Germany and German Ancestry

This group was created for anyone interested in researching German Ancestry.
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  • Catherine Davis

    Oops!  That should say the evangelische records for Venne.

  • serena clarkson

    I am trying to find Hans Christoph Carstens born in Ebstorf, Germany. I have no date of birth or death.

  • Catherine Davis

    Serena, what other info do you have on Hans that would narrow down the time frame?  Are we talking 20th century or something earlier?  Did you find him a US census?  Any one of them would give you an age from which you can approximate a birth year.  Was he always living in the same town in all the censuses you have available--if so, that would probably be a good starting point for a death certificate.  If he never lived in the US, did his children?  Then, figure he was 20 or so years older than his youngest child.

  • Joanne McCarthy Martinez

    Looking for William Mueller (Miller) born abt 1838 and immigrated abt 1865 born "Prussia" married Josepha Vorst born abt 1833 children Peter, William, Anna, Elizabeth, Hubbard and John.

  • Winston Cochrane

    Karl & Charlotte Hermann - 1820-1855 - Kreuznach, Rheinpreußen

    Looking for marriage and birth information on this family from Kreuznach, Rheinpreußen, and their ancestors. I have searched Ancestry and FamilySearch without luck.

    Karl and Charlotte Hermann (her surname unknown) were born about 1820 and married about 1845. They children were: Elizabeth born 1846, Harriet born 1849, and William born 1851. Charlotte and the 3 children without Karl emigrated from Kreuznach, Rheinpreußen to Philadelphia in 1854. I do not know what happened to Karl, whether he died, they divorced, or he emigrated at a different time. Charlotte remarried Lorenz Armbruster (who emigrated in 1855 from Ottersweier) in Philadelphia in 1857.

    I would appreciate any help or suggestions. Thanks.

  • Catherine Davis

    Kathleen--what other info do you have?  Where is Martin from, have you found him in censuses that would give you a clue as to when he lived, etc.?

  • Herb Depke

    My Depke family is from Meitze, now Lower Saxony. I am also interested in Bremer and Kreuzburg of that region and Siefermann of Baden. I visited my Depke cousins in Meitze the last week of July 2012. Any information would be welcome. Herb Depke, born Danville, Illinois, now of Cary, North Carolina.

  • Laressa Northrup

    Can anyone tell me how the German name Bucher would be pronounced and how an English speaker would hear it? 

  • Catherine Davis

    Laressa, I looked up Bucher on Ancestry's surname translator, found that's it's German meaning is an inhabitor living near a beech tree.  So then I looked up buche--which is German for beech--on http://www.dictionarist.com/.  If you go there, enter buche, and then click on the loudspeaker, you can hear it pronounced.  It's kind of like boo-kah.  I thought Bucher might come from buch, or book, but apparently not.

    From your question about how an English speaker would hear it, I assume you're trying to find different possible versions in census and other records.  I'd look for Booker and Butcher as well as Bucher, just because of similar but not quite sounds to Bucher.  I'd also look for Beech as the name may have been anglicized to its meaning.

  • Marianne Szabo

    It depends if there is an umlaut over the "u" - it also might be related to books.  Also, the "ch" is a guttural sound, almost like clearing your throat, not a hard "k".  I wouldn't be surprised if an English speaker heard it like "Booher" or "Boocher".

  • Laressa Northrup

    Thanks for everyone's imput. I was looking at an ancestor who had a grandchild whose maiden name was Bucher and wondered if her name could also be spelled Bougher and it sounds like it from Marianne's statement.  Thanks again.

  • louise duncalf

    does anyone know or has a name GRAMS in their ancestry?

  • serena clarkson

    I am searching for Hans Christoph Carstens, born in Ebstorf, Germany. He had a son named Heinrich Christoph Carstens born 3-17-1815 in Ebstorf, Germany as well. Hans was married to Anna Magdalena Tiesemann born in 1732 in Germany.

    I would like any information on Hans's parents or Anna's parents.

  • Marianne Szabo

    If Anna was born in 1732, and Heinrich Christoph is supposedly her son, she would have been 83 at his birth - not possible.  Hans Christoph Carstens could have been anywhere from 20 to 60 when Heinrich was born, making his birth year range about 1755 to 1795.

