Research trip journal, day 10

2014.05.19 Monday

2014.05.20 Tuesday

2014.05.21 Wednesday

2014.05.22 Thursday

2014.05.23 Friday

2014.05.24 Saturday

2014.05.25 Sunday

2014.05.26 Monday

2014.05.27 Tuesday

2014.05.28 Wednesday

I had been in contact with St. Boniface Catholic church in Tipton, Kansas over several months. My first questions were on the parish history, then on the physical properties of their parish registers. Then, I listed all the sacramental "events" I hoped to document in family while they lived in and near Tipton. From this preparation, they realized I had much more to accomplish than merely a few baptisms and marriages. We came to agreement that I might do the work in place of the secretary, who typically answered isolated requests for parish records.

I arrived at the parish office around 10:30 today and introduced myself to Fr. Damian Richards and his mother. Fr. Damian and I spoke a bit about the parameters of photographing parts of the parish registers: I could photograph the double-page spreads, but I could only photograph those spreads that presented information for the Kohn, Ohnsat, Reinert, Gradig, Steichen, Schandler, Streit, Gasper, Gillen, Schwinden, Simeon, Ottley, Deneke, Ottley, and Riedel families—the in-law families of each of my uncles, aunts, granduncles, and grandaunts.

Baptism Register 03

I began with a fairly recent baptismal register, reading the entries and photographing a page where I saw a relative's name. At Fr. Damian's suggestion, I stopped the photography around 1960 and at the time to break for lunch. Baptism Register 03 has a full description of the source, although not the pages themselves.


The entries held a surprise for me: Some Kohn families who eventually lived some distance from Tipton had several baptisms performed at St. Boniface. It may be they resided nearby and later moved or they returned to Tipton for the baptism in their "home parish." My first cousins once removed, Ves and Ernest Kohn, who lived in Cawker City, Kansas, brought their babies to St. Boniface for baptism; my uncle Nick Kohn brought his babies from as far as Burr Oak in Jewell county for baptisms at St. Boniface.

Baptism Register 02

After lunch I set up the next previous baptismal register and photographed relevant pages through its entirety. "Baptismorum Registrum" appears to be the oldest baptism register; its spine, covers, and pages are very worn. But it is not the oldest; I was to photograph the rebound first volume next. Baptism Register 02 has a full description of this source.

I noticed also that at least one bound volume was missing. When I expressed concern that it was mislaid, Fr. Damian admitted that he had removed the more recent register of marriages, first communions, and confirmations from those that I could photograph.

Baptism Register 01

The earliest baptismal register, "Baptismorum Registrum Tipton, Kans 1884-1929" on the spine only has been rebound. The spine and covers exhibit only light shelf wear. The text, however, shows greater wear, discoloration and fragility at the edges of all pages; the ink on some pages has become quite faded.  Baptism Register 01 has a full description of the source.

Marriage Register 01

The first register of marriages is bound together with the first registers of first communions and confirmations. The title on the cover reads "Register of Marriages 1884-1935; First Communions 1890-1949; Confirmations 1892-1949 Vol. 1." Marriage, Communion, and Confirmation Registers 01 has a full description of the source. The photography went much more quickly, since the format of the marriage entries presented names per page. Thus, the criterion of one appearance of any of the family names was met on every spread.

Several marriages of brides from Beloit occurred at St. Boniface.

Confirmation Register 01

Similarly for the confirmation registers, which typically consisted of the names of a dozen or more youth receiving the sacrament. Every page was photographed.

First Communion Register 01

The registers here also consisted of lists of children receiving their first communion, generally 8 to 15 at a time. Every page was photographed.

Funeral Register 01

The state of this register is alarming. The original saddle-stitch binding was fairly inadequate for use as a register. Most pages are loose and torn at the fold of the saddle. Most pages are extremely worn at the edges. The paper is discolored, although the paper likely did not have a high acid content. At least that aspect has helped preserve the register, such as it is. The handwritten title reads "Liber Mortuorum Ecclesiae St Bonifacis Loco Tipton, Mitchell County Kansas 1884 to April 1914." Funeral Register 01 has a full description of the source.

The register entries were very short, and several entries could fit on a page. Because the criterion could be easily met, I was able to photograph each page.

Funeral Register 02

This volume has no title. Its covers are edged with adhesive plastic wrapping tape. Many pages have damage to the edges, and some pages are loose. Its poor condition is second only to Funeral Register 01.  Funeral Register 02 has a full description of the source.

