The Dream

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.

Clemens Schreiber - The Genealogist

Map of Germany 1815 - The same year my immigrant ancestor Johannes Blum was born in Ahlersbach. Hessen Kassel is in the center in brown

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On December 10, 2012, I received an email from Sue Foster. She emailed me to let me know that at the end of November our mutual friend Clem Schreiber had had some major heart problems with resulting surgeries.

I came to know of Sue through searching the Internet for information on Kreis (county) Schluechtern. I my search, I found some pages that Sue had put up about her family in Oberkalbach. Find the pages here http://ursula.foster.cc/   She also has a a CD with the marriages of the Kreis of Schluechtern from 1718-1873 found here http://ursula.foster.cc/page73.html

Sue was born in Germany and immigrated to the USA after World War II. Her mother's family was from Oberkalbach which is included in the area of Schluechtern that I was searching.

My immigrant ancestor Johannes Blum came from Ahlersbach in the Kreis of Schluechtern. I contacted  Sue hoping that she could help me in my search for information about my ancestors via her Schluechtern marriage CD. She checked her CD for the marriage of Johannes Blum and Anna Catharina but was unable to find anything. She then referred me to Clemens Schreiber for further help in my genealogical pursuits on the Blum family because the church books for this area are only found in Germany. She gave me his address in Germany and I wrote to him. Present day Ahlersbach is now incorporated into the city of Schluechtern.

Ahlersbach 

Clem lives in the city of Schluechtern and is a native of Germany. He is in his 80's and does not use email but prefers the traditional route of postal service. Lucky for me, he does speak/read English - so the letter writing worked just great.

Clem is amazing! He is a great genealogists with wonderful attention to detail. He has all of the Evangelische (Lutheran) records for the Schluechtern area at his disposal. Most of which he has transcribed and ready for use. He enjoys genealogy and had worked for years helping many people with their own family research. He only charged me $7 per family that he found - which is very inexpensive. Most genealogists charge you much, much more.

I corresponded with Clem for maybe 9 or 10 months in gathering all of my families from Kreis Schluechtern and a few families found beyond this area. He found over 600 people from my family that I did not know about. I learned from Clem and as a result became a better researcher. I can't thank Clem enough for all of the research he did on my behalf. I wish him the best in his return to good health. He truly has been a heavenly aid to many people. There are still good people!

Next time: Part 2 - the story before Clem - Heaven Intervenes.