Genealogy Is An Adventure

Tag: Ludwigshafen am Rhein

  • Elisabeth Bauswein Höcker Beiersdörfer Steiner1864-1928

    Elisabeth was my husband’s maternal second Great Grandmother. She was born and baptized 20 February 1964 in Friesenheim now part of Ludgwigshafen am Rhein in Germany. Elisabeth was the illegitimate daughter of Wilhelmine Katharina Bauswein. Below is the baptismal entry from the catholic church, Sankt Gallus.

    Elisabeth’s Mother, Wilhelmine Katharina Bauswein, married her Father, Johannes Höcker The Fifth, 1 June 1865 in the same church. On the marriage certificate Johannes stated that Elisabeth and two of her other siblings were his children.

    Elisabeth married the butcher, Franz Beiersdörfer, 11 Octbober 1884 in Friesenheim. Front and back page of the marriage certificate is below.

    On the first page there is a side note that says that Elisabeth got divorced from Franz in 1900. From one of his children’s military records I know that Franz lived in America. As far as I know Elisabeth and Franz had only three children, one of them, Karl Beiersdörfer, my husband’s Great Grandfather, was born in 1881 in Friesenheim. The two other children were Susanna and Adam. Susanna died in infancy and I have no more information about Adam.

    Elisabeth got married to her second husband, the bricklayer, Peter Steiner, 23 September 1901 in Ludwigshafen. The marriage certificate is below.

    As far as I know the couple did not have any children together. Peter Steiner died 1914 in France during WW1. His death certificate from Ludwigshafen is below.

    Elisabeth died 3 November 1928 in Ludwigshafen. It was reported and signed by her Granddaughter, Erna Beiersdörfer, who was also my husband’s Grandmother. The death certificate is below.

    Elisabeth had a hard life. She was born out of wedlock, her first husband seemed to have left her and she had to get a divorce. Her second husband died in WW1. She seemed to only have one son that survived her.

  • Maria Anna Bastian Bortscheller Päbst 1845-1913

    Maria was a maternal second Great Grandmother of my husband and she was the illegitimate daughter of Maria Eva Bastian. Maria was baptized 31 January 1845 in the Sankt Jakobus catholic church in Germersheim and died 21 October 1913 in Ludwigshafen, Germany. Just today I found her baptism in the church book.

    I always thought that Maria’s maiden name was Bortscheller, that’s what was stated on the marriage certificate. I do not have her parents marriage date. At least now I know to look after her birth date. Once again, looking at original records is so important for accuracy. Maria had several siblings whose parents are also Maria Eva Bastian and Michael Bortscheller. The other children born were, Catharina in 1841 and 1846, Regina in 1850, Eva in 1851, Elisabeth in 1854, Maria Eva in 1856, Susanna in 1857 and Petrus in 1860. Eventually I will look for all them in the baptismal book and find out when their parents got married.

    Maria Anna got married to my husband’s second Great Grandfather, Christoph Päbst, 29 June 1878 in Ludwigshafen. Christoph was also born in Germersheim and an illegitimate child. I wrote about Christoph in a previous blog. Below is the marriage certificate.

    On the top page of the certificate I circled two side notes or Randvermerke in German. They were the death years of each spouse. Always try to figure what these notes mean. On the back page I circled the name Maria Anna Päbst nee Bortscheller. She should have signed it Bastian, however she might have not ever known her original maiden name. Each document tells a story! In genealogy the more copies of original records you can obtain, the better off you are.

    Maria Anna and Christoph had four children together, all born in Ludwigshafen. Anton in 1872, Hans, my husband’s Great Grandfather, in 1874, Maria Eva in 1881 and Magdalena in 1888.

    Maria Anna died 21 Oct 1913 in Ludwigshafen. Her death certificate is below.

    A few unusual facts about this blog, both Anna Maria and her husband were illegitimate children. Also they didn’t marry in their hometown of Germersheim. As always below you will find a map of where Anna Maria lived. The map shows Manheim which is across the river Rhein from Ludwigshafen. On the left side you see the famous towns of Bad Dürkheim, Neustadt an der Weinstraße, Landau in der Pfalz and on the right side you can see Heidelberg, all well known cities in this famous wine region.

