Looking for village originally written as Steidelbach. Have only found one obscure mention of one town in the Rhineland-Palatinate. This town is supposed to be in the Alsfeld District. Since the original gave the reference as Striess Alsfeld, I can't say how accurate the name Steidelbach is. Any suggestions for a replacement?

Hi Kathy, http://christoph.stoepel.net/geogen/en/Default.aspx Bobbi ----- Original Message ----- From: "Kathy Cochran" To: "'Arden'"; <hesse@rootsweb.com> Sent: 22 January, 2011 2:13 PM Subject: Re: [HESSE] Hessian Dialect > Hello, Arden, > > Thank you for your kind reply, and your encouragement as well. Sometimes > it > just gets so discouraging - continuing to bang my head up against so many > brick walls. > > One question that keeps bugging me is why these people that emigrated > never > talked very much about the towns or villages from whence they came. > > Also, another question - that someone out there will know. There is > another German name that I want to find out where they were from. My > mother > was a GIFFELS, which apparently came from only a very small part of > Germany. > I believe that there is a way to find out what areas the name pops up in. > Does anyone have that link handy? > > Thanks again for the encouragement.......... > > > > Kathy Cochran

In my research I've found a number of immigrants who didn't talk about home or family left behind because it was too painful, made them homesick, they were sometimes doing better here than there and felt guilty. At least that's what a few letters to home made it sound. Susan Sent from my iPhone On Jan 22, 2011, at 11:13 AM, "Kathy Cochran" <kathys_old_house@goldrush.com> wrote: > Hello, Arden, > > Thank you for your kind reply, and your encouragement as well. Sometimes it > just gets so discouraging - continuing to bang my head up against so many > brick walls. > > One question that keeps bugging me is why these people that emigrated never > talked very much about the towns or villages from whence they came. > > Also, another question - that someone out there will know. There is > another German name that I want to find out where they were from. My mother > was a GIFFELS, which apparently came from only a very small part of Germany. > I believe that there is a way to find out what areas the name pops up in. > Does anyone have that link handy? > > Thanks again for the encouragement.......... > > > > Kathy Cochran > > > > > > > -----Original Message----- > From: Arden [mailto:birdsanct@optonline.net] > Sent: Saturday, January 22, 2011 4:24 AM > To: Kathy Cochran > Subject: Re: [HESSE] Hessian Dialect > > Hi Kathy, > > It is my understanding that Hesse-Darmstadt covers a very large area. I > connected with a woman from IN researching her father's family from > Darmstadt also. She did not have much luck in her research due to many name > changes in the family, but don't give up. To my knowledge there is a town of > > Darmstadt bordering the little town of Eberstadt. I lived on the outskirts > but a quick trolley ride and I was in the center of town, most likely the > capital. A beautiful, busy city with cobblestone streets. > > Stay on the Roots Web lists, there are a lot of knowledgeable people out > there. Go to Google search and put in Darmstadt to take a look. Wikipedia > has a lot of info. I understand the frustration of getting no where, I am > stuck on my Schermuly side from Bavaria....all of his Civil War records say > something different (Germany, Bayern, Baden, etc.) causing me grief. > > Good luck with your search and don't give up. > > Arden > > > Hello Arden, > > I am green with envy at your stories of "Darmstadt." I have great-great and > g-g-g grandparents (that I know of) from there, and probably many more > further back that I DON'T know about. I am "stuck." Jacob Born was my > g-g-grandfather, and his naturalization document said "Hesse-Darmstadt" as > did the Census's of his mother (Sophia Born) and his brother Adam Born, who > emigrated from Darmstadt about 1836. I have been NO WHERE able to find a > town in Darmstadt listed. Is it possible that there IS a town named > "Darmstadt, within the county of Darmstadt, that is where they could have > been from ? > > I would be delighted to hear from you. > > Kindest regards, > > Kathy Cochran > San Andreas, California > > > Hello Don, > > Eberstadt....wow, I was a military wife in the very early 60's and when I > arrived in Germany we lived in a tiny one room apartment in Eberstadt then > later in Darmstadt to be nearer the base. What wonderful memories I have of > those two towns and the two wonderful families that we rented from. How I > would love to travel back and visit the towns of my ancestors, St. Arnual, > Saarbrucken, Kell am See and my road block from Bavaria. > > Arden > LI, NY > > > > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > HESSE-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in > the subject and the body of the message > > > > > > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to HESSE-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message

