A Patch On His Lapel

I have written a lot about one of my immigrant ancestors, Joachim Peters. He and his wife, Henriette, left "Germany" in 1859 with their six children and emigrated to America. My dad recently noticed that Joachim, shown in the photo below, had a patch on his lapel. As he studied the photo of his great, great grandfather, Joachim became a "real person" in his eyes. Look into his eyes. Do you see the man who left behind everyone but his wife and children to find a better life in America? 

Photo of Joachim Peters (1815-1894) 

Here's what my dad wrote:

Did you every happen to notice that Joachim has a patch on his lapel? Makes you think how much he gave up. How much effort and expense did it really take him to get to America? 

I wonder how much the trip aged him; aged all of them. His eyes are almost hollow sockets, but his eyes have a piercing stare and his jaw is set with determination. Did he always look this way?

It takes hardy stock to make pioneers. He did not just take the risk on his own, but put his whole family in jeopardy betting years of hardships so that one day they would all have a good future. Not only Joachim and his wife and children, but also for us, his descendants. 

I guess we all owe a debt of gratitude to him and all our other fathers' fathers and their fathers as well. So here is to patches on your lapel, dear Pa Pa. Sleep tight and watch over all of us, your children.

I'm glad I noticed the patch. And now, probably for the first time, I see Joachim as a real person, this earthly father of ours. Someone who would get down on his knees in the middle of the ocean and give thanks to our Heavenly Father for his love and, with the hope that He would see him and his family safely home to America. 

My First Genealogy Presentation!!!

After many hours of preparation, I gave my first genealogy presentation on Friday! It was to my (wonderful) local genealogy group. We are usually in a bigger room and can hold more attendees, but we were in the computer lab since early voting was taking place. It was a GREAT first experience!

The presentation, titled "Tracing German Families Using Online Records," highlighted my search for my Peters family which I shared "live" on my blog. Besides this case study, I often shared tips for researching German families in Germany.

My "Start" in Genealogy with Aunt Beulah (#1 of 52)

This post is based on Amy Johnson Crow's "52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks" challenge. This week's theme is: START.

Beulah Peters, born in 1923, was the baby of her family. One of her big sisters, Hazel, was my grandmother. For many years, Beulah was the family historian for the Peters side of our family. Not only did she collect many family photos and documents, but she also wrote down thoughts and stories about various family members.

In 1998, "Aunt Beulah" graciously introduced me to the amazing world of genealogy. She generously sent me a copy of her tree with all of her notes included. After her death in 2009, one of my uncles inherited all of her papers. With help from his wife and a family friend, they have been organizing all of her research and photos into more than a dozen binders.

In one of her emails to me, Aunt Beulah explained what got her interested in family history. One of our family surnames is Randolph. Beulah had heard the stories of our family being related to Pocahontas and other famous people through our Virginia Randolph's. However, Beulah's research revealed that, although we are from a Randolph family of Virginia, we are not from"the" Randolph family of Virginia.

I owe my start in genealogy to my Aunt Beulah and her search for our connection to Pocahontas.

Meeting a "New" Cousin and Solving a Family Photo Mystery

One of the best parts of doing genealogy is meeting "new" cousins! I recently had the opportunity to spend a day with my new-found cousin, Terry. who is my 3rd cousin once removed. My 3rd great grandparents, Joachim and Henriette (Bünger) Peters, who I recently traced back to Germany, are our common ancestors.

My cousin, Terry, and I at Clayton Library
Houston - March 2017

We met at Clayton Library in Houston and she brought a pile of photos and documents to share. We had a wonderful time discussing our family and getting to know each other. And, now I have a lot of new information to go through!

One of the photos Terry shared was this "mystery" photo. Terry's father, who is still living, wrote the following note on the back: 

Some Peters went to Oklahoma. One had a cotton gin. Grandpa Peters (Eckard) [who is Joachim's son] had 3 brothers:

• Bill - Ashton [Sumner County, Kansas]
• Henry [Oklahoma]
• Charles [Oklahoma]

This photo is of one of them [either Henry or Charles]

The 4 sons of Charles Peters. Photo in the Stewart family collection
Probably from Beulah (Peters) Brewer's collection.

Charles Peters (1847-1910) is my great, great grandfather. I would LOVE for this mystery photo to be of him and his family! But, the above photo shows his four sons, and I don't believe they look like the two young men in the other photo. [Besides these four sons, Charles also had two daughters who lived to adulthood.]

