Searching for the Goetz German Village (2022) Wednesday, April 13, 2022

One eveing in early 2Q2022, I was reviewing posts in my blog - when I was reminded of the clue about Louis Goetz's passport application in 1896 (See this post).


I went to the FamilySearch catalog and typed in  Germany, Sachsen-Coburg-Gotha. One of the reference books about the area that came up, with a digitized version, was: 

"Geographical names in the duchy of Gotha and the Thuringian forest. Indexed." 
"Germany, Sachsen-Coburg-Gotha - Names, Geographical"

I searched the book for a map and then spent an hour or so looking for the village "Ober Mallia" aka "Ober Mehler".  

I found it!! It is northeast of Muhlhausen (the geographic center of Germany).  This graphic shows page 610 with a focus on the detail around Ober Mehler (abreviated Ob. Mehler).  

From the index, page 585, it says Mehler, Ober information is on page 389 (E2).
   
  
I did a little research about the area ... just scanning some pages in Wikipedia. One item of note was this Wikipedia page on dialects in the area. I was trying to imagine someone saying "Ober Mallia" ... and how that would sound to an American.  

Our Goetz ancestors' dialect details may shed some light on this since "{t}he Thuringian dialect is characterized by a rounding of the vowels, the weakening of consonants of Standard German". 

Their dialect is: Nordthüringisch / North Thuringian: around Mühlhausen and Nordhausen 

More to research ......

Another book that might be of interest: 
"Collection analysis report: The Thuringian states : Summary of Family History Library microfilm holdings"

References:
1. Die Flurnamen des Herzogtums Gotha und die Forstnamen des Thüringerwaldes zwischen Weinstraße im Westen und der Schorte (Schleuse) im Osten; familysearch.org

2. Collection analysis report: The Thuringian states : Summary of Family History Library microfilm holdings; familysearch.org

3. Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thuringian_dialect

4. Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saxe-Coburg_and_Gotha

5. Ober Mehler in Meyers https://www.meyersgaz.org/place/20374051


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