This is a special note that appears on the main page of the Germans to America Lookup Page. Note not only that the name SCHMIDT is very common, but that AUGUST SCHMIDT is also very common. Our research challenge is very daunting!! The Germans to America Lookup page is to get help people in looking up ships' records and such to determine when their German ancestor came to America. There has been in progress a multi-volume work in print for some time titled Germans to America and now there is a resource online for checking that. There is a similar series of books titled Irish to America. Here is the text of the warning:
WARNING !!!! COMMON SURNAMES !!!! If you are searching for a common surname, like SCHMIDT, MEIER, BUSCH, MEYER, etc.....it may be impossible to complete the search, especially if they traveled by themselves. The reason is that there are literally thousands of those names listed, and a name like AUGUST SCHMIDT may have 50 to 100 listings alone, many being of the same age at arrival and birth year. It would not be right for me to send you on a wild goose chase by giving you an inaccurate listing. There are also a ton of ????? type first names listed for each. You should obtain EVERY document available which may list immigration date, then request a lookup.
Schmidt surname - tells frequency of the name in the U.S.
Schmidt Corner - location(s) information
Schmidt Landing - location(s) information