Franciska was my paternal second Great Grandmother. She was born on 23 March 1812 in Engelskirchen and died on 27 July 1886 in Düsseldorf, Germany. Her parents were the shoemaker, Johannes Müller and Anna Catharina Miebach.
Above her death certificate from Düsseldorf. It mentioned her son, Eduard Müller who gave the death information to the registrar, her husband Johann Müller who was still alive and it also stated that her son only knew that her parents died in Engelskirchen, however he didn’t know their names.
Franziska was married to my second Great Greatfather Johann Müller. The marriage date has been a mistery. We don’t know when and where they got married, even so both of them were from Engelskirchen. A second cousin of mine in Germany has tried very hard to find the marriage, but no success so far.
Franziska and Johann Müller moved a lot and they had a large family. Their first two children, Elisabeth and Wilhelm, were born in Hückeswagen. Their next three children, Bertha who is also my Great Grandmother, Johann and Eduard were born in Elberfeld (Wuppertal). The last two children, Helena and Gertrud were born in Düsseldorf. May be Johann was looking for better job opportunities. In Düsseldorf he worked in a factory.
Here you can see the towns of Engelskirchen, Hückeswagen, Elberfeld and Düsseldorf on a modern map. My guess is that my second Great Grandparents married somewhere between Engelskirchen and Hückeswagen. Why did they not get married in Engelskirchen? May be their parents didn’t approve? Lots of questions I can’t answer yet. I am also waiting for Engelskirchen church books to come online.
My paternal third Great Grandfather, Joannes Winandus Josephus Krings, was baptized on March 10th, 1760 in the St. Lambertus church in Düsseldorf, Germany. His parents were Nicolaus Krings and Maria Clara Schadens.
In his bapstismal record it shows his Father and his Mother, his given names and the witnesses. The witnesses were Joannes Krausen, Winandus Andermahr and Anna Brewers. You can see that he was named after two of the witnesses, Joannes and Winandus. Joannes Winandus got married in the same church to my third Great Grandmother, Maria Anna Josepha Weingartz on June 24th, 1787.
In the marriage record his name was written in a different way. Joan Winandy. It has the same meaning. The witnesses were Josephy Krings and Petrus Engels. The marriage was also mentioned in the newspaper.
I think it’s so cool to see the names of my ancestors in a newspaper from the year 1787.
Winandus died May 2nd, 1823, at the age of 68, in Düsseldorf.
Winandus only had step brothers and sisters. His Mother, Maria Clara Schadens had three children in her first marriage with Joannes Georgius Brandt. One year after Winandus was born, his Mother died and his Father remarried a year after her death to Anna Catharina Fassbender. They had together three children.
My third Great Grandparents had nine children together. The youngest was my second Great Grandfather, the shoemaker, Andreas Daniel Krings.
Here is a picture of St. Lambertus Church in Düsseldorf, which I took in 2018.
Quite a few of my ancestors were baptized and married in this church.
My maternal Grandfather, Theodor Alexander Schneider, war born on March 1st, 1898 in Elberfeld and died February 12th, 1990 in Düsseldorf, Germany. His parents were the locksmith, Emil August Ferdinand Schneider from Berlin and Sophia Hermina Louisa Ontrup from Bielefeld.
His birth certificate from the registry office states that my Great Grandfather appeared and gave the following information. The street he lived on, that he was not affiliated with any religion and that his wife had given birth to a son in their apartment. The child was given the names Theodor Alexander. He then signed his name and the registrar as well and the document was dated. On the bottom right you can see a side note which stated that my Grandfather died 1990 in Düsseldorf and the number of the certificate is number 1176. I have written about these side note in a previous blog. They can be of utmost importance in your research in German genealogy. I was surprised to see that my Great Grandfather had left the Lutheran church. I am still not sure if my Grandfather was ever baptized. Some of those records were destroyed during WWII.
My Grandfather fought in France in WW1.
I have no idea when and where this picture was taken. WW1 military records from Elberfeld which now belongs to Wuppertal, were also destroyed during WWII.
I called my Grandfather “Opa”. Most of the people he knew called him Alex the short form for Alexander. I didn’t know about his name Theodor until I had received a copy of his birth certificate. Opa loved to tell stories, I just wished I had written them all down. When he lived in Elberfeld, he told me that his Mother would bring him lunch at the factory. He probably finished school in 8th grade and had to go to work.
