Hi Karl, what is your father's full name? Depending where one was from, the WWI info was lost in WWII war, but there are exceptions. I found a distant relative who was born in the town of Brachelen (it's near Aachen) on the Bavarian WWI lists. He survived WWI and had 8 kids. I have ancestry and can put your father's name into the search engine. You can write me an e-mail directly or through the list or both if you like. Yvonne in California ----- Original Message ----- From: "Karl von Loewe" <karlvonl@gmail.com> To: <Prussia-Roots-L@rootsweb.com> Sent: Tuesday, April 10, 2012 4:43 AM Subject: [PRUSSIA-ROOTS] Rittergutsbesitzer von Conta > My father was a pilot in WWI. I'm not certain what units he flew in, > however, so I have compared "Jasta" (Jagdstaffel, or fighter units) pilots > names with names in his address book from 1925. One of the names in his > address book is "Rittergutsbesitzer von Conta, Schwarzwald, krs. > Sensburg." > In the list of Jasta pilots is one "Ltn. von Conta," who flew with Flieger > Abteilung 36 and Jasta 11. No first name was given. Since after the war > my father worked as a journeyman watch maker in Sensburg immediately > before > coming to this country, I suspect the two von Contas might be one. Is > there anyone out there who might clarify this? > Many thanks in advance,-- > Karl von Loewe > Somerset NJ > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > PRUSSIA-ROOTS-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the > quotes in the subject and the body of the message >

Hi, Karl, Just a word of clarification, which you probably know already: Rittergutsbesitzer is a descriptive (occupational?) term, not a name. Ritter, of course, is Knight. A Gutsbesitzer was a person who owned a relatively large farm, but not huge enough to be termed an estate. At least this was the term used in East Prussia, and Sensburg is in East Prussia. So presumeably a Rittergutsbesitzer was a middling landowner who happened to have the rank of knight, while a proper Junker with an estate would be a Count, for example. Those were the von Lehnsdorffs, the von Dohnas, &c.---what my German grandmother called "big bugs." bob Robert M. Copeland Beaver Falls, PA 15010 724-847-6665 rmc@geneva.edu "Where all think alike, nobody thinks very much."---Walter Lippman ________________________________________ From: prussia-roots-bounces@rootsweb.com [prussia-roots-bounces@rootsweb.com] On Behalf Of Yvonne [dreamgarden@comcast.net] Sent: Tuesday, April 10, 2012 19:10 To: prussia-roots@rootsweb.com Subject: Re: [PRUSSIA-ROOTS] Rittergutsbesitzer von Conta Hi Karl, what is your father's full name? Depending where one was from, the WWI info was lost in WWII war, but there are exceptions. I found a distant relative who was born in the town of Brachelen (it's near Aachen) on the Bavarian WWI lists. He survived WWI and had 8 kids. I have ancestry and can put your father's name into the search engine. You can write me an e-mail directly or through the list or both if you like. Yvonne in California ----- Original Message ----- From: "Karl von Loewe" <karlvonl@gmail.com> To: <Prussia-Roots-L@rootsweb.com> Sent: Tuesday, April 10, 2012 4:43 AM Subject: [PRUSSIA-ROOTS] Rittergutsbesitzer von Conta > My father was a pilot in WWI. I'm not certain what units he flew in, > however, so I have compared "Jasta" (Jagdstaffel, or fighter units) pilots > names with names in his address book from 1925. One of the names in his > address book is "Rittergutsbesitzer von Conta, Schwarzwald, krs. > Sensburg." > In the list of Jasta pilots is one "Ltn. von Conta," who flew with Flieger > Abteilung 36 and Jasta 11. No first name was given. Since after the war > my father worked as a journeyman watch maker in Sensburg immediately > before > coming to this country, I suspect the two von Contas might be one. Is > there anyone out there who might clarify this? > Many thanks in advance,-- > Karl von Loewe > Somerset NJ > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > PRUSSIA-ROOTS-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 PRUSSIA-ROOTS-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message