General Notes

census Information about lineage from Julia Kerling and Louis Fiscger supplied by Bischwiller Town Hall record's office

Louis Fischer was listed as being the father of George Fischer on New Jersey record F-69

came to the port of NY on the boat Aristides in March 28, 1867 from Le Havre, France, in Paterson by 1870 census

May have lived at Katz Ave, Paterson, NJ

According to Bischwiller Marie office Bischwiller lost 4000 residents before 1870 as people fled the area becasue of the threat of German occupation.

1880 census also lists Henry Mills as living in the household as a nephew

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Surbourg

German: Surburg
Variant: Sourbourg

AIsace and Lorraine (German: Elsass and Lothringen) are two historic provinces in eastern France. Part of the Holy Roman Empire until 1648, Alsace was added to France by the Treaty of Rijswijck in 1697. Lorraine was part of the kingdom of LOTHARINGIA, which was divided (959) into the duchies of Lower and Upper Lorraine. The latter, which became modern Lorraine, was an independent but much-fought-over duchy until 1766. Between 1871 and 1918, Alsace (the departments of Bas-Rhin and Haut-Rhin) and the eastern part of Lorraine (now the department of Moselle) were annexed to Germany as a result of France's defeat in the Franco-Prussian War. From 1919 to 1940 the area belonged to France. Controversies over state-run versus religious schools and attempts to suppress German newspapers contributed to an ultimately unsuccessful movement for home rule in 1920. From 1940 to 1945 the area was again controlled by Germany; it was returned to France in 1945. Lorraine's departments of Meuse, Meurthe-et-Moselle, and Vosges remained French.

Geologically, western Lorraine is composed of clay vales separated by the north-south-trending limestone ridges of the Cotes de Meuse and Cotes de Moselle. The heavy soils of the vales support mixed farming--dairying, oats, and wheat. The ridges are barriers to communication and invasion. METZ, NANCY, VERDUN, Thionville, and Toul are route centers and fortress cities defending gaps in the ridges. The battle for Verdun was one of the bloodiest of World War I. Nancy (1990 pop., 102,410), the traditional capital and university center of Lorraine, is located on the Rhine-Marne canal, which follows the routeway from Paris to Strasbourg.

The Lorraine iron ore fields, about 110 km (70 mi) long and 20 km (12 mi) wide, run from Nancy northward to the primary iron and steel district around Longwy, Thionville, and Metz. The French part of the Saar coalfield lies 64 km (40 mi) to the east. It contains substantial French reserves in easily mechanized, thick seams.

Southeastward, Lorraine rises gradually to the summits of the Vosges. This sandstone massif has a granite core exposed in the south, where elevations exceed 1,200 m (3,937 ft). The political and linguistic divide between French-speaking Lorraine and German-speaking Alsace runs along its crest. At the foot of the steep eastern slope of the Vosges is a famous vineyard region. An adjoining belt of fertile loess soils produces cereals, fruit, tobacco, and vegetables. It also produces hops for Alsatian and German breweries.

STRASBOURG (1990 pop., 255,937), a major port on the Rhine, is the traditional capital of Alsace. Its industries include oil refining, brewing, printing, food processing, and metallurgy. Famous for its university and its pate, Strasbourg is headquarters of the Council of Europe. The Rhine-Rhone canal connects Strasbourg with Mulhouse, the Burgundy Gate, and Lyon. Mulhouse, with a chemical industry based on local potash deposits, and Colmar are textile-industry centers of Alsace and eastern Lorraine. Regional temperatures average 0.6 degrees C (33 degrees F) in January and 19 degrees C (66 degrees F) in July. Annual rainfall ranges from 510 to 1,020 mm (20 to 40 in).

Many immigrants fled the poverty of their homelands in Europe in the late 19th century to make new lives for themselves in the City of Paterson. By the early 1900’s, immigrants from all over Europe desperate for work were pouring into Paterson, which had become the nation’s leading center for mills that converted raw silk into the fine clothing worn by America’s wealthy.

The owners of the city’s silk mills sought skilled workers like weavers and loom fixers by advertising in European cities known for silk production. Thousands of skilled silk workers came to Paterson from silk centers like Macclesfield, England; Lyon, France; Biella, Italy; and Lodz, Poland.