Hello Nina, Of course we are interested! How wonderful of you to share and how wonderful you were able to go where none of us can go and I could not speak German if I were there! I am excited over this and look forward to hearing about anything you have learned, even if we see no connections at this time. Perhaps you will find the clue that all of us need to "finally" find our family. Many thanks for the offer to share and all of your hard word on behalf of the Harkey family. As always I am looking forward to your post. Flora ----- Original Message ----- From: "Nina Harkey" <nhark@tc3net.com> To: <HARKEY-L@rootsweb.com> Sent: Monday, July 29, 2002 9:00 AM Subject: [HARKEY-L] Herche/ Sterbfritz. > For those of you who might be interested: > > I went to Sterbfritz, /Schwarzenfels/Sintal area in April and made contact with many researchers interested, not only in Herche but the area in general. > > In Altengronau there is a house, still called the Herche Haus, now still occupied by a direct descendent, Herche/Maienschein/Ulrich, a daughter now married to an Ulrich. (and all variations on the spelling). > > I am in contact with Karl-Heinz Herche, his direct ancestor is Hartmann Herche, a younger brother of Johannes. Many of Hartmann's descendants are still in Germany, some went to Indiana. Karl-Heinz's father was the last Herche in Sterbfritz, leaving there about 1927. > > I am hoping, with his help, and that of Clemens Schreiber who researches Church Records in the area, and the local historian Karl Ulrich, living in Schwarzenfels, that we may, once and for all, know who our 1st "Herche/Harkey" was. > > I have tons of info, I can start to post it. Unfortunately, it still does not get us from there to here, and I firmly believe that the Lydia in 1743 was NOT the ship Herche used to enter this country. > > Anyone interested? > <:?) > > >

Flo, I am a native German speaker, but I must say, the dialect in this area of the country took some "listening and working into". There are several spellings the Herche family used, one of them being HERGE according to locals. Karl_Heinz has Herge in his database, and has tied them into this one family. Herche is pronounced Her-sche, and could have evolved to Hershey as we know it in the states (chocolate people) . The dialect in this area pronounces it as Haer-Ghee, or Hair-Key...hence Harkey evolved from it. Makes sense. Herche in any other area would be spoken as Her-sche, only in this area of Hessen would it be spoken as Hair-key.... , even if spelled Herche or Herge. ----- Original Message ----- From: Flo To: HARKEY-L@rootsweb.com Sent: Monday, July 29, 2002 11:43 AM Subject: Re: [HARKEY-L] Herche/ Sterbfritz. Hello Nina, Of course we are interested! How wonderful of you to share and how wonderful you were able to go where none of us can go and I could not speak German if I were there! I am excited over this and look forward to hearing about anything you have learned, even if we see no connections at this time. Perhaps you will find the clue that all of us need to "finally" find our family. Many thanks for the offer to share and all of your hard word on behalf of the Harkey family. As always I am looking forward to your post. Flora ----- Original Message ----- From: "Nina Harkey" <nhark@tc3net.com> To: <HARKEY-L@rootsweb.com> Sent: Monday, July 29, 2002 9:00 AM Subject: [HARKEY-L] Herche/ Sterbfritz. > For those of you who might be interested: > > I went to Sterbfritz, /Schwarzenfels/Sintal area in April and made contact with many researchers interested, not only in Herche but the area in general. > > In Altengronau there is a house, still called the Herche Haus, now still occupied by a direct descendent, Herche/Maienschein/Ulrich, a daughter now married to an Ulrich. (and all variations on the spelling). > > I am in contact with Karl-Heinz Herche, his direct ancestor is Hartmann Herche, a younger brother of Johannes. Many of Hartmann's descendants are still in Germany, some went to Indiana. Karl-Heinz's father was the last Herche in Sterbfritz, leaving there about 1927. > > I am hoping, with his help, and that of Clemens Schreiber who researches Church Records in the area, and the local historian Karl Ulrich, living in Schwarzenfels, that we may, once and for all, know who our 1st "Herche/Harkey" was. > > I have tons of info, I can start to post it. Unfortunately, it still does not get us from there to here, and I firmly believe that the Lydia in 1743 was NOT the ship Herche used to enter this country. > > Anyone interested? > <:?) > > >