My Trails into the Past

To my surprise, the will of Maria Agnes Vohringer was transcribed into the Jefferson County, Kentucky probate minute book in German, just as she had written it (or her attorney). [1] It is even written in old German handwriting. The witnesses were C.C. Godshaw, L.Koellner, and T.L. Bloch, who all must have spoken German. Oh, wow, I was going to need to write it out in modern letters first and then translate it. Luckily, on the opposite page was the English translation!  At the bottom of the translation was written “Jos. J. Schene states that he is acquainted with the German and English language and that the foregoing translation made by him from the German to the English language of the last will and testament of Maria Agnes Vohringer, deceased, is a true and correct translation of said will as he verily believes." Thank goodness for Mr. Schene. I’m sure the deputy clerk M.G. Stewart was thankful, too! #52Ancestors: Translation This is my sixth year working on this year-long ...

This is my third year working on this year-long prompt, hosted by Amy Johnson Crow. I will 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. I have many ancestors listed in my tree that go back pretty far that I could select one to be the oldest person in my tree. However, many of those “old” people were obtained not from my own research, but from trees in books or on websites. They have not been verified with my own research. Now to select someone that I have personally researched, I could select Matilda “Tillie” Wollenweber’s ancestors, whom I found in Pfalz and Württemburg. Matilda was born in Louisville, Jefferson County, Kentucky on 27 Aug 1859 to Ludwig Wilhelm “Louis” Wollenweber and Philappina Margaretha Voehringer. [1] Both of her parents were not native born, but married in the U.S. Louis and Philappina married on 5 September 1858 in Louisvill...

I am working on this year-long prompt, hosted by Amy Johnson Crow . I will write each week in one of my two blogs, either Mam-ma’s Southern Family or at My Trails Into the Past . I’m looking forward to writing about my children’s ancestors in new and exciting ways. The first child born to Johan Adam Voehringer and Maria Agnes Reiff was named Philippine Margaretha Voehringer. She was born 18 February 1832 in Unterhausen, Schwarzwald, Württemberg. She lived just over one year, dying on 14 April 1833. [1] Their second child was also named Philippine Margaretha, born 28 May 1834. [2] She was the 3rd great-grandmother of my children and the oldest child who lived to adulthood. She was confirmed when the family was living in Bronnweiler. She then left for America, arriving on the SS Gebhard in New York on 1 September 1857. [3] It is not clear she traveled alone or with other known people. A year later she married Ludwig Wilhelm Wollenweber on 5 September 1858 in Louisvil...

Last week I wrote about finding Philippena’s Voehringer family through some newspaper research I had done using the Louisville Courier-Journal on ProQuest.com site. You can read about it here .   In that story, I found a newspaper article where May Agnes Haebe, Philippena’s sister, filed in court contesting the will. [1] What was so nice about the article was that Mary listed all of her living brother and sisters by name in the suit: “ her sisters, Mrs. Barbra Kilgus, Mrs. Rosina Noelling, Mrs. Philipine Woolenweaver, and her brother, Jacob Vohringer. ” Mary Agnes Haebe felt that her mother could not have written the will.   I had written that I should next search for Mary Agnes Voehinger’s will and saw that FamilySearch has Kentucky Probate records online. They are not indexed but are browsable. Luckily they are listed by county. In Jefferson County, there are only will records from 1784 to 1901. Since her will would have been filed sometime after her death in Dec 1898, ...

It all started with a newspaper article in the Courier-Journal , a newspaper in Louisville, Kentucky. I was searching this newspaper in the ProQuest.com newspaper site that the attendees at IGHR at Samford University had access to.  There was a newspaper in Louisville, Kentucky and I had Wollenweber ancestors in Louisville. So in my search I found an article about real estate transactions. Philippine Wollenweber, a widow, was selling her interest in the estate of Fred Vohringer to Rosina Noking. [1] Well, light bulbs went off in my head! Voehringer was Philippine’s maiden name. I knew this from her marriage record to Ludwig W. Wollenweber. [2] Selling an interest in an estate meant she had some connection to this Fred. Vohringer. And could Voehringer and Vohringer be the same name? The complete transaction as printed in the newspaper went like this:   “Philippine Wollenweber, widow, to Rosina Noking, interest in estate of Fred. Vohringer, deceased, and being one-half...

Our genealogy society had a meeting this month at the Concord Family History Center.  Actually, we call it a workshop, so members can use the computers, books, and microfilms after the center has closed.  I let other members have access to the computers and checked out the binder listing all of the microfilm records the center had available.  The films were listed by locality and I saw many films of Louisville, Kentucky and got excited. I'm looking for Louis W Wollenweber, my husband's gg-grandfather, who was from Germany.  He married Phillapena Voehringer, also from Germany, in 1858.  We had the date based on a transcript of a family bible.  Now I have the record as recorded in the marriage register: Louisville, Kentucky Marriage Register, Sep 1858, p 98 (left side of register) This side of the page reads:       Sep 3, Louis W. Wollenwebber & Phillippena Voehringer, Augustus Bargas  Augustus Bargas is the person who marri...