In einer eMail vom 07.01.05 21:24:50 (MEZ) Mitteleuropäische Zeit schreibt randbsale@hotmail.com: I know a lot of research has been done in early PA, but I am curious about the status of German research. Where, when, why, what and who knows anything about Geiger research in Baden? Is this research recent or a century old? For that matter, who has read the LDS films for Berwangen? And who knows about the locations and the status of other relevant archived documents in this area of Baden? You can't do much Ahnenforschung looking at the trees and soaking in the ambience. If you plan on using any archives, assuming they are open to the public, better confirm their specific days and hours of operation in advance. Email may not be acknowledged and correspondence may be backlogged, like a couple months. I'm sorry having to tell you that I don't know anything about the Geiger tribes beyond the Rhine River and I also don't know anything about someone who does research in that part of Germany about the Geigers. For sure, there are people who do it. And I got three photos from about 1930 showing two women - most probably from Loeffingen - and one of a house, obviously a store run by Franz Geiger, with him, his wife and two boys right in front of the front door. One of the photos of the women says "Meine Cousine Ida Geiger Löffingen 1927" = "My Cousin Ida Geiger - Loeffingen- 1927" while the store-photo says: "Herzlichen Glueckwunsch zum neuen Jahr 1923 - Familie Geiger" = "Happy New Year 1923 - the Geiger family". Years ago I had been in contact to a town where those Geigers from Geigertown, Berks County, PA, originate from but until today I wait for their first letter to write. I was asking for a book or something written about their emigration but no answer yet. I didn't care too much about it for I knew for sure they were not related to me. My line which I can follow back into 17th Century goes (back in time) from my hometown St. Wendel (myself) through Baltersweiler and Gruegelborn to Reitscheid and Oberkirchen, proceeds to Leitzweiler near Baumholder (latter part of 18th Century) and ends at Woersbach near Schallodenbach deep in the Palatinate (north of Kaiserslautern) with a Jacob Geyer born about 1675. You can see part of it (but only back to Leitzweiler) on my German-run website _www.geiger-roland.de_ (http://www.geiger-roland.de) Yours Roland Geiger Historical and Genalogical Research Alsfassener Strasse 17 66606 St. Wendel Germany phone ++49-6851-3166 email rolgeiger@aol.com www.geiger-roland.de => genealogy => local history => transcriptions (f.e. old German into modern) => translations (English-German, German-English) => guided tours through St. Wendel County

Some of the more recently-published English-language history books about 18th-c. immigration of German-speakers include references and bibliographies about where one would go in Baden or Württemberg in order to locate original sources, including those pertaining to the various Geiger families with members who went to NY, PA, NC, SC, GA and probably other places. I've enjoyed reading these: 1. A.G. Roeber, Palatines, Liberty and Property: German Lutherans in Colonial British America (Baltimore MD: Johns Hopkins Univ. Press, 1993, 1998). The Geigers-of-Ittlingen are a running-theme about the successful immigrants who became brokers between the Old and New Worlds. (Also, references to the Geigers-of-Beihingen of SC.) 2. Marianne S. Wokeck, Trade in Strangers: The Beginnings of Mass Migration to North American (University Park PA: PA State Univ. Press, 1999). No specific mention of Geigers, but a great deal of info about when, where, why and how people in their villages chose to emigrate. Many references to original sources in Baden, as well as in PA. 3. Aaron Spencer Fogleman, Hopeful Journeys: German Immigration, Settlement, and Political Culture in Colonial America, 1717-1775 (Philadelphia PA: Univ. of PA Press, 1996). Again, a very complete set of references, from both sides of the Atlantic, arranged as primary sources, secondary-sources from the 19th-c., more-recent secondary-sources, etc. No specific Geiger-info, just clues about where to look in Baden-Württemberg. The Geigers-of-Ittlingen in the Kraichgau apparently left more legal records in Germany than their relatives in the adjacent parish of Berwangen. The Ittlinger-folks became international businessmen fairly early, and served as brokers for PA and SC Geigers (among others). They are included in Annette Kunselmann Burgert, Eighteenth Century Emigrants from German-Speaking Lands to North America, Vol. 1, The Northern Kraichgau. Publications of the PA German Society, Vol. 16, Breinigsville PA: The Pennsylvania German Society, 1983. Out-of-print and hard to find, but a lovely book! I finally found a copy, but it was so lovely that I didn't manage to write down the Geiger references before loaning it to a couple of German-born friends: they spotted the book while visiting, saw the picture of the exact place where they'd met, the place where they'd honeymooned, and the place where his father had taken canoe-trips down the Neckar. These "immediate" family-connections obviously trump my interest in Geigers of long-ago, so I loaned the book to my friends. Will update the Ittlingen-Geiger notes after they return it. (References from the 18th-c. aren't going to go out-of-date any time within the next few months.) The Burgert book is the place-to-go for references to the original sources re the Geigers of Ittlingen. The Geigers-of-Beihingen, a bit further up the Neckar, left lots of records. They acquired so VERY much property in SC that the legal documents dealing with the estate got a bit complicated. A couple of letters from immigrant Jacob-of-Beihingen were included in Albrecht Ritz, Auswanderung in Gestalten und Eriegneisse aus Beihinen am Neckar (Ludwigsburg, Germany, 1939). A portion of that was translated by Clifford Neal