Genealogy Is An Adventure

Tag: Ludwigshafen

  • What Happened To Franz Beiersdörfer (1859-?)

    Franz Beiersdörfer was my husband’s maternal 2nd Great Grandfather. He was the son of the soldier, Johann Heinrich Beiersdörfer (1829-1891) and his wife Margaretha Johann (1830-1876). Franz was baptized 21 July 1859 in the catholic church in Albersweiler, a famous wine region in Germany.

    Baptism of Franz Beiersdörfer in Alberweiler.

    Town of Albersweiler Circa 1910

    In 1884 Franz lived in Friesenheim, which is now part of Ludwigshafen am Rhein. That year he married my husband’s 2nd Great Grandmother, Elisabeth Höcker (1864-1928). Elisabeth was the daughter of Johannes Höcker (1836-1874) and his wife Wilhelmine Katharina Bauswein (1839-1907).

    This marriage certificate has a lot more information that just the groom and bride and their parents. On the second page it stated that Franz and Elisabeth had a son, named Karl, together in 1881. It has been my experience with quite a few of my husband’s Bavarian ancestors that the women had children before they even got married. Children that were born before the wedding, will always be mentioned in the marriage certificate.

    On the top page there is a side note in the upper left corner which states that Franz and Elisabeth got a divorce in 1900. We know that Elisabeth died 1928 in Ludwigshafen. What happened to Franz? Franz and Elisabeth only had one son. Two other children died in infancy.

    Their son, Karl, married in 1908 in Ludwigshafen. In his marriage certificate it said the location of his Father, Franz, is unknown. Karl fought in WW1 (1914-1918). In the WW1 Peronnel Roster it stated that Karl’s Father lived in America, location unknown.

    A long time ago my husband’s maternal Grandmother talked about her Grandfather, Franz. She had heard that he had left for America and that the ship sank.

    Searching for Franz is becoming like finding a needle in a haystack. America could have been the USA or Canada or even Central America. How about South America? Many Germans immigrated to Brazil for example.

    I searched the following websites for Franz hoping to find emigration or immigration records.

    I even contacted the city archives in Ludwigshafen to see if they had any emigration information about Franz. It’s possible that Franz used a different name when he left the country. He was a butcher by trade, so it would have been easy for him to find work. I found the 1896 directory for Friesenheim in google books.

    His wife Elisabeth was in it, but he was not. My guess is that Franz was already gone by then and it took a couple more years for her to get a divorce in 1900.

    Here is Franz’s timeline:

    • 21 July 1859 Birth in Albersweiler
    • 24 July 1859 Baptism at the catholic church in Albersweiler
    • 16 November 1881 Son Karl is born in Friesenheim
    • 11 October 1884 Marriage to Elisabeth Hoecker in Friesenheim
    • 28 December 1884 Birth of daughter Susanna
    • 10 February 1885 Death of daughter Susanna
    • 18 April 1887 Birth of son Adam
    • 29 March 1900 Divorce
    • Death date and location unknown

    I will contact the city archives in Ludwigshafen again to see if I can obtain a copy of the divorce record. I do not know if they even kept it. May be I can find a clue in that record.

    As always I like to include a map. Friesenheim is north of Albersweiler, about 60 km or 37 miles.

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  • Johann Christoph Päbst 1874-1916

    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.