Thanks for the link! Kathy -----Original Message----- From: hesse-bounces@rootsweb.com [mailto:hesse-bounces@rootsweb.com] On Behalf Of Bobbi Sent: Saturday, January 22, 2011 11:29 AM To: hesse@rootsweb.com Subject: Re: [HESSE] Hessian Dialect Hi Kathy, http://christoph.stoepel.net/geogen/en/Default.aspx Bobbi ----- Original Message ----- From: "Kathy Cochran" To: "'Arden'"; <hesse@rootsweb.com> Sent: 22 January, 2011 2:13 PM Subject: Re: [HESSE] Hessian Dialect > Hello, Arden, > > Thank you for your kind reply, and your encouragement as well. Sometimes > it > just gets so discouraging - continuing to bang my head up against so many > brick walls. > > One question that keeps bugging me is why these people that emigrated > never > talked very much about the towns or villages from whence they came. > > Also, another question - that someone out there will know. There is > another German name that I want to find out where they were from. My > mother > was a GIFFELS, which apparently came from only a very small part of > Germany. > I believe that there is a way to find out what areas the name pops up in. > Does anyone have that link handy? > > Thanks again for the encouragement.......... > > > > Kathy Cochran ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to HESSE-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message

Hello, Arden, Thank you for your kind reply, and your encouragement as well. Sometimes it just gets so discouraging - continuing to bang my head up against so many brick walls. One question that keeps bugging me is why these people that emigrated never talked very much about the towns or villages from whence they came. Also, another question - that someone out there will know. There is another German name that I want to find out where they were from. My mother was a GIFFELS, which apparently came from only a very small part of Germany. I believe that there is a way to find out what areas the name pops up in. Does anyone have that link handy? Thanks again for the encouragement.......... Kathy Cochran -----Original Message----- From: Arden [mailto:birdsanct@optonline.net] Sent: Saturday, January 22, 2011 4:24 AM To: Kathy Cochran Subject: Re: [HESSE] Hessian Dialect Hi Kathy, It is my understanding that Hesse-Darmstadt covers a very large area. I connected with a woman from IN researching her father's family from Darmstadt also. She did not have much luck in her research due to many name changes in the family, but don't give up. To my knowledge there is a town of Darmstadt bordering the little town of Eberstadt. I lived on the outskirts but a quick trolley ride and I was in the center of town, most likely the capital. A beautiful, busy city with cobblestone streets. Stay on the Roots Web lists, there are a lot of knowledgeable people out there. Go to Google search and put in Darmstadt to take a look. Wikipedia has a lot of info. I understand the frustration of getting no where, I am stuck on my Schermuly side from Bavaria....all of his Civil War records say something different (Germany, Bayern, Baden, etc.) causing me grief. Good luck with your search and don't give up. Arden Hello Arden, I am green with envy at your stories of "Darmstadt." I have great-great and g-g-g grandparents (that I know of) from there, and probably many more further back that I DON'T know about. I am "stuck." Jacob Born was my g-g-grandfather, and his naturalization document said "Hesse-Darmstadt" as did the Census's of his mother (Sophia Born) and his brother Adam Born, who emigrated from Darmstadt about 1836. I have been NO WHERE able to find a town in Darmstadt listed. Is it possible that there IS a town named "Darmstadt, within the county of Darmstadt, that is where they could have been from ? I would be delighted to hear from you. Kindest regards, Kathy Cochran San Andreas, California Hello Don, Eberstadt....wow, I was a military wife in the very early 60's and when I arrived in Germany we lived in a tiny one room apartment in Eberstadt then later in Darmstadt to be nearer the base. What wonderful memories I have of those two towns and the two wonderful families that we rented from. How I would love to travel back and visit the towns of my ancestors, St. Arnual, Saarbrucken, Kell am See and my road block from Bavaria. Arden LI, NY ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to HESSE-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message