Tipton Heritage Museum

I finished photography by 4 p.m., and called Carolyn Ellenz to meet at the Tipton museum. She and her husband Dave have been working on the museum since 2007, and it has been open to visitors since late 2013. Carolyn led me through the displays, which fill the ground floor and part of the 2nd floor. She showed me their acquisitions about Caledonia, Minnesota, which was the first home of many families who resettled to Tipton. The amount of background information about that town is second only to the Houston County Historical Museum in Caledonia! She also proudly showed the genealogical studies of area families that local genealogists had published.

• Tipton Heritage Museum
• Hours:  1:00 to 4:00 p.m. each Friday
• Special hours:  (to be determined) Saturday and Sunday of the St. Boniface Harvest Festival (first weekend in August)
• Location: 602 Main Street, Tipton KS 67485 
• Phone:  785-373-4315

Carolyn spoke of their outreach to local schools and the interest evidenced by volunteer workers in the museum. We shared ideas on making fragile documents available to researchers, rotating displays from the museum placed in local storefronts, and digitally archiving some of their collection.

John M. Kohn parcel, section 25, Carr Ckreek twp, 1884

I had asked Carolyn to print three files that showed portions of the 1884 plat map for Carr Creek township. My great-grandfather John M. Kohn homesteaded in section 25 for a few years before he relocated to La Crosse, Wisconsin in late 1880.  (In the portion of the 1884 plat map shown here, the southwest quarter of section 25 was then owned by H. Hodge. The transfer to Hodge occurred shortly before John M. moved his family to La Crosse, Wisconsin in late 1880.) He and his wife Susanna (Reinert) were enumerated here in the 1875 Kansas census and the 1880 U.S. Federal census. I have transcribed the land patent that documents the transfer to John M. under the Homestead Act. A family document refers to their dugout and sod house that they lived in while "proving" the land.

Also in Carr Creek were the farms owned by William Schwinden, the father-in-law to Peter Reinert, and John Schwinden, a brother-in-law.

William and John Schwinden parcels, sections 15 & 16, Carr Ckreek twp, 1884

The 1884 plat maps show both farms adjacent to each other. William owns the NW quarter of section 15, and John owns an irregular parcel in the N half of section 14.

Going to Section 25 in Carr Creek township

After 7:30, Frank Ohnsat.and his wife Marilyn showed up at the museum. It was nearing the end of their work day. Frank advised me on finding the 1874-1880 residence of John M. Kohn with accurate advice on roads, as the property was near Frank's farm. I left to photograph that location while Frank drove home an implement that he needed for the next day's work. We would meet after sunset.

Although I had 1884 and 1902 maps for locations of William and John Schwinden properties in Carr Creek township, I didn't explore their current appearance. Sunset was approaching, and I wanted to have time at the Kohn homestead.

Self-portrait at the homestead—SW quarter of section 25 with Mill Creek dividing the land

The sod home in Carr Creek township where John M. and Susanna Kohn lived has long gone, but the charm of the location remains. The creek is a small one named Mill Creek, and it was dry today. It set off a small area that could be suitable for livestock—John M. had a few cattle, a horse, some swine. The creek, though small, is impassible for tilling implements; access can only be made by the roads at the parcel's west and south boundaries.

Frank and Marilyn Ohnsat

I headed west to Frank's farm along the dirt roads from the John M. Kohn homestead. I arrived a bit before they did, but the timing was almost spot on. Today as I viewed the St. Boniface baptism records, I realized that Frank is just 25 days older than I. For some reason, my database had his birth year as 1950. We had a wide-ranging conversation about the economics of farming today. His farmland is in three areas: next to his home, where his father and grandfather farmed just west of Tipton, and land about 25 miles away, near Lucas, Kansas. We spoke of Frank's sisters and parents, of growing up in a small town, the reliance on towns like Osborne, Beloit, and Cawker City.

I got to know Marilyn, who had grew up just north of the Kansas-Nebraska border and graduated from Marymount, as did her sisters. (Again my database has been faulty: it reported her birthplace as Missouri.)

Their daughter Amy came home, and we talked about her new job as a teacher at St. Boniface schools.

I headed back to Riverbend by rock roads until I reached KS-181, bypassing Tipton and an additional 12 miles. The way reached the blacktop a bit south of Corinth elevator, where floodlights made the buildings stand tall in the dark, Kansas night.

2014.05.29 Thursday

2014.05.30 Friday

St. Boniface, Tipton KS Baptismal Register 01

Baptism Register 01

The earliest baptismal register of St. Boniface Catholic church in Tipton KS is titled "Baptismorum Registrum Tipton, Kans 1884-1929" on the spine only . The register has been rebound, for the spine and covers exhibit only light shelf wear. The text, however, shows greater wear, discoloration and fragility at the edges of all pages; the ink on some pages has become quite faded. The binding is tight, and the page format allows no gutter. Thus, the remarks column on even pages and the name column on odd pages are sometimes difficult to read completely. In recognition of the fragile paper, my photography did not force the page spreads open.