Smith, published in 1980. Both are thoroughly out-of-print and unavailable. The English version missed the GOOD stuff: elder-brother Michael was believed to have died in 1767 because he'd been poisoned by his slaves, left no survivors except for brother Jacob. Jacob had buried his first wife and four of his children as of 1767, married again (Mary Morgandollar, daughter of Caspar Morgandollar of Purrysburgh and Verena/Frances Fridig of Orangeburgh), and he had ONE single heir left in 1769: infant-daughter Mary of second-wife Mary. Young-Mary died before age 2 (as his previous 5 children had done), so the residual heirs were the brothers and their progeny still living in Beihingen. One brother (Frederick) was still living there, another brother (George) had recently died, but had children George and Rosina. They promptly sold their large--very large--SC inheritance to a cousin (near-cousin? distant-cousin?) Jacob Geiger of Ittlingen, since he knew how to handle international transactions. He later sent his son Henry to Charleston SC in order to handle all that stuff onsite. Henry Geiger, son of Jacob Geiger of Ittlingen, was on the 1790 census in Charleston SC. A Henry Geiger Jr. (b. 1796 in Charleston) has US descendants who recall that he died on a business-trip to Germany (note: not to Switzerland). There is no solid documentary-evidence that this Henry-Jr. is the son of the Henry-of-Ittlingen who lived in Charleston at the time that Henry-Jr. was born, but the SC records (land, church, tax, deed, militia, and everything else) fail to reveal anybody else who could even remotely have been his father. I'm willing to accept the tentative-hypothesis that the Ittlingen-Geigers dropped off some descendants (named Henry) in Charleston SC in the 1790's, pending evidence to the contrary. But wouldn't it be wonderful to find it all written down in the records in Baden-Württemberg? One can find plenty of those records for the Geigers of Ittlingen and Beihingen, since they wrote lots of letters. The letters are not indexed in a single place, so it takes a good bit of reading in other sources in order to find out where they might be, and if they've been translated into English. Many have not. But if one just keeps on reading the (English-language) history publications on the history of German-language immigrants, we'll keep stumbling across the German-language references to letters written by Geigers, from a large variety of parishes across Baden, Württemberg, a few in Baden-Durlach, lots in Switzerland, etc. ----- Original Message ----- From: <Rolgeiger@aol.com> To: <GEIGER-L@rootsweb.com> Sent: Friday, January 07, 2005 5:45 PM Subject: Re: [GEIGER] Geiger research in Baden: Questions > > In einer eMail vom 07.01.05 21:24:50 (MEZ) Mitteleuropäische Zeit schreibt > randbsale@hotmail.com: > > I know a lot of research has been done in early PA, but I am curious about > the status of German research. Where, when, why, what and who knows anything > about Geiger research in Baden? Is this research recent or a century old? > For that matter, who has read the LDS films for Berwangen? And who knows > about the locations and the status of other relevant archived documents in this > area of Baden? You can't do much Ahnenforschung looking at the trees and > soaking in the ambience. If you plan on using any archives, assuming they are > open to the public, better confirm their specific days and hours of operation > in advance. Email may not be acknowledged and correspondence may be > backlogged, like a couple months. > > > > I'm sorry having to tell you that I don't know anything about the Geiger > tribes beyond the Rhine River and I also don't know anything about someone who > does research in that part of Germany about the Geigers. For sure, there are > people who do it. And I got three photos from about 1930 showing two women - > most probably from Loeffingen - and one of a house, obviously a store run by > Franz Geiger, with him, his wife and two boys right in front of the front door. > > One of the photos of the women says "Meine Cousine Ida Geiger Löffingen > 1927" = "My Cousin Ida Geiger - Loeffingen- 1927" while the store-photo says: > "Herzlichen Glueckwunsch zum neuen Jahr 1923 - Familie Geiger" = "Happy New Year > 1923 - the Geiger family". > > Years ago I had been in contact to a town where those Geigers from > Geigertown, Berks County, PA, originate from but until today I wait for their first > letter to write. I was asking for a book or something written about their > emigration but no answer yet. I didn't care too much about it for I knew for sure > they were not related to me. > > My line which I can follow back into 17th Century goes (back in time) from > my hometown St. Wendel (myself) through Baltersweiler and Gruegelborn to > Reitscheid and Oberkirchen, proceeds to Leitzweiler near Baumholder (latter part > of 18th Century) and ends at Woersbach near Schallodenbach deep in the > Palatinate (north of Kaiserslautern) with a Jacob Geyer born about 1675. > > You can see part of it (but only back to Leitzweiler) on my German-run > website _www.geiger-roland.de_ (http://www.geiger-roland.de) > > Yours > > Roland Geiger > Historical and Genalogical Research > Alsfassener Strasse 17 > 66606 St. Wendel > Germany > phone ++49-6851-3166 > email rolgeiger@aol.com > www.geiger-roland.de > > => genealogy > => local history > => transcriptions (f.e. old German into modern) > => translations (English-German, German-English) > => guided tours through St. Wendel County > > > > > ==== GEIGER Mailing List ==== > Visit the GEIGER mailing list archives: http://archiver.rootsweb.com/th/index/GEIGER/ > > ============================== > New! Family Tree Maker 2005. Build your tree and search for your ancestors at the same time. Share your tree with family and friends. Learn more: http://landing.ancestry.com/familytreemaker/2005/tour.aspx?sourceid=14599&targetid=5429 > >