Thank you Ernst-Peter for your valuable input on where to possibly find records pre-dating church Matrikel books. You guys (Germans living in Germany) have it all over us poor German-Americans in accessing these records and knowing where they might be found. With us, it's just hit or miss. In my Gau-Odernheim case (a maternal line), I was just very lucky in contacting the parish priest who knew where the records I needed were located, and he was kind enough to forward them on. Co-incidentally, those Verbandsgemeinde records from Alzey arrived on the eve of my departure for Iphofen, UF where I would spend five weeks researching my father's family with phenominal success, tracing scores of lines into the early 1500s. Those Iphofen records ,fortunately, were not destroyed in the 30-Years War, and although the kath. archives in Bamberg had microfilmed the records, the earliest(and latest) books were still in the parish. The mid-range books (ca. 1700-1800s) were kept in the Bamberg archive, so I had to travel there to research and to connect the various lines. I must say, it is Soooo much easier using the original churchbooks than using microfilm or microfiche. Thank you still again for all your valuable information. I have printed it out, and will save it for future reference. I'm sure your list of repositories will come in handy for my future research. A belated Merry Christmas to you, and Best Wishes for a Happy & Healthy New Year!!! Madeline Galbraith geb. Bovery/Boveri ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Message: 1 Date: Sun, 26 Dec 2010 00:33:37 +0100 From: Ernst-Peter Winter <e.p.winter@t-online.de> Subject: Re: [HESSE] Possible Earlier Hesse Records To: hesse@rootsweb.com Message-ID: <4D167F51.6070909@t-online.de> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed Hi Madeline, it's very difficult to find out where the informations on your ancestors can be found in the yeras before 1800. You have to know, to what territory belongs this village and where could the documents be found. Some villages belongs to more than one government. You have to know the religion of your ancestors to look up the right church records. The churchbooks of Rheinhessen (with Gau-Odernheim) where collected by the french government an given to the political community. Some of the books came back to the parishes later after the french priod. So you can find them at - the parishes - the deanery archive - the archive of the bishopric - the archive of the community (Verbandsgemeinde) - the archive of the state Some informations of the Rheinhessen Area could be found at Paris/France or Wien/Austria. > I then wrote directly to the kath. church in Gau-Odernheim inquiring > about earlier records, and the priest forwarded my letter to a area > civil administration group in Alzey(I think the name was a > Verbindungsgemeinschaft, or something like that), and they sent me a > wealth of additional information going back four more generations, > female ancestors included. I was dumbstruck. > > So, even if church records may (or may not) have been destroyed by war, > there is a POSSIBILITY that some other records may still exist, and it > worth taking a shot at. Sometimes it is possible to find other records > besides churchbook records, > ... and in many cases duplicate church records exist in other repositories. Duplicates of church records did not exist for the time of the 30-year-war and earlier. The catholic parishes of archbishopric Mainz begins at 1754, for the western banks of the river Rhine you get Zivilstandsregister since 1798, and Hesse-Darmstadt begins at 1808 with duplicates. There might be more informations, but it's thrilling like a crime to find out where. And often you need a unforeseen event ... Ernst-Peter (Winter) ------------------------------

I was wondering if anyone can give me more information on the following people: Johanna Heinrich PAULJohann Conrad PAUL (b. abt 1712, d. 23-3-1753 Altwildungen, Hessen, Germany)Johannetta Elisabeth Schimmel (b. abt. 1718, d. 11-4-1758 Altwildungen, Hessen, Germany) Any information is helpful. I was able to trace this far back but looking for more information. I am looking for parents, sisters, brothers, and any other family history.  Thank you very much for the help. Claudette m. Beermanpapiamento2001@yahoo.comHaverhill, MA, USA

Hi Madeline, it's very difficult to find out where the informations on your ancestors can be found in the yeras before 1800. You have to know, to what territory belongs this village and where could the documents be found. Some villages belongs to more than one government. You have to know the religion of your ancestors to look up the right church records. The churchbooks of Rheinhessen (with Gau-Odernheim) where collected by the french government an given to the political community. Some of the books came back to the parishes later after the french priod. So you can find them at - the parishes - the deanery archive - the archive of the bishopric - the archive of the community (Verbandsgemeinde) - the archive of the state Some informations of the Rheinhessen Area could be found at Paris/France or Wien/Austria. > I then wrote directly to the kath. church in Gau-Odernheim inquiring > about earlier records, and the priest forwarded my letter to a area > civil administration group in Alzey(I think the name was a > Verbindungsgemeinschaft, or something like that), and they sent me a > wealth of additional information going back four more generations, > female ancestors included. I was dumbstruck. > > So, even if church records may (or may not) have been destroyed by war, > there is a POSSIBILITY that some other records may still exist, and it > worth taking a shot at. Sometimes it is possible to find other records > besides churchbook records, > ... and in many cases duplicate church records exist in other repositories. Duplicates of church records did not exist for the time of the 30-year-war and earlier. The catholic parishes of archbishopric Mainz begins at 1754, for the western banks of the river Rhine you get Zivilstandsregister since 1798, and Hesse-Darmstadt begins at 1808 with duplicates. There might be more informations, but it's thrilling like a crime to find out where. And often you need a unforeseen event ... Ernst-Peter (Winter)

