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.

Bigler Historical Monument

Hannah Bigler

A few weeks ago while reading the LDS Church News, I found an article about the Bigler family from    Harrison County, (West)Virginia. This peaked my interest because I am related to the Bigler family through my grandfather Dean Secrist. My 3rd great grandmother is Hannah Bigler born 24 June 1820 Clarksburg, Harrison, (West) Virginia. Of course I put "west" in parentheses because West Virginia did not exist when Hannah was born. Hannah's father Jacob Jr. and his brother Mark both joined the LDS Church in (West) Virginia and came west to Nauvoo, Illinois.


An attorney Tom O'Neill residing in Clarksburg, West Virginia became interested in the Bigler family, through the well known LDS Relief Society President Bathsheba Bigler (Hannah's cousin), who married George A. Smith. Mr. O'Neill decided that there should be a monument recognizing the Bigler family homestead in Harrison County. He researched the old land records, used modern software to convert the metes and bounds and ultimately found a large portion of the original Bigler property still in one piece in Enterprise, West Virginia. It is a tear drop piece of land near a bridge. Mr. O'Neill then used his resources and had a historical marker placed on the main road about a mile from the original Bigler Homestead. If you want to read the article go here http://www.ldschurchnews.com/articles/63004/Historical-marker-honors-Bathsheba-Smith.html#

The Bigler family were early settlers of Harrison County with the father Jacob Bigler, Sr. marrying in Pennsylvania, then moving to Harrison County and raising his family there. There are many interesting stories in the Bigler family. I will dedicate future posts to those stories. They were right in the thick of many happenings after joining the LDS Church.

Jacob Bigler, Sr. grave marker Enterprise, West Virginia

I appreciate the efforts of Tom O'Neill in placing the historical marker in remembrance of the Bigler's. When I get all the way to the east coast (which I will), I will be sure to make a stop in Enterprise, West Virginia, take a photo and of course write about it.
I appreciate the efforts of Tom O'Neill in placing this historical marker. When I get all the way to the east coast, I will visit this family marker and of course, write about it.

Part 2 - Neustadt an der Haardt, A Place of Meeting

Neustadt an der Haardt

Maria Carolina Margaretha Werner was born in this city that is nestled up against the Haardt Mountains. Thus the name, Neustadt an der Haardt. This is a place of grape growing and wine making - much like the surrounding area where I grew up. It is also a place of immigrants. People coming from other villages, towns and cities. There were the farmers, growing grapes but there was also the city life including a wide range of craftsmen. My male relations from Neustadt are a linen merchant, three bakers, and a potter.

I encountered several challenges in Neustadt. First, was the intermarriage between those of differing religious backgrounds. Having to check back and forth between the Lutheran and Reformed church records to make sure I didn't miss anyone. Second, was that as I began to trace the family of Carolina Werner, I found that her father and maternal grandparents did not count Neustadt as their place of birth. Requiring more figuring and more work looking for their towns of origin.

Evangelische Kirche (Lutheran) Neustadt built 1400

This is were the "Burgerbuchs" come into play. Most towns that I have researched in Germany have a very slim record selection to search. Usually there are the church records and limited civil records that were microfilmed. Neustadt, on the other hand, has many different kinds of records that were microfilmed. Lucky me! I sort of stumbled onto the Burgerbuchs.

Burgerbuchs are citizenship books. Citizenship books kept a record of those requiring citizenship in the desired town by "foreigners" (those not born in the desired town) and by natives. In each entry is recorded personal information about the person desiring citizenship and the monetary fee that was paid. Each male was assessed a fee and each married woman was assessed a fee as well. I am still trying to get more information on town citizenship's and how they worked - the various fees, various appointed accounts the fees went to, who paid and why and what the money went to, what age/marital status - especially of natives citizenship fees. I think this will be something I will have to study as I finish my degree.

I did find the citizenship record of Carolina Werner's father Johann Georg Werner. He was from Kaiserslautern, a city found 23 miles to the west and a bit north. I also found the citizenship records for Carolina Werner's grandfather Martin Brenner. He came from the Elsass Lothringen area, an area that is now apart of France. The town he came from is Hordt. As a frame of reference, it is just outside of Strassburg. Hordt is about 61 miles southwest of Neustadt. Martin Brenner's second wife Susanna Maria Uberweg - the grandmother of Carolina Werner also had a citizenship record because she was from the neighboring town of Bochingen, 10 miles away. So, a fee had to be paid in her behalf. Of course, she did not have the same citizenship rights allotted to her husband, as she was a woman.

Georg Werner's citizenship record Neustadt

Martin Brenner's citizenship record Neustadt 3rd entry

Susanna Maria Uberweg's citizenship record Neustadt bottom right entry

page 2 of Susanna Maria Uberweg's citizenship record Neustadt top left

(I know that I should take the time to crop these records but my attention is needed elsewhere now.)

As it turns out Susanna Maria Uberweg's father Johann Jacob was born in Neustadt but married, worked and raised his family in Bochingen. But, on the story goes, as Johann Jacob's father was not born in Neustadt but somewhere else entirely. (I am currently deciphering the place name - only recorded once - no Burgerbuchs that early.) As the title of my post says: Neustadt and der Haardt - A Place of Meeting.