When I started researching this morning, I believed that Henry Peters and his wife, Hattie, had 2 sons and 3 daughters. But, after several hours of research, I have determined that they had 3 sons and 5 daughters. However, only 2 sons and 4 daughters survived to adulthood. So, I believe this is a photo of Henry, Hattie, and their 6 grown children.

A photo my dad, JRS, posted on FindAGrave shows three of Henry's children, along with one of their spouses, as older adults. From this photo, I believe we can determine that the taller young man in the "mystery" photo is Albert Roy Peters and the shorter man is Edwin Eugene "Ted" Peters. 

Estimated date of early 1910s based on youngest childrens' ages, Cora's 1910 marriage date, and clothing

Here is the "mystery" photo again. I am fairly certain this is the family of Henry J Peters, son of Joachim Peters. The family consists of:

• Henry J Peters (1852-1931)
• "Hattie" (Clifton) Peters (1857-1929) 
• Hugo Peters (1877-1878) died as infant
• Cora May (Peters) Pickett (1880-1957) married Robert Pickett (1877-1953) [likely seated next to her mother wearing a wedding ring in the photo]
• Jennie Lynn Peters (1884-1886) died as toddler
• Albert Roy Peters (1887-1968) never married [taller young man in photo]
• Pearl Elsie (Peters) King (1893-1955) married Glen H King (1888-1976)
• Myrtle Lillian Peters (1893-1973) never married
• Edwin Eugene "Ted" Peters (1895-1966) married Clara Elizabeth King (1898-1984) [shorter young man in photo]
• Hattie Isabell (Peters) Porter (1897-1978) married Earl Brown Porter (1897-1945)

Facebook Group Helps Discover Church Where Ancestors Worshipped

Last week, I posted on the "Pike County, Ohio Genealogy" Facebook group asking what church my German immigrant ancestors, the Peters family, might have attended. I knew that, in 1860, they had been enumerated in the township of Pee Pee in that county. And, from other church records I knew they were Evangelical Lutherans. By the next morning, I had information as to which church they probably attended and the name of a published booklet which contained the church records. I was also given the name of a library which had a copy of that booklet.

I emailed the library and asked if they would look for any Peters family members in the church booklet. I was hoping to find baptismal records for either Theodore (aka "Teddy") or Sarah which I've written about here and here.

Glenda G. Zonner and Lawrence A. Zonner, Parish Register of the Evangelical
Lutheran Church Community of Prussia, Pike County, Ohio, 1842-1903 (Self
published: 1998), 63.

Two days later, I got an email from the library. They told me the only Peters record they had found was the confirmation of Carl Peters on Easter of 1861.

Although it was disappointing not to find any mention of Theodore or Sarah, the discovery of Carl's confirmation was exciting for three main reasons:

1. Carl, who would have been 13 years old that Easter Sunday, was my great, great grandfather. 
2. Including Carl, I now have confirmations for the three oldest children of Joachim and Henriette (Bünger) Peters; the two older children's records, who were both 14 years old at their confirmation, were found in Germany.
3. Because the fourth sibling, William, was born less than 2 1/2 years after Carl, the absence of his confirmation record is negative evidence that the family was still living in the area by Easter 1864 when he would have been 14 years old. Since the family was living in Pickaway County, Ohio by 1870, we can hypothesize that they moved there between 1861 and 1864. 

I have emailed a church in Circleville, Pickaway County, Ohio, hoping they have church records from this time period. It does not appear they have microfilmed their records if they exist. Using church records is a great way to follow a family who moved around a lot like my Peters' family did!

When Was "Uncle Teddy" Born?

Four sources have been found which give evidence for when Theodore "Teddy" Peters was born:

When was Theodore Peters born?
Source	Listed Age	Estimated Birth Year
1860 U.S. Federal Census1	6	1853 or 1854
1870 U.S. Federal Census2	10	1859 or 1860
1875 Kansas State Census3	16	1858 or 1859
Headstone4	-	1859 (stated)

Although records created closest to an event are often the most accurate, in this case I do not believe that to be true. The first census which records Theodore Peters was in 1860. However, this census seems unreliable due to other known errors. [See my previous post.]The other three records indicate Theodore was born in 1859 or 1860, with his tombstone stating he was born on July 6th, 1859.

All three census records agree Theodore was born in Ohio. But, his family arrived in New York City from Germany on July 2nd, 1859. Could the family, especially his pregnant mother, have traveled to Ohio in only four days time after crossing the Atlantic Ocean? It doesn't seem likely.