The inside title page provides a generic title for the line of prnted books: "Batismorum Registrum, ad mentum patrum Concilii Provincialis Baltimorensis X. Concinnatum; et ab IIImo ac Revmo Baltimorensi Metropolitano probatum." (Baptismal Register to remember families ...) Publication data includes, in English tranlation, "Tenth and further edition. Baltimore. Published by John Murphy, Printer for his holiness archbishop of Baltimore." The colophon page provides additional Imprimatur statements and an example entry. A handwritten note reads, "St. Boniface Congregation was organized as a parish (quasi-parroesia) in 1880. The first resident pastor was the Rev. Clemens Niemann. The Tipton territory was first settled by Catholics in 1872. The Reinert family came that year in 1873 and in 1874 the Boden and Gasper families." The note is neither signed nor dated.

Index

The printed Index pages (two letters per double-page spread) have entries, although checking their reliability has not been done yet. However, no index page refers to pages after about 175, so the index is certainly incomplete for baptisms after about 1907. The last two index pages, which do not include printed letters, contain several handwritten notes. The notes record baptisms that might have been performed during the pastoral residence of Rev. Robert Loehrer and before Rev. Frederick Schalk. I presume the notations are actually transcripts of baptisms performed elsewhere.

• Theresia Pollard baptism 1901.05.21
• John Newman (Hake) 1900.10.16
• Joseph Hatfield 1899.05.22
• Joseph Zern 1900.01.06
•  Dalia Kelly 1900.04.21
• Marie Gerard 1901.05.03
• Katie Lafferty 1899.11.14
• These entries are summarized with "Orphan children in this congregation Dec. 31.1903 Rev. T Walleser"
• John Peter Thille baptism 1880.08.22
• Edmund John Fischer 1884.05.10

Register Entries

The pages are pre-printed for four entries per page. The column titles read, in translation from the Latin, "Family," "Year-day-month," "Register of baptism," and "Remarks." The pre-printed text for the register reads, in translation from the Latin, "I the undersigned baptized," "born," "of [parent]," "from the location," "and [parent]," "from the location," "Sponsors were," [officiant's signature]. As in the example, the origins of the parents are not always provided. Relatively few entries have further remarks, which typically would include the date of confirmation and the marriage date, location, and spouse.

Register Period

Page 1 contains the first entry, dated 1884.05.24. Page 376 contains the last entry, dated 1929.08.18; a loose "Notification of Marriage" sheet is dated 1958.07.26 in reference to the last baptism entry. About 30 various notation sheets have been inserted; some of them have been bound into the spine. Priests who officiated:

• Frederick J. Schalk (1884.05.24 through 1886.06.13)
• Francis X. Schalk (1886.08.15 through 1888.06.10)
• And. Kunkler (1888.05.31 through 1889.09.08)
• A.J. Abel (1889.11.22 through 1893.10.26)
• M. Heitz (1893.09.11) 
• W. Wenzel (1893.11.12 through 1896.01.04) 
• Leonard  Epps (1896.01.10 through 1898.05.24)
• Robert Loehrer (1898.06.10 through 1901.08.25)
• Gregory Neumayer (1900.07.22 through 1900.07.29)
• John E. Walleser (1901.09.14 through 1907.05.24)
• Marian Fiege, OMCap (1902.12.08 through 1903.02.21)
• G. Lecuter (?) (1904.04.10) 
• P.A. Krier SJ (1904.03.12)
• Henry Regensberger (1907.06.26 through 1907.12.08) 
• Raymond Drees (1907.12.15 through 1910.03.08)
• Henry Baumstimler (1908.02.17, 1908.07.09, 1909.02.11)
• Aug.Teahan (1909.09.06)
• Francis G. Riedel (1912.04.22, 1912.04.23, 1923.04.16, 1927.10.19, 1928.09.18)
• Richard Fox (1911.04.23 to 1911.05.14) 
• Charles Menig (1910.04.20 through 1929.08.18)
• Lambert Burton (1915.08.22) 
• Felix Nolte (1922.08.14) 
• Edgar Schmerdeler (between 1921.05.21 and 1921.06.02)
• Edward "Taylor by Menig" (1928.06.24, 1929.08.07 and 1929.08.15)

Handwriting issues: Some spelling is difficult to decipher without much surrounding context of other writing in the same hand, because the writing inside the printed form is limited to names, places, and dates. Perhaps the least legible handwriting is from Fr. Menig. Also problematic are the entries by Fr. Regensberger, which was written with a less permanent ink, finer pen nib, or weaker stroke.

