Hi Alex Schmitt,
We might need a little help focusing in on the targets of your challenge. Possibly you have the names and approximate date of when your Schmitts migtrated from Germany?
Like Müller and Miller, I understand the surname Schmitt is a varient of Schmidt. Both Müller and Schmidt are thought to have originated as occupational names, thus they tend to be common surnames. A Yahoo site reports both are among the six most common German surnames. Said another way, there are likely many, many unrelated Schmitts who emigrated from Germany.
On a more general note, you may be interested in the Internet site, "German Genealogy: German Emigration Records." Site claims it was one of the "50 Top Sites for Genealogy Research" in 2012 as per Internet Genealogy.
See also one of my personal favorites, The Olive Tree Genealogy for its article, "Germans & Swiss Immigration to the USA and Canada" and also "Palatine German Immigration & Genealogy."
Another top notch site is "Germans to America" on GenWiki. GenWiki is a site run by the Germany-based [translated] "Society for Computergenealogy e.V,"
The old FamilySearch research outline for Germany is available at the BYU site. Click here.
Cyndi's list for Germany is here.
Finally, FamilySearch has a site, "Top Genealogy Websites for Finding Ancestors in Germany."
There are many more resources, but I'll close this here. Hope it helps.--GeneJ