1860 Census showing Theodore as 6 years. I will write a post about the odd way this enumerator wrote the number 6.

There's another issue with Theodore being born in 1859. The 1860 census, the "highly unreliable" census of this family, has another child listed: Sarah, age 1. So, it would seem she was born in 1858 or 1859. But, in that census, Theodore is listed above her and listed as 6 years old. Strange!

So far, no other records have been found regarding Sarah. Did she even exist? If so, was she Theodore's younger sister? Or her twin?

My Great Aunt Beulah wrote this in her genealogy file for Theodore:

The only child of Joachim Peters/Henriette Bingher that was born in the United States.

Mother always talked about Uncle Teddy, but I know nothing about him.

[Note: Teddy would have been Beulah's mother's great uncle.]

My next goal is to find possible birth or baptismal records for Theodore and Sarah. The family was living in Pee Pee, Pike County, Ohio in 1860, about a year after Theodore's (and Sarah's?) supposed birth. I am working on a lead to those church records now.

Sources
11860 U.S. Federal Census, Pike County, Ohio, Pee Pee Twp, population schedule, page 394 [printed], page 158 [written], dwelling #1112, family #1083, Joab [sic] Peters household; image, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 15 January 2016), citing National Archives microfilm M653, roll 1024.

21870 U.S. Federal Census, Pickaway County, Ohio, Pickaway Twp, population schedule, page 462 [printed], dwelling #44, family #44, Jochim [sic] Peters household; image, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 23 January 2016), citing National Archives microfilm M593, roll 1256.

31875 Kansas State Census, Sumner County, Geulph Twp, population schedule, page 4 [written], dwelling #36, family #36, J Peters household; image, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 23 January 2016), citing Kansas State Census Collection, 1855-1925, roll ks1875_19. 

4Find A Grave, Inc., Find A Grave, database (http://www.findagrave.com : accessed 23 January 2017); Record Theodore Peters (1859-1876), Memorial No. 172832317, Records of Peters Family Cemetery, Sumner County, Kansas, photo posted by JRS.

Resolving Discrepancies: A Census Example

Building a Solid Case

I am currently reading  Christine Rose's booklet, Genealogical Proof Standard: Building a Solid Case, 4th Edition Revised. Chapter 2 discusses that, whether or not conflicting information is found, a conclusion must be written. But, we must weigh all of the evidence we've gathered. Two important questions to ask are "who created the record?" and "why was the record created?" Answering those questions can help us determine the reliability of each piece of evidence.

My Research Question

Who were the parents of Carl Peters?

My Case Study: Resolving Conflicting Information

1860 U.S. Census, Pike County, Ohio, Pee Pee Twp, population schedule, page 394 [printed], page 158 [written], dwelling #1112, family #1083, Joab Peters household; image, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 15 January 2016), citing National Archives microfilm M653, roll 1024.

In the past couple of months, I have written a lot about my Peters family who immigrated from Germany in the summer of 1859. Many records, including his baptismal record, identify Carl's parents as Joachim and Henriette (Bünger) Peters. However, though the 1860 US Federal Census does not state relationships, this record seems to imply that Carl's father was Joab, not Joachim. His mother was not listed at all, but a 43-year-old man named Morrice Peters was listed as living in the household. According to the GPS, these conflicts must be resolved in a written proof.

Peters Household
1859 Hamburg Passenger List		1860 CENSUS		1870 CENSUS
Joach	44	Joab	47	Jochim	58
Henrietta	40	Morrice (male)	43	Henrietta	56
Louisa	14	Louisa	17	Louisa (living with husband)	26
Eckard	13	Echart	15	Ackhard (living with Louisa)	24
Carl	10	Carl	12	Charles	22
Wilhelm	7	William	10	William	20
Heinr	6	(missing)	-	Henry	18
Friedchen	4	Frilde	8	Freeda	16
		Theodore	6	Theodore	10
		Sarah	1

Though I have other records regarding Carl and his parents, for this post I'm concentrating on resolving the issues surrounding conflicting evidence found in the 1860 census. [Note: In this proof, I'm ignoring ages since they are not consistent among the documents. However, I have baptismal records for the parents and the six oldest children who immigrated with their parents in 1859.]

Problems with the 1860 Census

• The "father" is listed as Joab, not Joachim
• The "mother" is missing, or she's listed as a male named Morrice
• Henrich/Henry is missing
• Wilhelm/William and Friedchen/Frilde are listed as born in Ohio instead of Prussia

No other records for Morrice Peters have been located. And, the fact that Henriette and Henry are missing is problematic. Neither had died, as they both show up in later records. And, with a one-year-old in the household, it seems unlikely the mother would be living elsewhere. Henriette and Henry have not been found enumerated elsewhere.

