Help finding ancestor in Metten, Wurttemberg, Germany
I am researching my wife's great-grandfather, Wilhelm Frederich(k) Schmidt, one of the most popular names in Germany, further complicating my search. He was born in March 1822 in Wurttemberg, Germany. A couple years ago, a friend found their marriage record from a New York Lutherin Chuch, listing that he was from Metten, Germany. His wife, Elizabeth Maria Feiertag, was from Kitzingen in Bavaria and I have found great records in Kitzingen for her. Checking Myers Gaz, all the Metten's are in Beyern (Bavaria). Since several of Frederick's source records listed him as from Wurttemberg, I chose to pursue Mettenberg vice the Mettens in Bavaria. If the search turns our negative, I will have to revisit that decision. I did find three Mettenberg's in Wurttenberg. One was a village in Donaukreis and the other a nearby Farm/Village in Donaukreis. The other a Rural Community in the Kreis of Waldshut in Baden. I checked Standesamt.com and none of the Mettenberg's are listed as having a Standesamt. Myers Gax indicated each was their own Standesamt. I thought the Standesamt might be a good place to check civil records for Wilhelm. I checked FamilySearch Wiki for Mettenberg and found only one document listed, a Catholic Church record. I don't think Frederick was Catholic, as his son (my wife's grandfather) was not Catholic and neither was my wife's father. Also, he was married in a Lutheran Church. Myers listed the closest Protestant church to the Mettenbgergs in Donaukreis as about 5 miles away. Quite a distance to travel in those days. I checked the Archivportal for Baden-Weurttemberg; but none of jumped out at me as being a local Archive that would include my Mettenbergs. Before proceeding further, I would be interested in your thoughts about the approach I am using. Any suggestions which Standesamt might include my Mettenbergs? Other sources I should be checking? Thanks for any suggestions you might have.
Delbert Ritchhart
dritchh37@gmail.com
Kommentare
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Hello Delbert,
please note that the Standesamt in Germany exists first after 1870 (in many areas introduced first 1874 to 1876). I assume that your GGfather had left for America at that time already. The primary source for records will thus be the church books of the respective parish. The main online resources for church books in Germany are Matricula mainly for catholic parishes (https://data.matricula-online.eu/en/, free) and Archion for protestant parishes (https://www.archion.de/en/, requires a paid pass for accessing documents).
The Mettenbergs seem to lie in predominately catholic areas as you can see from their "Ecclesiastical" tab in Meyers; it lists almost exclusively catholic parishes. Unfortunately, Matricula does not contain churchbooks for Württemberg or Baden; they are apparently not scanned. Achion has a great number of Protestant churchbooks from Württemberg and Baden. In any case you need to know the parish and year of which you want to check or browse the churchbook as there are no indexes.
The key point will be if you can determine or verify the home parish of your Wilhelm Friederich Schmidt; otherwise it will be hard because of the very popular name.
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Thanks for your prompt response and helpful comments. Much appreciated. If Myers Gaz is supposed to represent Germany as it was pre-1871, why do they list the Standesamt for each geographical location if they did not exist? I don't question that they didn't begin until later; but wondering why they are listed? I am guessing it must for the post 1871; but, again, they said there was a Standesamt for Metterberg; but there isn't?
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Oops! I was wrong. Myers Gaz is 1871 to 1918, so that answers my question about the Standesamt; except that it said one existed; but I can't seem to confirm it. . . . Del
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What do you mean with "can't seem to confirm it"? ... you cannot find it today? This would not be surprising - Mettenberg in now part of Biberach - and there you'll find a Standesamt.
I doubt, however, that they will have info on a person born in 1822.
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Thanks. You confirmed my guess that Biberach would be the place to look. Do you think a local Archiv might have information on Frederick? I checked the ArchivPortal and noted that Biberach does have an Archive. While researching his wife, Elizabeth Feiertag from Kitzingen, the Archive had all her papers for applying to emigrate to America in 1847. That provided me her father and mother's names and where they were from--a big breakthrough for me!
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Can't comment on which archive: this is very regional - and I am not familiar with the region. Could be the city, district, state, ... archive. I would recommend to ask the state archive first:
1) if they have any relevant documentation and
2) if not: were to check next.
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