  • serena clarkson

    Annas birth year was not given to me. I have no idea. I put in high year to see what I could find. I have nothing on her birth or dod. It was my guess, sorry

  • Barbara Holz Sullivan

    I recently learned that my great, great grandfather, Louis Fischer, was born in Elsenfeld in Unterfranken, Bayern.  There does not seem to be many films for that area on FamilySearch.  He was born on 8 September 1837 and was not Catholic.  Can anyone tell me the name of the Protestant churches near his birthplace or the correct archives to write to?  Thank you.

  • angela kay ezell

    I found out my great great grandfather Joseph (Backus) Backes was born in Prussia and so was his mother and Father , but not sure which part of Prussia yet.

  • Marianne Szabo

    To Barbara Holz Sullivan, if you look at this wikipedia article about Unterfranken, you will see many cities that are in it.  That is what you need to do a search of the Family Search microfilms.  Try looking at U.S. records to find the correct city (U.S. church records often listed the city of origin).

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lower_Franconia

  • Marianne Szabo

    To Barbara Holz Sullivan, here is info on Elsenfeld from wikipedia, which says the area was "overwhelminlgly Catholic".  You probably will have to search neighborhing towns that have Evangelische (Protestant) churches instead.

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elsenfeld

  • Barbara Holz Sullivan

    Thank you, Marianne.  I have seen that wikipedia page about Fanconia.  I know the town Louis Fischer was born in: Elsenfeld.  I would like to learn the name of the protestant parishes in that area.  I have searched the FHL catalog for Bayern, Unterfranken, and Miltenberg without success.  Elsenfeld is not listed as such in their catalog.

  • Catherine Davis

    To Barbara Holz Sullivan--list of churches in and near Elsenfeld starts with the Catholic Churches, followed by the Protestant--

    http://translate.google.com/translate?sl=de&tl=en&js=n&...

    If that link doesn't work, try putting the link for the untranslated site, http://www.elsenfeld.de/gesundheitsozia/kirchen/ , into google translate and set from English to German.  The translated version of the URL will look just the same as on the German side, but if you click on the link on the English side, it will take you to the translated version. 

  • Barbara Holz Sullivan

    Thank you Catherine.  That's just what I need.

  • Michael Boscarato

    I am researching my great-grandmother Anna Louise Emma Reising/Reissing
    *Sep 3 1877 Tangermuende, Saxony, Anhalt, Germany  

    +Feb 9 1955 Neumuenster, Schleswig-Holstein, Germany

    married Nov 12 1899 Tangermuende to Heinrich August Julius Koester

    I am looking for an 1880 census for Tangermuende.

  • Michael Boscarato

  • Kate Wagner

    Is anyone familiar with the Höchstenbach church records?

  • Barbara Holz Sullivan

    In January, I received a list from this forum of a list of churches near Elsenfeld.  My researcher in Germany has not been able to find a baptismal record for my ancestor, Louis Fischer, born on 8 Sept 1837.  By the time he emigrated in 1853 at the age of 16, he was an orphan.  My question is: what other records might there be in Unterfranken for a young boy between birth and the age of 16, from 1837 until 1853?  Confirmation? what age for confirmation? Vaccination? Permission to leave?  Guardianship papers?  My researcher doesn't want to be just searching in a haystack.  Thank you for any help you can give.

  • Al (alpobc)

    Hi Barbara Holz Sullivan,

    Re: Elsenfeld

    If the lad was and orphan, one could look for death records for his parents, which would give a time frame.  If he was young enough, there might be orphanage records or if he was between say 10 and 16yrs old, there might be apprentice or guild records.

    Just my guesses though.

    Al

  • Marianne Szabo

    Also re Elsenfeld, how wide a net did your researcher cast around the specific date of 8 Sep 1837?  What is your present source for that birth date?  I've found baptismal records as much as 2 years different from what U.S. sources have.

  • Barbara Holz Sullivan

    Thank you for such prompt answers.  My only source for Louis Fischer's birth date is his grave stone, placed later when his remains were moved from the protestant cemetery (where he was buried in 1875) to join his wife's remains in the Catholic cemetery when she died in 1910.  My researcher has searched the Catholic records since Elsenfeld's citizens were primarily Catholic.  I don't know the names of his parents.  He lived with his uncle, not in an orphanage.  The birth year of 1837 agrees with his Civil War records, census entries, and year of emigration in 1853.  His wife went on to run his business very successfully so I'm fairly certain the family knew his correct birth date.  I'm assuming he was Lutheran but so far, the only Fischer baptized in a Lutheran church around that date was a female.  But thank you for your suggestions.

