February 1999

2/5

I have been going back to my local LDS Family History Center and rereading my microfilms to get copies of the individual birth, marriage, and death records in our ancestry for documentation purposes. So far I've only looked at Mönsheim. I ordered these films almost 2 years ago and I'm stiil finding new information. It's a good thing I have them on indefinite loan. I've added about 10 new Held ancestor names to the family tree with this look. I will not update the published family tree information for a while. I need confirmation on reading some of the names on the old records.

One of the new families (something like Kionl, need help here) married members of two other of our already known ancestor families: Müller and Widmann. The names may be more readable and understandable on the birth records. This keeps robbing us of ancestors, when two separate branches join. This also keeps making us cousins to ourselves.

I'm also finding that many of the records on the microfilm are in pretty bad shape and are almost unreadable after copying. So, if a good record is needed, it will be necessary to write to the church in Germany and ask for a copy from them. From my experience last year, even if the microfim is in bad shape, the original books may be clear.

2/7

Was surfing the Baden-Wurttemberg Message Board (Home of the B-W List on Rootsweb) website and was wondering if I had registered some of my inquiries in the region. Yes, I had registered the Helds of Mönsheim, Aurich, and Biesingen. I probably should register the Helds of Sersheim, because old Michael did not come north alone. There are other entries in the church books of Sersheim that could be Michael's brother's families.

On the same website I was surprised to see someone looking for Helds in Zabern, Alsaß. Our link to the Helds of Zabern is through Philipp Joachim Held who married Magdalena Wanner of Sindelfingen. Magdalena's mother was Maria Dorothea Höld/Held (a different Held line), a decendent of Adolf Höld of Zabern, Alsaß. The person turned out to be Ed Maul, who I have had several communications with over a book he owns called "Sindelfinger Familien." Ed has previously sent me many pages from the book that might contain family connections: Held, Wanner, Klein, Widmann, and Mitschelen. I sent an email to him asking about his Helds from Zabern. He called me back that evening and we chatted about the connection. It seems his connection to the Helds of Zabern are all through marriage, no direct line.

I also checked the Wanner name and saw several people were interested in Wanners from Weil Im Schoenbuch. Weil Im Schoenbuch is a village only a couple miles from Sindelfingen/Böblingen. It is one of the several villages noted in "Sindelfinger Familien" as being the residences to our Sindelfingen relatives. I sent an email to each of them suggesting they look at the ortsippenbucher for Sindelfingen. So far only one responded, Nick Rudnick of Welzheim, Germany, he thanked me for the lead and will get the book when he goes to the Stuttgart Archive next week. (He was amused by my description of driving on the Autobahn on my webpage.)

2/10

After seriously looking over the data from the church books, I came to a realization yesterday. In the Frederick Held 1983 family history by Jean Rupert, it is stated that "John David grew up in Mensheim near Stuttgart, Germany. Christina Lydia was raised on the French border (Black Forest)." Considering that Christina was the one born in Mönsheim, that Johann David was born in Aurich (about 5 miles NE), and that they were married in Mönsheim (normally bride's hometown), it appears this statement is the reverse of the facts. By modern measure Mönsheim is considered in the Black Forrest, Aurich is not. (BTW, both villages are far from the French border, since in the 1850s, Alsace-Lorraine, which was French at that time, was about 50 miles away.)

2/18

Still finding new ancestors in the Mönsheim microfilms. I have added another 5 new members to the ancestor line. Another new name is Kohler. A couple others are something like Suiblin and another Schalhe. These will need more research. So far I've found what appears to be 3 different Peter Müllers in our ancestry. There is a good chance that 2 of them are the same person, however. This may make us cousins to ourselves, again.

It's a good thing I've changed my recordkeeping system to be ahnentafel numbers. At least this way there is a filing number for each individual.

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