Seeking information on Karl Wilhelm Friedrich Stahl

William Farrell_1

Hello,

My cousin was born in the US and was adopted. He learned he had a German birth mother, (name removed) from Frankfurt. She came to the US after marrying and later divorcing a US soldier (not my cousin's father). She had my cousin later with a different US birth father.

I'm trying to help my cousin find information on her father, Karl Wilhelm Friedrich Stahl. According to my cousin's information, Karl trained German Shepherds for the German Army. His father's first name was Augustin and that's all he knows.

I appreciate any help or guidance you can provide me. I've attached what I think is (name removed) the mother's passport or entry information with her birth date and father's name.

thanks,

Bill Farrell

JohnsonGreg

A lot depends on the dates. If your cousin is 20 years old it will be a lot more difficult than if he is 60 years old. Vital records in Germany are not public until 110 yrs after birth, 80 after marriage and 30 after death so you will likely have some obstacles.

I would start by trying to find her US naturalization/citizenship records. These should have her birth date and birth location. The birth village is very important. It might not be Frankfort, it might be near Frankfort. You might also try finding her US divorce record and US death record (but these might not be public yet), those might also have her place of birth. You likely won't be successful getting her birth record but if her father married more than 80 years ago you might find his marriage record in the town where she was born. Or you might find his death record if he died more than 30 years ago.

Áine Ní Donnghaile

@William Farrell_1 I know this platform is called "FamilySearch" but we don't look for the living or even mention anything identifiable information about anyone who may be living. See the Community Code of Conduct.

Some groups specialize in assisting adoptees or lost living family, such as https://www.searchangels.org/

Best of luck with your search.

Ashlee C.

@William Farrell_1 Mod note: Community is a public online forum. Your original question was edited to remove personal information to protect the privacy of living individuals. Please see the Code of Conduct for more details.

Ulrich Neitzel

@William Farrell_1

The document you posted is an official birth record of your cousin's mother. It states her name and birthdate (both concealed, but the birth year is clear from the document No. 29/1929). It also gives the names of her parents and the birth place as Oberdorfelden, which is also the residence of the parents.

See here the entry in Meyers Gazetteer for https://www.meyersgaz.org/place/20356064 ; it is situated about 10 miles northwest of the city of Frankfurt. The registry office that documented the birth was in the neighboring village of Niederdorfelden.

Unfortunately, neither the parents' dates of birth nor the date and place of their marriage are given in this record. You may start with the assumption that the parents were married at the same place some time before. Records of church weddings ("Trauungen") in Oberdorfelden are available on the Archion.de website for the years 1830-1984 ( https://www.archion.de/en/alle-archive/hessen/landeskirchliches-archiv-der-evangelischen-kirche-von-kurhessen-waldeck/kirchenkreis-hanau-land/oberdorfelden/171128 ), but viewing the records requires a paid subscription (~$20 for 1 month).

hehesani63

@William Farrell_1

There are some protestant church books for Oberdorfelden on the German paysite "archion. de".

There is a birth/baptism entry for Karl Wilhelm Friedrich Stahl, born 05 Aug 1905, son of Karl Konrad Stahl, mason, and Theresa Götz.
The church book has an index which also names the birth of (name removed), daughter of Karl Wilhelm Friedrich. But the pages with the more recent births are not displayed in achion for privacy reasons.

I include a link to the birth entry, but a paid pass is unfortunately needed to look at the record.
https://www.archion.de/p/4f92033b05/

Kind regards

JohnsonGreg

The mother's birth record won't be available but the marriage record sometime before 1929 of her parents Karl Wilhelm Friedrich Stahl and Else Stößel should be. With any luck it will be in the town she was born in (Oberdorfelden) and where her parents were still living in 1956.

It looks like Oberdorfelden records are on Archion.

https://www.archion.de/en/search

William Farrell_1

Thanks to all for the comments — greatly appreciated and I passed them along to my cousin.

Bill