Ehretsmans from Alsace-Lorraine Monday, September 7, 2009

(photo of Colmar, Alsace, France)

Yesterday I had the privilege to review some documentation handed down in the Ehretsman Family. While the document had no date nor identified author, it was written by someone who was close to Ehretsman Family, both the generation born in the 1830s and that born in the 1850s. The document was typed and in blue ink (like those old pre-copier mimeograph copies). Was the document written in the 1970s?

In this document, the author detailed the birth and death dates of each family member, as well as place of birth and location of burial in the US!.... This document claimed that Barbara Ehretsman and many of the Ehretsman children were born in Kolmar, Alsace-Lorraine.

Today, Colmar is spelled with a "C" and is part of Alsace and the Haut-Rhin department of France.

It is really great news to find out the family is from this village as it was founded in the 9th Century ... so there may be records that date back to the 1500s that are easily traceable!

I had the good luck to visit Colmar in 1989. It is the wine capital of Alsace; its beautiful half-timber houses can be found on the famous Alsatian wine route that I have traveled many times. Colmar is connected to the Rhine River by a canal.

Colmar is also the location of a "Colmar Treasure" ... a cache of Jewish jewelery and coins that was hidden in a wall during the time of the Black Death and found in 1863. Today that treasure is housed in the Cluny Museum in Paris (my all time favorite museum!!!)