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  • Every Photo Deserves A Home Henry Forsyth 1866-1944

    I am trying to return these two photos to family. They are of Henry Forsyth wo was born and lived in Santa Rosa, California. I found them in the Antique Trove in Roseville, California. The names were written on the back of the images.

    Henry was a lifelong Santa Rosa resident. In the 1870 Federal Census he was four years old and lived together with father, Bryan, and his mother, Margareth.

    In the 1880 Federal Census he was 14 years old, going to school and lived together with his parents and his younger sister Margarethe.

    In the 1900 Federal Census Henry, a dry goods merchant, was 34 years old, lived on 521 Mendocino Street in Santa Rosa with his wife Mary who was 33 year old and his children Mervyn 8, Elonis 6 and Margareth 2 years old. According to the cenus the couple married in 1890.

    The Sonoma County marriage are indexed from 1889-1999 at Ancestry.com. His wife’s name was Mary Reid.

    In the 1910 Federal Census Henry is 44, his wife is 43, his son Henry is 18, his daughter Elois is 16 and his yougest child Margret is 12 years old.

    In the 1920 Federal Census Henry is 54 and his 53 years old. The youngest daughter Margaret who was 22 years old, was still living at home.

    In the 1930 Federal Census Henry is 64 and wife is 63 years old. They lived on 4th Stree in Santa Rosa.

    In the 1940 Federal Census Henry is 74, his wife is 73 and his granddaughter Betty who lived with them was 25 years old.

    This was the last census for Henry. He died four years later in 1944.

    I found his obituary in the Press Democrat, a Santa Rosa newspaper.

    We know that Henry had three children, one son and two daughters. His son was not mentioned in the obituary.

    His son Mervyn was born in 1892 and unfortunately died 1927 in Santa Rosa of an ruptured appendix. At the time of his death he was married and had two children, Elisabeth born circa 1916 and Henry Mervyn born about 1918.

    Elisabeth married Stanley Smith Belcher in May of 1943 in Santa Rosa.

    The couple went to live and work in San Francisco. According to her husband’s obituary in 1976 they had one daughter, Emily Dennis living in Arizona at the time.

    Elisabeth’s brother, Henry Mervyn, was born 1917 in Santa Rosa. He was not married when he filled out his WW2 draft card in 1945.

    I did find a small obituary for him in Mississippi in 1993.

    Another suprising find was that he had the same birthday as his grandfather Henry Forsyth. An article I found from 1938.

    The second oldest child of Henry Forsyth was Mary Eloise who was born 1893 in Santa Rosa. She married Harvey Berglund in 1915. Her husband’s obituary from 1972 stated they had one son and no grandchildren. Harvey Berglund Jr. who had already passed away.

    The son Harvey Berglund Jr. was born 1916 in Santa Rosa, got married 1955 in Seattle, Washington and died 1956 in Nebraska.

    The youngest child of Henry Forsyth was Margareth who was born in 1897 in Santa Rosa and died 1985 in Santa Clara, California. She was first married to Dwight Slocum in 1922. Dwight died in 1936. They had two children William and Margaret.

    Margareth Forsyth Slocum married her second husband, George Halsey Grant, 1938 in Alameda, California.

    I don’t think that Margaret and George had children. There were non listed in the 1950 Federal Census. She married one more time in 1966 to Salem Pohlman in San Francisco.

    I am pretty confident that I will find descendants of Henry Forsyth, so I can return these pictures to family members. I added his name on Wikitree. You can see his profile here.

    I have been lucky before and had the honor of returning photos. If you like to check them out, please click on the names.

    Charles Kays And Almina Whitworth, Minnie and Rose Middlebrook, Clara, Edith and Alice Hagerty.

    Have you ever found old photos and tried to return them to their family? Please leave comment.

  • Erna Beyersdörfer Direct Maternal Ancestors

    Erna was my husband’s maternal Grandmother. She was born 26 October 1909 in Friesenheim, now part of Ludwigshafen am Rhein.

