Wimmers Family Line

Wimmers Family Line

I met a fellow genealogist online yesterday by the name of Emily who was researching the Wimmers for her husband. I ended up late for bed and a little worried about my research of this branch.

She has a nice website with her sources on it.

Emily believes her husband is a descendant of Johann Wimmers through Gottfried Wimmers. However a different Johann than the one I have in my tree. Meaning she believes there are two Johann Wimmers. Actually in my tree our two Johanns are merged into one. Since I was not looking for a second Johann, and I have not completed my research of the Wimmers line, I cannot claim she is wrong. She has obviously spent some time on this and it is well researched. Therefore I am making plans to go back to Jüchen and see the records again.

Some of the things I will be looking for:

1. A Johann Wimmers born in 1837.
2. Johann Wimmers (Gottfried's father) mortality record.
3. Sibille Catharine Cremer's mortality record. Gottfried's marriage record (1833) states she had already passed.
4. Anna Maria Müller (Gottfried's mother-in-law) mortality record. The marriage record states she has also passed.
5. The marriage record of Marie Agnes Wimmers (Gottfried's sister) and Johann Wilhelm Eschweiler (m. 1835).
6. The birth record of at least one child:  Gertrud Eschweiler (b. 1839)

Witnesses from Gottfried's marriage record:

1. Jordan Wimmers (b. 1807) is listed as a brother.
2. Bernhard Hamacher (b. 1782) is listed as an uncle. Unfortunately in the Garzweiler records, he is listed as "an uncle of the married couple", meaning I do not know if it is Gottfried's or Maria's uncle.
3. Also a Bernhard Müller (b. 1767) is listed as an uncle. I am always amazed how differently they spell the same names sometimes. The Bernhard for Hamacher and Müller look like two different people wrote it.

The last witness is just a neighbor.

I also want to research Theodor Wimmers line and see if I can connect him to Gottfried.

I have put in a vacation day for October 15th. With the American holiday on the 14th, this will give me two days to research the records. I will also contact Keyenberg beforehand and see if I cannot convince them to let me look at the records myself. Last time they claimed the records are too fragile. If not, I will have to let them do what they can.

Findagrave.com

 

All right, sometimes I can be really DUMB! For years I have been looking at this site and not understanding how it works! I always thought local individuals there on the ground would add in the different memorials of individuals at that cemetery and once they were listed, you could request a photo.

The idea that ANYONE can create a memorial if they know where an individual was buried never occurred to me. After listening to a podcast about the site, I immediately created a memorial for Samuel & Jennie (Rosenthal) Hart and had a picture of their tombstone within three days! That just saved me a trip to Boston!

I have begun to create a few more memorials, plus I have been requesting others transfer some of my family members over to me.

Study! Study! Study!

Now that summer is about over and vacation is done, I told myself I was going to start studying for my accreditation. Though I did not get to it last night while conferring with Emily.

I am currently reading Becoming an Accredited Genealogist: Plus 100 Tips to Ensure Your Success, Revised Edition.

Dörrmoschel Book

 

Birth Records

So all of the profiles have been created on the Werelate.com site. Here are the links:  August Britzius, Philippina Burkart, Johannes Degen, Johann Theodor Drescher, Maria Luise Mathilde Drescher, Jakob Ehresmann, Elisabetha Fechter, Isaac Frank, Johanna Frank, Ludwig Frank, Maximilian Frank, Moses Frank, Rosina Frank, Elisabetha Franzreb, Friedrich Franzreb, Carl Gauch, Adolf Geib, Elisabetha Gress, Elisabetha Hager, Jacob Herr, Ludwig Herr, August Herrgen, Jacob Killian, Elisabetha Koch, Jacob Koch, Karolina Koch, Elisabetha Maue, Charlotta Mehrhof, Katharina Mehrhof, Ludwig Mehrhof, Otto Mehrhof, Otto Mehrhof, Philippina Mehrhof, Carolina Neu, Jacob Neu, Philipp Neu, Adolf Rahm, Wilhelmina Rahm, Carl Rembe, Christian Risswig, Friederica Risswig, Helena Risswig, Elisabetha Römer, Katharina Römer, Peter Römer, Philipp Römer, Magdalena Scheu, Philippina Scheu, Ludwig Schmidt, Gustav Schneider, Friedrich Schultheis, Heinrich Teuscher & Wilhelm Teuscher

Mortality Records:

I have also finished compiling the mortality records and I have added in some of those individuals to the site:  Jacob Böhmer, Peter Degen, Katharina Louisa Drumm, Child Geib, Julius Honig, Anna Elisabetha Koch, Herrmann Neumann, Peternella Wagner

Marriage Records:

 

I still have a couple pesky marriage records that I am translating. One of them from 1870 is extremely complex and I am taking it in very small blocks. The other one I am having trouble reading some of the information in the margin, so I am going to have to head back to the records and take a close-up of the text.