With this many errors, I think we can safely assume that this record is not reliable. Although the informant is unknown, either they gave a lot of erroneous information or the census taker did a poor job of recording the information. Perhaps the fact that the Peters family had only been in the United States for a year led to some language issues. Though there were other Prussians or Germans in this small community, it is unknown whether or not the enumerator could speak German. Attempts were made to locate the enumerator on a census to determine his place of birth, but he was not found. 

Conclusion

Despite what is found on the 1860 census, which has been determined to be unreliable, Carl Peters' parents were Joachim and Henriette (Bünger) Peters. 

My Top 10 Genealogy Finds in 2016

As I did in 2014, I'd like to share my "top 10 genealogy find" for 2016...

Number 10: Finding myself in several newspaper articles as a young child was lots of fun! One article was about a city-wide contest where I won 3rd place in jumping rope. Another article was about a trip I took as a Campfire Girl where I fell off a statue and got a nasty bump on my forehead. (I think this picture is pretty pathetic, but it's the only one I could find with this injury!)

St. Joseph (German) Catholic Church,
Detroit, Michigan (Wikipedia image)

Number 9: Years ago, I received a copy of a torn 1895 wedding photo of my great grandparents, Frank & Anna (Adam) Kaechle. With some help from a Facebook group, I was able to locate the church where they were married. I also hired someone to look up their church marriage record!

Marriage record for Frank & Francisca (Holthoefer) Adam (Ancestry)

Number 8: Just a few weeks ago, I discovered the 1858 church marriage record for Anna (Adam) Kaechle's parents. Anna's parents, Frank & Francisca (Holthoefer) Adam, were married at St. Mary's Church in Detroit.

Henry W Wingert & others on a bandwagon

Number 7: Although the person in the photo isn't a direct ancestor, I absolutely loved receiving a copy of this photo of Henry W. Wingert who was a band leader on a bandwagon! What an incredible photo!

Me in Clinton County with a business card of A. L. Merrill (June 2016)

Number 6: On a trip to Pennsylvania this past summer, I was thrilled to find an actual business card for my great, great grandfather, A. L. Merrill, who was a candidate for County Commissioner! And, yes, he did actually serve as county commissioner. I also found a photo of him as commissioner, but I still need to get permission to post it.

Papers received from the Lancaster Mennonite Historical Society
in regards to the Michael Kline family

Number 5: I "discovered" I had Mennonite ancestors, only to find out they weren't Mennonites after all! But, the information I received from Pennsylvania's Lancaster Mennonite Historical Society provided me with a lot of information about Michael Kline and his 14 children.

Number 4: Through work I did in Melinde Lutz Byrne's "Practicum in Genealogical Research," I determined that John M Boyers was likely the father of Eliza Ann (Boyers) Dickson. More research is still needed, but I made a lot of progress!

Me and two cousins at the tombstone of Robert & Frances (Quigley) Stewart
Clinton County, Pennsylvania (June 2016)

Number 3: One of the "genealogy" highlights of my year was meeting quite a few of my dad's Pennsylvania cousins that I had never met. Three of them went with me to Clinton County, Pennsylvania, where we spent a day visiting several cemeteries and the library. This is a photo of me with two of them standing next to the headstone of Robert and Frances (Quigley) Stewart's massive headstone. Robert and Frances are my 4th great grandparents and represent the furthest we've been able to trace our Stewart line.

Birth certificate showing my Werther family came from Berka

Number 2: Although I didn't know it, I actually had digital copies of the paperwork which showed where my Werther family had emigrated from in Germany! My Great Aunt Beulah, who got me interested in genealogy in 1998, had these papers in her files and I had copied them a couple of years ago while visiting an aunt and uncle.

Map made by JRS showing the immigration voyage of my Peters' family

Number 1: And, the top find for 2016 was locating the origins of my Peters family who emigrated from Germany in 1859. Though I wrote quite a few posts as I shared the steps to this discovery almost in real time on my blog, a summary can be found on my post titled "How I Traced My Immigrant Family to Germany."

Photo of Joachim Peters that belongs to my family, alongside a painting
of the photo that got handed down in a cousin's family.