I don't know if this will help or not, but back in 1988 when I was researching my Rothar/ROTHAAR, et al ancestors from Gau-Odernheim, H-D, I had exhausted the LDS microfilmed church records for that town, but many of my ancestors were noted in the film from the early 1700s marriage records as having been born in that place, and yet there were no birth records on the films for the earlier period. I then wrote directly to the kath. church in Gau-Odernheim inquiring about earlier records, and the priest forwarded my letter to a area civil administration group in Alzey(I think the name was a Verbindungsgemeinschaft, or something like that), and they sent me a wealth of additional information going back four more generations, female ancestors included. I was dumbstruck. So, even if church records may (or may not) have been destroyed by war, there is a POSSIBILITY that some other records may still exist, and it worth taking a shot at. Sometimes it is possible to find other records besides churchbook records, and in many cases duplicate church records exist in other repositories. Good luck! Madeline ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Message: 1 Date: Wed, 22 Dec 2010 12:17:42 -0800 From: "D.L. MacLaughlan-Dumes" <dmac@physics.ucla.edu> Subject: [HESSE] Where to go from here? Gro? Zimmern records before 1640 To: hesse@rootsweb.com Message-ID: <D3CA5D30-3FB7-49EE-9C04-B50F099B4AAB@physics.ucla.edu> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=iso-8859-1 The short version of the question: do any church records exist for Gro? Zimmern prior to 1640? LDS microfilm covers the town pretty well beginning in 1640 and onward, and by good luck and many weeks perusing the film I've found that I have a number of ancestors there (surnames include St?rger/St?rcher, Dressel, Breidenbach, Dietrich, Herbert). But going back earlier in Gro? Zimmern doesn't appear possible from microfilm. Does anyone know whether there are local archives in Hesse Darmstadt that might contain records earlier than 1640 and, if so, whom I might contact to do more research? I've found some of my folks in microfilm of other towns nearby (Spachbr?cken, Gro? Umstedt, Reinheim) but it's pretty occasional. Gro? Zimmern is the town I'd really like to research further back, if possible. Suggestions would be most welcome. Regards, Debra MacLaughlan-Dumes http://sakionline.net/familypage ------------------------------

Dear Debra, > The short version of the question: do any church records > exist for Groß Zimmern prior to 1640? You can find the beginning of church recors in Hesse-Darmstadt by looking up the "Praetorius" at the german GenWiki. Groß-Zimmern could be found at: <http://wiki-de.genealogy.net/Kirchenb%C3%BCcher_und_Standesregister_f%C3%BCr_alle_Wohnpl%C3%A4tze_im_Land_Hessen_%281939%29/062> You can see that there are no church record prior to 1640. Herzliche Grüße Ernst-Peter(Winter)

On Dec 22, 2010, at 3:17 PM, Ernst-Peter Winter wrote: > Dear Debra, > >> The short version of the question: do any church records >> exist for Groß Zimmern prior to 1640? > > You can find the beginning of church recors in > Hesse-Darmstadt by looking up the "Praetorius" at the german > GenWiki. > > Groß-Zimmern could be found at: > <http://wiki-de.genealogy.net/Kirchenb%C3%BCcher_und_Standesregister_f%C3%BCr_alle_Wohnpl%C3%A4tze_im_Land_Hessen_%281939%29/062> > > You can see that there are no church record prior to 1640. Thanks for the link, very helpful. I'll use this to check records availability in the future. On Dec 22, 2010, at 2:02 PM, Marleen Van Horne wrote: > It is highly unlikely you will find any records before 1640. The Thirty > Years War which lasted from 1618 to 1648 was extremely hard on what is > now Germany. Many towns that existed before 1618 completely disappeared > as a result of the war. In the case of towns that survived, their > earlier records were destroyed, completely. To find records from the > 1640s is rare, in many cases it was the 1680s before regular record > keeping began again. I knew about this from research in other areas of Hesse, so I suspected that this might be the case with Groß Zimmern. But I held out hope that there might be other options. Spachbrücken records go back to 1610 and Reinheim to 1575. Maybe those parishes were fortunate. But I'm grateful to have the Groß Zimmern records back as far as they go. Thanks for your help! Regards, Debra MacLaughlan-Dumes http://sakionline.net/familypage

Debra, It is highly unlikely you will find any records before 1640. The Thirty Years War which lasted from 1618 to 1648 was extremely hard on what is now Germany. Many towns that existed before 1618 completely disappeared as a result of the war. In the case of towns that survived, their earlier records were destroyed, completely. To find records from the 1640s is rare, in many cases it was the 1680s before regular record keeping began again. In most cases what the FHL has is what there is. There is another problem, however, some religious denominations is Germany have refused to allow the LDS Church/Library microfilm their records as a result of religious differences. In those cases, the records that do exist can only be viewed in archives in Germany. It depends on what church your ancestors attended, the FHL may have records for Catholic churches in an area, and not have existing records for the Evangelical / Lutheran churches in the same area. There are a few places that managed to save their records from before the war, but that is a hit and miss proposition. Marleen Van Horne