    Erna had several siblings, Ernestine, Karl, Adam, Oskar and Emil. Adam was killed during WW2. She married her husband, Werner Päbst, 1936 in Ludwigshafen. Erna died in 2004.

    Erna’s Mother was Margarete Senk who was born 9 October 1883 in Oggersheim which now also is part of Ludwigshafen.

    Margarete married the mason, Karl Beiersdörfer, 1908 in Ludwigshafen.

    Margarethe died 1951 in Ludwigshafen. Here is her obituary.

    Margarete was 69 years old and she was burried at the Mundenheim Cemetery.

    Margarete’s Mother was Margarete Weinacht who was born 1851 in Ruchheim, now also a part of Ludwigshafen.

    Margarete Weinacht married Christoph Jacob Senck 1879 in Ruchheim. They had five children. Margarete died 1910 in Oggersheim.

    Margarete’s Mother was Anna Margarethe Steiger who was born 1817 also in Ruchheim. She married Christoph Weinacht in 1841 and she died in 1895.

    Ann Margarethe’s Mother was Margarete Schnäbel who was born 1776 in  Erpolzheim.

    She married Jakob Steiger 1816 and died 1844 in Ruchheim.

    This is the end of my husband’s direct maternal line for now. Hopefully in the future I will be able to go back a couple of generations.

    As always I will include a map.

  • Grandma Becker’s Maternal Ancestors

    Recently I was cleaning up some old papers and found a picture of my paternal Grandmother, Maria Johanna Becker, born 12 July 1885 in Hamminkeln, near Wesel.

    Grandma is looking at old photos. The picture was probably taken in the 1960’s at one of my uncle’s or aunt’s apartment. In Germany you have something called “Gemütlichkeit” roughly translated to coziness. The couch and the table would have been the center of the apartment for all birthdays and other festivities.

    I have written about my Grandma or Oma before including her paternal Becker line. Now lets try to look at her maternal ancestors. Her Mom was Gertruda Johanna Görtzen born 1861 in Hamminkeln. Johanna married Johann Heinrich Becker 1884 in Wesel in the St. Martini Catholic Church. I circled her baptism entry.

    Her parents were Mathias Görtz and Maria Spelleken. Mathias, a catholic was born and baptized in Krefeld in 1820. He married Maria 1848 in the Evangelical Church in Götterswickerhamm. I have both their death certificates. Mathias died in 1900 in Wesel.

    and Maria died many years before him, 1876 also in Wesel.

    Mathias had to sign the death certificate. He made three crosses, this is how I found out that he couldn’t read or write.

    Mathia’s parents were Johann Wilhelm Görtz and Ann Gertraud Schippers. I have no dates for Wilhelm. Anna was born 1791 in Krefeld. I found her baptism entry.

    Her parents were Joannes Schippers and Catharina Krinen. Familsearch had a marriage for Joannes and Catharina.

    NameJoannes Schiepers
    GenderMale
    Marriage Date07 Mai 1786 (7 May 1786)
    Marriage PlaceKatholisch, Krefeld, Rheinland, Prussia
    FatherMichaelis Schiepers
    MotherAgnetis Overlaack
    SpouseCatharina Krinen
    FHL Film Number174466

    Schippers is now Schiepers, but this might be a spelling mistake. I have yet to find the original church book entry. This record gives his parents as Michael Schiepers and Agnetis Overlaak. Catharina Krinen’s parents were Christian Krinen and Helena Liskes.

    NameCatharina Krinen
    GenderFemale
    Marriage Date07 Mai 1786 (7 May 1786)
    Marriage PlaceKatholisch, Krefeld, Rheinland, Prussia
    FatherChristiani Krinen
    MotherHelenae Liskes
    SpouseJoannes Schiepers
    FHL Film Number174466

    This is the end of the line for them. I have no further information on their parents’s birth, death and marriage info.

