Thaddeus Kaechle: Key to Hundreds of Years of Church Records (#10 of 52 Ancestors)

Thaddeus Kaechle, my 3rd great grandfather, arrived at Castle Garden in New York aboard the ship Monmouth in the summer of 1851 with his wife, Katherine, and five or six children. (Only 5 are listed on the passenger list, but there should be 6.) They were in Huron County, Ohio when, two years later, his wife gave birth to their 7th and later 8th children, both daughters.

Thada Koechle, passenger #281, 05 July 1851, Ship Monmouth, Ancestry.com. New York, Passenger Lists, 1820-1957 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2010

In 1858, Thaddeus was naturalized, though I'm still trying to locate this record. So far, I've just seen an index.

A big breakthrough on this family was the German marriage records on Ancestry. Again, there is only an index posted, but it includes the following information:

• Name: Thaddae Koechle
• Gender: male
• Age: 29
• Marriage Date: 22 Aug 1836
• Marriage Place: Katholisch, Grisshiem, Freiburg, Baden
• Father: Anton Koechle
• Mother: Anna Diringer
• Spouse: Katharina Kern
• FHL Film Number: 873353

After clicking on "Katharina Kern", I go the following additional information:

• Age: 25
• Father: Lorenz Kern
• Mother: Maria Kreszens Hauser

From there, I came across a website called "Ortsfamilien-Datenbank Grissheim", which means it is a family databank for the church in Grissheim. This is the church where both the Koechle & Kern family worshiped for hundreds of years! And, someone has put these records together and created the families! Although you don't see the images on this site, I did order the FHL films. They are in German and hard to read, but I found enough & read enough to trust what is on this site.

How far did this go back? Almost 400 years! The oldest ancestor I found at this Grissheim church was Barbara Grozinger who was baptized in 1617. She is my 8th great grandmother. But, the baptism record also lists her parents, Gallus Grozinger and Ursula Binhardt, my 9th great grandparents!

My Line of Descent

• Thaddeus Kaechle (or Judas Thaddeus Kaechle) (1807-1880) m Katharina Kern (1811-1894) 
• Rheinhard/Reinhard Kaechle (1844-1900) m Mary Magdelena "Lena" Karbach (1848-1938) 
• Francis "Frank" R Kaechle (1868-1911) m Anna "Annie" Regina Adam (1867-1936) 
• Sherman Joseph Kaechle (1907-1987) m Ethel Evelyn Dickson (1915-2004) (my maternal grandparents) 

Do we share common ancestors? I'd love to talk! Please leave a comment or write me at drleeds@sbcglobal.net