From German Girls Genealogy (Teresa Steinkamp McMillin & Debra A. Hoffman):
Aid societies were created in the 1700s and later in major cities as a way of helping fellow immigrants. When someone fell on hard times or needed a job, aid societies were there to help. Many ethnicities had their own societies and Germans were no different. In this post, I’ll highlight some that were in the Midwest US.
Finding the Existence of Aid Societies
To determine if a society was available for your ancestor, start by checking historical directories for the nearest city or county histories. I searched the Chicago city directory for the year 1880 and found there were two aid societies.[1]
One was the German Mutual Benefit Association and the other the German Society for the Protection of Immigrants and the Friendless.
Finding Their Records
Armed with the information that two aid societies were present, I then went on a search for their records in area archives. I used Google searches and also I searched the catalogs of major libraries and archives in the Chicago area.
At the University of Illinois – Chicago (UIC), there is a manuscript collection for the “German Aid Society, 1878–1977.” Its comprehensive finding aid may be found here: https://explore.chicagocollections.org/ead/uic/25/ms3t/ .
It was not initially clear which of the two groups this set involved. The finding aid shows it was also called Deutsch Gesellschaft von Chicago. That also does not help identify it.
I was able to visit the Daley Library on campus where this is housed. It is a wonderful collection consisting of 24 boxes plus supplements. They have applications for assistance that span 1883–1910. These are bound into volumes where each page is an application on a preprinted form. There were about one hundred applications in a volume. They are in great condition and easy to use. An application is shown below:
The questions that were asked:
- Name of the man and of the wife [sometimes includes her maiden name]
- Age
- Number of children and their ages
- Residence
- Occupation and income
- Nationality, which often gives a specific region of German or a town
- How long in the country? How long in the city?
- Assistance received and from whom
- To which community, lodge or society do you belong?
- Recommended by whom?
- Do you pay rent and how much?
- Applicant wishes?
- Assistance received: See backside of this sheet
- Report/notes
In box 13, I found a list of officers by year. Jacob Beiersdorf was the president from 1878–1881, so now I know this collection pertains to the second group listed in the city directory, shown above.
The Chicago History Museum holds a collection for the “Mutual Benefit and Aid Society of Chicago” spanning 1871–1973. That is the first society listed in the city directory shown above. As you can see, the names could change a lot. Its finding aid may be found here: http://chsmedia.org/media/fa/fa/M-M/MBAS-inv.htm. I plan to visit that collection soon!
There is also a collection for Cincinnati, Ohio known as “Bavarian Beneficial Society Records” spanning 1875–1924. It may be found at Wright State University: https://wright.libraryhost.com/repositories/2/resources/1586. That’s another one on my bucket list.
There is a collection for the Milwaukee Turner’s Foundation. That is a social organization, not an aid society. I still find it interesting. That is housed at the University of Wisconsin at Milwaukee: https://digicoll.library.wisc.edu/cgi/f/findaid/findaid-idx.
See Debra Hoffman’s post about the German Society of Maryland: https://ancestralleaves.blogspot.com/2025/10/german-society-of-maryland.html.
[1] Lakeside Annual Directory of the City of Chicago, 1880 (Chicago: Chicago Directory Co., 1880), 63.
Lind Street Research 