    I visited Heidelberg in October. Here are few pictures I took.

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  • Heinrich Wippel 1846-?

    Heinrich Wippel was my husband’s maternal second Great Grandfather. He was born 21 December 1846 in Maudach, Bavaria and he was baptized two days later in the St. Michael Catholic Church in the same town.

    Heinrich’s parents were Markus Wippel and Maria Josepha Firmery. Heinrich had several siblings. Barbara 1837-1893, Elisabetha 1840-1868, Jakob 1844-1868, Anna Maria 1849-1849, Adam 1851-1851 and Johann Adam 1853-1875. None of the siblings were very old when they died. I have yet to find Heinrich’s death date.

    Heinrich got married 31 August 1871 in Nußdorf to Elisabetha Hochdörfer.

    In the old days it was customary to get married where the bride was from. The couple had several children. One of them was my husband’s Great Grandmother, Barbara Wippel.

    Heinrich’s wife died 16 September 1905 in Ludwigshafen, Germany. On her death certificate is a death year of 1917 penciled in next to his name. My guess is that he died that year, however the death certificates for Ludwigshafen are online until the 1950’s on ancestry, but I can’t find Heinrich’s. He must have died somewhere other than Ludwigshafen. It was during WW1, may be Heinrich was visiting relatives. We might never know. Below is his wife’s death certificate. I circled the year 1917. I might manually look at the 1917 death certificates. May be I can find him in Ludwigshafen after all.

    Heinrich was born in Maudach, got married in Nußdorf and probably died somewhere near Ludwigshafen.

    Sources:

    Ancestry , Archion, Google Maps

  • Karl Beiersdörfer 1881-1951

    Karl Beiersdörfer was my husband’s maternal Great Grandfather. Karl was born 16 November 1881 in Friesenheim and died 15 March 1951 in Ludwigshafen am Rhein, Germany. His parents were the butcher, Franz Beiersdörfer and his wife Elisabeth Höcker.

    Karl married Margarete Senck 20 June 1908 in Ludwigshafen am Rhein.

    The marriage certificate states the names of the bride and groom and their parents. It states that the location of Karl’s Father Franz is unknown and that his Mother had married a second time and her last name is now Steiner. We also learn that Karl is a mason. It also says that the bride, Margarete Senck is a magazine worker and that she was born in Oggersheim. Her parents are Christoph Senck and Margarete Weinacht. The marriage certificate has several side notes (Randvermerke in German) These side notes can be of utmost importance for further research. On the right side of the first page it is written that Karl died 18 Mar 1951 in Ludwigshafen and the number of the death certificate is number 370/1951. There is a second side note that states that his wife Margarete died 5 May 1953 and that the number of the death certificate is 6061/1953. On the second page is another side note which mentions the birth of one of the children, Oscar Beiersdörfer, born 24 Sep 1924 and his marriage on 30 September 1950. Per German privacy laws I would not be able to order the Oscar’s birth or marriage certificate yet. You can order birth certificates after 110 years, marriage after 80 years and death after 30 years.

    Karl fought in WW1 in the Alsace Lorrain region an area the Germans and French have fought over for hundreds of years.

    In the Bavarian personal roster we we learn that Karl is catholic, when and where he was born, that he was a mason, that he was married and had three children at the time. We also learn that his Father, Franz, apparently lived in America, however the location is unknown and his Mother lived in Friesenheim.

    Last month I travelled for the very first time to the Alsace Lorraine region on our way to Switzerland. We spent a few hours in the beautiful town of Colmar. The German spelling would have been Kolmar. Here are few of my pictures I took.

    If you have the chance, go and visit the Alsace Lorraine region. It’s very beautiful. I hope to go there again on my next trip to Europe.

    My Mother In Law said that Karl her Grandfather was a very kind person. He had a garden where he grew rhubarb, chamomile and peppermint. He also had a cherry tree and would get upset when the grandchildren came and picked the cherries too early. Karl also had rabbits, chicken and a goat.

    Oggersheim and Friesenheim are all part of Ludwigshafen am Rhein.

  • 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.