The short version of the question: do any church records exist for Groß Zimmern prior to 1640? LDS microfilm covers the town pretty well beginning in 1640 and onward, and by good luck and many weeks perusing the film I've found that I have a number of ancestors there (surnames include Störger/Störcher, Dressel, Breidenbach, Dietrich, Herbert). But going back earlier in Groß Zimmern doesn't appear possible from microfilm. Does anyone know whether there are local archives in Hesse Darmstadt that might contain records earlier than 1640 and, if so, whom I might contact to do more research? I've found some of my folks in microfilm of other towns nearby (Spachbrücken, Groß Umstedt, Reinheim) but it's pretty occasional. Groß Zimmern is the town I'd really like to research further back, if possible. Suggestions would be most welcome. Regards, Debra MacLaughlan-Dumes http://sakionline.net/familypage

Dear Brian, Ernst-Peter, and Tilman, Thank you so much for translating that Zopf birth certificate last month. Because of your generosity, my cousin and I are now able to go forward with our research, and we learned a couple of new terms too! Happy holidays, Sue Jones

Hello Helen, I have no idea which town it could be. Could you send me a scan. For example, my American friends searched for the place of "Rovass" some years ago. They sent me a scan and I deciphered it as "Hanau". Hanau was the right town.   Regards Karl --- Helen Sanders <landhsanders@hotmail.com> schrieb am Mi, 20.10.2010: Von: Helen Sanders <landhsanders@hotmail.com> Betreff: [HESSE] Help with a town in Hessen An: hesse@rootsweb.com Datum: Mittwoch, 20. Oktober, 2010 23:46 Uhr Hi Don and Karl and the rest of you good people, When my greatgrandmother Anna MUELLER was married to George SCHAMBACH in 1853 the name of her birth town was written as Angendorf, Gross. Hessen. Can someone think of a similar sounding town in Hesse Darmstadt? I've tried but have failed. :(    Census records say she was from Hesse Darmstadt. Any thoughts and help are much appreciated. That is one part of my family that is totally unknown, except that the name of her father may have been Georg. Thanks. Helen                                                     ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to HESSE-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message

I want to thank all you kind folks who have sent suggestions about the correct name of the town of "Angendorf." I've got more than one place to look now, so I'll get on it. One person asked for a scan of the document, but unfortunately the original was copied and destroyed. I Googled the names of the places suggested, which resulted in seeing some pretty towns and country! Thanks again. I really appreciate the help! Helen

Not often a leading character is left off. Perhaps Angenrod near Alsfeld? Henry. ----- Original Message ----- From: "JRBinkley" <jrbfamily@zoominternet.net> To: <hesse@rootsweb.com> Sent: Thursday, October 21, 2010 2:50 PM Subject: [HESSE] Angendorf - Langendorf ? >I wonder if it could have been Langendorf near Rauschenberg -- it's > mentioned in the history of the Grossherzogtum Hessen 1819. > > JRB > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > HESSE-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes > in the subject and the body of the message

I wonder if it could have been Langendorf near Rauschenberg -- it's mentioned in the history of the Grossherzogtum Hessen 1819. JRB

?Hi! I agree with the others. "Grossherzogtum" is the former Grand Duchy of Hessen, back before they had states and counties. If you will go to my website you'll find all the tools you need for research. http://members.cox.net/hessen/hsstory.htm Don't overlook http://familysearch.org as well. :-) Don

Hi Helen, Google returns this, Langendorf, Grossherzogthum Hesse ??? The middle word means Grand Dutchy Jim Rettig -----Original Message----- From: Helen Sanders <landhsanders@hotmail.com> To: hesse@rootsweb.com Sent: Wed, Oct 20, 2010 5:46 pm Subject: [HESSE] Help with a town in Hessen i Don and Karl and the rest of you good people, When my reatgrandmother Anna MUELLER was married to George SCHAMBACH in 1853 the name f her birth own was written as Angendorf, Gross. Hessen. Can someone think of a imilar sounding town in Hesse Darmstadt? I've tried but have failed. :( ensus records say she was from Hesse Darmstadt. Any thoughts and help are much appreciated. That is one part of my family hat is totally unknown, except that the name of her father may have een Georg. Thanks. Helen ------------------------------ o unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to HESSE-request@rootsweb.com ith the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of he message