The Ochtrup candidate, conflicting dates and the sources being checked.
The possible Ochtrup connection
An 1820 St. Lambertus baptism records a child from the Wester 45 household in Ochtrup who is the leading German candidate for Quincy Bernard. The records describe a household that used Roling as a house or farm name, alongside the birth surname Kuhlmann.
The connection is probable, not proved. The German household and Quincy Bernard are kept distinct while the evidence is checked. The baptism gives May 27, 1820; a Quincy funeral transcription gives May 20. The difference remains visible rather than being silently resolved.
A leading candidate in Ochtrup
A St. Lambertus baptism records Bernhard of the Wester 45 household in Ochtrup, born May 27, 1820, and baptized May 29. His parents are recorded as Johan Bern. Roling and Cath. Elisab. Pölker/Pölcker. Related records identify the father as born Kuhlmann.
The Ochtrup candidate married Maria Anna Höffer on August 21, 1850. Her later fate remains unresolved. She should not be described as a proved first wife of Quincy Bernard while the two men’s identity is still uncertain.
The American funeral transcription names Ochtrup but gives May 20, 1820, rather than the baptism’s May 27. The Kuhlmann/Pölcker household remains a probable, not proved identification for Quincy Bernard.
The immigration dates
An emigration compilation lists Bern. Roling of Ochtrup, born May 27, 1820, with North America as the intended destination in 1846. It is a summary of records about permission to leave Germany, not a passenger list. It does not prove a voyage in 1846.
Keep that entry separate from the 1854 immigration year reported in the 1900 American census. The Bernard Roling obituary transcription instead reports that he had lived in Quincy for 55 years. Read alongside the 1900 death date, that suggests about 1845, but the length of residence may be approximate. These accounts remain in conflict; none establishes a passenger vessel or a complete migration timeline.
A passenger candidate aboard Lyons
An original New Orleans passenger list names Bernhard Rohling, age 26, as the last passenger on Lyons in December 1846. The shorter quarterly abstract calls him Bern Rohling. The shared age, vessel, position and neighboring passenger strongly identify those two entries as the same passenger—not as two independent witnesses to his later identity.
The detailed list carries male and farmer by ditto marks and gives America as the intended destination. A town-like entry in the column headed “Country to which they belong” is provisionally read [Ulsenheim?], supported by comparison with another entry in the same handwriting. The reading remains uncertain, and the column does not explicitly say birthplace. It must not be changed to Ochtrup to fit a proposed ancestor.
A contemporary shipping report places Lyons in New Orleans’ December 26, 1846 reported arrivals; the captain’s manifest oath and the quarterly administrative entry are dated December 28. A Hamburg shipping report puts the vessel in Bremerhaven’s October 16 outward group. These are different kinds of dates, not a reason to invent an embarkation or filing explanation.
The voyage is compatible with the Ohio declaration made by Bernard Roling in 1848, which reported arrival at New Orleans on December 26 and departure from Bremen on October 15. The one-day departure difference remains. The passenger, the Ohio declarant, the Ochtrup man and Bernard of Quincy are not yet proved to be one person. The 1854 immigration year in the later Quincy census and the conflicting ages still need to be explained.
Sources: NARA M259, roll 26, list 372, passenger 175; M272, roll 3, final Lyons entry; Shipping and Commercial List, January 6, 1847, page 1, New Orleans arrivals; and Börsen-Halle, October 19, 1846, pages 1–2. The shipping reports identify the voyage, not the passenger’s family.
Places in the story
Quincy was home to Bernard and Magdalena. Across the Atlantic, Ochtrup holds the parish records at the center of the search for Bernard’s origins. These maps show towns in their modern surroundings, not family homes, historical property boundaries or routes traveled. They do not pinpoint the old Wester 45 house.
Quincy, Illinois
Bernard and Magdalena’s city
Bernard and Magdalena were living in Quincy when the census taker recorded their household in 1900.
Map details and credit
Quincy is highlighted within Adams County, Illinois. The boundaries show modern geographic context.
Map by DemocraticLuntz at English Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0. Image unchanged; displayed at reduced size.
Ochtrup, Germany
A possible German connection
St. Lambertus records place Bernhard and the Wester 45 household in Ochtrup. The connection to Bernard of Quincy remains probable, not proved.
