Dear Seekers of Family, My father who is 85 and I are seeking information on our Hämmerl family from Bogen. So I went to the German telephone book and looked up Hämmerl. http://www.telefonbuch.de/ There are 105 Hämmerls listed in Germany. The phone book has their full mailing addresses. I checked the zip codes from the Hämmerls in the phone book with their location in Germany. The German postal service has a site where you can look up towns and find the zip code or you can use the zip code (plz) and find the towns. The towns show up on a map. It is quite a good service. http://www.plz-postleitzahl.de/ I found 17 Hämmerls within twenty miles of my great grandfather's home town. I found 44 additional Hammerls listed in Bavaria, many within 75 miles of Bogen. For some of this info, I had to use www.mapquest.com. So I decided to send a letter to all 61 Hämmerls. I included a photo (on regular paper) of Joseph Hämmerl as a young man and his wedding photo. I kept the letter short and full of details that we know about our family in Germany. I sent the letter in my father's name (Walter) since he knew his grandfather very well. I did this three weeks ago and my father has received four enthusiastic email responses and one letter with genealogical info back to the 1700s. And I expect he will get a few more responses. We are learning more about our Hämmerl family in Germany. Below I am including a copy of the letter I sent. This letter is mostly in English but I had the letter translated into German before I sent it to the 61 Hämmerls. My father reads German and speaks some. I got the idea for this letter on this list a few months back when someone reported getting detailed info about common ancestors from relatives now living in Germany. Enjoy, Joseph Here is the letter: Walter Kramer 2432 Town and Country Lane St. Louis, Missouri 63131 USA 3 May 2005 Lieber Herr Hämmerl (or) Liebe Frau Hämmerl, My name is Walter Kramer and I live in St. Louis, Missouri, USA. I am seeking information on my Hämmerl family in Germany. My Grandfather Joseph Carl Hämmerl emigrated from Bogen to America in 1884. Here is what I know about my favorite Grandfather: Josef Carl Hämmerl was born in Bogen on 18 March 1869. His father was Max Hämmerl, the oberamtsrichter von Bogen. He had three brothers, Max, Johan and Lothar. He also had three sisters. One was named Amalie. He came to St. Louis about 1884. He married Mary Henrietta Berberich. When I was a boy, I lived with my Grossvater Hämmerl. He taught me about gardening. Before he died in 1939, he was the chief gardener for the City of St. Louis. I would like to know more about my Hämmerl family in Germany. Do we have mutual ancestors? I would be very happy to get an answer from you by email (PeggyKramer1@juno.com) or by mail und ich bedanke mich schon jetzt ganz herzlich dafuer. Viele Gruesse ueber den Ozean nach "Old Germany." (signed) Walter Kramer

Joseph, In Dodge Co, Wisconsin, there is at least one family named HEIMERL. Could they be distant cousins? Beth STEINBERG ARNOTT ----- Original Message ----- From: "Joseph Kramer" <kramer@erospirit.org> To: <BAVARIA-L@rootsweb.com> Sent: Wednesday, May 25, 2005 9:02 AM Subject: [BAVARIA] Connecting with family in Bavaria Dear Seekers of Family, My father who is 85 and I are seeking information on our Hämmerl family from Bogen. So I went to the German telephone book and looked up Hämmerl. http://www.telefonbuch.de/ There are 105 Hämmerls listed in Germany. The phone book has their full mailing addresses. I checked the zip codes from the Hämmerls in the phone book with their location in Germany. The German postal service has a site where you can look up towns and find the zip code or you can use the zip code (plz) and find the towns. The towns show up on a map. It is quite a good service. http://www.plz-postleitzahl.de/ I found 17 Hämmerls within twenty miles of my great grandfather's home town. I found 44 additional Hammerls listed in Bavaria, many within 75 miles of Bogen. For some of this info, I had to use www.mapquest.com. So I decided to send a letter to all 61 Hämmerls. I included a photo (on regular paper) of Joseph Hämmerl as a young man and his wedding photo. I kept the letter short and full of details that we know about our family in Germany. I sent the letter in my father's name (Walter) since he knew his grandfather very well. I did this three weeks ago and my father has received four enthusiastic email responses and one letter with genealogical info back to the 1700s. And I expect he will get a few more responses. We are learning more about our Hämmerl family in Germany. Below I am including a copy of the letter I sent. This letter is mostly in English but I had the letter translated into German before I sent it to the 61 Hämmerls. My father reads German and speaks some. I got the idea for this letter on this list a few months back when someone reported getting detailed info about common ancestors from relatives now living in Germany. Enjoy, Joseph Here is the letter: Walter Kramer 2432 Town and Country Lane St. Louis, Missouri 63131 USA 3 May 2005 Lieber Herr Hämmerl (or) Liebe Frau Hämmerl, My name is Walter Kramer and I live in St. Louis, Missouri, USA. I am seeking information on my Hämmerl family in Germany. My Grandfather Joseph Carl Hämmerl emigrated from Bogen to America in 1884. Here is what I know about my favorite Grandfather: Josef Carl Hämmerl was born in Bogen on 18 March 1869. His father was Max Hämmerl, the oberamtsrichter von Bogen. He had three brothers, Max, Johan and Lothar. He also had three sisters. One was named Amalie. He came to St. Louis about 1884. He married Mary Henrietta Berberich. When I was a boy, I lived with my Grossvater Hämmerl. He taught me about gardening. Before he died in 1939, he was the chief gardener for the City of St. Louis. I would like to know more about my Hämmerl family in Germany. Do we have mutual ancestors? I would be very happy to get an answer from you by email (PeggyKramer1@juno.com) or by mail und ich bedanke mich schon jetzt ganz herzlich dafuer. Viele Gruesse ueber den Ozean nach "Old Germany." (signed) Walter Kramer ==== BAVARIA Mailing List ==== Going on Vacation? Longer than 4 days? Go to http://lists.rootsweb.com/index/intl/DEU/BAVARIA.html to unsubscribe