    Maria Spelleken’s parents were Jan Derck Spelleken and Jenneken Heiken. Jan is a short form for Johannes and Derck is the same as Dirk. They are a form of low German and or Dutch. Jan Derck Spelleken was baptized 1783 in the Envangelical Church Götterswickerhamm. He married Jenneken Heiken in 1805.

    Jan Derck died in 1867. Derck is the same as Diedrich. That name was used in the death entry. I keep talking about those important side notes on German documents. There are two. One shows when he was baptized and the other one when he got married. I circled them in the lower right corner.

    Jan Derck father’s name was also Jan Derck and his mother was Maria Catharina Blennemann. The father was baptized in 1747 and died in 1795. His parents were Jan Albert Scheper also know as Spelleken and Jenneken. The last name for his mother is unknown. Catharina Blennemann’s parents were Jan Derck Blennemann and Anna Sibilla Vollmer. Jan Derck Spelleken and Catharina Blennemann married 1772.

    The Blennemann family supposedly came from Uemmingen, which is part of the city of Bochum.

    The maternal line for my Grandma has ended for now. My Oma’s Spelleken ancestors have lot of descendants as far away as Australia and Texas. I will write about them another day.

    Here is a map of where my Oma lived and where her maternal ancestors were from. She was born in Hamminkeln, lived in Wesel and Düsseldorf and she died in Willich. Her maternal ancestors were from Wesel, Götterswickerhamm, Bochum and Krefeld (the red dot on the map).

    Where are your Grandma’s maternal ancestors from?

  • Theodor Krings 1850-1909

    Theodor Krings, a beer brewer, was the son of the shoemaker, Andreas Daniel Krings and his wife Maria Agnes Götzen. He was born 19 May 1850 and married Anna Elisabeth Hoeche 10 April 1874 in Düsseldorf. Their marriage was announced in the newspaper.

    From this one line I found out that he was a “Bierbrauer” beer brewer. Theodor was also in the 1878 Düsseldorf directory. He lived on the Hohe Street 41.

    Census records in Germany are rare but they do exist. Theodor together with his parents and siblings were in the Düsseldorf census taken between 1854-1860. He is the once circled in the photo.

    Krings, Theodor, Son living in Pempelfort (part of Düsseldorf), born 19 March 1851. The census taker got the birth year wrong by one year. I do have Theodor’s birth certificate which is clearly from 1850. I circled the 50.

    Theodor was only 59 years old when he died in 1909.

    He did have an important job as beer brewer. Düsseldorf is still known as having the largest “Biertheke” beer counter in the world, meaning that die Altstadt (Old Town) to this date has over 250 restaurants, bars and hotels and they all offer different beers. I am so happy to know that my great granduncle, Theodor, was part of this.

    Theodor and Anna had five children together that I know of. I only have the birthdate for the first one, Heinrich Hubert Josef, who was born in 1876. The youngest sibling, Wilhelm, born in 1886, died in infancy.

    The second youngest, Anna Wilhelmina Maria, was born in 1882 in Düsseldorf and died 1937 in Endhoven, Netherlands. She married Peter Paul Overkamp and they had three children also all born in Düsseldorf. The first born Peter Paul born in 1906 and died in 2007 in Uden, Netherlands. He was married to Franziska Wilhelmine Hermsen from Kevelaer, Germany.

    Peter Paul’s brother, Heinrich was born in1908 and died 1984 in Durham, North Carolina. Heinrich (Henry) married Theresia Elisabeth Hermann born 1907 in Bochum, Germany, in 1931 in Eindhoven, Netherlands. She died in 2000 in North Carolina. They had four children. Two of them died in infancy in the Netherlands. Henry and Theresa eventually moved with their two surviving children to North Carolina, most likely after WW2 when so many families in Europe had been displaced.

    The third child of Theodor and Anna, was Theodor Karl Hubert Joseph Krings. He was born in 1883 in Düsseldorf. I found Theodor in the Bavaria, Germany, World War I Personnel Rosters, 1914-1918.