Map details and credit
Ochtrup is highlighted within the Steinfurt district. The boundaries show modern geographic context.
Map by TUBS; file revisions by WiebkeCBo · CC BY-SA 3.0. Image unchanged; displayed at reduced size.
Photographs and documents
View the St. Boniface church plate and its caption, or return to the Quincy and Ochtrup locator maps.
Sources and confidence
Sources and how to read them explains how records, recollections and unresolved questions are presented.
Read the source citations and evidence notes
ROL-S03: St. Lambertus 1820 baptism. Establishes the candidate child and household in Ochtrup.
ROL-S07: Friedrich Müller, Westfälische Auswanderer im 19. Jahrhundert: Auswanderung aus dem Regierungsbezirk Münster, I. Teil, 1803–1850, in Beiträge zur westfälischen Familienforschung, volumes 22–24 (1964–1966), Münster: Aschendorff, 1966, entry 2284 (digital PDF page 167). Underlying archival citation: Regierung Münster 130, Band 23. This is an administrative abstract, not proof of a sailing.
St. Boniface marriage evidence: Bernardum Roling and Magdalenum Wintz, January 7, 1855, Ancestry collection 61682, record 483632. Original register: Quincy, St. Boniface, 1838–1950, manuscript page 68, 1855 entry 2; viewer image 74 of 385. The Diocese of Springfield in Illinois reported on September 17, 2026, that its review of the original entry found neither spouse’s parents recorded.
1859 Quincy directory transcription and 1866 Quincy directory transcription. These published transcriptions identify Bernard, also listed as Barney, as a cooper.
1870 U.S. census, Quincy Ward 3, Adams County, Illinois, NARA microfilm M593, roll 187, page 516A, lines 30–34; Ancestry collection 7163, record 15916872, image 4263649_00282. The household is recorded under Barney Roling, with Lena, Barbara, Henry and Frank. The original schedule records Barney as a cooper born in Prussia and gives his age as 42. That age differs from the May 1820 birth reported for Bernard in the 1900 census; the discrepancy remains unresolved.
Bernard Roling obituary transcription, Genealogy Trails. The entry names surviving sons Henry J. and Frank J. The transcription is credited to Mindy; the underlying newspaper and issue date are not identified in this entry.
Not every Bernard was our Bernard
The Cincinnati search has turned up another man to keep separate. In 1854, Barney Rohling, signing as Bernard, described himself as about 27 and from Hanover. He said he had sailed from Havre in April 1847 and reached New York that May. Those details differ from the 1848 declaration that reported a journey from Bremen to New Orleans in 1846. We cannot combine the two accounts into one voyage.
Across the river in Covington, a Bernard H. Rohling left his estate to his wife Louise in 1879. That man cannot be Bernard of Quincy, who lived until 1900. The Covington papers help us avoid a mistaken match, but they do not yet prove that he was the 1854 Cincinnati declarant.
Read the Cincinnati and Covington records
Hamilton County declaration, October 7, 1854, DGS 5492145, image 327: Barney Rohling, signature Bernard Rohling; about 27; Hanover; departure Havre April 16, 1847; arrival New York May 28, 1847; intended residence Cincinnati. This is a declaration of intention, not completed naturalization. It names no ship, parents or family. The held October 4, 1848 declaration instead gives age 27, Prussia, Bremen and New Orleans; neither declarant has been proved to be Quincy Bernard.
1860 Covington census, Ward 1, page 32, dwelling 205, family 217, lists Barney Rolling, 32, a Hanover-born chair maker, with Louisa and four younger household members. The census does not state their relationships. This household remains a comparison, not an automatic match to either declaration.
Kenton County will book 3, page 17, recorded court copy: Bernard H. Rohling of Covington, will dated May 5, 1879, admitted to probate June 12, names wife Louise. These dates bracket his death but do not give its exact day. The inventory and 1881 final settlement continue the wife’s estate administration. No children are named in these documents; that does not mean the couple had none.
Research questions
The next questions are the connection between the American and German identities, the source of the Ochtrup attribution, and the migration timeline. Naturalization records, the original emigration file, and Bernard’s full Brinkman biography may help. The published Brinkman name index is a pointer to that biography, not independent proof of parentage.