Ziegler/Koehler Leads - the Search Continued (2016) Friday, May 20, 2016

Before I left for Salt Lake, I reviewed the info I had on my second great-grandfather, Christian Fred Ziegler, and second great-grandmother, Anna Maria Kohler.

Pre-visit Info
Names, birth dates, parents names, sibling and origin info

Christian Fredrich Ziegler, (goes by Fred)
b. 29 Dec 1831,
Georg Ziegler (mayor) and Rosa Steckmeyer,
1 older brother and 1 older sister,
Stuttgart area, something that sounded like "Gerbum" village
Note: before I left, I also determined that "Steckmeyer" might really be written "Stegmaier"
Anna Maria Kohler,
b. 14 May 1829,
Otto and Lena Kohler,
2 older sisters,
"nearby" Hall area

Date of emigration/ship crossing
Sep/Oct 1857, arriving in New York

Thursday Search Steps
I went directly to the first basement, B1, the International floor and got to work.

Wurttemberg Emigration Index (WEI): I had previously looked in the Index, both in Ancestry and in the hard copy books. I knew there were several Fred and Christian Ziegler entries listed without birth dates. So the challenge was to figure out which of those entries was our ancestor (or maybe none of them).

A volunteer at the Family History Library (FHL) reminded me that I needed to look in all 8 volumes of the index since I wasn't sure from which area within Wurttemberg he came.  I identified the following 2 entries in volume 5 as possibilities due to the names, and dates and thought Gerabronn could sound like Gerbum.

- Friedrich Ziegler from Ruppertshofen (Gerabronn), application date Sep 1857 #FHL intl film 573632
- Rosina Koehler from Liesbesdorf (Gerabronn), app date May 1857 #FHL intl film 573623

Map Guide to German Parish Registers, Kingdom of Wurttemberg (MGW):
The FHL volunteer then suggested I look in the Wurttemberg Gazetteer. One volume contained the master town index. I looked up Ruppertshofen and Liesbesdorf in the index and traced them to the MGW for Jagstkreis (vol 1). Both villages are in the oberamt (town) of Gerabronn (as indicated in the WEI). Ruppertshofen is in its own parish of Ruppertshofen and Liebesdorf is in the parish of Michelbach an der Heide parish.

Friday Search Steps
Wurttemberg Emigration Applications:
I  looked up the actual emigration application FHL intl film numbers for both entries I had "guessed" on Thursday since they didn't seem to be obvious answers. I picked out the first intl film (#572632) from the vault. It was very difficult to read the handwriting. I wasn't sure how the film was organized, so I just started scanning through the applications as fast as I could apply some reasonable pattern matching for "Christian" or "Friedrich" or "Ziegler".

With some luck, I managed to find an application that was from Ruppertshofen and had "Ziegler" on it. I brought it to the volunteer and together we determined it was a list of conditions to be met before emigration. Other than the name "Andreas Ziegler" (I was guessing a brother or other close relative) there wasn't really any other usable information.

Since the application was so hard to read and didn't provide any new info for determining the village, I decided not to look for Rosina Kohler's application at that time and instead move onto the church records for Ruppertshofen.

Ruppertshofen, Gerabronn Lutheran Church Records:
There are two film reels ranging from 1555 (!) to 1986 (!) with the typical baptism, marriage and death entries. Then there are two film reels with family registers from 1555-1986. I figured if I could find the family register with Christian Fred, bro, sis and parents I'd be in good shape. So I loaded onto the film reader intl film # 1528605 which had some of the family registers at the end - and tried to go to those pages. (These films are the reel to reel tapes that you have to hand crank -- so it takes time to navigate the various sections of the film, esp. when German isn't your first language). I couldn't see any relevant family register with Christian Fred Ziegler or family members listed. (BUMMER!)

Note: when I first looked up the Ruppertshofen film in the FHL catalog, Ruppertshofen came up in 2 different parishes (Gaildorf and Gerabronn). I had to go back and check my work to determine that I should go with the Ruppertshofen/Gerabronn (matching the listing in WEI).

I was about to give up and started to slowly rewind the film, just stopping at various pages to see if I could identify anything. I happened to stop in the confirmation section (on a record that was more easily readable) -- year 1845 and saw the record had "Christian Friedrich Ziegler, b. 29 Jan 1831; father Johann Georg Ziegler, Carolina Barabara geb. Stegmeier" ... and thought "OMG, that might be our ancestor."

