What goes on behind the scenes

I am so random about blogging. It isn’t because there is nothing to share. It is because huge amount of time is spent researching and indexing records which are the basis for the blogs.

For the last year I have subscribed to Archion.de. This is an attempt by the Lutheran Church of Germany to make as many of Lutheran Church Books available via the Internet. Because the Roedigers were from the village of Tann in Hesse, I was hoping to start there. But the records from Tann have not been digitized yet. So I have had to be content with the approximately 200 records that I found on microfiche while visiting the District Church Archive in Kassel in 2017. 

While I wait impatiently for that to happen I have turned my attention to the Eichenauer family.

The Eichenauers moved to Hof Trunsbach near the end of the 18th century. They worshiped at the Lutheran Church in the nearby village of Niederthalhausen. And so many of the records pertaining to the ancestors of the Eichenauers who moved from Hof Trunsbach to Tann in about 1835 come from the church in Niederthalhausen.

This is one of about 20 watercolors of Niederthalhausen by an unknown artist. I discovered them and a third cousin once removed when I searched for a Facebook group having an interest in Niederthalhausen. There was no group, but my cousin, Monika, had provided a link from her Facebook page to her slideshow of the watercolors on YouTube. When I contacted her to see if she would share the digital files (which she did) we discovered our relationship. Her great-grandmother was a half-sister of John Henry Roediger who immigrated to Ohio in 1893. To see the video, go to YouTube.com and type "Das Dorf Niederthalhausen" into the search box. There are two results. One is the watercolors and one is almost six minutes of the ringing of the church bells with several different views of the church done with photographs. The first is from Monika. The second appears to be someone who has recorded church bells from numerous churches. It is quite long but you might find it interesting as well.

It turns out that her mother had done quite a bit of genealogical research and Monika has taken an interest as well. So, we have done quite a lot of Messengering back and forth, sharing information, albeit ALL in German.

In future posts, I’m sure I will be sharing some of what I’ve learned from her.

Actually, I wanted to tell you of my progress on the Niederthalhausen Church Records. So far I have indexed all of the baptismal records from 1764-1900 (1360 baptisms); all marriage records from 1732-1900 (383 marriages) and am currently working on the death records. I have indexed all of the death records from 1795 until 1855 so far.

This has allowed me to add so much to my family tree. I have been amazed at the percentage of the population which has some connection to the Eichenauer family. I think it would be safe to say that 90% of the records I have indexed have found there way into my Stammbaum (Family Tree).

So, although the Blog has been very quiet recently, the work has continued without a pause. And much has been learned about the Eichenauers and their descendants who remained in Germany.

Until the next Blog—Steve