I am trying to understand the actual place where my 2 X great grandmother was born and the descripti
I found her christening record on Film No. 489490 in the Katholiscke Kirch Reichenbach (BA. Homburg) Catherine Pirron dated 10 Feb 1868. This record has 'Limbach' in it. Using the Gazetteer I was able to determine that Limbach is a rural village and Homburg is a city within Zweibrucken which I am guessing is like a county in the United States.
If you look up Zweibrucken in the Gazetteer it has this description: Extra Desc1524 ha, a/d Horn- u. Schwarzbach, im sogen. "Westrich"
What does it mean also know as "Westrich". The reason I am asking that is because my 3X great grandmother (Catherine's mother) maiden name was Westrich.
Attached is Catherine's christening record. Unfortunately, I could not upload a link because this record could only be viewed in a FHC.
Thanks for any clarification on her actual place of birth and what the entry showing "Westrich" in the Gazetteer really means.
Answers
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Catharine Pirron's baptismal record listing "Limbach Fockenberg" underneath her name is indicating that her parents were living there when she was born. MeyersGaz actually has a separate listing for this: it's listed as the village Fockenberg-Limbach (linked). (It's more clear in the 6 Dec 1895 baptismal record of an Elisabetha Pirron 135 images later, who married a Joseph Westrich on 30 Nov 1916 and was a daughter of Adam Pirron and Anna Maria.) Click "Expand Post" below to see the rest of my comment.
The phrase "1524 ha, a/d Horn- u. Schwarzbach, im sogen[annten] "Westrich" contains the Meyer's abbreviation "ha"; clicking on the "Help" button at the top of the www.meyersgaz.org page will take you to a page that includes a link to a list of abbreviations; "ha" is the abbreviation for "Hektar," meaning "hectare, or 2,471 acres." It seems it's giving you the size of Zweibrücken. I believe the second part is separate; it's stating that Zweibrücken is "a[n] d[er] Horn- u[nd] Schwarzbach, im sogen[annten] 'Westrich'"--in other words, that Zweibrücken is found at the Horn and Schwarzbach, in the so-called Westrich. The Horn and the Schwarzbach are rivers; you can read about their connection with Zweibrücken (linked). And Westrich is a region in SW Germany and NE France (Catherine's mother's maiden name likely originally was named after that region); you can read more about it at German Wikipedia (linked); if you are in Google Chrome, you can right-click anywhere on the page and click on "Translate to English" to get a Google Translate version of the page.
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Thank you so so much! This explains it all so well. I always heard that Catherine was French but then found her born in Germany. Now I understand why. I am going to review as you suggested. Again, thank you.
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You're welcome, Ginny!
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Charlotte, Thanks for the other lead you gave me. The Elizabeth Pirron you found who married Joseph Westrich is actually the niece of my Catherine. Adam Pirron was Catherine's brother. When this Covid virus is gone and my Family History Center opens again I will go and find the records for her marriage. I already had her birth record.
Your help is so appreciated!
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