Opa love to eat eel, he would buy some from the local fish market. Fresh eel didn’t look very appetizing to me and I never had to eat them. Opa also loved to read and do crossword puzzles. At one time he had a canary he enjoyed. He called him Hansi and the little bird would sing many different songs. Every morning Opa would get up, make the bed, make breakfast for him and my Oma (Grandmother) and go for his morning walk. He would buy the local newspaper and play lotto once a week, I don’t remember him ever winning it big, I probably would have heard about that. He loved his pipe and I will always remember that smell.
Here is my Opa with his beloved pipe. The picture was taken in 1971 in Düsseldorf-Heerdt where he lived with my Oma.
Opa was born in a very famous town, Elberfeld which now belongs to Wuppertal. Wuppertal is world famous for the “Schwebebahn” suspension railway.
Opa loved his five grandchildren and we loved him. When we gathered around the table to eat a meal, Opa was the boss. He always sat at the head of table. We children had to behave, there was no complaining allowed. We could not get up from the table until every one was finished eating. We then got up and help clear the table and head to the kitchen and do the dishes. It was expected of us and we liked doing it. We loved and respected our Opa.
Opa had eight sibling, at least six of them lived to adulthood. He was the second youngest. He never talked about them, I only found them through my research. I have a picture of the five sisters together.
The picture is a colorized version from the original. It might have been taken near Wuppertal where the family grew up. These are all my Great Aunts.
Opa died in March of 1990 at the age of 92. I still miss him. I wished I could talk to him one more time about his life and his family.
Jan Derck was my 3rd Great Grandfather on my paternal side. He was born in Voerde, Germany and baptized in the Lutheran church in Götterswickerhamm on January 21st,1783. His parents were Jan Derck Spellecken and Mari Catharina Blennemann. Here is the baptismal record:
The record shows when he was baptized, his parents and the witnesses.
Jan Derck was married in the same church to my 3rd Grand Grandmother, Jenneken Heiken, 14th November, 1805.
The marriage record at the church stated their names Derck Spelleken and Jenneken Heiken. We know know that his calling name was Derck. He dropped the Jan at the wedding.
Derck died 18 May 1867 in Holthausen, which was not far way from where he was born. In his death record it stated that he was a farmer.
Underneath the death date, his birth and wedding date were given as well.
Here is a map that shows where Voerde, Holthausen and Götterswickerhamm are located.
Götterwickerhamm is directly located at the River Rhein. I have an old postcard in my possession.
Jan Derck and Jenneken had at least seven children. Five of those children lived to adulthood. One of them is my 2nd Great Grandmother, Maria Anna Spelleken. She was born 1816 In Voerde.
Maria was my 3rd Great Grandmother and she was baptized on February 17th, 1756 in the St. Lambertus church in Düsseldorf.
The photo of the church was taken by a famous photographer, Julius Söhn, probably during the late 19th century. This is her baptismal record:
Maria’s parents were Petrus Josephus Weingartz and Anna Elisabetha Herbst. She got married to Joannes Winandus Josephus Krings, my 3rd Great Grandfather, in the same church on 24 June 1787. This is their marriage record:
Their marriage was also announced in the local newspaper:
Maria died in Düsseldorf on 17 September 1814. I found her death record at St. Martins church in Bilk which is nowadays a part of Düsseldorf.
I know from this death entry that her calling name was Anna and not Maria. Anna had nine children, at least five of them lived to adulthood. One of them is my 2nd Great Grandfather, the shoemaker, Andreas Daniel Joseph Krings.
Johann Ernst Muecke is my husband’s 2x Great Grandfather and he was born on 8 Feb 1837 in Markersdorf, Moravia, Austria. At present the town is called Markvartovice and it is located in the Czech Republic. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Markvartovice
Johann’s parents were Ernst Johann Mücke and Johanna Tögel. Johann married Rosina Schneider 24 April 1863 in Zauchtel, Moravia, Austria. Zauchtel is nowadays called Suchdol nad Odrou and is also in the Czech Republic. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suchdol_nad_Odrou
A postcard from the 1920’s of Suchdol nad Odrou, that I own.
Johann Muecke and Rosina Schneider lived in Hof, Moravia, Austria where all of their children were born except for Lilly Muecke who was born in Tennessee.
A postcard of Hof in Mähren from my postcard collection.
Johann and Rosina settled together with their children in Oliver Springs between 1883 and 1884. A son, Adolph Mücke was born in 1881 and died in Hof in 1883. The daughter, Lilly Muecke, was born in 1884 in Oliver Springs. I have not been able to find any immigration records for this family.