    From left to right it gives me the following information. His name, his birth date and town, his profession as a glazier in Vienna, Austria, his wife’s name Maria Smrz and that they had one child, and the last column had his parents names. A cross indicated that they were dead.

    In the Vienna, Austria catholic church registers I found a son, Erich Theodor Johann born in 1915, however sadly he died a year later. It’s interesting what you can find in original records.

    The baptism entry for the son gave me also both of the parents’ names and their birth towns and even the churches where they were baptized in. So I found out that Theodor’s wife was born in 1891 in and that they married in 1912 in Vienna.

    In the wedding register it was noted that Theodor died in 1943 in Vienna. I don’t know when his wife died or if they had other children.

    The fourth child of Theodor Krings and Elisabeth Hoeche was Elisabeth Hermine Maria Krings who was born circa 1885 in Düsseldorf. She was married to Johannes Theodorus Hubertus Eekhoudt from Nijmengen in the Netherlands. They had a son named Gerhard Kornelius Johann who was born in 1907 in Düsseldorf and died in 1945 in Avereest, Netherland. His Mother, Elisabeth Hoeche, had sadly died in Düsseldorf when he was only two years old in 1909. Gerhard married Reina Kampinga in 1931 in Amsterdam. Reina was born in Gronigen, Netherlands. They had one son, Johannes Gehardus Diederik who was born 1932 in Amsterdam. He immigrated to Canada in 1960. I found him on a ship’s manifest.

    I also found Johannes (John) and may be his wife Trudy and his son Gary in the Canadas Voters List in Winnipeg in 1972.

    John died in 1978 in Winnipeg. According to one family tree on ancestry, he had six children.

    My great great uncle Theodor Krings and his wife Anna Hoeche have descendants in five different countries, Germany, Netherlands, Austria, USA and Canada. I wonder if these families know of each other. Most Germany couples I have in my tree have children and grandchildren, however they stay close by. For me it’s always fascinating to see where everyone ends up.

    Do you have a similar story? Please leave a comment below!

  • What The Census Suggests

    Adolph Scholz was my husband’s Great Grandfather. He appeared in the 1900, 1910, 1920 and 1930 census. His birth country was always given as Austria. Adolph is always in the top row.

    1900 Census

    1910 Census

    1920 Census

    1930 Census

    I have even have Adolph’s arrival record in New York. It also said Austria. He had travelled with his friend Hermann Klinke.

    His death certificate also said that he was born in Austria

    You would think by now that he was born in that country. I believed it for a very long time, until one day it occurred to me that he was born in Schlesien (Silesia) which has nothing to do with Austria at all. We always knew his birth town, which was Schönwiese Kreis Leobschütz.

    There are lots of villages called Schönwiese in Germany as well as Austria, may be even Switzerland. Europe was always unstable, many wars with lots of border changes, so I thought, may be Schönwiese was in Germany and then became part of Austria or the other way around. The answer has always been no.

    Schönwiese is in the famous Meyers Gazetteer which tried to list every town and village in the German Empire (1871-1918). Meyers Gazetteer was published in 1912. The link for Schönwiese is here. There are twenty different Schönwiese listed in the Gazetteer.

    I also have a copy of a postcard from Schönwiese which should have given me a clue a long time ago.

    The description says Schönwiese Kreis Leobschütz, Oberschlesien which stands for Upper Silesia. Upper Silesia used to be in Germany.

    Adolph’s wife came from the town of Hof in Moravia, Austria. The census was always correct.

    Let’s look at a current map of where Schönwiese, which is now called Krasne Pole, is located.

    Krasne Pole on the right located in Poland, which back in the day was Prussia, and on the left side is Cesko or Czech Republic which used to be Austria. Schönwiese was literally just a couple of miles away from the Austrian border.

    Adolph’s future wife Rosina Mücke grew up only about a 45 minute drive from him in Hof, Moravia, Austria now called Dvorce u Bruntalv.

    My husband and I are planning on visiting both villages eventually.

