One of my favorite genealogical finds is discovering early in my research the hometowns of my great-grandparents, Johan Anton Hork and Julia Ann Sievert.
What I
received was a photocopy of the two-page spread for the marriage of Anton and
Julia. Because this was a German catholic church, and Germans are such great
record keepers, I learned the birthplace and parents' names for both the groom
and the bride.[2]
Learning the names of German hometowns is the holy grail of German research. One cannot just jump over the pond knowing only Germany or even a name of a state like Bavaria or Westfalen. Germans don’t have country-wide census records like we do in the U.S. All records about individual Germans are only found at the local town level.[3]
Once I had
these names, it was necessary to try to discover where they were located. They
were hard to read. I was part of a list-serve for Westfalen, and I got some help
there. Anton’s parents’ hometown was Oberhundem in the Kreis (county) Olpe. I
am able to find the village on a map. Julia’s parents’ hometown was listed as Schneidemühl in Posen, Prussia. This was a little harder to find
because today, this is Piła in Poland.[4]
I am able to find the town on an older map.
With the knowledge of Anton’s hometown, I was able to view microfilmed church records and located his baptism, and then work my way back three generations of Horoch (how the name was spelled in Germany), Trösster, Döbener, Sommer, and Voss ancestors. Someday, I would like to visit Oberhundem and the neighboring towns of Kirchhundem and Altenhundem, where these families lived.
#52Ancestors-Week 2: Favorite Find
This is my fifth year working on this year-long prompt, hosted by Amy Johnson Crow (https://www.amyjohnsoncrow.com/) at Generations Cafe. I write each week in one of my two blogs, either Mam-ma’s Southern Family or at My Trails into the Past. I have enjoyed writing about my children’s ancestors in new and exciting ways.
[1] Will
County, Illinois, marriage certificates, no. 4931, Anton Hork to Julia Ann
Siewert, 6 Jun 1872, FHL film 2342810. This film is currently locked outside a
FHC, so I don’t have digital information of the exact image.
[2] Church
of St. John the Baptist, Joliet, Will Co., Illinois, marriage record copy,
1872, no. 9, Joh. Anton Hork & Julia Anna Siewert. The photo copy is from
the marriage register page but the page number does not show. Only entries 4-12
appear on the copy.
[3]
Church records are an excellent source for finding hometowns, especially if the
church was German-based. Many Catholic churches in the U.S. are not digitized
and one must contact them individually. However, many German Protestant churches
have been digitized by FamilySearch.
[4] “Piła,”
Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pi%C5%82a).
I went through a similar process finding my paternal grandfather's village. It was on my grandfather's baptismal certificate, but it was a small village and had been renamed. Staff at the FHL in Salt Lake solved the mystery for me.
ReplyDeleteIt certainly can be a challenge. There are many small villages with the same name across Germany but in different states or counties.
DeleteThat is truly a great find. Congrats!!!
ReplyDelete