some of the reasons for the boys, to follow up the track to the new world by ship from the harbour of Hamburg.

right: Their parents farm in Westre. In 1900 they sold it and moved to the nearby village Süderlügum

 
Their parents names were Detlef Jürgen PETERSEN and Christina JESSEN ...maybe these names reoccur in following generations... Their ancestors are researched until the 16th century...

The black marked areas on this map of europe are the main territorries of my research. At first Schleswig-Holstein (with a part of Denmark) where my ancestors lived since at least 500 Years. (In all probalility for much longer) The most of them in a region called Northern Frisia. A very concise region which is formed by the Northern Sea.
And the other main territory is East Prussia with a part that belongs to Russia nowadays. My Mother came to Northern Frisia in 1945 from this region as some of 12 million german refugees in the 2nd World War....
New in my focus are amongst others Hesse, Franconia and the cities of Varel, Hamburg and
Amsterdam in the Netherlands.
The brothers wich left their homes one by one in the 1880´s were born in a small village called Westre in the former duchy of Schleswig, department Tondern. In 1864 the prussians took this area from the danish crown. Young men had now to absolve a military service for five years. This and the fact that the farm will like tradition be inherit by the youngest son, were probably