As far as I know there were kinship books for 31 towns in the Ortenau (one was planned for Oberschopfheim some years ago): Rust Kappel Grafenhausen Ringsheim Münchweier Altdorf Schmieheim Dörlinbach Schuttertal Fischerbach (missing?) Mahlberg and Orschweier Kippenheim Kippenheimweiler Mietersheim Wittenweier Nonnenweier Allmannsweier Ottenheim Meißenheim Schutterzell Friesenheim Oberweier Ichenheim Dundenheim Altenheim Müllen Önsbach Großweier Sasbach Lauf

Wendelin, Do you know why these towns were chosen for kinship books? Is it because of the towns' size way back when they were written, or is it that the books cover the surrounding towns? The reason I ask is that my ancestors came from quite a variety of towns in Ortenau, and not one of the towns they were from is on this list. Mahlberg/Kippenheim area is a "maybe" for my BLOESI ancestor, but I've never found her baptismal/birth record there. I've only found her parents and a few possible siblings listed in a film that had transcribed records. Though I've never seen one of these kinship books, it sounds like one that an e-mail friend I know has for the Furtwangen area. He referred to it as a "farmer's book", but it sounds the same - one he purchased about 15 years ago or so, but is no longer available. In it were several pages that covered my KETTERER line dating back to about the late 1500's, listing the siblings, who they married and their children with the "year" of birth for all. I took that information and went to the original church film records to confirm everything and to include the month and day with the dates. It made things alot easier for researching to have this book. For some off-topic addition: My emigrating KETTERER family lived in Ebersweier in the 1800's, but prior to that were from Schönenbach (by Furtwangen). For anyone interested in this line, some of the related Ebersweier KETTERER's then moved to Windschläg. My family immigrated to Ste. Genevieve County in Missouri. Then about 10-20 years later, parents and at least one sibling moved across the river into Illinois, where more German communities had evolved. Carol -----Original Message----- From: Wendelin Irslinger [mailto:[email protected]] Sent: Sunday, October 02, 2005 3:46 AM To: [email protected] Subject: Re: [Ortenau] kinship book / Familienbuch As far as I know there were kinship books for 31 towns in the Ortenau (one was planned for Oberschopfheim some years ago): Rust Kappel Grafenhausen Ringsheim Münchweier Altdorf Schmieheim Dörlinbach Schuttertal Fischerbach (missing?) Mahlberg and Orschweier Kippenheim Kippenheimweiler Mietersheim Wittenweier Nonnenweier Allmannsweier Ottenheim Meißenheim Schutterzell Friesenheim Oberweier Ichenheim Dundenheim Altenheim Müllen Önsbach Großweier Sasbach Lauf ==== DEU-BAD-ORTENAU Mailing List ==== A list of Historic and Current towns of the Ortenau can be found at < http://ortenau.genealogy-bw.de >. ============================== View and search Historical Newspapers. Read about your ancestors, find marriage announcements and more. Learn more: http://www.ancestry.com/s13969/rd.ashx