Well that is it for now. Happy hunting!

 

Samuel Hart's Civil War Record

I think most people who work on genealogy end up connecting to someone in their tree and seem to focus on those individuals. For my uncle, it was Thomas Frere (1820-1900). My uncle spent countless hours researching him, collecting and buying items that had belonged to Thomas and as I mentioned wrote a book about Thomas and chess.

After I started really working on my tree, my focus turned out to be Samuel Hart (1835-1918), my g-g-grandfather.  He came to the US from England before 1862 and served in the Civil War (See bio at the end of this post).

It took me awhile to find him, but once I did I became interested in everything he had accomplished.  He could not have been in the US very long when he got caught up in the Civil War. He was a part of the Minnesota A Co. 6th Regiment. I have not done enough research on this. I do have a copy of his discharge papers, which listed the battles his was in. I researched those a little on Wikipedia. I was attempting to get some clue as to where he met my g-g-grandmother Jennie Rosenthal. The story being was he met her sometime during the war.

I had decided I would apply for his war record later this year. Then while I was on vacation I heard a podcast from NPR. The title of the podcast was Little War on the Prairie. The link is to a transcript of the podcast. If you want the actual podcast, I think they want a dollar.

After hearing the podcast, I was a little disheartened. In a nutshell, it put a dark spot on Samuel's war record. The podcast seemed to focus on the negative things the "white man" did, while dismissing the deeds of the Indians. After going over Samuel's discharge papers, I was happy to see he had joined the military just days before the Indian uprising. The said uprising was pretty spontaneous, so it is safe to assume he did not join because of that.

I have done a little studying of history in my time simply because it interests me. A big mistake I have found is when history is looked with the current perspectives on life. You will get much better idea of what happened if you learn if from somebody who lived it. So I did a little researching on Google and was very happy to find some books written on the Sixth Regiment. In the book Minnesota in the Civil and Indian Wars 1861-1865, on page 308 I found this;



 

 

As I mentioned my g-g-grandfather was SAMUEL Hart. However a quick look up confirmed that there was no William Hart anywhere in the Sixth Regiment. So it was pretty safe to assume this was my ancestor.

 

After skimming over some of these books, I have a better feeling about Samuel. Yes, maybe the Indians did have reason to be upset. However they did attack and it was not a small band making trouble for the rest of the Indians. Hundreds or thousands of settles were on the run from them. The atrocities the Indians committed are well documented and reading about the battles between them and the 6th Regiment, I have no doubt that both sides felt they were fighting to protect themselves.

 

Werelate.org

 

You may have noticed the links for individuals above pointing you to Werelate.org. I have my family tree on a number of different websites, including Ancestry.com, Familysearch.org and Geni.com. These are all great and help me find others researching my family.

 

Werelate is actually Genealogy Wiki, meaning that I can add individuals singularly without connecting them into a tree and they do not have to be individuals in my family. Plus anyone reading this blog will be able to access the profiles I have created, check out the info I have added and update them for free!

 

With that said, I have started adding in some of the individuals from the upcoming book.  From now on, I will list the individuals as I put them on the site.

 

Jacob Böhmer
Friedrich Balder
Friederica Julia Balder
Katharina Böhmer
Philippina Böhmer
Elisabetha Braun
Anna Maria Bayer
Otto Bayer
Friedrich Braun
Jakob Braun

 

Bio of Samuel Hart (1835-1918)

 

Samuel Hart was born 16 Sep 1835 in Middlesex, England. He can be found with his family in the 1841 & 1851 England Censuses. He was the son of Henry Hart and Rosa (Cardoza) Hart. In the 1851 census, he is listed as being a cigar maker at age 13.

No definite record has been found for his immigration to the US.

The next record of Samuel that we have is his discharge from the Minnesota, Union Army during the Civil War (Supplied by Stephen Hart). According to the discharge, Samuel enrolled in August 1862 as a private in Co. "A" 6th., Regiment Minnesota Volunteer Infantry and was discharged in August 1865. The battles that he participated in are also listed there.