Missing Material

Special notes: My agreement with the pastor of St. Boniface (Fr. Damian Richards) was to photograph only those spreads that presented information for the Kohn, Ohnsat, Reinert, Gradig, Steichen, Schandler, Streit, Gasper, Gillen, Schwinden, Simeon, Ottley, Deneke, Ottley, and Riedel families—the in-law families of each of my uncles, aunts, granduncles, and grandaunts. My photo session consisted of reading the two-page spread and deciding to photograph or not. If any of the family names appeared, even as a sponsor, I photographed the spread. This left several gaps in the photographed record: specifically, pages

• 16-17, 20-21, 23, 27, 34-35, 38-39, 46-47 (24% of the first 50 pages)
• 62-63, 64-65, 70-71, 94-95, 96-97 (20% of pages 51-100)
• 110-111, 124-124a, 136-137 (12%)
• 198-199 (4%)
• 205, 216, 218-219, 220-221, 244-245 (16%)
• 254, 266-267, 288-289, 292-293, 298-299 (18%)
• 300-301, 304-305, 306-307, 312-313, 318-319, 322-323, 327, 330-331, 334-335, 347, 348-349 (40%)
• 351, 352, 354-355, 362-363, 372-373 (16%)

Looking back now, I regret the agreement and wish I had negotiated away from such restrictions for records before 1930.

St. Boniface, Tipton KS Baptismal Register 02

Baptism Register 02 

The second baptismal register of St. Boniface parish in Tipton KS has the title  "Baptismorum Registrum" on its cover. Its appearance might indicate it to be the oldest baptism register; its spine, covers, and pages are very worn. But it is not; the oldest has been rebound. The title on the inside title page is given as a combination of printed text and lines for hand-entered text: "Baptismorum Registrum ecclesiae St. Bonifacii, Tipton, Kansas. A die 2a Septembris 1929 ad [no end date]."

Many pages are fairly worn at the edges. A few folios have pulled from the spine, though they are not quite loose. The index tabs are very fragile, and further  use as pull points for opening the pages might cause them to tear.

Index

The pages with pre-printed letters cut into the outer margin allow two pages for each letter. I photographed only the pages that show entries for the initials A, B, E, G, H, K, M, O, R, and S. I have not checked the entries for accuracy, though it appears that careful entry into the index stopped around page 120 of the register.

Register Entries

The printed register consists of pre-printed forms, arranged four to a page. The form has four columns: "Nomen familiae," "A.D." and, below that, "Die Mensis," "Nomina" with the Latin formulary of the suggested details of the baptized, family, and sponsors; and a remarks column titled "Diei confirmationis et matrimonii vel sub-diaconati vel religiosae professionis registratio. Observanda." (Dates of confirmation and marriage or sub-diaconate or religious profession. Remarks.) The pre-printed text for the register reads, in translation from the Latin, "I the undersigned baptized," "born," "of [parent]," "from the location," "and [parent]," "from the location," "Sponsors were," [officiant's signature].

Register Period

The first entry was made on 1929.09.02, page 1. The last entry was made on 1985.07.06, page 312. Pages 313 through 377 are blank pages of forms. Few priests—notably except Fr. Dreiling and Fr. Weigel—were careful to enter the location. One could presume that a blank indicates the person's home is Tipton or its surrounding area. Fr. James Hoover even left many registry entries unsigned. Priests who officiated:

• Charles Menig (1929.09.02 through 1935.03.31; 1939.09.17 through 1940.11.19)
• J.B. Glyom (1933.09.30)
• Herbert Schehl (1934.08.01 and 1934.08.05)
• Raymond Ryan (1934.08.15 through 1934.08.26)
• Michael P. Dreiling (1935.11.29 through 1938.10.31)
• Fennis J. Tarter (1938.08.15 and 1938.08.19)
• Emil Sinner (1942.06.14)
• William Butzer, delegation (1943.05.22)
• Emmit J. Coler (1943.07.16 "per;" 1947.02.02 through 1947.06.29; 1971.01.31 through 1978.09.09)
• George F. Bucknell (1947.04.13. 1947.05.18)
• L. Wahlmeier (1947.06.08)
• E.D. Weigel (1947.07.17 through 1968.06.02)
• Ernest Gallagher (1950.12.07)
• Harold Vogler (1950.12.31)
• John Vanderberghe (1962.09.29)
• Alfred W. Harding (1966.06.06)
• Joachim Lally (1966.06.19)
• Steven Letourneau (1968.07.14)
• Francis Senecal (1968.07.07 through 1970.05.22; 1968.08.18, p. 297)
• James E. Hake (1962.09.16, 1965.09.09, 1968.06.21?, 1971.01.10, delegation 1975.10.06)
• Donald McCarthy (1973.06.14 through 1973.06.18; 1975.10.05 through 1975.10.12)
• Henry Kieffer (1976.02.08)
• Melvin F. Long (1978.09.23 through 1978.12.17)
• James F. Hoover (1980.12.07 through 1985-07.06)