    So what is the moral of the story. Don’t trust census records? Not really! Instead gather all your facts and locations you have for an ancestor. Try to figure out where they came from. Geography is a very important part and history as well. The problem can be a language barrier, however these days google and other translators can help with that.

    The only question I have, why did Adolph lie? May be he was afraid that the German Empire would come after him, so he decided to just say that he was from Austria.

    Adolph’s naturalization and passport application are not online. Those can be very helpful in researching the birth locations. He went back to Europe to visit his family in Schönwiese in 1910.

    Adolph with his Mother, Franziska, and some of his siblings.

    Do you trust the census? Have you found a discrepancy in your research?

    Please leave a comment below!

  • Favorite Picture

    I have lots of favorite picture. Here is one of them taken by me in 1974.

    The picture is of my Grandmother Maria, her son Karl, sitting next to her, who was my Dad and her oldest son Willi who was my uncle. I took it on my Dad’s 50th birthday in our apartment in Düsseldorf, where I grew up. I guess back in 1974 no one smiled for the camera. Everyone already had their beer and Schnaps. Coffee and cake would have been in the afternoon.

    In Germany when you have a birthday, you invite your family. You serve coffee and homemade cakes around three o’clock. In the evening you serve a cold dinner like homemade potato and pasta salads and cold cuts together with beer, whine and juice for the little ones. The birthday person will receive small gifts and/or flowers from the guests.

    Back to the picture, starting with my Dad. His name was Karl Franz Wilhelm Krings. He was born 25 January 1924 in Düsseldorf, married my Mom there in 1946 and died 21 May 2006 in Bad-Neuenahr where he had lived after his retirement as flower whole saler. He came to visit me here in the United States four times and loved every moment.

    My uncle’s name was Wilhelm Joseph Hubert Krings. He was the oldest of his siblings and he was born 30 October 1907 in Düsseldorf. He married his wife, Ellie, in 1945 in Garmisch-Partenkirchen and died there 13 June 1981. Uncle Willi had moved to Garmisch early on because of his severe asthma. I remember him always wheezing when we would go for walks. He was a funny and happy guy. He drove an American car and he was so proud of that. No one else in the family had one. When he would visit Düsseldorf, he always requested that my Mom would make him this special lima bean dish. He couldn’t get in Garmisch. One year when he drove down to come to my first communion, he entered the Autobahn (freeway) the wrong way. He had with him my maternal aunt and my two cousins whom he had picked up in Munich. They were very lucky that nothing happened. The police did impound his car and my Dad had to go rescue them.

    My Grandma’s name was Maria Johanna Becker. She was born 12 July 1885 in Hamminkeln, near Wesel. She married my Grandfather, Wilhelm Krings in 1907 in Wesel and died in 1975 in Willich, near Viersen not far from Düsseldorf. She had her first child, uncle Willi in 1907 and the last one, uncle Richard in 1929, eight children altogether. During WW1, her husband and my Grandfather fought in France and Russia and survived and came back. In 1943 in WW2 she lost one of her sons, Josef, in a Russian battle. In 1948 another son, Hans, who also had fought in WW2, died. During WW2 three of her apartments were destroyed during aerial raids by the British. In 1952 her husband and my Grandfather, died suddenly at home. Grandma was always calm and loved her family. She faithfully went to church every Sunday.

    So why is this one of my favorite pictures? First of all I took it. I was already a budding photographer back then. My Dad had a camera and we used it a lot. I spent a lot of time with my Grandmother. We picked her up every church after Sunday and walked to our apartment for lunch. From about 1970 to 1980 summer vacations were spent in Garmisch where we would go and visit Uncle Willi and his family. Nothing but good memories. Looking at this picture I still miss my Dad and I am glad I took this snapshot back in 1974.

    Do you have a favorite picture. Please leave a comment below.

