Entry #45

I was so surprised to learn that Ancestry.com had made available a collection of birth and marriage records from Saxony, Germany.  I was under the impression that most records in Dresden were destroyed. My great-grandmother, Anna Maria Kessler Linder, was killed during the fire-bombing of Dresden and I blogged about her in week 3.

In week 18, I also wrote a blog post about Uncle Oswald, who I believe was a Kessler.  I had lamented not knowing the names of my grandfather’s maternal grandparent,s since we talked about his paternal ancestors frequently.

Imagine my surprise to find the marriage record for Emil Max Heinrich Lindner and Anna Maria Kessler. I was thrilled to find the names of my great, great- grandparents. Here is the lower portion of the document, which is that part that that relates to Anna Maria.

I appealed to the German Genealogy Records Transcription Facebook group for help in deciphering of the old German handwriting. This is a group that specializes in transliteration rather than translation of documents. Fortunately, Ute Brandenburg provided both, for which I am most grateful. Here is what I learned:

The cook Anna Maria Kessler, Lutheran, born on 29 November 1860 in Freiberg, residing in Dresden, Kaitzensten?str. 9. Daughter of the carpenter Friedrich Ernst Kessler and his wife Johanne Christiane nee Strassburger, both residing in Freiberg.

Now, I have the names of my grandfather’s maternal grandparents and my belief that they came from Freiburg is confirmed. I was also interested to learn that my great-grandmother was a cook.  This makes sense since the Linders operated a Hofbrau. This would be big news on any given genealogical day, but the top half of the marriage record held a genealogical bombshell! I will handle that the big surprise in my next 52 Ancestors blog post.

Great, great grandparents – Friedrich Ernst Kessler and Johanne Christiane Strassburger Kessler from Freiberg, Saxony