Missing Material

The arrangement to photograph only those two-page spreads that listed a member of about a dozen families of interest left these pages as gaps in the full register:

• 3-4, 7-8, 11-12, 17-18, 19-20, 23-24, 27-28, 31-32, 37-38, 41-42, 45-46 (44% of the first 50 pages)
• 53-54, 59-60, 63-64, 81-82, 95-96 (20%)
• 119-120, 139-140 (8%)
• 151-152, 161-162, 163-164, 167-168, 169-170, 175-176, 177-178, 179-180, 181-182, 183-184, 185-186, 187-188, 189-190, 193-194, 197-198 (60%)
• 201-202, 209-210, 217-218, 227-228, 231-232, 233-234, 235-236, 239-240, 243-244, 247-248 (40%)
• 253-254, 255-256, 261-262, 271-272, 273-274, 281-282, 283-284, 289-290, 291-292, 293-294 (40%)
• 301-302, 307-308, 309-310

Finding the correct town and parish for your German ancestors

For the genealogist, it's easy to get bogged down in adding information from family births, marriages, and deaths among the many cousins, aunts, uncles, grandparents. Usually a family member who knows of your interest sends a note that Uncle Junior has died. It's up to you to find the obituary and document the date and location for the death and burial, corroborate what you already know with the list of survivors and the biographic details.

But keeping track of your contemporaries isn't really enough. You know that a dedicated family researcher goes back toward the beginnings of the family. And often seeks information about parents and siblings of those who have married into the family.

At some point, the family researcher comes to the first immigrant from another country. The research becomes multi-national and usually multi-lingual. That jump across the ocean gets harder and harder for each generation removed from the immigrant. More to the point, it's more difficult to find the town that a family member emigrated from.

Accumulated research can turn up information about the other country in several locations.

• Civil records (birth, marriage, divorce, or death) that name the parents or spouse and identify the person's home
• Civil records for an immigrant that identify the country of birth or former citizenship
• United States federal census enumerations, which ask the place of birth, year of birth or age, and place of birth for each parent
• Church records (baptism, confirmation, wedding, or funeral) that may name the parents, spouse, or previous church that documents the person's baptism or marriage
• Anecdotes from contemporaries or children of the immigrant
• Biographical sketches from contemporary newspapers
• Tombstone entries
• Memorial cards from funeral services
• Obituary notices and biographical sketches

Only on occasion do these sources certainly identify the town of emigration. And even if they do, the information must be met with some suspicion. After all, most of the sources contain information provided second-hand, from relatives of the immigrant. And memory fades, even for the immigrant, who may have left at an early age.

My experience in finding the town of emigration includes great ease and great difficulty.

• My great grandparents John M. Kohn and Susanna Reinert were part of a family that already has many family researchers. Even before I began to research, their towns of origin in western Germany, close to the Luxembourg border, were known to be Wasserliesch and Igel.
• My great grandparents Robert Ohnsat and Leopoldina Salinger were ciphers. An elderly cousin had some anecdotes that placed his home at Nysa or on the Nysa River in Silesia and her home at Frankfurt. This was partially true for my great grandfather, but not even close for my great grandmother.
• My great grandparents Anton Deneke and Maria Anna Stephan had passed on information about their homes of birth, but not much more. His birthplace was known as Hannover, and hers as Königheim in Baden. Both turned out to be correct, though Hannover was the seat of the district government, and his actual birthplace was Brakel in Kreis Höxter.
• My great grandparents Richard Butler and Mary Ellen Cummings were part of a family that includes several family researchers. As I began my work, I soon found the researchers who had information back to the generation that lived in Thomastown, County Kilkenny, Ireland.

Especially for the Ohnsat, Salinger, Deneke, and Stephan families, I found the International Genealogical Index (IGI) to be of some help. This aid allows you to enter a person's name and other data, which can search information for matches. You can then look through the matches for a likely location to research. I have provided more information in another post, the International Genealogical Index (IGI).

If you have a reliable town name, you can use the FamilySearch Catalog to enter the country name and town name. The catalog will list the corrected country, district, and county in addition to the town. If the town had a church that allowed its parish registers to be microfilmed, the catalog connects to a record that identifies the microfilms. With the microfilm numbers, you can order the microfilm at your local LDS genealogy library.

If you have a town name that is less reliable, you should use a couple of these online sources to find a corrected spelling or a correct district for the town.