  • The Appel Family

    My husband’s Grandfather, Bob Scholz, had told me a long time ago that there were lots of Appels in the family. I didn’t know what that meant at the time, not until I started genealogy. Grandpa who was born in 1906, in the state of Washington, was the youngest of ten children. All the other siblings were born in Tennessee. The oldest one was his sister Fannie who was born 20 February 1889 in Oliver Springs. Fannie married Oswald Appel 7 November 1906 in Colfax, Washington.

    I was surprised to find out that Oswald was from Russia. His father’s name was Johann or John. His mother’s name was Elizabeth Kraft. These names were German. The German word for apple is Apfel. In some parts of Germany you say “Appel”. So where did the Appels family come from?

    Back in the day when German families started to immigrate to the colonies or the Americas, some of them went to Russia instead. They were promised religious freedom and land by Catherine the Great and they settled in the Russian Volga River region. Oscar’s family lived in that region for about 100 years. They kept their German language and traditions. That all changed in the 19th century, when land purchases were limited, mandatory military service and they had to speak Russian. There was also a famine in that area. So, Oscar and his extended family left for America. Some of the neighbors went to Canada, South America and other countries.

    Someone did the research and found out where the Appels came from in Germany. It’s a village in Hessen, called Nidda. Oscar’s 4th Great Grandfather, Peter Appel was born there in 1717 and died in 1759. Oscar was born in the town of Holstein, Russia now called Verkhnyaya Kulalinka. With the Russian name I was able to look it up on google map. It’s quite a distances from Nidda, about 3400 km or 2100 miles.

    There is a great website called The Volga Germans about the settlements.

    Oswald was only 5 years old when he immigrated to America in 1888 with his parents. He and Fannie had seven children, Frances, Harold, Donald, Calvin, Dorothy, Eugene and Wilma. They had lots of grandchildren. Frances had 5, Harold 2, Donald 9, Calvin 5, Dorothy 5, Eugene 4 and Wilma had 4. That’s a grand total of 34! Oswald also had six siblings, Leopold, Rosa, Eigen (Eugene), Marie, Rosalie and John. Leopold had 9 children, Rosa 6, Eugene 2, Marie 6 and John had 4.

    So, there are lots of Appels to go around with deep German roots!

    Do you have Volga German ancestors? Please leave a comment below!

  • Joannes Petrus Wilhelmus Götzen 1783-1816

    A week before Christmas, Düsseldorf City Archives released digital copies of birth, marriage and death certificates starting as early as 1798. I was thrilled to see that, however I didn’t have time to dig right into the records with the holidays coming up so fast. I started with Heerdt which was an independent village until it became part of Düsseldorf in 1909. You know by know that I can identify records in Latin and German. The beginning of these records until about 1812 were in French. One good thing that came out of the French occupation was that they introduced civil registration. I studied French in school for a few years, so it’s fairly easy for me to understand the records, as long as I can read the writing. The only other problem I had was dealing with the French Julian Calendar. The dates made no sense to me so I had google figure out the Gregorian dates for me. I finished going through the marriage records until 1899 and started with the death records.

    A couple of days ago I found the record for my 3rd Great Grandfather, Joannes Petrus Wilhelmus Götzen. He died 1 September 1816 in Heerdt.

    The record is in German and gives his first and last name, his wife’s name, Helene Mühlensieb, his parents, Heinrich Götzen and Anna Catharina Böckers, and his profession as a day laborer. Johann was only 32 years old.

    I now have a complete set of records for my 3rd Great Grandfather. His baptism from 1783 in Heerdt in Latin.

    His marriage to my 3rd Great Grandmother, Helene Catharina Mühlensieb, 13 April 1809 in Düsseldorf also in Latin.

    I also have his death entry into the church book in Heerdt in Latin.

    My goal is to have a complete set of records for my direct ancestor if it’s available.

    Johannes and Helene had only three children together, Henri born in 1810, Maria Agnes in 1813 and Anna Catharina in 1816. Maria Agnes was my 2nd Great Grandmother. She married Andreas Krings and they they had four children and Anna Catharina was married to Joseph Sturm. I only found two children for them.