  • Pete Val

    Hello,

    I am posting again.  I am still looking for Lake (Lague), Forschner, Weidenbach, Faust, Kolmel, and Klug from Germany.  

    Theobald Faust - Bavaria abt 1815

    Johannes Klug - Neubronn, abt 1709

    Johann Jacob Lake - Rheinbaiern (sp?) 1838

    Catherine Forschner - Abunbaiern (sp?) Saxony, June 1844

    Johannes Georg Weidenbach - Baden, abt 1744

    Johanna Kolmel - Baden, Oct 1819

    Thanks

  • Catherine Davis

    @Pete--all the places you list here are German states, not towns, which is what you are going to need to find any records.  Have you checked familysearch.org recently.  I noted there were 2 Theobalds born in Massweiler, Bayern (German for Bavaria), one in 1814, one in 1815.  There are also several Fausts born at different times i in Rieschweiler, Bayern.  Do any of the children's names match with other data you have?

    Rheinbayern was an area belonging to the kingdom of Bavaria, but was not actually in Bavaria.  Bavaria itself is in the southeast corner of Germany, surrounding Munich.  Rheinbayern was a strip along the left side of the Rhein River, in the west of Germany, bordering France.  It today is part of the state of Rheinland-Palatinate and is just north of Baden-Wuerttemburg.  According to the 1880 census, John Lake and his wife Catherine were both born in Baden, so they might have actually been from the border area between the two states.

  • Michael Boscarato

    I am looking for Johann Christian Reising born about 1850 in Tangermünde
    His wife was Marie Elisabeth Rüss born about 1850 in Tangermünde. They were the parents of Anna Louise Emma Reissing 1877 - 1955. 
    I am also looking for 
    Catherine Wilhelmine Hartmann born Feb 1 1843 (Bramstedt/ Bad Bramstedt) d. 1923
    married to Christian Georg Martin Köster, and later Casper Beckmann from Acterwehr
    I am looking for census records of Tangermünde, and old address books. 
    Tangermünde was flooded last week.

  • Michael Boscarato

  • Al (alpobc)

    @Joan Foster

    perhaps this is the guy you are looking for on th e1860 Indiana Census. Look to the bottom of the page.

    http://archive.org/stream/populationschedu302unit#page/n508/mode/1up

    Al

  • Al (alpobc)

    @Joan Foster

    The 1870 Indiana Census for Evansville starts here.

    http://archive.org/stream/populationschedu0364unit#page/n37/mode/1up

    The 1880 Indiana Census for Evansville starts here.

    http://archive.org/stream/10thcensus0317unit#page/n107/mode/1up

    Al

  • Velma St John

    Does anyone know where Weidersrothe is located? I found this information on the pension file for my gggrandfather as the location of his marriage in Germany.  When I googled the name nothing came up.

  • Kate Wagner

    I'm looking for passenger lists from Rotterdam to England or America, early to mid 1700's.  I think the parents of the immigrant ancestor I am focused might have died on the voyage from Rotterdam, probably on the ship Aurora, arrival in Philadelphia 1744.  The ancestor and two brothers would have been too young to appear on the list.  The family name appears several times on the passenger list but the three brothers don't appear to have been direct descendants of those family lines. It is not a common surname and the only other arrival was in 1728 and does not appear to be their ancestor. So, if there is no arrival, there just might be a departure.

  • Catherine Davis

    Kate, to see the list of what is available for Rotterdam emigration, see http://www.progenealogists.com/germany/articles/gdepart.htm, scroll down to Rotterdam.  (Note footnotes don't indicate an end of the page, only an end of a section, so keep going until you hit Rotterdam someways down the page.)

  • Kate Wagner

    Catherine, Thanks for responding. The progenealogists.com website was one of the places I went to earlier in my search. Just in case I overlooked something I went down their list of resources and did find MacWeathy's List of Names and did some searches in that regard. No luck. I'd also forgotten that the Rotterdam departure lists for the 18th century were lost.  So, I go back to the dead end again and nix the idea of an emigration list. The related families appear in the Höchstenbach church records with a notation of "Gone to America" 1744. I've browsed through the handwritten records from the 1720's - 1744 checking to see if "my" names appear as baptisms but no luck so far. I apologize for not being forthright and putting the last name onto the wall but genealogywise is trawled by the search engines and I would rather not give a roadmap to my research until I can publish.  If anyone has any ideas of would be willing to help (even by brainstorming) via email, I would be appreciative.

