Genealogy Is An Adventure

Tag: Hamacher

  • 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!

  • Anna Catharina Boeckers 1757-1829

    My 4th paternal Great Grandmother, Anna Catharina Boeckers was baptized 15 Jun 1757 in Düsseldorf-Heerdt and died 20 March 1829 in Düsseldorf-Lörick. Her parents were Wilhelm Boeckers and Christine Muellers.

    An old postcard of the St. Benediktus Catholic Church In Heerdt.

    Anna got married in the same church 20 August 1782 to my 4th Great Grandfather, Heinrich Goetzen (1747-1820).

    She and Heinrich had 6 children, all baptized in Heerdt.

    • 1. Joannes Petrus Wilhelmus, my 3rd Great Grandfather, born 1783 in Heerdt, died 1816 in Lörick. He was married to my 3rd Great Grandmother, Helen Catharina Muehlensieb. They had 3 children.
    • 2. Maria Magdalena, born 1785
    • 3. Wilhem Balthasar born 1788, got married 25 October 1825 in Eckamp to Maria Margaretha Hamacher. They had 7 children.
    • 4. Maria Christina born 1791, got married 21 January 1826 in Neuß to Johann Mathias Fleur
    • 5. Johannes Henricus born 1794
    • 6. Michael Anton born 1802

    Anna died 20 March 1829 in Oberlörick which is not far from Heerdt. In the church book entrance it was written that she had been a widow.

    I have three primary sources for Anna, her birth/baptism, her marriage and her death entries in the church book. My goal is to have these type of sources for all my direct ancestors, even though it’s not always possible. For her parents so far I only have the marriage record in the church book. I do have all the baptism entries for her children.

    You might ask what is a primary record? Primary records are original records like the excerpt from a church book, or a copy of a birth certificate. Secondary records you can for example look up on the Family Search Website. A secondary source for Anna’s marriage:

    NameAnna Catharina Boeckers
    GenderFemale
    Marriage Date20 Aug 1782
    Marriage PlaceKatholisch, Heerdt, Rheinland, Prussia
    FatherWilhelmi Boeckers
    MotherChristinae Muellers
    SpouseHenricus Goetzen
    FHL Film Number174320

    This information was taken from the church book and entered into a database, that’s a secondary source versa a copy of the original entry.

    The original entry tells me that her parents were from Lörick as well as the name of the witnesses who were Petrus Goetzen and Joannes Schillings. Always try to obtain a primary source whenever possible and make a note of where you found it.

    Anna lived in Heerdt and died in Lörick which is only a couple of miles away.

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