Seeking German geneaology help
Hello,
I hope it's appropriate for me to post a message like this on this forum.
I'm headed to Germany in a couple of months with my father, who is 85 and wants to visit Freiburg, where his grandfather lived.
We know very little about him other than his birth (in Konstanz), his immigration to the U.S. and his life and death in Tennessee.
I'm trying to research him as much as I can before we come over there, and I'm wondering if people on this forum have any suggestions. I've gone the Ancestry route, but I think I'm going to need to tap some German sources for this one!
THank you for any advice.
Alec
auburn84@gmail.com
Kommentare
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Hi Alec,
There are several Freiburgs in Germany. Freiburg im Breisgau seems to be closest to Konstanz. There is a nice German geneology internet site that has some old city directories including 1922 and 1942 directories for Freiburg im Breisgau. You didn't provide any names or timing so I don't know if this 1922 directory might be helpful. Here is a link to the directories:
Do you have his name and date of birth in Konstanz?
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Yes, it's Ernst Rudolph Schumacher, Aug. 27, 1874. (Parents August Schumacher and Augusta Strahm). He emigrated from Bremen in 1904. I'm told Freiburg was a big university town, if that helps narrow down which Freiburg.
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Oh, and emigration records say Freiburg, Baden-Wurttemberg, Germany
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Freiburg im Breisgau fits the description.
Do you know if Ernst's mother passed away when he was a child and his father remarried? His baptism record gives his father as Gustav Adolf Schumacher and this one, MML6-BMV, was born in Engen (very near Konstanz) and married in Karlsruhe in 1886 .
The Archdiocese of Freiburg im Breisgau covers a wide area including Karlsruhe, Konstanz and Engen.
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Hmmm. I don't know. Unfortunately, I don't have any info about his family before the U.S. But I'll do some digging and see what I can find. Thanks so much!
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This apparently is a cousin, born in Freiburg. Ernst may have gone to live with him in Nashville (they traveled together, according to a newspaper mention). Ernst's mother's maiden name was Strahm. https://www.wku.edu/music/walloffame/index.php?memberid=5523
And I know you don't care about all of this. lol. I'm just going down a rabbit hole now. lol.
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Hi Stewart,
I was being lazy today recovering from a bad cold. So I spent the afternoon relaxing on the computer and merging dozens of your ancestors on the familysearch tree. Yes, Franz Joseph Strahm is the youngest brother of Ernst's mother Augusta Strahm.
Look up Ernst Rudolph Schumacher, ID L4XQ-13H. You will now find a fairly large family tree on Ernst's mother's side. Her name at birth is Augusta Josepha Strahm. Some of the lines go back to the 1600s.
On his father's side I only have Gustav Adolf Shuhmacher ID L4XQ-13H. I really think he is a duplicate for Gustav Adolf Shuhmacher ID MML6-BMV. That ID has parents and 3 grandparents attached. But I did not merge the two Gustav Adolf Shuhmacher's because I could not find a reference that clearly connected the two. Somehow you need to find the marriage record for Gustav Adolf Shuhmacher and Augusta Strahm. It should have occurred in the 1870-1874 range somewhere close to Konstanz, Engen, Freiberg area. Hopefully that is found and lists his parents and they match.
The indexers used many spelling variations of the names so for merging I just picked what made the most sense. None of the original images are available online so I couldn't look them up. It looks like most of the original images can be viewed at a Family History Center if there is one near you.
Do you know how to look up a person on familysearch using their ID number?
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So sorry about your cold, but thank you so much! I have never looked anyone up using their ID number, but I bet I can figure it out. I can't believe you did this. If you're ever in Birmingham, Alabama, let me, at the least, buy you lunch!
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I found Franz via the ID! Where did you find this info?
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It's a little harder than it should be. On the home page (you can reach it by clicking on the tree at top left of this page) click on search tab at the top.
Then click on Family tree from the list shown.
On the right side click on Find by ID.
Enter the ID # and click search.
You should see this:
Click on ernst name and you'll get this square window. You can click on the blue tree view or person view at the bottom of the square window. I'd pick person view. Then you can see more details and his parents and siblings will show up too.
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It was actually all here on familysearch using the search function for new references and evaluating the many possible duplicates. I was surprised how many records were available.
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