About three weeks before Anna was born, I had a dream. My disclaimer: I am not a vivid dreamer. I usually don't even remember my dreams. Occasionally I do remember and this was that occasion. I woke up and remembered.
In my dream, I walked up to a house. I was greeted at the door and entered the home of a German couple. I knew right away that they were German because they spoke to me in English with a German accent. Of course, if they spoke to me in German, I would not of understood a word. I can read German vital records but this is the extent of my German skills.
I went into the German couples kitchen and we shared a conversation together. It went something like this - I said, "Oh, you are from Germany. I have ancestors from Germany. I have been searching for many years for their hometowns, but I have not been able to find them thus far. I have birth dates and I know the area that they came from."
I continued, "Where are you from?"
The woman said, "We are from Kurhessen."
I said, "Oh! Kurhessen! That is where my ancestors are from. But I have not been able to locate the hometowns, so no luck."
She said, "I know where those records are. I know where you can find them."
I said, "You do!?"
Then the dream ended. I woke up and somehow knew that this dream was special and that I should write it down, so I did. I recorded the dream in my journal, so I wouldn't forget it.
The dream was unusual but it also was unusual because I had not even been thinking of my family history at the time. I was in baby mode. I was cleaning the house, gathering newborn baby stuff, trying to sleep through the night with pain radiating down my legs at night. It was the furthest thing from my mind at the moment.
I went on to have Anna three weeks later. She was healthy and well. She brought excitement to our house and still does.
Genealogy slowly began to creep back into my thoughts after I got Anna through her first year of life. As I considered where I should turn my focus, I thought Johannes Blum, my Kurhessen ancestor. The thought that came to my mind was that I should take the time to research each of his children; he had fifteen children.
Johannes had first married Anna Catharina (possible surname of Ire, Ayre, etc) somewhere in the Hessen-Kassel area, but not in the county of Schluechtern, or at least no marriage record was found in Kreis Schluechtern. In 1846, Johannes, Catharina and their two children immigrated to America. I am sure it was a difficult experience to leave their homeland and travel with their two very young children (ages two and four) all the way to America. Catharina was eight months pregnant when they arrived in America in August of 1846. The trip across the Atlantic must of been something that Catharina would never forget. But some how they all survived their journey and settled in Pennsylvania among fellow Germans.
As the records indicate, Johannes had a total of 7 children with Catharina before she died in Pennsylvania. He then remarried a woman much younger than he. Her name was Maria Anna Henkel, who is my ancestor. They had 8 children together. their youngest child Anna is my dad's grandmother.
As I searched out each of Johannes Blum's children and their families, I found "the record" I was looking for. The super amazing record was the 1920 census for Minnie Blum Piquet - which listed her parents exact places of birth. (Johannes Blum's oldest daughter from his second marriage to Maria Anna Henkel). Minnie was born Elizabeth Blum 12 June 1862 in Erie Co., PA.
Minnie had married Joseph Piquet and they had 5 children together - with their baby daughter Maude dying at 9 months old. As time moved on, Minnie provided a place in her home for her mother Maria Anna Henkel Blum to reside in the final years of her life.
This situation provided the opportunity to remember the past together. Maria Anna died 19 Sept 1913 in Lansing, Iowa at the home of her daughter Minnie.
With this background, it is understandable why Minnie decided to provide the exact names of the hometowns of her parents on the 1920 census, instead of the country of origin (Germany). In the years of research I have done - I have only seen a hometown listed on a census record a handful of times. It is highly unusual but one can never say never. There is and always will be - the exception. So check, always check every record for every person connected to your immigrant ancestor. Luck might be on your side.
The story goes on from here. I happened to visit with an employee at the Family History Library in Salt Lake City, who is from Kurhessen/Hessen Kassel and is a 30 year veteran of German research. She gave me some information on who to contact for research in this area of Germany. The LDS Church has not filmed the records for Wickers (Maria Anna Henkel) and Ahlersbach (Johannes Blum).
So, the story comes full circle - I did contacted Clemens Schreiber for Ahlersbach and all other towns in Kreis Schluechtern and Marion Wolfurt for Wickers, parish of Hilders. I have much more research to be completed in Wickers but I will continue to wait until the records become available for a fee online through the collaboration of some of the German archives.
As for Catharina, well... I have not been able to locate where she and Johannes Blum were married. They were not married in the Kreis of Schluechtern, too bad for me. Must of been a neighboring county where they married and christened their first 2 children. Catharina's story is yet to be discovered. I might need another dream.
