Stern Family

DeborahHarrell

I am hoping someone can help me in locating the town that my GGGrandfather is from. His name is Peter Stern born July 31, 1842 in Germany. I have only the names of his parents which is Johann and Barbara Stern. I don't know when or where they were born. On the US Census shows Peter coming from Bavaria, Eberstadt, Bayden-Weruttemburg, Messenbach. So I notified Germany Archives to see if they could locate him anywhere in either of these places, and came up empty. I even tried the Immigrant records for 1854 and 55, and again nothing. I have ran out of options except in hiring a researcher, but I don't have the finances for that. So I am stuck and can't get any further with him and his parents.

hehesani63

@DeborahHarrell

Hi,

I found the record you are looking for on matricula online, the website that has catholic church books from Germany. Peter was born at "Rüssenbach" near Ebermannstadt and the record is in the catholic church book of Niedermirsberg, St. Jakobus der Ältere. [I guess Niedermirsberg is the town and St. Jakobus the name of the church?).

The link to his birth and to his parents' marriage, I will send in my following message because I sometimes had problems with messages containing links being stuck for some time.

Kind regards,

Christine

hehesani63

@DeborahHarrell

Link to the marriage of Johann Stern and Barbara Götz née Kraus:

https://data.matricula-online.eu/de/deutschland/bamberg/niedermirsberg-st-jakobus-der-altere/M5%252F46/?pg=3

Link to the birth of Peter Stern:

https://data.matricula-online.eu/de/deutschland/bamberg/niedermirsberg-st-jakobus-der-altere/M5%252F44/?pg=11

JohnsonGreg

@DeborahHarrell

hehesani63 is amazing! What a great find.

I'm a bit concerned, however, that there are no documented sources to support Peter's birth date or parents names on either his familysearch ID or on one of the many ancestry trees for Peter that are full of inconsistencies. Even his gravestone appears to give a different birth date (either 19 or 29 July 1842).

I would proceed very cautiously. Find his actual church and civil marriage and death records to try to confirm birth date/location and parents names. See if his naturalization records have any information. If Peter immigrated in 1854 (per census records) it would have been with his parents (he was 12 years old) so you should be able to find evidence of them in the area.

There is a lot of poorly done geneology in the Ancestry trees and it is often added to other trees unquestioned, so do not trust any data on Ancestry trees (or any other) that is not supported by actual records.

You may also be able to find other Niedermirsberg records to support or refute that your Peter Stern is from Niedermirsberg. If records show him living in Niedermirsberg after 1860 then that is a red flag.

Edited to add:

I found his death certificate in the photo gallery of an Ancestry tree. It doesn't give parents names. It gives 31 July 1842 as birth date and location "?ssenbach" which could be Russenbach. It also could be Messenbach but the "M" is not written the same as the M in Married. Messenbach is also in Baden but Peter says he is from Bavaria in the 1870 census. Bavaria and Baden were two different countries (when he was born) and he would not be confused as to which country he was from.

https://www.ancestry.com/mediaui-viewer/collection/1030/tree/73140648/person/46342943548/media/c308ab4b-579e-45cb-b390-f124229a833e?_phsrc=xWz2905&usePUBJs=true&galleryindex=5&albums=pg&showGalleryAlbums=true&tab=0&pid=46342943548&sort=-created

His petition for naturalization is also in this gallery but is too blurry to read. You should be able to get a legible copy.

https://www.ancestry.com/mediaui-viewer/collection/1030/tree/73140648/person/46342943548/media/e70f9e7d-3c64-475b-8c55-1dda008a7045?_phsrc=xWz2909&usePUBJs=true&galleryindex=1&albums=pg&showGalleryAlbums=true&tab=0&pid=46342943548&sort=-created

hehesani63

@DeborahHarrell

@JohnsonGreg

Hi,

The marriage entry of Peter and Maria (Feb 24th, 1868 at St. Michael in Baltimore) gives his parents as Johann and Barbara Stern. For his place of birth I read "Rissenbach". Unfortunately it does not give a date of birth.

The Baltimore Roman Catholic Parish records are on findmypast.co.uk. I think one has to register on the website but the registration is free. I'll try and include the link:

https://search.findmypast.co.uk/record?id=S2%2FUS%2FBALT%2FHD05%2FMICROFILM%2FSCM001543%2F0129&parentid=US%2FBALT%2FCATH%2FPR%2FMAR%2F0077778%2FG

Regards, Christine

hehesani63

@DeborahHarrell

PS: If you want to go into more detail, there also seem to be papers concerning the emigration of the Johann Stern family in the year 1854. I suppose you might be able to get scans from the Staatsarchiv Bamberg.

Here is a link to the documents:

https://www.archivportal-d.de/item/Z3KYITMHUGTHDW2Y3FMVZF6BEY2ES2LK

Regards, Christine

DeborahHarrell

Thanks for getting back to me, I was wondering if you could print the materials that you sent me and mail them to me? I would need them to be translated into English if you don't mind. Thanks again

Maile L

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