Genealogy Is An Adventure

Tag: history

  • Maria Johanna Becker 1885-1975

    Maria Johanna Becker was born 12 July 1885 in Hamminkeln and died 4 March 1975 in Schiefbahn, Germany. She was my paternal Grandmother. This is her birth certificate from Hamminkeln

    It states that her parents were the day laborer, Johann Heinrich Becker and Gertruda Johanna Görtzen. To the left is a side note that says that she died in Willich 4 March 1975 and the number of the death certificate Nr 75/1975.

    Maria was baptized in the St. Mariä Himmelfart Catholic Church in Wesel

    Above is her baptism entry in the church book. Her Godparents were Mathias Görzen and Mara Becker nee Sickel who was her Grandmother.

    Maria got married 13 May 1907 in Wesel to my Grandfather, Wilhelm Eduard Josef Hubert Krings.

    Above is the front and back page of the marriage certificate. Most of the time, marriage certificates will mention the bride and groom and their parents. On page one, the side note states that my Grandfather died in 1952. Three different side notes on the back page mention three of the children.

    My Grandmother and Grandfather had eight children between 1907 and 1929. They were all born in Düsseldorf. This picture shows them together with their first born, my uncle Willi circa 1908.

    Two of her sons died while fighting during WW2.

    Hans Krings 1911-1948

    Josef Krings 1914-1943 Shown With His Son

    My Dad missed his brothers very much and talked about them often.

    Shortly after WW2 in 1952 my Grandfather died suddenly at home. Now my Grandmother had lost three family members within a ten year period.

    My Grandmother had her faith. When I grew up, every Sunday we would pick her after church services at St. Peter’s Catholic Church in Düsseldorf. She would have lunch with us at home.

    Her large family kept her very busy. She attended all the baptisms, first communions and weddings of her all her children and grandchildren. She got to fly in a very small plane for the time ever when she was 85. She would never say a bad word about anyone. Family was everything to her.

    Near the end of her life she became very frail. All three of her daughters took care of her around the clock. In the end she had to be put into a nursing home in Schiefbahn. My aunt had tried to find one in Düsseldorf but it didn’t work out. My Grandmother hated it there and told us flat out that she wouldn’t make it a year. She was right. Grandma died peacefully 4 March 1975. All the children, grandchildren and great grandchildren attended her funeral in Heerdt. Her grave doesn’t exist anymore. Graves in Germany get recycled.

    I always try to include a map

    Sources

    Stadtarchiv Hamminkeln

    Stadtarchiv Wesel

    Baptismal Church Records Wesel

    Google Maps Hamminkeln

    Stadtarchiv Düsseldorf

  • Barbara Wippel 1881-1933

    Barbara Wippel was my husband’s paternal Great Grandmother. She was born 28 May 1881 and died 3 February 1933 in Ludwigshafen am Rhein in Germany. Her parents were Heinrich Wippel and Elisabetha Hochdörfer.

    Above is Barbara’s birth certificate from Ludwigshafen. It shows her Father and Mother and their ages. He was 45 years old and quite a bit older than her Mother who was only 32 years old at the time of her birth.

    Barbara got married to my husband’s Great Grandfather, Johann Christoph Päbst, 29 September 1906 in Ludwigshafen am Rhein. Most marriage certificates will have two pages. Here is the first page:

    Under number 1 the groom is named and that his parents live in Ludwigshafen am Rhein. A side not the right, states the groom died 12 January 1916. Under number 2, the bride is named and that her Father lives in Ludwigshafen am Rhein and that her Mother died in the same city. A side note to the right states that the bride died 3 February 1933. The second page has different information as seen below.

    Under number 3 and 4 the witnesses signed the certificate. To the left of the witnesses are more side notes. These notes state the birth of the twins Herbert and Lothar in 1913 and their respective marriage dates. Underneath is the birth of another son, Ottmar, who was born in 1907 and got married twice. The second marriage was in 1957, the first one is unknown. Barbara and Johann had six children together. The second oldest, Werner Päbst, was my husband’s Grandfather.

    Barbara became a widow in 1916 when Johann died. She had a young family to provide for and got quickly married to her second husband, Phillip Friedrich Schneider, 6 March 1917 in Ludwigshafen am Rhein.

    The marriage certificate has the same layout as the first one. Under number 1 the groom’s name is stated and that he was born in Pirmasens and that his parents had died there. Under number 2 it states the bride’s name and that she is a widow and that her Father lives in Ludwigshafen. Her Mother died in Ludwigshafen am Rhein.

    Above is once again the second page of the marriage certificate. Under number 3 and 4 are the witness. To the left of the witnesses, once again more side notes. This time you can see 4 children and their respective marriages. Philip Anton born 1918, Renate Ann Else born 1921, Manfred Jakob born 1922 and Edgar Adolf born 1920. All four children were born in Ludwigshafen am Rhein.

    Unfortunately Barbara lost her second husband in 1925. The older children had to pitch in and help raise the family. Barbara died in 1933 leaving behind a large family. The second oldest, my husband’s Grandfather, Werner Päbst took on the responsibility of taking care of the family.

    Barbara was only 51 years old when she died. She was widowed twice and left behind 10 children.

    Above is her death certificate. I have a picture of eight of her children.

    All ten of her children had families of their own and were successful in their careers. My husband’s Grandfather is the handsome man on the right side of the picture.

  • Helene Catharina Mühlensieb 1783-1827

    Helene was my maternal 3rd Great Grandmother. She was born 8 April 1783 in Derendorf and died 30 August 1827 in Oberlörick, Germany. Her parents were Heinrich Mühlensieb and Anna Catharina Kauertz. Helene was baptized in the Heilige Dreifaltigkeit church. This is her baptismal record.

    Look at the beautiful penmanship! Here you can learn a little Latin. Parentes are her parents, infans is the infant and patrina are the witnesses. Helena married my 3rd Great Grandfather, Joannes Petrus Wilhelmus Goetzen, 13 April 1809 in Düsseldorf. They had only three children together, one of them was my 2nd Great Grandmother, Maria Agnes Götzen 1813-1863. Helena got married again 5 Oct 1817 in Heerdt to Joannes Mathias Glassmacher.

    Above is the marriage record from the church in Heerdt. It shows the name of the groom, the bride and their parents. It also states that Helene was a widow. Helene and Mathias had four children together. I didn’t know about the last child, Anna Maria Glasmacher 1827-1827, until I found Helene’s death entry in the church book in Heerdt.

    Helene died 31 August 1827. Right above her on August 25th is her stillborn daughter Anna Maria Glasmacher. It is so important during your research to get copies of the original records. You just never know what you might find. Helene was only 44 years old when she died.

    I always like to include a map. Helene was born and baptized in Derendorf. She also lived in Lörick and got married in the church in Heerdt. Derendorf, Lörick and Heerdt are nowadays all part of Düsseldorf.

  • Franciska Getrud Müller 1812-1886

    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.

  • Maria Anna Josepha Weingartz 1756-1814

    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.