BONUS: I can't believe I left this out of my "top 10" list! This year, I discovered my dad has hundreds of photos that I had never seen before! He has been emailing them to me, and we are working together to fill in the details. I have also received photos from other cousins. It's always exciting to find photos of the people we are researching! So, this is definitely one of my "top 10 genealogy finds" of 2016!

How I Discovered the Origins of 6 of My German Immigrant Families

With a lot of help, I now know the German villages of six of my ancestral families. I "discovered" their origins in a variety of ways.

Map showing the origins of six of my "German" families created by Jon R Stewart, Sr.

In Order of Discovery:

March 2014
Kaechle/Köchle family, maternal side, immigrated from Grißheim, Baden, July 1851

Germany, Select Marriages, 1558-1929 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2014. Original data: Germany, Marriages, 1558-1929. Salt Lake City, Utah: FamilySearch, 2013. 

This breakthrough came with Ancestry's "Germany, Select Marriages" index which showed that Thaddae Koechle married Katharina Kern on August 22nd, 1836, in a catholic church in Grissheim, Freiburg, Baden. I ordered FHL film #873353, and discovered many other records for both sides of the family going back to a baptism in 1616. An online site, Ortsfamilienbuch-Datenbank Grissheim, which had transcribed the church records proved invaluable as these old German records were very difficult to read.

May 2014
Karbach/Körbach family, maternal side, immigrated from Ediger, Rhineland-Palatinate, circa 1853

Anton Koerbach and Mary Reuter Marriage Certificate, attached to Anton Koerbach (1818-1886) on Hiltz Web Site on MyHeritage Family Trees, Charles Willke site manager, www.myheritage.com (accessed 20 December 2016).

Finding a marriage record for "Antonius Kehrbach" and Maria Anna Reuter on a distant cousin's My Heritage tree led to discovering the family had once lived in Ediger. It appears the church records for Ediger have only been micofilmed through the late 1700's, so I need to contact this church in writing and ask if they have additional records.

Nov 2015
Franceska Holthoefer, maternal side, immigrated from Serkenrode, Westphalia, September 1856

Five Holthoefer Siblings, circa 1900, Detroit, Michigan
(back row left to right) Franceska (Holthoefer) Adam, Caspar J. Holthoefer, Marianna (Holthoefer) Petri 
(front row left to right) Elisabeth (Holthoefer) Keine, Anna (Holthoefer) Rolf
(Photo courtesy of Mildred Hunt Collection, by Robert Yagley)

In March of 2015, a distant cousin, Robert "Bob" Yagley, contacted me with a correction to my Ancestry tree. In July of that year, he asked me to join him and three other cousins who were writing a book about our Holthoefer family. The cousins were descendants of Franceska's siblings who had also immigrated to America. Bob had traced our Holthoefer's back to Germany and kept their origin a secret until the book was published last November. It was exciting to see not only the information about where the family had come from, but to also see this photo of Franceska and four of her five siblings who had immigrated to America.

Nov 2015
Frank Adam, maternal side, immigrated from Olpe, Westphalia, circa 1845

Michigan, County Marriages, 1822-1940 (Lehi: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2016), online database, marriage record of Frank Adam and Francisca Holdhofer [Holthoefer], 4 November 1858, St. Mary's Church, Detroit, Wayne County, Michigan, page 636 (accessed 20 December 2016).

Bob Yagley had also discovered the village of origin for Franceska Holthoefer's future husband, Frank Adam, my direct line. Located only about 30 km from Serkenrode, Frank's baptismal record was found in Olpe, Westphalia. [pg 343]

Oct 2016
Peters family, paternal side, immigrated from Bellin, Mecklenburg-Schwerin, July 1859

Evangelisch Kirche [Evangelical Church] Bellin, Kirchenbuch [Church Book], 1650-1873, page 154, item 10, taufen [baptism] of Friedchen Elise Johanna Peters; FamilySearch mircofilm #68993. Cropped. [See original post for the other page of this baptismal record.]

I only recently realized the Peters' family's Hamburg passenger list indicated they came from Bellin. Using Meyers Gazetteer to locate Bellin, I then ordered an FHL microfilm and found the baptismal record of the family's youngest child. Although the family moved around quite a bit, it appears they immigrated to America from Bellin.

Nov 2016
Werther family, paternal side, immigrated from Berka, Thuringia (or Schwarzburg-Sondershausen), May 1869

Although the Hamburg passenger list appeared to say Bergau or Bergan, I couldn't find an appropriate location in Meyers Gazetteer. But, then I realized my great aunt had actually written the church in Berka in the 1990's and had baptismal records from Berka!

