52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks – 22 – So Far Away

The theme this week is quite vague. Amy Johnson Crow, who has been setting the themes each week, has admitted it is vague and she is looking forward to what those who are following these prompts will come up with.

I had an event today, 31 May 2018, which fits very well with this theme. One of the members in the Prussian Genealogy Facebook Group, Laura Kaatz, had posted photos in 2017 from the town of Nakel, formerly in Prussia, but now in Poland. Included in them was the former protestant church there. My gt-grandmother, Anna Louise, daughter of Michael Boehm and Anna Rosina Leu, was baptized at the protestant church in 1832, confirmed in 1846 and married to the widower Ludwig Falk there in 1850. I did a blog post for her on her birthday last year, August 30^th.

https://joannesgenealogyresearch.blogspot.com/2017/08/ancestor-birthday-anna-louise-boehm.html

But I was unsure if it would be the same church building. So I contacted Laura Kaatz on the facebook group and asked that question and also if I could have permission to use one of her photos on my blog. She very graciously gave permission and verified that it was the same church.

So here it is, the former protestant church in Nakel, Kreis Wirsitz, Posen, Prussia, now

Nakło nad Notecią, Poland. When I asked Google how far it was from where I live in Cottage Grove Oregon, it told me it was 5,341 miles. Now I would consider that “so far away.” But thanks to another genealogist who was willing to share I can post a modern photo of the church where my gt-grandparents were married over 160 years ago.

52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks – 20 – Another Language

The records for my Falk ancestors that I have found before they came to the United States are written in German.

The ones I have found were in Posen Province of Prussia, which is now in Poland. But they attended the Evangelische or protestant church and spoke German. Most of these records are quite difficult for me to read.

Here are some examples:

The birth record for my gt-grandmother: Anna Luise Boehm, from the church at Nakel.

The death record for my 2^nd gt-grandfather: Michael Boehm from the church at Nakel.

And I am hoping this is the birth record for my gt-grandfather, Ludwig/Carl Ludwig Falk, from the church at Wirsitz.

52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks – 2 – Anna Rosina Leu

As I wrote last week (3 Jan 2018), today I am giving my conclusions or speculations about Anna Rosina Leu, my 2^nd gt-grandmother who was the mother of Anna Louise Boehm. I might call Anna Rosina a mystery ancestor. I do know her name, but I have not yet discovered her identity. Anna Rosina never came to America so it has been more difficult for me to research her. I did found a record of her in the German Lutheran church records for Nakel in Posen Province where she was listed in 1832 as the mother of Anna Louise. Last week I noted that the father shown was Michael Boehm and he and Anna Rosina were “still not married.” Anna Louise was born 30 Aug 1832 and I believe the record says she was baptized a little over a week later on 8 Sep.

On Anna Louise's marriage record at Nakel in 1850, she was shown as the illegitimate daughter of Anna Rosina Leu of Polichno. Anna Louise was of Josephkowo. If you check the map on the post about Michael Boehm you will see that Polichno Hauland and Josephkowo almost adjoin each other.

When I checked the Poznan Project, which is a listing of marriages in the Province of Posen, I found there were 2 marriages at the Protestant Church in Nakel for women named Anna Rosina Leu. In Nov 1832, a few months after Anna Louise was born, there was a 46 year old widow, maiden name Hein. She was the widow of Mathias Leu. Her new husband, Michael Fratzke, was of Polichno. The other Anna Rosina was married in 1838 to Johann Mueller, when she was age 26, the daughter of Mathias Leu. So these were mother and daughter. There was also a marriage in 1806 for a woman indexed as Johanna Rosina Lech. There are some other researchers who have identified her as a Anna Rosina Leu also. This marriage was to a Martin Giese. They had a son named Johann Giese who married Anna Charlotte Boehm, the daughter of Michael Boehm, Anna Louise's father. So there are at least 3 possible candidates to be my 2^nd gt-grandmother.

There is a burial record at Nakel in 1841 for Rosina Giese, maiden name Leu, age 56 of Josephkowo. On a part of the record I haven't yet deciphered it does mention the name Martin Giese, so I suspect this was the mother-in-law of Anna Charlotte Boehm, my number 3 candidate. I tried checking the birth records at Nakel after 1838 to see if the Mueller couple showed there. I didn't find any and noticed that the marriage record showed that Johann was from Gorzyn, which appears to be in a different kreis about 90 miles from Nakel. So if they lived there, would the 1850 record still say that Anna Rosina was from Polichno? Also if all these women were married by 1850 would the record still use the name Anna Rosina Leu?

But what about that DNA match? If they were related to Anna Rosina as well as Michael, wouldn't the amount of DNA show a difference. I checked that and a 3^rd cousin once removed and a ½ 3^rd cousin once removed have very similar amounts of DNA and my match would fit in either one.

So if any of you have ideas about what I should try next, please contact me.

52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks – 1 – Michael Boehm

Last year, 2017, I wrote about my parents, grandparents, gt-grandparents and 12 of my 2^nd gt-grandparents . So my 1^st ancestor for 2018 will be from the 2^nd gt-grandparent level.

Michael Boehm has been difficult for me to research as he never came to America. I have found a record of him in the German Lutheran church records where he is listed in 1832 as the father of my gt-grandmother, Anna Louise Boehm. On her confirmation record from 1846 her father is named as Michael Boehm, but it includes a cross which is said to mean that he was deceased.