Johann and Rosina had at least nine children together:
Rosina 1864-1960 (My husband’s Great Grandmother), Augusta 1867-1899, Julia 1870-1956, Earnest John 1871-1951, Charles 1875-1945, John Ernest 1877-1956, William 1880-1880, Adolph 1881-1883, Lilly Elizabeth 1884-1980, Joseph 1889-1889.
I grew up celebrating Mardi Gras. I only have one picture of me circa 1968 in my Mariechenkostüm. Roughly translated ” little Mary’s costume”.
In my hometown, Düsseldorf, Germany Mardi Gras is a big deal. We have a huge parade on Rosenmontag (Rose Monday) which is always two days before Ash Wednesday. I have some old postcards from the circa 1960’s of Mardi Gras in my home town.
Johann was my husband’s Great Grandfather. He was born in Germersheim, Bavaria. Bavaria was an independent state in 1874. Nowadays the town belongs to the state of Rhineland-Palatinate in Germany. Johann’s parents were the postmaster, Christoph Päbst, and his wife Maria Anna Bordscheller.
Getting records for Johann was fairly easy. I was able to order the marriage and the death certificate from the Ludwigshafen city archives. Johann died in Ludwigshafen very young at the age of only 41 years. He left his widow, Barbara Wippel 1881-1933, and six children behind. On his death certificate his profession was given as a master painter and white washer.
I emailed the archive in Germersheim to order his birth certificate, but they couldn’t find one. I already had his birth and marriage record telling me that he was in fact born in that town. I talked to one my genealogy friends in Germany and he tried and got the same answer. He eventually called the archive in Germersheim and we finally found the answer. His birth certificate was under the Mother’s maiden name, Bordscheller.
The lesson I learnt is not to give up and be persistent. Collaborate with other genealogists. I used to be on many different mailing lists but they have kind of disappeared. Nowadays you can find lots of different genealogy groups on Facebook for example.
My goal is for all our direct ancestors to find birth, marriage and death records. It’s not always possible of course. I have to research each town to see what records are available for the particular time period.
On this particular birth record of course the child is mentioned and his parents. Also the parents of the mother are mentioned as well. On the left side of the certificate is a “Randvermerk” translated as a side note. These side notes are very important on German birth, marriage and death certificates. If you order a certificate from Germany order it with the “Randvermerk”. Not every certificate will have one of course. In the side note it states that Christoph Päbst is the actual Father of Johann Christoph Bordscheller. This side not was written after the Father married the Mother in 1878 and from that moment on the child will carry the last name, Päbst.
What I have not done yet, is to try to get the baptismal record for Johann Christoph. I have to research if the record might be online already. In the last couple of years, Germany has exploded with records coming online. If I do find the record I will post an updated at a later date.
There is one ancestor couple that stands out. My second Great Grandparents, Andreas Daniel Joseph Krings and Maria Agnes Götzen. In an Düsseldorf, Germany, address book from 1855 I find them living on the the Duisburger Street 71. He is shoemaker and she must have something like a grocery store.
It reads: Krings, Andreas, Shoemaker, Duisburger Street 71 and she is underneath and it reads: Krings Andreas, wife, grocery store dealer. I would think that this was a big deal back in 1855. Both husband and wife were working and had possibly their own businesses. A census, which I have a copy of, was taken in Düsseldorf between 1854-1860. Once more it shows the jobs they have in those years.
It shows their last and first names, professions, where they lived in Düsseldorf, their exact birth dates and where they were born. Three children are alive at this time. From Andrea’s obituary I know that he had only two surviving sons and grandchildren. The daughter Katharine must have died before 1871. Agnes was only 49 years old when she died.
It says: Died: Agnes Krings nee Götzen, 49 years old, wife, Duisburger Street. Andreas died in the year 1871.
Johanna was born exactly 232 years ago on January 5th, 1792 in Brackwede, which is now part of Bielefeld, Germany. Her parents were Jacob Friedrich Bushmann and Anna Maria Cuhlmann. She was my 3rd Great Grandmother. Johanna married my 3rd Great Grandfather, Friedrich Wilhelm Ontrup on 28 Oct 1820 in Bielefeld Neustadt. I have a copy of their marriage record.
Johanna and Friedrich had four children together. One of them is my 2nd Great Grandfather, Christian Friedrich Wilhelm Ontrup. My goal is to find Johanna’s baptismal and death record.
Genealogy Is An Adventure 