My great-grandfather was George Gephard, who was born in Alsace in 1830. Looking for Alsatian ancestry.

by Nicholas
(Agoura Hills, CA, USA)

My great grandfather George Gephard was born April 9, 1830 in Alsace-Lorraine with parents apparently named Lorenz and Maria.

They came over to America on the Hyperion from Le Havre in 1831.

I am trying to find any birth-records of his parents. The ship's logs say that Lorenz and Maria were both born around 1800.

They were accompanied by an Anna Tilla Gebhart born around 1770. I have not been able to find any records that match up...

There is family word-of-mouth history that George's brother Nicholas and his family were in the business of building roads and shipping.

There is also a Nicholas Gebhard who was a ship captain on the Great Lakes, almost the same age, but his mother has a different name and he had no brothers named George... could well have been related somehow.

I'd really like to find the actual birth records for any of these people.... I know Gebharts were very common in Alsace.