CONCLUSION

There are many ways to trace your immigrant ancestors back to their country of origin. I believe I have now traced all of my ancestors who came over in the mid-1800's - these six from Germany plus the Eastwood family from England. While writing this post, I realized there is still a lot I need to do on several of these lines. I am currently awaiting several FHL microfilms, and I need to write to two churches!

Do we share common ancestors? Do you have any additional information on any of these families? I'd love to talk! Please leave a comment or email me at drleeds@sbcglobal.net.

Old Paintings from Old Family Portraits

I recently met a "new" Peters cousin through Ancestry and we have been sharing photos and other information. She sent me two paintings that her family believed were of William Peters (1850-1927) and his wife, Mahala McFarland (1859-1906). William was a son of Joachim Peters (1815-1894), the immigrant patriarch I've been sharing about recently.

Cousin's Painting Labeled William Peters,
son of Joachim Peters. Used with permission.

Cousin's Painting Labeled Mahala
(McFarland) Peters, William Peters' wife.
Used with permission.

When I saw the paintings, I thought they looked really familiar. My family has a photo of our Peters' immigrant couple, Jochim and Henriette (Bünger) Peters, which is shown below.

The two paintings and the photo looked incredibly similar! Even the hair styles and clothing looked a lot alike. I decided to look at the photos and paintings side by side:

Portrait and painting of Joachim Peters (1815-1894). Photo taken circa 1870.

Portrait and painting of Henriette (Bünger) Peters (1817-1874). Photo taken circa 1870.

I think it is obvious the paintings of the man and the woman were actually made from the photo. Both the dating of clothes (likely 1860's or 1870's) and the couple's age (probably in their 50's or 60's) indicate the couple is Joachim and Henriette Peters, and not William and Mahala Peters.

I love that two branches of the family have now, about 150 years after the fact, digitally brought together these images of our immigrant couple. And, I wonder if other families have seen old paintings which were known to have been made from an original photo? If so, please let me know! I am wondering how common this practice was!

Do we have common ancestors? If so, I'd love to talk! Please leave a comment or email me at drleeds@sbcglobal.net

How I Traced My Immigrant Family to Germany

In October, I started telling the story of one of my immigrant families: the Peters. My purpose was to find additional details about this family and their immigration, but I ended up tracing them back to Germany! I also broke through a "brick wall" and found their parents, too! This post is a summary of that discovery with links to the posts I shared as I traced this immigrant family.

Custom Map Created by My Dad

At some point, I heard a lecture or podcast about finding your ancestor's ship arrival in a New York newspaper. And, that is where this journey started. I found a short blurb in The New York Times announcing the arrival of my ancestors' ship. The account listed several places their ship had passed, so I learned more about their passage by locating those places. My dad created a custom map showing those locations, and I learned more about their passage on the Steamship Bavaria.

My great aunt, who got me started in genealogy in 1998, had found a copy of the New York passenger list for our Peters family. But, in the past few years, I found their Hamburg Passenger list on Ancestry.com. As I discussed and compared these two lists I had my breakthrough: I realized that one of the children had listed the village of Bellin as his last residence!

My great aunt had always said the Peters family had come from Güstrow. By using Meyers Gazetteer online, I realized that the small village of Bellin was located near Güstrow. Thinking this was likely the village my family had come from, I ordered an FHL microfilm of church records for Bellin and waited.

Evangelisch Kirche [Evangelical Church] Bellin, Kirchenbuch [Church Book], 1650-1873, page 154, item 10, taufen [baptism] of Friedchen Elise Johanna Peters; FamilySearch mircofilm #68993.
[Page 1 of 2. Lists item number, birth date, baptism date, father's name and occupation, and mother's name.]

Evangelisch Kirche [Evangelical Church] Bellin, Kirchenbuch [Church Book], 1650-1873, page 155, item 10, taufen [baptism] of Friedchen Elise Johanna Peters; FamilySearch mircofilm #68993.
[Page 2 of 2. Lists child's name, 3 baptismal sponsors, and unknown.]

When the microfilm came in, I eagerly scrolled through it for baptism records of the six children. Though the first five children were not listed, I found the sixth child! And, with that record, I had found my Peters family in Germany! Finding the confirmation of the two oldest children on that same film gave me the clue I needed to find the family before they had moved to Bellin.

