wm Cherokee New York & Havana, Cuba/ USA unknown New Orleans, LA 07-Jul-1851