Alison and Kris

[DCJenn]

Any suggestions for how to approach German genealogy?

I know exactly WHERE they're from but can't find an online resource to do some searching.

Help?!

[alison]

I've never done it before, but I'm familiar with digging up old stuff in German archives.

Could you give me a town name and I'll poke around?

[DCJenn]

Witzenhausen in Hesse

My great-great grandfather was John Sperling, a shoemaker b. 1841-1924. He left Germany in the 1860s- landed in Wilkinsburg (right outside of Pittsburgh)

If you have any suggestions, I'll take them.

Jenn

[Meenah]

Ooooohhhh search fro me.My great-grandfather was from Baden-Baden.

[alison]

Omg! I lived about 45 minutes from Witzenhausen! I'll see what I can find! It's a beautiful town.

I'll also look into starting points in Baden Baden.

Very cool.

[DCJenn]

NFW! I googled the town and it looks super cool.

We think that his wife's family was there too but her people left before him- her parents and two older siblings are also from right there and but she and her younger siblings were born in Pittsburgh. I think (based on the city directories from the 'burgh) that her older sibling was also a shoe maker. (Sperlings are historically shoemakers which I hope explains my thing for Birkenstocks. I can't help it- it's genetic)

I told Rick that's where I want to go for our 10th anniversary.

J.

[DCJenn]

http://cafeerner.de/html/body_die_wiederbegrundung.html

One of my dad's newly found LLC (Long Lost Cousin) found this when googling.

She did a Google translation. I don't know whether the John Sperling mentioned is our dude's father or not. Did the baker's guild do anything w/ shoe-makers?

Jenn

[fluffhead]

I've mailed requests to genaeological archives in German cities, they're very forthcoming.

[alison]

http://cafeerner.de/html/body_die_wiederbegrundung.html

One of my dad's newly found LLC (Long Lost Cousin) found this when googling.

She did a Google translation. I don't know whether the John Sperling mentioned is our dude's father or not. Did the baker's guild do anything w/ shoe-makers?

Jenn

Johannes Sperling Seine Familie ist allbekannt; um 1570 kommt Andreas Sperling als erster der Familie, vielleicht von Germerode, nach hier.
Zur Bäckerzunft haben die Sperlinge seit langem gehört und noch heute blüht ihre Bäckerei in der Brückenstraße; aber auch Bürgermeister, Pfarrer und andere Studierte sind aus dieser Familie hervorgegangen. Der Vater unseres Johannes, ebenfalls Andreas mit Namen, war allerdings Knopfmachermeister gewesen; 1807 verheiratete Johannes sich mit Margarethe, der Tochter des Müllermeisters Nikolaus Eigenbrod; er blieb also bei einem den Bäckern nah verwandten Handwerk. Sein 1810 geborener und 1887 verstorbener Sohn Wilhelm und eine Tochter trauerten ihm nach, während fünf Kinder jung gestorben waren

It looks like Andreas Sperling is the first Sperling in Witzenhausen. He came from a town called Germerode. You may want to google that as well, since that will go back even further than Witzenhsn. As of website's existence, there's still a bakery on Bruekenstr. It looks like the family did some other stuff -- Johannes' father, also named Andreas, was a button-maker.

Perhaps they went into shoes or were cobblers later.

When I have the chance, I'll look to see if there's some contact info at the Rathaus (town hall) or at the town's archives.

[DCJenn]

Uh, you are having a baby on Monday so...

I'll google that other city and see what I come up with in relation to the infamous Sperlings.

(He was NOT the nicest guy apparently)

Thanks in advance- I really appreciate it. I seriously think I'm going to try to get there for our anniversary- I think we need two weeks- a few days there and then wander the rest of the country as we see fit. I spent three weeks in Germany when I graduated from college and had an amazing time.

Jenn

[Meenah]

That is sooooo cool.

[alison]

This helps with the baby jitters! I'll dig around and see what I can find! Germans are generally super duper excited when it comes to family trees and finding out one's family history. People don't move around as much as they do in the US and Germans are meticulous record-keepers; to the point of being anal retentive!

Luanne, do you have any family names?

[DCJenn]

Well, I do what I can to help!

(how ARE you doing to day!?)

Jenn

[alison]

I think your best bet is to investigate the Stadtarchiv (town archive).
The one in Witzenhausen has an address, but I can't seem to find a website for it. I'll have to do some more investigating to see if maybe it's linked to the Landesarchiv (the state of Hessen's archive) or somehow tied into another official institution.

Also, do you know if your family belonged to a church? I'm assuming based on the region that they were Protestant? The area is known for having taken in Huguenots. That would be really cool!!!

[DCJenn]

Man, you're good! John Sperling helped build one of the churches in Wilkinsburg- I can't remember now if they were Methodists or Presbyterians. More than likely Presbyterians.

J.