[APG Public List] age on shiplists

[Rolgeiger at aol.com]

Hello, 

It's clear that all ages  and other data provided on ship manifests 
arriving for example in NY harbour  were given by the people to the officers of the 
ship without any chance to proof  the data were okay (that's right, isn't 
it?). 

Well, currently I'm  researching the life of a woman from my hometown, 
Johanna Riefer, who in the  1880s lived in Paris, France, as a servant. At the 
end of that decade she met  Arabella Huntington and became a servant of her. 
>From 1904 until 1924 she  accompanied Arabella on her annually trips to 
France. 

The first  ship list I could find was that of the "Kaiser Wilhelm II" 
arriving in NY  harbour on Jan 20,1904. 

She is mentioned "Reifer, Jane" (I assume  that "ei" was pronounced "ee" as 
in Germany the name is pronounced "Reefer").  

Also on board and belonging to the Huntington party were:  

Mrs. C.P. Huntington
Miss Campbell
Mr. Archer M.  Huntington
Mrs. Archer M. Huntington

and their  servants
Dominez Martinez, 27, male, occupation: "valet" (what is a valet?),  
Spanishr
Angus Mc Gilverey, 30, valet, Scotch
Suzanne Gilomene, 27, maid,  Swiss
and – not a servant -:
Miss Cummings, 25, USA

Johanna –  "Jane" –'s age is mentioned as "24" but actually she was born 
1855. Hey, you can  see the difference between 24 and 51, even if that girl 
is from my hometown, St.  Wendel, Germany. 

1907 when she takes the "Kronprinzessin Cecilie"  from Cherbourg to New 
York she is mentioned "41" which is nearer but wrong as  well. 

Someone out there with an  idea?

Thanks

Roland Geiger

PS: At present  I try to locate documents from Arabella about her but it 
seems that all of  Arabella Huntington's personal papers were burned after her 
death because she  had ordered that. Weird.