concordia-memories.org Forum Index concordia-memories.org
Recalling Concordia's Past
 
 FAQFAQ   SearchSearch   MemberlistMemberlist   UsergroupsUsergroups   RegisterRegister 
 ProfileProfile   Log in to check your private messagesLog in to check your private messages   Log inLog in 

Genealogy Records

 
Post new topic   Reply to topic    concordia-memories.org Forum Index -> Other families
View previous topic :: View next topic  
Author Message
roger.pape
Site Admin


Joined: 17 Mar 2009
Posts: 414
Location: Liverpool, NY

PostPosted: Thu Mar 26, 2009 6:18 pm    Post subject: Genealogy Records Reply with quote

(Originally posted January 23, 2009)

Concordia is a great area for a genealogy researcher because it has been a close knit community with lots of interrelationships between families for the past century and a half. (An "ethnic cocoon" as author Robert Frizell refers to it.) What's interesting is that much of the genealogical research has been done by people living outside of Concordia.

One good example is the Frerking Family History compiled by Loberta Runge in Higginsville and extended by Gary Frerking in Colorado Springs, CO. Some of the most extensive genealogy compilations of the area that I am aware of are by Michael Martens, Blue Springs, MO and by John Schnakenberg in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico. (Some of you are probably familiar with John's efforts to nurture the Low German dialect in Concordia, but that's a subject for another day.) I have been dabbling in genealogy for less than a year; however, my son Dave has done some significant work with our family tree as you can see on another page of this website.

Genealogy is an interesting, but time consuming, hobby if done properly. In response to a question about the Kappelman family several months ago, I was blown away when John Schnakenberg quickly sent back a listing of several generations complete with 207 references. I personally don't have the patience or knack for such meticulous record keeping. However, with today's Internet and its search capabilities, it is relatively easy to acquire significant amounts of genealogy data. Not all of it is necessarily accurate. For example, I ran across one citing of my grandparents Jacob and Mary Pape that had errors. Fortunately, Rev. Omar Stuenkel in Idaho saw it and corrected it. On the other hand, one can find good information in some unusual places. One case was a website in Germany, published by Robert Inselmann, that included the 1600s. Note. This website is no longer online. The list of families included:

Albers, Baden, Bartels, Behrens, Bellmann, Berens, Bösch, Böschen, Böttcher, Brandt, Branning, Bredehöft, Breneman, Brennemann, Brunkhorst, Burfeind, Carstens, Cordes, Detjen, Dittmer, Dreyer, Eckhoff, Eggers, Ehlen, Fago, Fehling, Ficken, Finkler, Fitschen, Fricke, Garbers, Gerken, Grobrügge, Harms, Hastedt, Hauschild, Heeßel, Heins, Heitmann, Hinrichs, Hinze, Hollmann, Holsten, Hoops, Inselmann, Kalkau, Klindworth, Kogge, Kölln, Koopmann, Kracke, Kröger, Kruse, Küsel, Lange, Loclair, Lohmann, Lüdemann, Lünsmann, Mahnken, Martens, Meinke, Meinken, Melms, Meyer, Meyn, Miesner, Minners, Müller, Pape, Peters, Prigge, Rathjen, Ratjen, Renken, Riebesehl, Röhrs, Ropers, Rosebrock, Ruschmeyer, Schmetje, Schmidt, Schröder, Schuback, Schwiebert, Stöver, Tietjen, Tödter, Trau, Vajen, Viebrock, Viets, Von Fintel, Wahlers, Warnholtz, Weseloh, Wichern, Wiechern, Wilkens, Zum Felde

The best source of genealogy data has always been church records. Because of the relatively few churches in the Concordia area and with St. Paul's Lutheran Church being the dominant one, this information is can be obtained from a small number of places. The older records are, of course, written in German. I understand that the original St. Paul's records are kept in a safe and difficult to access. Apparently, there were two translations of these records, one by Rev. Heilman and the other by Rev. Melvin Holsten. I am told that the church records listed in St. Paul's 150th anniversary book were derived from Rev. Heilman's work. That book is what I used to generate the listings on another page of this website. Recently, I received a listing of the St. John Church, Emma, records that was compiled by Don Dittmer for their 150th anniversary. I was impressed with the amount of detail in that listing compared to the St. Paul's book. (Rev. Heilman apparently translated whatever he thought was appropriate.) The St. John listing of baptisms, for example, includes not only the date of the baptism but also the birth date, the names of the parents including the mother's maiden name, and the sponsors. All of that is quite valuable to a genealogist. The original St. Paul's records must include similar information.

Several historians, such as Prof. Adolph Schroeder of MU, offered to translate the records but were refused access. I hope that some responsible person in Concordia will eventually provide a more thorough transcription of the St. Paul's Church records while there still are people around who can read and translate them.

The last time I was in Concordia, I checked the Concordia Library and found a few family histories, but not as many as one might expect. Certainly there are a number of people in the area interested in genealogy. Chet Fiene was kind enough to provide me with the St. Paul's Cemetery records that he had. It would be nice if various people could document more of their family histories. It would be a great service to the community.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message Send e-mail Visit poster's website
Display posts from previous:   
Post new topic   Reply to topic    concordia-memories.org Forum Index -> Other families All times are GMT - 6 Hours
Page 1 of 1

 
Jump to:  
You cannot post new topics in this forum
You cannot reply to topics in this forum
You cannot edit your posts in this forum
You cannot delete your posts in this forum
You cannot vote in polls in this forum
You cannot attach files in this forum
You can download files in this forum


Powered by phpBB © 2001, 2005 phpBB Group