February 2000

2/5

A large envelope came from Ian Sandham. It was xerographic copies of a large map of the church parishes of Lancashire (which includes Lancaster and Liverpool). This helps in locating the church yhat might contain the records, if you know where the family lived.

2/7

Today I sent a message to Marie Bowers (Dreistadt researcher) asking if she has an address or email address for the Dreistadt Gasthaus in Differten.

I also sent messages to Jürgen Emmler, Werner Kaag, Doris ?, and Karl Ludwig Hoenle telling them of our planned trip to Europe this summer and asking for suggestions for gasthauses in their areas. All but Karl have responded with a confirmation that they will be looking for us.

2/12

Werner Kaag sent an email indicating he is researching the marriage of Johannes Guth and Magdalena of Bissingen. This entry is on a page of the old microfilmed church book that was completely fogged and unreadable. He indicated that the name was Maria Magdalena Schultz, d/o Johannes Schultz.

On a later message he corrected the Schultz to be Schell. He also indicated that the grandfather was Wendel Schell.

2/14

Discovered that a Held mailing list has been created by Glenn G. Geisheimer. Glenn was a listmaster of the Baden-Wuerttemberg mailing list. I communicated with him. He asked if I wanted to take over the Held list. I am considering it. It doesn't seem to have much traffic, yet.

2/15

A rolled tube of pictures of the old villages and towns of the area around Stuttgart came from Werner Kaag. The number of stamps seems to indicate it was expensive to mail. There were several "B" size (appoximately 11X17) color copies of village scenes and a couple maps. The copying must have been outragiously expensive. Included was a copy of an article from an 1864 newspaper showing the departure of the Johann David Held family of Mönsheim. I owe Werner.

2/16 and 2/17

I finally got up to my local LDS Family History center where my microfilms are stored. The name Schell and Schelling both appeared in the Bissingen film around that era, 1700. I wondered if they were the same families (to be answered later in a strange way). I found the birth records of Maria Magdalena Schell and one sibling. I also found the wedding record of Johannes Schell, s/o Wendel, to Maria Magdalena Schempff, d/o Georg, on 13 Nov 1708. I also found Maria Magdalena's birth record and one sibling. I could not find a wedding record for George Schempff and Margaretha.

I also found there was another filming of the wedding records of the 1733 era that I had previously overlooked. The Johannes Guth - Maria Magdalena Schell wedding entry might be easier to read and copy on that microfilm. So I ordered that microfilm.

I did find references to the Wendel Schell family. I was looking closely at some family registers that were written in prose at the beginning of the church book. There was a write up for Jerg Schelling and Maria, widow of Wendel Schell. The children of Maria and Wendel Schell were listed, with birthdays, and some of the children of Jerg Schelling and Maria, with birthdays. Jerg Schelling's birthday was given along with the marriage date to Maria. Later I found the death entry for old Wendel. Old Wendel was the burgermeister of Bissingen. It seems that Maria was prenant when old Wendel passed away at age 52 on 29 Jul 1650. Our young Wendel, Maria Magdalena(Guth)'s grandfather, was born 6 months later. Maria married Jerg Schilling 4 months later on 04 May 1651, less than a year from Wendel's death.

I am still looking for the actual wedding entries for Jerg Schelling and Maria, widow of Wendel Schell, and George Schempff and Margaretha. The wedding of Maria and old Wendel Schell was before the church book was started about 1650. I feel confident I will find the entry for Jerg and Maria. However, there seems to be few entries for the Schempff family in this era. I am also looking for the actual wedding entry for young Wendel Schell and Anna Margaretha about 1675.

In the meantime I will be searching my other places: the LDS FamilySearch, GenServ, and the Family Tree Maker websites.

There is a wedding in the LDS IGI in Gerlingen, about 10 miles south of Bissingen, that looks possible for Wendel Schell and Anna Margaretha (Vogel) on 1 Feb 1670. I guess I order the Gerlingen microfilm to see if that in our Wendel Schell. The facts sure seem to fit, right people and right time frame. There appears to be many Schells in the Bissingen area in this period. I will attemp to download them all from the IGI. In addition to this area of Würtemberg there seem to be a lot of Schells near Karlsruhe Baden, only few miles away.

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