• Contemporary online mapping, such as Google Earth. This can provide a search for the town name, though it does not typically offer alternatives to misspelled names.
• A listing of town names by country and area, such as the Global Gazetteer. Select a country, and then select a region or begin searching right away for the town name.
• Go to a version of Wikipedia for a specific language (for example, French, German, Irish, Italian, or one of nearly 50 others) and enter the town name. Wikipedia provides a large number of alternatives if the spelling is not exact.
• Try to find a web page for the town by using the format www.TOWN.COUNTRYCODE (for example, www.Wasserliesch.de).
• Try to find the town name from a web page for the region or state by using the format www.REGION.COUNTRYCODE (for example, www.trier-land.de, www.hessen.de, or www.deutschland.de).

Happy hunting!
Tom
© Thomas G. Kohn, 2013.

Notes for further additions to this post

The records that cite Mesenich, Igel and Igel, Trier are listing the community (or parish), followed by the next higher level of church or civil government. In the opening pages of a microfilm of parish records, you would see listings of towns for Parish, Deaconate, Community, Civil Region (Pfarrei, Dekonat, Gemeinde, Regierungsbezirk). Also the microfilm's first pages would identify the archive (for example, the Trier Bistumsarchiv).

Mesenich and Metzdorf, being smaller towns that didn't (ever? occasionally?) have a parish church of their own, would be documented in the parish records of the next larger, nearer community where the family went for church services. This could be Langsur, Griwenich, Wasserbillig, or even Igel. If you go to Google Earth, you can see that all of these towns are within easy walking distance; none more than perhaps 5 miles distant, even by a winding road along the river.

So if you start searching microfilms of parish registers, you have a bit of duplicated effort, until you find the first entry of relevance for your Konzemn ancestors. From that point on, you might assume that at least for a couple generations, the family wouldn't change its choice of parish.

I do have a few of the many church records of which parishes were aligned with a deaconry. Their information is pretty well represented by the catalog structure of the LDS microfilm library.

Translated Phrases in Latin Parish Registers

Many parish registers of Germany and the United States contain entries written in Latin. The true difficulty arises in deciphering the handwriting itself. In German records, the handwriting may use a writing style called Sütterlin. Tough the letters are uniformly written, they are very distinct from the letters of other styles.

The prospect of translating the Latin should not be daunting, since each priest typically used a formulated entry for a birth, marriage, or burial. Here are typical Latin entries and their translations to English and German.

Birth and Baptism

Marriage

Death and Burial

© Thomas G. Kohn, 2013.

Using the International Genealogical Index (IGI)

I consider the International Genealogical Index (IGI) to be a first step that likely points to the best direction for your research. For the best success, you need a person's full name, a reliable location for the person, and a reasonable date for the person's birth, death, or marriage.

The IGI, as its website says, is "a family history database that lists several hundred million names of deceased persons from throughout the world. Names in the IGI came from 1) community contributed information submitted to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (LDS) and 2) community indexed records from the early 1500s to 1885."

• The "community contributed information" comes from members of the LDS who believe they have found ancestors who are part of their family. The LDS belief system says that these ancestors can be baptized into the LDS posthumously, if a family link is established. Some members are superb genealogists; relatively more may make rash assumptions and produce faulty genealogical study.
• The "community indexed records" comes from contributors (not only LDS members) who reviewed original sources, extracted names and dates, and submitted the information for compilation into an index. The LDS maintains microfilms of the original sources in its Historical Records system, which is cataloged in the Family History Library's Published Collection.

Note that much extraction focused on only a part of a source. For example, the extracted information from the Wasserliesch parish registers consists of baptisms from 1779 to 1797—only 18 years, though one of the microfilmed Wasserliesch registers covers 1752 to 1797—a total of 45 years. The citation recommended for a search that results in information from the extracted Wasserliesch data suggests the source name "Deutschland, Geburten und Taufen 1558-1898."

Note also that the IGI results depend on very skilled review, name extraction, and compilation into the index. Any errors in transcription may result in missing a name that has been misspelled.

Finally, note that the absence of an expected result means little more than the indexing or record selection of the IGI can never hope to be complete.

I'll continue to add to this post, giving examples of where I found successful results and where the expected results were absent.

Success: Corroborating Kohn Ancestors

One primary area of research has been my patrilineal ancestors. I know my great grandfather emigrated from Wasserliesch, Kreis Trier-Land, Rheinland-Pfalz, Germany. I also know that the parish registers exist from about 1750 to the present, and that the LDS has microfilmed the registers from 1750 to 1899. The Community Indexed Records include baptisms and marriages over an 18-year span.

First I searched on the family name for a baptism. One name was the result: Joannes Kohn (result page at the right).

The name "Joannes" is the Latin form of Johann. The registers for the Roman Catholic parish of St. Aper are handwritten in Latin throughout.

