So far, I've made such visits to north-central U.S. (Wisconsin and Minnesota); Kansas (Beloit and Osborne); the National Road (Maryland, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois); the possible river and overland routes to the middle of Kansas (Hannibal MO, St. Joseph MO, Kansas City MO/KS, and the river systems west from Kansas City); the Ohnsat settlement area of Pittsburgh PA; the Deneke and Stephan settlement area of Cincinnati OH; the Michael Kohn home in Leavenworth KS; the home of Chuck's great grandparents (Delaware OH); and the Cleveland area homes of Chuck's family. What remained were the Ohnsat destinations in central California, the Reinert destinations in western Kansas, the homes of emigration from Germany/Prussia, and the homes of emigration from Sicily for Chuck's grandmother Angelina Russo Femminella and grandfather Giovanni Iacano.
Grand Tour Plans
The most attractive choice was to visit Sicily with Chuck, but he didn't want to discuss the details of planning such a trip. Or rather, he wanted a long Grand Tour that included the Amalfi Coast and all of Sicily. I proposed an itinerary that followed the general plan, but he balked at a length of about five weeks. So those plans were shelved.Thomastown, County Kilkenny, Ireland |
Destinations in the U.S. did not have much attraction: Sheridan County KS; Chicago and New Trier IL; Onandaga County NY; Merced County CA offered information for family members who had lived there from a few weeks to several years. I felt that the month without use of the local FHC warranted use of much of that time for a trip.
Homes of emigration for my German great-grandparents |
I estimated that the visit would require three or four weekdays at each town, and I could use the weekends for visiting cities because the towns' Standesämter (city clerk offices) and Pfarreien (parish offices) would be closed. Thus: 18 to 24 weekdays and 3 to 5 weekends, plus some additional time for research in larger libraries or state archives. That seemed pretty long to me, and much too long to Chuck. So I needed to cut it down.
Working Toward a Focus
Chuck first suggested that, since the Grüben visit was in Poland and an 8-hour drive away from the closest research area in Germany, he would agree to some later trip together to visit Berlin and Grüben, and perhaps to include Leipzig, Dresden, Prague, and Krakow—details to be planned later.That left a plan to visit five ancestral towns with time available to visit a few towns of tangential interest and one or two libraries that hold books of interest to my research:
- Wasserliesch, R-P
- Igel, R-P
- Breisach am Rhein, B-W
- Königheim, B-W
- Brakel, N-W
- Trier, R-P
- Saarburg, R-P
- Temmels, R-P
- Wasserbillig, LUX
- Luxembourg, LUX
- Ettlingen,
- Rastatt,
- Württembergische Landesbibliothek in Stuttgart
- Nationalbibliothek in Frankfurt am Main
Final Itinerary
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