After lunch, I decided to look at one of the intl films #1528604 with baptisms in the range 1831. I carefully scanned through all of 1831, 1830 and 1829 and didn't see any Ziegler entry. Then I started scanning earlier since we know Christian Fred had an older brother and sister. I was able to locate the record for a Maria Barbara Ziegler b. 14 Nov 1825.  I noticed in the margin the family number "236" so I started looking for other entries with this number. That's how I was able to find the brother Johann Andreas  b. 6 Dec 1822 and finally Christian Friedrich b. 29 Jan 1831. Woo hoo!! I had to find and check the family register to make sure 236 was the correct Ziegler family since there were many Zieglers on these films.

I finally found a family register index on one of the film reels with relevant entries for
- Stegmayer families #173 (Christian's mother's father/mother),
- Ziegler families (# many) #236 (Christian's father/mother),
- Ziegler family #244 (Andreas Z married).

Saturday Steps
I went back over the film reels on Saturday to make sure I was interpreting everything correctly and tried to take a few photos of the different relevant pages for reference.

What was surprising or different from the info we had at the outset?
1. Excellent to pretty definitively know that this family is from Ruppertshofen, Gerabronn area.
2. Christian Fred's mother's name appears to be Carolina Barbara (not Rosina); she has a sister named Rosina.
3. This seems to be an error in the confirmation - as C Fred's birthday in the family register is 29 Dec 1831. (Christian Fred's birth date appears to be 29 Jan (not Dec) 1831.)
4. Good to learn the sister's and brother's info
5. Good to validate that C Fred's father's name is Georg, his mother's surname is Stegmaier and learn their birth, marriage and death dates.
6. In the family register, it indicates the marriage dates (both 1850) and surnames of the spouses for C Fred's brother Johann Andreas (Mach) and sister Maria Barbara (xx) but there's no such indication for C Fred (meaning he didn't get married in Germany?)
7. There's a notation next to C Fred's name in the family register indicating he went to North America in 1857.
8. Learned C Fred's Stegmaier grandparents' names (Johann Georg Stegmaier and Anna Catharina).
9. In the confirmation record, I believe it says C Fred's father was an administrator (pointing to the info we have about being a mayor later in life?)
10. Did a quick search in familysearch.org on "Ziegler in Ruppertshofen" and many Zieglers showed up in Gerabronn - so there's a bunch of families to pick thru there at a later time.

Records of which I have a copy now:
- Christian Fred Ziegler emigration application FHL intl film #573632, 2 pages
From Ruppertshofen Gerabronn FHL intl films #1528604, #1528605, #1528606
- Christian Fred, Maria Barbara, Johann Andreas Ziegler baptismal records
- Christian Fred Ziegler confirmation
- Johann Georg Ziegler (Christian Fred's father) family register (family 236)
- Johann Andreas Ziegler  (Christian Fred's brother) family register (family 244)
- Johann Stegmaier (Christian F's mother, Carolina Barabara)  family register (family 174) (fuzzy photo-need to retake)
- Need Rosina Mach (wife of Andreas Ziegler) family 111

--- References ---
1. Kirchenbuch, 1555-1986 , Evangelische Kirche Ruppertshofen (OA. Gerabronn) FHL intl film #1528605 Heiraten (u. Orte) 1842-1953 Tote 1795-1957 Konfirmation 1842-1986 Familienregister u. Index (u. Orte)
2. Kirchenbuch, 1555-1986 , Evangelische Kirche Ruppertshofen (OA. Gerabronn) FHL intl film #1528604
3. Kirchenbuch, 1555-1986 , Evangelische Kirche Ruppertshofen (OA. Gerabronn) FHL intl film #1528606.
4. Map guide to German parish registers vol 1 (Jagstkreis), and master index volume (books)
5. Wuerttemberg emigration index volumes 1-8 (books)
6. Auswanderungsakten Gerabronn (Württemberg). Oberamt, 1818-1870 (Wuerttemberg emigration applications) intl film #573632


----Notes from research days----
Update 5/22:
Generally from the town of Gerabronn (Wiki link) (DE link - nice paintings from late 1800s)
Update 5/21: Looked up the tapes for Ruppertshofen -
1528605 has some of the family registers at the end - tried to go there.
Didn't see Christine Fred listed.
Was about to give up, but stopped in the confirmation section -- year 1831 and saw a record that has "Christian Friedrich Ziegler, b. 29 Jan 1831; father Johann Georg Ziegler, mother geb. Stegmeier" ... so might be him.
Getting a different tape after lunch (1528604 has baptisms from 1831).
Looked up Ruppertshofen (town) to see its part of Gerabronn.
Looked up the actual application for Friedrich Ziegler in Ruppertshofen. No additional info (very hard to read).
Update 5/20 - In looking at the Wuerttemberg Emigration Index, there are entries for
- Friedrich Ziegler from Ruppertshofen (Gerabronn), app date Sep 1857 #573632
- Rosina Koehler from Liesbesdorf (Gerabronn), app date May 1857 #573623
Look up these towns in the Gazetteer.