Ancestry.com, Germany, Lutheran Baptisms, Marriages, and Burials, 1519-1969 (Lehi: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2016), online database,marriage record of Joachim Carl Otto Peters and Henriette Maria Magdalena Bünger, 21, July 1843, Dobbertin, Mecklenburg, page 12, item 49. [Columns include month and day; banns; groom's name, occupation, and town; bride's name and town; groom's father's name, occupation, and town; bride's name, occupation, and town; whether either previously married; and priest's name.]

Back at home, I discovered the German Lutheran church records were online at Ancestry.com! Using those records, I found the marriage record of my Peters immigrant couple, Joachim and Henriette Bünger Peters, which listed their hometowns and their father's names. The "brick wall" was falling down!

Using Joachim's father's occupation from the marriage record, I was able to find Joachim, two of his siblings, and his parents, Jacob and Hedwig, in the 1819 census. The record also listed Hedwig's maiden name: Borgward.

Ancestry.com, Germany, Lutheran Baptisms, Marriages, and Burials, 1519-1969 (Lehi: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2016), online database, baptism record of Hedwig Margaretha Johanna Borgward, 25 September 1785, Lübchin, Behren , page 90.

I didn't blog about it, but I was also able to find Hedwig's parents and siblings using baptism records contained in the German Lutheran records on Ancestry. Her parents were Eckhard Joachim Borgward and Anna Margaretha Ahrends.

Ancestry.com, Germany, Lutheran Baptisms, Marriages, and Burials, 1519-1969 (Lehi: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2016), online database, baptism record of Henriette Maria Magdalena Bürger, 09 July 1817, Dobbertin. [Columns list day of birth; day of baptism; father's name, occupation, and town; mother's name and town (of birth?); child's name; sponsors; and unknown.]

I had more trouble finding Henriette Bünger's parents. The key to my success? MyHeritage. Another member at MyHeritage had Henriette Bünger listed on their tree along with her parents and siblings. Using one of her siblings, I was able to find a baptismal record in the correct church and then scroll through the records until I found Henriette's baptism. I hadn't been able to find the family because the surname had been transcribed incorrectly.

What surprised me the most about this family was how much they moved around. When I found my Kaechle family's origins in Germany a few years ago, I discovered church records in the same church going back to the late 1500's! But, the Peters family moved every few years. Without the Lutheran church records available on Ancestry, I would not have been able to discover so much so quickly. It was an amazing experience!

There are still more records that need to be found. And, there are still some records I've found that need transcribed, translated, and/or analyzed. But, I am excited at what I was able to uncover about my family and their history. And, I hope my family members enjoyed these discoveries, too, and that others might have discovered something they can use in uncovering their own family history.

Are we related? I'd love to talk! Please leave a comment or email me at drleeds@sbcglobal.net

Identifying Two Women in a Photo

Las week, my dad sent me this photo which was labeled "Cassie McCluskey and Linda Peters." He said the original was "so light you could hardly make out the figures of the two ladies. [He] had to push the contrast and darkness really hard to get an image, hence the jet black areas in some places (around Linda's eyes for instance)."

Photo Labeled "Cassie McCluskey and Linda Peters"
but likely Cassie (McCluskey) Long and  Luda (Tibbetts) Peters

Although we are related to Peters, we do not have a Linda Peters - as either a maiden or married name - in our tree. And, as far as we know, we aren't related to the McCluskey family. So, who are these two women? Are they our relatives?

I started with Cassie McCluskey since it's a fairly uncommon name. In Ancestry, I went to "search" and then "all categories" and entered her name. Since our Peters family lived in Kansas, I entered that for location.

The top result was for a Cassie G. McCluskey in the 1895 Kansas state census living in Geulph, Sumner County, Kansas. This is the same area our Peters family lived! She was listed as having been born in Missouri about 1875.

I next went to a Facebook group that helps date photos. I got several replies, all of them saying the photo was dated in either the late 1890's or early 1900's. If Cassie, on the left, was born about 1875, she would have been about 25 years old in 1900. So, both the late 1890's and early 1900's make sense.

Photo of Luda (Tibbetts) Peters (far right) with four of her siblings. Notice both her height and smile. I believe she is the same person as the woman on the right in the other photo. (Photo shared by Teri Head.)

As I looked for a Linda Peters in my tree, I came across Luda (Tibbetts) Peters who was born in 1872 so she was about the same age as Cassie. Since the writing on the photo was so difficult to read, we are pretty much convinced this is a photo of Luda, not Linda.