Johann was baptized (christening is the term LDS uses) on October 28, 1780. The record also identifies the record (in German) as Catholic, in Wasserliesch, Rheinland (the contemporary name of the Bundesland that is today Rheinland-Pfalz), and Prussia (the name of a part of Germany that existed in various forms from 1451 to 1947—this town was not ruled by Prussia until about 1871).

Though a birth date is given, my experience with the parish register leads me to distrust IGI entries for this information. Typically only a good knowledge of Latin—and the original source text—allow you to understand whether the baptism occurred on the birth date.

The names of the father and mother are very important. Though both are linked entries, they return you to the same IGI record. However, the names can become important as you research the original source. There, you can find several other children that haven't been included in the IGI index.

The Batch Number is also important, as it can supply the names of about 300 other baptisms in the same span of 18 years.

The GS Film Number provides a catalog number for the microfilm that was indexed.

© Thomas G. Kohn, 2013.

Scanning my files

We recently bought a printer-copier-scanner that has a sheet feeder, and that is my opportunity to digitize the huge amount of paper records I have. Especially the photocopied Kirchenbücher (German term for Parish Registers) for the German towns that my ancestors called home.

The Igeler-säule, a monument
to a textile trading family of the
Roman era in Igel, Germany. The
monument stands next to the
hotel owned and operated by
my cousin Oskar Blasius.

I've begun with the full set of early Kirchenbücher from Igel in Rheinland-Pfalz that were microfilmed into the Bistums-Archiv Trier and the Latter Day Saints Family History Library (FHL) as film 0585855. This film includes several large divisions that are called "Items" in the FHL catalog. The Items contain the Kirchenbücher in these groupings:

• Item 1. Hüffelsheim. (registers of Hüffelsheim, not photocopied)
• Item 2. Gemeinde Hümmel, Dekanat Adenau, Regierung Bezirk Koblenz. (registers of Hümmel, not photocopied)
• Item 3. Gemeinde Hümmel, Dekanat Adenau, Regierung Bezirk Koblenz. (not photocopied)
• Item 4. Gemeinde Hümmel, Dekanat Adenau, Regierung Bezirk Koblenz. (not photocopied)
• Item 5. Gemeinde Hümmel, Dekanat Adenau, Regierung Bezirk Koblenz. (not photocopied)
• Item 6. Gemeinde Hümmel, Dekanat Adenau, Regierung Bezirk Koblenz. (not photocopied)
• Item 7. Gemeinde Igel, Dekanat Konz, Regierung Bezirk Trier. KB1.
• Taufen (baptisms) 1706-1713, 1720-1732, 1738-1778. 
• Einzelne (various)1794, 1800, 1804, 1806. 
• Heiraten (matrimonies) 1706-1713, 1748-1778 (sehr Lückenhaft). 
• Sterbefälle (deaths) 1706-1722, 1749-1778. 
• Einzelne 1790-1796.
• 9951 [Contents page] Taufen 1706-1713 (p. 4); 1720-1732 (p. 11); 1738-1778 (p. 35); 
• Einzelne 1794, 1800, 1804, 1806 (p. 122). 
• Heiraten 1706-1713 (p. 125); 1748-1778 (sehr Lückenhaft) (p. 127). 
• Sterbefälle 1706-1722 (p. 141); 1749-1778 (p. 142); 
• Einzelne 1790-1796 (p. 161). 
• Spirituale testamentum pro vita et morte. Verschiedene Nachträge 1732-1754 (p. 166).

The old St. Dionysius church of Igel, built in 1759. Note the
Igeler-Säule in the foreground right. The church became a
chapel with the building of a new church along 

• Item 8. Gemeinde Igel, Dekanat Konz, Regierung Bezirk Trier. KB2.
• Taufen 1752-1759, 1784-1794, 1797. 
• Sterbefälle 1790/92.
• 3913 [Contents page] Taufen 1752-1759 (p. 1); 1784-1794 (p. 19); 1797 (p. 88). 
• Sterbefälle 1790/92 (p. 89).
• Item 9. Gemeinde Igel, Dekanat Konz, Regierung Bezirk Trier. KB3.
• Heiraten 1753-1761, 1784-1795.
• 3914 [Contents page] Heiraten 1753-1761 (p. 1); 1784-1795 (p. 5). 1752: no matrimonies performed. 
• Item 10. Gemeinde Igel, Dekanat Konz, Regierung Bezirk Trier. KB4.
• T. H. St. (baptisms, matrimonies, deaths) 1779-1783 (1779, 1781, 1782, 1783) Doppel.
• Taufen 1794, 1797-1800. 