  • Keith Burke

    Martin Bowers was born in Darmstadt, Germany in 1805 along with his Wife Elizabeth Stephan; he died in 1845 the same years his wife gave birth to twins Catherine and John Martin Bowers in Mogadore, Portage, Ohio.  His other four children were born in Germany and died in Ohio or Illinois.  His father may be Johnann Martin Bauer 1769-1838?

  • Catherine Davis

    Keith, familysearch.org shows a Martinus Andreas Bauer, born Oct 23, 1801, christened Oct 25, 1801 at the Katholischekirche in Oppenheim, Rheinhessen, Darmstadt-Hesse

    https://familysearch.org/search/record/results#count=20&query=%....

    But, as you can see from that webpage, there are other Bauers spread around different parishes in Darmstadt, although I didn't see another Martin.  And, adding Johann Martin Bauer as father did not yield any Martin as a son. 

    LDS has films for many of the parishes, but without more information, I'm not sure how you'll find Martin.  Do you have the church birth records for his German-born children?

  • Keith Burke

    Catherine,

    Thanks for your information and the link from the Darmstadt area the family was Catholic and I have the baptism records for the children born in Ohio but have not looked for the Bauer the childrens birth records from Germany:  Catherine, Margaret, Adam, and Gearhart.  I do have the record from Oberöwisheim, Karlsruhe, Baden-Württemberg, Germany.  Today I'm new to Genealogy Wise.

  • Bertil Svensson

    I am searching the surname "Kristoffer von Holten" born 1848 from Hannover and "Karolina Schmitt/Roth" born 1843 from Alcasse/Loraine. I will be very happy if there is someone who have any connections to this ancestors. 

  • Susan Teresa Holmes

    I am still looking for information on my Great Grandmother, Wilhelmina Nesensohn. b:May 21,1855, in or near Karlsruhe, Baden, Germany. She came to USA sometime from 1872 or 1882. Her Fathers first name was Mathew, according to her death cir. but no mention of her Mother. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

  • Catherine Davis

    Bertil, there are records for several Caroline Schmitt/Schmidts and Caroline Roths on familysearch.org.  And there is a Christoff Von Holtum there as well, although he was from Rheinhessen.

  • Bertil Svensson

    Hi Catherine !! I have seen those pesons in familysearch but I am looking for more specifik data for example "what parish in Reinhessen were they born, there is a lot of different data in familysearch, so if you have something about their life before they came to US. I am not familier with german records if there is any.

  • Kate Wagner

    Bertill, without knowing the individual town in Rheinhessen from whence they came, my suggestion to you is to first get the date range of the period in which they resided there, then find the parishes that made up the area.  That will whittle down the possibilities and give you specific records to look at.  It's not that easy as many of the records are not in a database and I wouldn't suggest trusting anyone else's transcription of the records. Right now, I'm scouring all the handwritten records for Höchstenbach from 1720 - 1744 for a family name. 

  • Catherine Davis

    Sorry, Bertil, I'm not researching this family so I don't have any specific information beyond what I've searched since you posted your request.  But, Rheinhessen and Hannover are not close geographically, so if you're sure Christoffer came from Hannover, it would make more sense to start there if you're going to go through individual church records via microfilm at an LDS family history center.  Rheinhessen, however, is closer to Alsace-Lorraine than is Hannover.  It looks like this family was in Champaign, Illinois?  Have you checked local history books for that area to see if Christoff or one of his children might have had a biographical sketch which might give more info as the birthplace.

  • Bertil Svensson

    Thanks Catherine and Kate for your help. I will try to reach the sources!!

  • Carol A. Johnson

    My grandfather, Carl Heinrich POKALLUS b. 1858 in Gross Sauerken, EP Germany. 

    Gross Saurken
    Today's Name : Surzyk Wielkie
    County: Mohrunge
    Province: Ostpreussen (EP as noted)
    Today's Province: Olsztynskie
    Location: East 19°45'
    North 53°4'
    Description: This village/town is located 4.0 km and
    199 degrees from Simnau, which is known
    today as Szymonowo.

    This information was taken from Kartenmeister.

    Parents were Heinrich POKALLUS  and Carolina BRADLAU (no dates).  Would it be possible for anyone to give me direction on where to look for information about where Heinrich & Caroline were born/died/buried?  Related names are ZIMMERMANN, OSTIKE, BOTCHER, all from the same area.