The family story [as told by Lillian (Hanley) Sutterlin] is that Samuel met Jennie Rosenthal while he was bivouacked at her father's farm during the war. After the war, he went back and married her.

Samuel is then found in the 1870 US Federal Census in Bellefontaine Ward 3, Logan, Ohio. He is married to Jennie and has his new child Henry Arthur Hart. Here he is also listed as a cigar maker, as are a number of other individuals on the record.

In 1880, the Hart family is living in NYC, New York. They are living on 18 East 30th Street.

The Harts may have traveled to Canada. Whether to live there or just to visit his two brothers is unknown. There is Civil War Pension request filed from Canada in 1887. The request is from a Samuel & Jennie Hart and correctly lists his Civil War unit.

In the 1900 census, the family is living in Boston, MA. Samuel is still listed as cigar maker. Henry Hart has started a family; his wife and daughter are living with Samuel. Dora has also been married, but seems to be separated or divorced. The family is living at 454 Silver Street.

By the 1910, most of the family is gone. It is only Samuel, Jennie and their youngest daughter Catherine living together. They live at 16 Woodcliff St., Boston MA. This is less than three miles from their 1900 address.

Samuel passes away in Sep 1918 from a post operation infection for heart disease. Jennie passes away less than three months later, also from heart problems. According to their death certificates, they are both buried at Roxbury Mutual Cemetery.

Birth Records 1870 - 1875

So I am compiling the mortality records last night when I realize that I could actually post the birth record names because they are complete. Actually I have over half the book complete. I just have a few more wedding records, then compiling, formatting and writing an intro, index and such.

So here are the names of the individuals born in Dörrmoschel, Germany from 1870 thru 1875.  Their entire records are translated and will be in the book.  These records include their parent’s names, ages, places they were born, witnesses and more.

Friederica Julia Balder
Friedrich Balder
Anna Maria Bayer
Otto Bayer
Jacob Böhmer
Katharina Böhmer
Philippina Böhmer
Elisabetha Braun
Friedrich Braun
Jakob Braun
August Britzius
Philippina Burkart
Johannes Degen
Johann Theodor Drescher
Maria Luise Mathilde Drescher
Jakob Ehresmann
Elisabetha Fechter
Isaac Frank
Johanna Frank
Ludwig Frank
Maximilian Frank
Moses Frank
Rosina Frank
Elisabetha Franzreb
Friedrich Franzreb
Carl Gauch
AdolfGeib
Elisabetha Gress
Elisabetha Hager
Jacob Herr
Ludwig Herr
August Herrgen
Jacob Killian
Elisabetha Koch
Jacob Koch
Karolina Koch
Elisabetha Maue
Charlotta Mehrhof
Katharina Mehrhof
Ludwig Mehrhof
Otto Mehrhof
Philippina Mehrhof
Carolina Neu
Jacob Neu
Philipp Neu
Adolf Rahm
Wilhelmina Rahm
Carl Rembe
Christian Risswig
Friederica Risswig
Helena Risswig
Elisabetha Römer
Katharina Römer
Peter Römer
Philipp Römer
Magdalena Scheu
Philippina Scheu
Ludwig Schmidt
Gustav Schneider
Friedrich Schultheis
Heinrich Teuscher
Wilhelm Teuscher

Maria & Sophia Hart & Abigail Cardoza

I was picking around at Ancestry.com yesterday and I came across the New York Passenger lists with some of my family listed. This confirmed that the Hart women did not all come over together. Maria, Sophia and their aunt Abigail come over separate from the Rose and Julia. The ladies arrived October 16, 1866 on the William Penn. I added the document to my Geni.com tree.

Dörrmoschel Book

As I have been translating the documents from Rockenhausen, I was putting the information into a family tree. When the parents or other individuals are listed, they only give their approximate age. Since I am only translating the 1870’s right now, in order to get the other individuals correct dates, I kept searching through the older records.

In order to speed up the process, I decided to label all the records for the whole town. Now when "John Doe age sixty-six" is mentioned, I can just search the documents to see if I have his records also.  It has taken me longer than I thought to label them, but this should save me time in the long run. I am also doing Bisterschied immediately as many people in the Dörrmoschel books are actually from Bisterschied.

Ups and Downs

As I was finishing up the labeling all the birth records, I was surprised to find the very first “written-out” birth record for Dörrmoschel was for a set of twins on one record. It is the only such "double record" I have found so far.  Barbara & Catherine Siegel were born in December 31, 1817 and records began in 1818. Unfortunately when labeling the mortality records I found they both passed away not too long afterward.

