Genealogy Is An Adventure

Tag: DNA

  • Migration: Adamus Paulus Weingartz 1760-1839

    This week I am participating once again in Amy Johnson Crow‘s 52 ancestors in 52 week challenge. This week’s prompt is migration.

    Adamus Paulus Weingartz was my paternal first cousin five times removed. He was baptized 12 November 1760 in the Sankt Martinus catholic church in Düsseldorf, Prussia. His parents were Joannes Henricus Weingartz and Anna Catharina Heinens. A copy of his baptism is below.

    When Adamus was 26 years old he travelled to Holland. Düsseldorf was not that far from the Dutch border as you can see on this map below.

    In the Dutch archives I found a document that Adamus was going to travel on the ship Arend.

    From this document I could see that he was going to serve as a Dutch soldier from 1786 to 1793. He was sailing to the Cape of Good Hope in South Africa. He travelled with the famous Dutch East India Company.

    NameAdamus Paulus Weingartz
    OriginDusseldorff
    Entry into Service Date17 jul. 1786 (17 Jul 1786)
    Entry into Service PositionSoldaat
    Position ExplanationMilitair
    Departure ShipArend
    Out of Service Date31 aug. 1793 (31 Aug 1793)
    Out of Service PlaceKaap De Goede Hoop
    Reasons for Leaving ServiceOverleden
    Monthly LetterNee
    Debt LetterJa

    Adamus left Holland 17 July 1786 and arrived at the Cape of Good Hope 12 May 1787.

    He married Anna Catharina Hansoniús 14 June 1807 in Cape Town. They had five children together, all born in Cape Town and baptized in the Dutch Reformed Church.

    • 1. Anna Christina Fredrica Weingartz born 1808, died 1864 in Cape Town. She was married to John Albert Sinclair. The couple had four children.
    • 2. Maria Magdalena Catharina Weingartz born 1811, died 1893 in Sea Point, Cape Town. She was married to Thomas Kenneth Sinclair. The couple had 11 children.
    • 3. Aletta Margaretha Weingartz born 1813, died 1845 in Cape Town. She was married to Thomas Hall. The couple had four children.
    • 4. Paulus Petrus Heinrich Weingartz born 1816, died 1858 in Paarl, Western Cape. He was married to Regina Johanna Dietlefs. The couple had one child.
    • 5. Frederik Martinus Johannes Weingartz born 1819, died 1891 at Sea Point, Western Cape. He was not married. I did find a grave stone for him on Find A Grave, courtesy of Scooter T. I enlarged the image to see the inscription better.

    He is buried together with his sister, Maria Magdalena, and his brother in law, Thomas Kenneth Sinclair.

    Adamus was a shop keeper. South Africa, City and Area Directories, 1813-1962

    NamePaulus Wyngartz
    Directory Year1820
    Directory PlaceCape Town, Cape Colony, South Africa
    ProfessionRetail Shop
    Street Address19 Bree Street
    Source1820 African Court Calender Book

    He died in 1838.

    Cape Province, South Africa, Estates Death Notice Index, 1834-1956

    NameAdamus Paulus Martinus Weingartz
    Death Date1839
    Volume6/9/14
    Reference3168
    SourceMaster’s Office / Orphan Chamber, Cape Town (MOOC)
    Source locationNational Archives, Cape Town (KAB)

    After his death his wife remarried.

    About fifteen years ago I was contacted by a descendant of Adamus, who lives in South Africa. He had asked me all kinds of questions about my hometown Düsseldorf. He asked about the church where his ancestor was baptized. I told him about the Sankt Martinus catholic church which still exists. In more recent years I have had DNA matches with other descendants of Adamus, one in particular who moved from South Africa to Australia. DNA is just one more tool for me to validate my research.

    It took Adamus almost ten months to arrive at the Cape of Good Hope. I checked with google maps. Nowadays you can make the trip by car in about 174 to 184 hours. It’s over 8000 miles away and a very long trip through the desert.

    For today’s article I used the following resources:

    If you enjoy reading my blog please leave a comment or subscribe. Thank You!

  • Overlooked

    Once again I am participating in Amy Johnson’s Crow 52 ancestors in 52 weeks. This weeks title is ” Overlooked”.

    Have you ever overlooked something in your family tree? It’s easily done by not checking facts or looking at original records. Let’s get right to it. My two times paternal Great Grandparent Johann and Franziska Müller had at least seven children together. For all them I had their birth and or baptism dates and for some I had the marriage and death dates. In 2018 I had a second and third cousin match on “My Heritage” for that line and I was able to fill in a lot of dates and received copies of marriage and death certificates. One of the children was Helena Müller born and died November 1852 in Düsseldorf. Helena would have been my Great Grandaunt. From what it looked like the infant was still born and or died right after birth. I didn’t have a source for the death. My third cousin gave me this information and I thought may be she had already checked the church books. I didn’t pay anymore attention to this person.

    Fast forward to the spring of 2024. I had a new third cousin match at “Ancesty.com”. Most people in the USA have lots of first and second cousin matches. I have neither. I grew up in Germany and lots of people don’t get tested in European countries. So a third cousin match is a big deal for me, in fact this is the best one I have on ancestry. There was no tree associated with the match, so I contacted the owner hoping for an answer. She was living in South Carolina and her first name was Bettina. That first name is quite common in Germany. So I thought may be that there was a chance that she might be from my home country.

    Bingo! Bettina answered a couple of weeks later and yes, she was not just from Germany, but also from my hometown in Düsseldorf. Emails went back and forth. I told her that I probably would be able to figure out our common ancestors. She gave me as much information as she had and I got to work. It took me less than two days to figure it out. As soon as I saw the name “Müller” as one of her ancestor, I knew I had the answer. Her direct ancestor was as you guessed it “Helena Müller” who came back from the dead.

    Helena Müller was born 9 November 1852, got married 1 January 1877 to Reinhold Gossen and died 20 August 1909 in Düsseldorf. I have her marriage and death certificate as well. Her marriage certificate has her birth date, so I know now had proof that I had the correct name.

    Marriage Certificate

    Death Certificate

    The moral of the story is, only enter a death date if you have proof. I was pretty lucky to have the DNA match with my new found cousin and she was willing to give me the information she had. I have been able to add a new branch to my family tree and that’s always very exciting. Below all the children of Bettina and my common ancestral couple Johann and Franziska Müller.

    If you like my blog, please make a comment and/or subscribe. Thank you!