This was at the church at Nakel. The birth was shown as at Josephkowo, which is a small village about 5 kilometers or 3 miles southwest from Nakel, across the kreis (similar to a U.S. county) border into Kreis Schubin. Nakel is in Kreis Wirsitz. These were in the Province of Posen in Prussia. This area is now a part of Poland. According to one source, in 1833 Josephkowo had 24 residences with a Protestant population of 164.

Since he and the mother were not married, I was unable to find any marriage record for them. I was very happy several months ago when a DNA match contacted me who was also a descendant of Michael. Her line goes through his “first wife” so we are cousins. She shared some more information about him so I did find more records. Ancestry.com has a database “Germany, Lutheran Baptism, Marriages, an Burials, 1567-1945.” Church records from Nakel are included. Of course they are handwritten in German so I have mostly used the transcriptions done by Ancestry or other researchers.

Michael was married 4 Feb 1810 at Nakel to Rosina Frederich. They had two daughters, Henriette in 1811 and Anna Charlotte in 1813. Then Rosina died in 1815. Henriette was married in 1829 to Andreas Stenzel. Anna Charlotte was married in Feb of the next year, 1830 to Johann Giese. Then I believe it is my Michael who was the father of Wilhelmine born 21 Dec 1830 and baptized at Nakel 23 Jan 1831. The mother was listed as Rosina Leu. Sadly Wilhelmine died at less than 5 months old on 18 May 1831. My gt-grandmother Anna Louise was born 30 Aug 1832 to Michael Boehm and Anna Rosina Leu, who were “still not married.” It was less than a year when Michael died, 13 Feb 1833, at age 45. So we can estimate his birthdate as about 1787 or 1788. I still have not found a birth record for him, so do not have his parents identified. Next week I will try to share some of my conclusions or speculations about Anna Rosina Leu.

Ancestor Unbirthday - Abt 1815 - Ludwig Falk

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Yesterday I posted about my German gt-grandmother and today is her husband, Ludwig Falk, my German gt-grandfather. Most of what I wrote about her after their marriage would apply to him also. So what do I want to write today?

When was Ludwig born? I am not sure about the date which has been published in some of the on-line family trees, 5 Jul 1815. It could be correct, but I haven't seen the original source to be able to evaluate it. Where was he born? There are some entries in the on-line trees, but they don't seem reasonable to me.

I believe that Ludwig was married for the first time 2 Apr 1839 at the evangelical church at Grabau, Kries Wirsitz, Posen Province, Prussia (now a part of Poland.) Grabau was located about 30 kilometers west of Nakel where he married Anna Louise. His first wife was Marianna Kuss, the widow of Stephen Vinski. Their first child, Rosalie, was baptized at Grabau in 1840. I haven't yet found the record for August, said to be born in 1842. Wilhelmine was born in 1845 at Bielawer Kolonia and baptized at Nakel. Henriette was born in 1849 at the same location and both she and her mother died soon after that because Ludwig remarried in 1850.

When Ludwig was married at Nakel, his place of residence was again listed as Bielawer Kolonia. His occupation was kolonist. Wikipedia defines that as Colonist, person who migrates to a colony , a settlement in another country, militaryly managed by his homeland. I believe this means that Ludwig or his family were Germans who moved to Poland when it was partitioned to Prussia. A recent map of the area shows the village of Bielawy located about 3 kilometers west of Naklo nad Notecia (the Polish name for Nakel).

Research in a different country is difficult, so I am glad that Ludwig and his family immigrated to the United States in 1858, and it was there my grandfather was born in 1880.

Ancestor Birthday - August 30 - Anna Louise Boehm - 1832 - 1901

Anna Louise Boehm was my German gt-grandmother. She was born 185 years ago, 30 Aug 1832. Her birth place was in Josephkowo, which was in Kreis Wirsitz, Posen Province of Prussia. This location is now in Poland. She was baptized at the Evangelical (Protestant) Church in the nearby larger town, Nakel. Her parents were Michael Boehm and Anna Rosina Leu. The church record noted that her parents were not married. She was confirmed at the same church on 11 Oct 1846. By that time her father was deceased.

She was married to Ludwig Falk on 24 Nov 1850, again at the same church. He was a widower with 3 young children. We know that she and Ludwig had at least 2 children before they immigrated to the United States in 1858. There may have been one or more who died young.

Anna, Ludwig and the 5 children: Rosalie, August, Wilhelmine, Charles and Caroline, traveled to Breman where they took the bark Wieland. They arrived at Baltimore, Maryland on 22 Jun 1858. I wonder how Anna felt during that ocean trip since she was pregnant at the time. Their next child, John, was born in December that year, after they had moved to Muscoda Township, Grant County, Wisconsin. They sold that property and moved east to the next county, near Avoca in Pulaski Township, Iowa County in 1865. By then they had 3 more children: Leonard, Henry and Conrad. After they had moved they had 6 more children: Albert, Elizabeth, Ida, Frederick William, Theodore and Julius (who was my grandfather.)

Both Anna and Ludwig were charter members of the St. John's Lutheran Church at Avoca when it was officially organized 1 Feb 1891. A number of Anna's children moved to Iowa and two of her children, Henry and Ida died before her. Ludwig died 31 Jan 1899 and she was living with Frederick William and his family when the 1900 census was taken. Anna died 27 Jul 1901 and was buried at the Avoca Cemetery.