If anyone is related to either Cassie (McCluskey) Long or Luda (Tibbetts) Peters, I'd love to talk! I'd also love to see more photos of both women to solidify the conclusion of the identities of these two women. (Please leave a comment or email me at drleeds@sbcglobal.net)

Tip: How To Translate the ENTIRE Webpage

After locating the church in Bellin, Germany, where my Peters family attended in the late 1850s, my dad found a website that appeared to have a dozen photos of this church. However, the writing was in German.

I often copy and paste entire paragraphs into Google Translate which, although it isn't an accurate translation, helps get me started. But, I've been reading "Trace Your German Roots Online" by James M. Beidler, and he had a tip about translating an entire webpage at one time!

It's really quite simple. Paste the URL for the website you are wanting translated directly into Google. After the website's URL will be the words "translate this page." Click on that and your entire page will be translated!

Kirche Bellin - the Bellin Church - from the German Wikipedia site

This particular site was wonderful! Not only were there lots of photos of my ancestor's 13th century church, there were also wonderful descriptions. The blog is written by a man who was traveling and stopped to take photos of this church in 2012. The priest showed him around and he shared his photos and stories. Although I've asked for permission to share photos from the "Kirche Bellin" website, I haven't heard back from him yet. But, I did find some photos on the Germany Wikipedia site.

A wall painting or mural at Kirche Bellin - the Bellin Church - from the German Wikipedia site

Above is a restored painting from the Middle Ages. If you enjoy art, enlarge this and take some time to study it. It is amazing! Though I don't know if I'd enjoy having this particular painting on the walls of my church!

My favorite story from the translation of the tourist was about the "plague window." The accompanying photo just showed a window that had been sealed. But, the author explained that, during the plague, people who were afflicted with the plague came to this window to "follow the worship" service. What an incredible story and piece of history!

Tip: Use Occupations to Help Locate Census Records

In the U.S., most of my ancestors were farmers. But, my newly found German ancestors had a variety of occupations. As I tried to locate the birth family of my 3rd great grandfather, Joachim Peters, using his father's occupation as a "keyword" helped me find the correct family.

Mecklenburg-Schwerin, where the Peters family lived, did not take many censuses. In fact, the only ones I'm aware of are for the years 1704, 1751, 1819, 1867, 1890, and 1900. Since the family emigrated in 1859 and Joachim was born about 1815, the only useful census would be 1819. However, the 1867 census might be useful for finding other family members.

To search the 1819 census, I went to Ancestry.com and went to "search" and then "card catalog." For "title" I used the words "1819" and "census." There were only two results, and one of those records was the Mecklenburg-Schwerin 1819 census.

From the couple's 1843 marriage record, I know that Joachim's father was named Jacob or Jakob. Since Joachim was born about 1815, I approximated Jacob's birth year as 1790..

In the search fields, I typed "Jacob" and "Peters" marking the surname as "exact & similar." I added a birth year of 1790 and clicked search. This search resulted in 566 results.

At this point is when I remembered Jacob was a cheese dairy owner which is "holländer" in German. So, I edited my search and added "holländer" to the keyword field and marked it "exact." Now, I had only 4 results. Of those, one of them had a son, Joachim, who was born in 1815 and was living in the correct area. Perfect!

Mecklenburg-Schwerin, Germany, Census, 1819 (Provo, Utah: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2007), Groß Bützin Township, Ritteramt Güstrow District, page 34, line 86, Jacob Peters household, digital image, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 30 October 2016). 

Mecklenburg-Schwerin, Germany, Census, 1819 (Provo, Utah: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2007), Groß Bützin Township, Ritteramt Güstrow District, page 35, line 90, Carolina Peters of the Jacob Peters household, digital image, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com: accessed 30 October 2016). 

I still need some of the words translated, but I was able to discover Joachim's mother's name, Hedwig Borgward, and two of his younger sister's names, Anna and Carolina, from this record. It also gives the year and place of birth for each member of the family. For the parents, it even gives the exact date of birth! 

Germany, Lutheran Baptisms, Marriages, and Burials, 1519-1969 (Lehi: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2016), Evangelische Kirche Belitz, Belitz city, Belitz parish, baptismal record of Joachim Carl Otto Peters, born 27 Juni 1815, baptized 30 Juni 1815, digital image, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com: accessed 31 October 2016).

After finding Joachim's mother's name, I was also able to locate Joachim's baptismal record! Unfortunately, it is quite smeared. I might order the microfilm and see if I can get a better copy. One item of interest is the list of sponsors! Two of them share the Borgward surname: Joachim Gustro Borgward and Jacob Otto Borgward. 

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