    Johanne’s parents were Heinrich Götzen and Anna Catharina Böckers. Johannes was the oldest of six children. His siblings were Maria Magdena, born in 1785, Wilhelmus Balthasar born in 1788, married to Maria Margareth Hamacher, they had seven children. Maria Christina born in 1791, she was married to Johann Mathias Fleur. Johannes Henricus born in 1794 and the last one, Michael Anton was born in 1802.

    The catholic church in Heerdt, St.Benedictus, where Johanne’s was baptized.

    The catholic church, St. Dreifaltigkeit, in Düsseldorf where he got married.

    Both postcards are from before WW2 and the churches still exist, just the surrounding areas look quite different.

    I have my work cut out for me, looking through all the birth, marriage and death certificates. Some of the books have indexes which makes it a lot easier to find what I am looking for.

    Have you found all the records for your direct ancestors?

    Please leave a comment below!

  • Records That Add Color

    I am participating once again in Amy Johnson Crow’s 52 Ancestors in 52 weeks challenge. This week’s headline is A Record That Adds Color.

    I do have lots of birth, marriage and death records for my ancestors and their extended families. Each record is unique and it is nice to have a copy of the original ones. Indexed records for example on the Family Search Website, will only give you dates, however you won’t find witnesses, signatures and professions. So I decided to look at all the jobs my ancestors and their extended families had starting with my paternal line.

    My Dad had his own flower wholesale business. He would pick the cut flowers up in the early morning at the auction house and then deliver them all over Düsseldorf.

    My Grandfather also had his own business. He had an upholsterer and decoration shop. His business was advertised in the 1926 Düsseldorf directory.

    My Great Grandfather was a gardener. All those beautiful parks in Düsseldorf had to be maintained.

    His name and profession were in the 1881 Düsseldorf directory. It is the second Wilhelm.

    My 2x Great Grandfather was a shoemaker and his wife, my 2x Great Grandmother had her own grocery shop. They were both in the 1855 Düsseldorf directory.

    Moving on to my parternal maternal line, my Great Grandfather, Becker, first worked for the railroad station in Hamminkeln outside of Wesel in Prussia.

    Later on he moved to Wesel and became a police officer. My 2x Grandfather Becker also worked at the rail road station in Hamminkeln. My 3x Great Grandfather Becker was a farmer in a tiny village called Messinghausen.

    Moving onto my maternal line. My Great Grandfather Sevenich also worked for the railroad, most likely in Heerdt and Neuss. Great Grandfather Schneider was a locksmith and he moved around a lot. One of my research friends had suggested that he might have helped built the world famous suspension railway in Wuppertal where he had lived.

    My 2x Great Grandfather Schneider lived in Berlin and was a master goldsmith. My 3x Great Grandfather Büttner was a sugar boiler from Steinwitz living in Berlin.

    My 2x Great Grandfather Ontrup was a damask weaver from Sandhagen living in Gadderbaum near Bielefeld and my 3rd Great Grandfather Hagemann was a shoemaker in Gütersloh.

    How do you like the variety of my ancestors professions? I absolutely love it. What jobs did your ancestors have?

    Please leave a comment below!

  • An Ancestor I admire

    For the year 2026 I am participating in Amy Johnson Johnson’s Crow 52 Ancestors in 52 weeks.

    I didn’t have to look far for the ancestor I admire, it’s my paternal Grandmother, Maria Becker Krings nee Becker. Maria was born in Hamminkeln just about 5km outside of the city of Wesel. Her parents were the policeman Johann Heinrich Becker and his wife Gertruda Johanna Görtzen. Somehow, I always thought my Grandmother came from a big family, because she had eight children herself. So far I have only been a able to find a brother and a sister. More possible birth and baptisms records are not in the public domain yet.

    My Grandmother was always calm, she always smiled and she participated in whatever her large family was up to. I never heard any unkind words from here. She attended church every Sunday.