Stairway to the chapel

• Heiraten 1797-1798. 
• Sterbefälle 1797, 1792/3.
• 3915 [Contents page] T.H.St. 1779-1783 (p. 1); 1779, 1781, 1782, 1783 Doppel (p. 57). 
• Taufen 1784 (p. 119); 1797-1800 (p. 119). 
• Heiraten 1797-1798 (p. 133). 
• Sterbefälle 1797, 1792/3 (p. 137).
• Item 11.Gemeinde Igel, Dekanat Konz, Regierung Bezirk Trier. KB5 through KB 13.
• T.H.St. 1784-1793.
• 3916 [Contents page] T.H.St. 1784. 
• 3917 T.H.St. 1785-1786. 
• 3918 T.H.St. 1787. 
• 3919 T.H.St. 1788. 
• 3920 T.H.St. 1789. 
• 3921 T.H.St. 1790. 
• 3922 T.H.St. 1791. 
• 3923 T.H.St. 1792. 
• 3924 T.H.St. 1793. 

View of Igel from the old Reinig neighborhood
of Wasserliesch, across the Mosel River. My
great-grandmother Susanna Reinert was born
in Igel, and my great-grandfather John M. Kohn
was born in Wasserliesch.

It has taken about two days to scan each group of 35 pages into one PDF file after another. The resulting 17 files range from about 60 to 275 MB, generally depending on the number of pages. Using Adobe Acrobat, I slim down the file size to the range of 7 to 20 MB and rotate pages as needed, if the photocopies changed orientation at some point. Then I merge each packet of 35 pages back into a single file that represents the full Item.

But the work isn't quite done with these steps. I still must go through each file, add PDF bookmarks to ease navigation, and add comments where I have had post-it notes that contain translations, summaries, orother information.

Update 2013.06.23: All the Igel documents are completely scanned.

For future work, I have digitizing for these locations:

• USA KS Mitchell county 19th-C censuses
• USA KS Mitchell county research trip in 2001
• USA KS Mitchell county maps, church registers, cemetery canvasses, deeds, news articles
• USA KS Osborne county maps, deeds, censuses
• USA MN Houston county maps, deeds, censuses related to families Arnoldy, Gillen, Reinert, Schandler, and Schwinden
• USA OH family documents for Brandon, Cosiano, Coscignano, Deneke, Derry, Flauto, Gast, Hoon, Iacano, LoPiccolo, Maxwell, Morton, Nanik, Pounds, and Ventura
• USA PA Allegheny county documents for families Elliott, Ohnsat, Rahenkamp, and Rothamel
• USA WI Dane county documents for families Butler, Kennedy, and Ryan
• USA WI La Crosse county documents for familes Bauer, Becker, Beranek, King, Kohn, Petrick, and Troyanek

• 

  Igel from above, about 2001
  

  
  

  DEU (Germany) B-W (Baden-Wurttemberg) Breisach documents for families Salinger and Vogel
• DEU B-W Main-Tauber-Kreis Königheim documents for Stephan family, primarily Kirchenbücher 
• DEU N-W (Nordthein-Westfalen) Kr. Höxter Brakel documents for Deneke, Franke, and Wiethase families, primarily Kirchenbücher 
• DEU R-P (Rheinland-Pfalz) general documents, some from Landesarchiv that includes Entlaßungserkundigunge (Permits to emigrate)
• DEU R-P Amerikaauswangerungen aus dem Landkreise Trier Rheinland 1855-1900 by Josef Mergen (Update 2013.06.23: scanning complete)
• DEU R-P Krieg am Westwall by Khristoffel
• DEU R-P Kr. Saarburg Saarburg-Filzen Kirchenbücher 
• DEU R-P Kr. Saarburg Wasserliesch Kirchenbücher 1752-1797
• DEU R-P Kr. Saarburg Wasserliesch Kirchenbücher 1752-1907
• DEU R-P Kr. Saarburg Wasserliesch Familienbuch monograph by Peter Kohns
• DEU R-P Kr. Trier-Land marriage extracts from Kirchenbücher  near Igel, 1840-1870 (Update 2013.06.23: scanning complete)
• DEU R-P Kr. Trier-Land Igel Kirchenbücher 1818-1908 (Update 2013.06.23: scanning complete)
• DEU R-P Kr. Trier-Land "Familienbuch" monograph by Franziska Kandel (Update 2013.06.23: scanning complete)
• DEU R-P Kr. Trier-Land Langsur Kirchenbücher 1758-1900 (Update 2013.06.23: scanning complete)
• DEU SCSN (Schlesien, a part of former Ostpreußen) Kr. Falkenburg Grüben extracted records from Kirchenbücher
• LUX (Luxembourg) Canton Fôret/Grevenmacher Wasserbillig Registres Paroissiaux

If you, my reader, have a special interest in the digitized or photocopied records, please leave a comment on this posting.

© Thomas G. Kohn, 2013.