It amazes me sometimes how even though this happened so long ago that I can be saddened by some of the hardships the families had.

Unpleasant News

Unpleasant News

As I keep adding in profiles on the Geni.com site, I send invites to anyone whose email address I have.  I had contact with a gentleman named Fred from my Oldenburg side of the family.  When I uploaded his profile on Geni, I sent the invite and not long afterward I got a message that he had joined the tree. I was glad about that, because Fred had really seemed interested in the family tree.  I was hopeful he could update a lot of the profiles.

When I woke up today, I had an email from his account, except it was his wife writing letting me know he had passed away last October.  I have not spoken to Fred in a long while. 

Sometimes I feel bad because I am unable to keep in contact with everyone.  There is just not enough time in the day.

Dörrmoschel Book

I wonder about the people who immigrated to America sometimes.  What must that have been like?  Think about it, your family had lived in the same area for generations. Then you suddenly pack up and travel to a whole new world.

The general view is the trip was hard, but worth it.  How was it for the ones that were left behind?

In the marriage record that I transcribed yesterday, the groom had to explain about his parents. They had left for America twenty-two years before and nobody had heard from them since. I wonder if he ever found them.

Family Frère & Rosetta Hart

Adding In the Family Frère

I have been building my family tree on Geni.com since August.  I did this so that I could have family members update their own information.  My entire family tree is rather large, so I have been doing it by adding in one of my Pedigree line at a time, then adding in all their descendants.

Yesterday I added in Thomas Frère's line.  I had forgotten how many descendants he had until last night.  It took me hours.

It was just coincidence that my uncle wrote me the other day letting me know his book about Thomas is going to be released in paperback soon. 

You can click here to go to see the hardbound book on Amazon.

Rosetta Hart & Family Found!

This is one of the backdated finds that I mentioned I was going to post about.

I have researched the Hart family starting 1800 with Henry Hart (my g-g-g-grandfather). His wife was Rosetta Cardoza. Henry disappears after the 1851 English census.  Then the rest of the family disappears in after the 1861 English census.  For years I was trying to find what happened to Rosetta, her sister Abigail and the Hart daughters.  I had assumed Rosetta had passed away and the daughters had been married off.

Mid-December 2012, I suddenly got an idea.  How did I know the family stayed in England?  To make a long story short, I did a search in the US and found Rosetta, her sister and all three daughters living in New York City.

The killer was (and this is something everyone should remember), is she was living in the same building as Samuel Hart's family (my g-g-grandfather) in 1880.  I have had Samuel in the 1880 US census for years, I just never thought about looking on the next page where the rest of the family was.

I know to check the neighbors.  However this record I have had since I first started working on the family.  Plus Samuel Hart's family moved around a lot.  I never thought they would move right next door to his mother.

Lesson:  After you have been researching for awhile, your skills increase.  It pays to go back and look at old records.

Dörrmoschel Book

My wife and I finished up a transcription today for the marriage of Joseph Frank and Karolina Abraham. I normally transcribe the record in German first.  My wife (who is German) proofs it to see if she can correct any mistakes or help with anything that I cannot make out.  Then I translate the record into English.

Starting To Get It Down

About The Blog

I wanted to start putting my ideas down so that family could follow and I could get my thoughts straight.  I have been working on my family tree for a few years now.  Ideas have come and gone and I have come to conclusions and breakthroughs without putting most of it down.

I will be backing up a little and putting down a few things from the past.  These are things that I think are important.  Some of them I have shared with family members, but as I get into contact with new relatives, I want them to be able to follow what I have done.

I do not intend this to be a blow-blow log of what I am doing on my family tree, but I will add things that I feel are interesting and log important finds.

Other Projects

I am also working on creating source references for German researchers.  I plan on translating birth, death and marriage records from different towns and hope to start a series of books with these records.

While doing my own family research, I paid $50 just to have five records translated.  That was the cheapest I could find.  Once I got the translations back, I felt that I could have done a better job.  I began researching old German script and came upon the idea that I could translate many records cheaper than it cost me for just five records.

I have so far finished about 85% of the city of Dörrmoschel from 1870-1875 and hope to self publish the book soon.  I will be working mostly in the Pfalz area of Germany for now, but eventually I would like to do many different area of Germany.  Probably focusing on areas that were known for having large amounts of emigrates.

Wrap-Up

I hope that some individuals can find some interesting stuff here, though I will just be happy to have a way to keep the information and ideas straight.

Thanks for reading!

Paul