    Grandma lived through WW1 and WW2. She married my Grandfather, Wilhelm Krings in 1907 in Wesel in the Catholic Sankt Martini Church.

    Martinikirche

    And the inside of the church

    My Grandmother was also baptized in the church and her parents got married there. Unfortunately the church was destroyed during WW2 during British Air Raids.

    My Grandparents raised their family in Düsseldorf were my Grandfather grew up. The first four children, Wilhelm, Trude, Johann and Josef were born from 1907-1914.

    Wilhelm Krings & Maria Becker With Their First Born Son Wilhelm

    My Grandfather apparently served in WW1 in France and Russia according to a document I found online. It didn’t say where exactly. Unfortunately most military records were destroyed in WW2. My Grandfather came back from WW1 but many men did not. Four more children, Mathilde, Karl (my Dad), Richard and Ursula were born between 1919 and 1929.

    My Grandmother with two of her youngest children, Ursula walking and Richard in the pram circa 1929 in Düsseldorf.

    Life was good in 1929, their family was complete. My Grandfather had his own upholstery and decoration shop and the family had a nice apartment.

    Fast forward to Christmas 1938. A picture of my Grandmother with most of her children and the first grandchild sitting on her lap.

    Life was still good in this picture before WW2 broke out in the spring of 1939. My Grandmother in the middle, her oldest daughter, Trude and her husband Heinz on the right side. The two youngest, Ursula, smiling and Richard being held by the oldest. My Grandfather on the left side was cut off. My father, Karl, directly behind my Grandmother and behind him his older sister, Mathilde. I don’t know who the young man is behind her. One of my uncles who died after the war is on the right smoking a cigarette and holding a guitar. Two sons are missing, one was Wilhelm who had to move to the mountains because of his asthma and the other one was Josef who had moved to Berlin and later was killed in Russia.

    My Dad and his younger siblings wanted to join the Hitler Youth Groups. Children and teenagers did not have to go to Saturday school if they joined. Thankfully my Grandmother didn’t allow it, otherwise her own children would have spied on her and my Grandfather. It was a very dangerous time in 1938. Freedom of speech didn’t exist.

    In 1943 my Grandmother’s Father, Heinrich Becker, was killed in an air raid in Wesel. His body probably was never recovered. His death certificate was not issued until 10 years later. The same year, one of my Grandmother’s son, Josef was killed during a battle in July in Korowina, Russia.

    Josef with his son circa 1942, location unknown

    Also in 1943 her son Karl, my Dad, was drafted into military service. He had no choice in the matter, all the young men had to serve. My Dad was sent to Russia twice, however he kept getting sick and he had an injury on his leg, they released him from military service. He was one of the lucky ones.

    During the war in Düsseldorf my Grandmother and her family were bombed out three times. I don’t know how they managed to find shelter or food, after all they lived in the city and not in the country. There were 243 air raids on Düsseldorf. I can’t even imaging what that was like. My Grandmother lived through it with her family. Even after the war was over, the city was pretty much destroyed. Food was scarce, disease was rampant.

    In 1948 she lost another son, Johann. He died in Düsseldorf. In 1952 she came home to find my Grandfather deceased at the kitchen table.

    My Grandmother had her faith, I think this is what got her through the terrible times and she had her large family which kept growing after the war. She had 17 grandchildren. She attended all their baptisms, first communions and weddings. Her family had a big celebration for her 80th and 85th birthday.

    Grandma with her oldest son Willi and my Dad on his 50th birthday in 1974.

    Grandma and me circa 1973 at home in Düsseldorf

    When I grew up, none of the adults would talk about the war. I never even heard my Grandma talk about her parents or siblings, at least not that I can remember.

    Grandma died in 1975. All the surviving children and all her grandchildren attended her funeral. Her grave was a simple one, just like she would have liked it.

    Despite all the hardship she had to endure, she kept going and she stayed positive. I still miss her and I wished I could talk to her about her family and the war.

    Do you have an ancestor you admire? Please leave a comment below!

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