Entry #26

Last week was full of genealogical finds, mostly because I had some new films to view at my Family History Center. This is going to be one of the biggest pleasures of my new retirement. It has been very difficult for me to travel an hour and twenty minutes each way to view films, while I was still working.

This week’s blog entry is really the continuation of week #10. That was the story of how my husband, Gary, and my good friend, Allen, discovered they must be cousins through the Langs of Beerfelden:
Anna Marie and Elisabeth Lang – When in Doubt, Test the DNA

Last week I was able to locate the Beerfelden christening records for both of these women. What a disappointment! They were very difficult to read, but with translation help from members of the Hesse Genealogy group on Facebook they were read. It seemed that Anna Marie and Elisabeth had different parents. My husband’s great-grandmother, Anna Marie Lang, was the daughter of Jacob Lang and Barbara Ackerman. Elisabeth was the daughter of Adam Lang and wife, Friederike Johanna Soj…?

Christening of Anna Maria Lang

Christening of Elisabetha Dorothea Lang

This was not what I had hoped to hear, but the name Barbara Ackermann was a happy surprise. I had nearly forgotten a postcard that came from my father-in-law’s side of the family. It was from the town of Weidenthal. I worked on this clue about seven or eight years ago, but it led nowhere.

Front of postcard

Here is the transcription of the handwriting on the back:

The right side reads, “Geburtsort Eurer lieben Mutter.” I understand enough German to know that this means “birthplace of your dear mother.” Unfortunately, I was not sure whose dear mother it referred to. The card is not addressed to anyone. It is undated and not postmarked; it may have arrived in a letter. The inscription on the left side of the postcard required some help. It reads, “Das gezeigte Schulhaus war das alte Ackermannsche? Elternhaus. Er wurde abgerissen unds Schulhaus daraufgestellt.” The rough traslation I was given is “The shown school house was the old Ackermann’s house. It was demolished and the schoolhouse placed on it.”

When I tried to interpret this years ago, I was told Ackermann could be the name of the parents or mean “farmers.” Learning that Anna Marie’s mother was Barbara Ackermann means that the Weidenthal postcard was written to her about the family home. What a wonderful clue to another line of my husband’s family!

As for the connection between Gary and Allen, I figured I would have to work my way back another generation. Maybe they were 4th not 3rd cousins and Jacob and Adam Lang were brothers. Sigh, more films were going to be required.

BUT, WAIT, there’s more! I woke up the next morning to conversation on the Facebook Hesse Genealogy group insisting that Elisabeth Lang, daughter of Adam could not have emigrated to the United States. My correspondents insist she died in Beerfelden on 26 May 1871 as an infant. If this were true and I have the wrong record, Anna Maria and Elizabeth could still be sisters. I was browsing Beerfelden films in the catalog on FamilySarch.org when I decided I should take another look at Elizabeth. I knew that I did not have death or burial records for her. In fact, I did not have a precise birth date, only May 1871 from the 1900 US census.

So, in the wee hours last night, I tried another search on Ancestry.com for Elisabeth Lang Grather and, to my amazement, I finally found her death certificate! Not to long ago, Ancestry added the collection of Pennsylvania death certificates. I found one for Anna Marie Lang Köhler, also. Both of the death certificates listed Jacob Lang and Barbara Ackermann as their parents.

Death Certificate for Elizabeth Lang Grather

I was ecstatic over this discovery, but I have to admit there is one nagging fact that could still disprove Elisabeth Lang Grather’s parentage. Elisabeth’s death certificate gives 26 May 1871 as her birth date. The christening record for Elisabetha Dorothea Lang has the same date in the margin.  This is supposed to be the child’s death date. (Maybe it is really her birth date, not death date.) If so, these would be the same two Elizabeths. I am not sure how to explain the difference in the parents names.  Nevertheless, the informant for Elizabeth’s parents on her death certificate was Joseph Grather, her husband of over 40 years.  One would think he would know the names of this wife’s parents, and so I will treat this as a fairly reliable source.

At any rate, the DNA speaks to the strength of the connection between Gary and Allen. My head is spinning from the rapidity with which my research is moving!