Smeltzer

[jbnorris73]

I am looking for any information for my BIL's relative. He has no first name and some records list the last name as Smettyer. He only knows that his Great Grandfather came from the Shetland Islands to the US at 5 years old by himself with only the family bible and money pinned to his clothes. I know it's a long shot but he is the last living member of his family and I just wanted to try to find his great grandfather. His Grandfather was born in New York City in 1893. Can anyone give me a place to start my search? Thanks.

[heywood]

Hello,
Not much to go on. Is there anything to help?

Do you have grandfather’s name?
Do you have the family in censuses so you can go back?
What records do you have with the different spellings?

Heywood

[Istrice]

Hi,
You might want to take a look at http://www.bayanne.info/Shetland
Regards,
Istrice

[heywood]

That site looks good, I saw it earlier and was pleased to see the names but couldn’t connect them to Shetland. Can you Istrice? I am not sure I understand it.

I was thinking it might be better to work back from what is known 

[Istrice]

Heywood,
Bayanne House is on Unst, one of the more northern isles that make up the Shetland archipelago, Unst being the most northerly.  The site is a great source of genealogical information for anyone with Shetland forebears.  If you refer to the web address given previously it opens up an Aladdin's Cave of information.

Istrice

[Forfarian]

His Grandfather was born in New York City in 1893. Can anyone give me a place to start my search?

Have you got a copy of Grandfather's birth certificate?

If not, and you can't find it, then if I were you I would start by looking for Grandfather in the 1900 United States census. THis should tell you the first name of Great-grandfather, and and then you can look for a marriage certificate that might tell you the names of Great-grandfather's parents.

Or see if you can find Great-grandfather's immigration or naturalisation records.

Once you have that information you are then ready to start looking in Shetland. But it's not a common Shetland surname, so you may find that you have to move on somewhere else.

You can access the 1900 USA Census at www.familysearch.org

[Forfarian]

Bayanne House is on Unst

Yell, actually.

See https://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/1793927

The owner has been collecting information about anyone with a Shetland connection for decades, and he makes all this information freely available on his web site.

[Istrice]

Oops!
Slip of the index finger.  Unst hasn't moved though.
Istrice.

[jbnorris73]

I'm sorry. I was given the wrong information. I'm actually looking in the wrong place. The Smeltzers (Schmeltzers) are German. Thanks for responding though, I appreciate your time.