I'm so excited!!!

Magenheim Castle

Cleebronn, Germany

The joy of microfilm records....

I have a number of reels of microfilm on Neckargemuend, Germany on permanent loan from the Family History Center in the Chicago Heights Family History Library. The church records of those reels of microfilm are invaluable. I have found births, baptismal, marriage, and death records on many, many of my Sommer and Rusch ancestors.

In December, 2009, I discovered that my 4th Great Grandfather Johann Michael Sommer married in Neckargemuend, Germany, however, he was a resident of Cleebronn, Germany.

That information lead me to a new location to investigate. I was keeping my fingers crossed that there would be some information available so I could continue my family research. Lucky for me there is!
Below is the 1795 marriage record of Johann Michael Sommer and Anna Margaretha Schmidt that lead me to Cleebronn, Germany.
The translation reads as follows:
1795
On the 28th of April, the unmarried, prospective local citizen and baker Johann Michael Sommer, born in Cleebronn in Wurttemburg's greater district of Brackenheim, and Anna Margaretha, unmarried legitimate daughter left behind by the deceased local citizen and master butcher Johann Valentin Schmidt, were married here in the church after posting three banns and receipt of the Dismissorial.


One description of Dismissorial is: written permission to get married by another Reverend in another community.

This translation was completed by N. Grossman, a professional German researcher/translator, December of 2009.

So, last Thursday I reviewed the first of two reels of film on Cleebronn, Germany that I had requested. I must have copied twenty some records in about 2 1/2 hours of work. Plus, there is so much more on this particular reel of film. From a marriage proclamation in Cleebronn on Johann Michael's first marriage, I believe I discovered the name of his mother and father. There are also at least nine possible sibling baptismal records, several death records, which may include Michael's grandparents. That information would take my research back to my 6th great grandparents! Oh how I wish there were photographs!

The records I discovered have been scanned and sent to N. Grossman. I cannot wait to go back to the FHC and continue my research and hopefully, find even more connections and ancestors!

Using the library!

Elisabeth Rusch Sommer &

her granddaughter Julia K. Sommer

ca. 1880's

Elisabeth Rusch Sommer is my GG Great Grandmother. She was born in 1816 in Germany and died here in Chicago on December 30, 1899. Last year, through an internet connection, I was blessed in discovering a distant cousin who provided me with the above picture.

Well, it's a New Year, so it's about time I wrote about my continuing research on my Sommer/Rusch ancestors. I devoted almost all of 2009 to researching just these two families. I am happy to say I found quite a number of great connections and of course, with those connections come even more questions.

Amy Coffin from the We Tree blog came up with weekly blog ideas for all 52 weeks of 2010! Thank you Amy. Week one suggests using the library for your research. Great suggestion, for I work at both an Academic library and a Public library. Both of which can provide great resources for searching your family history.

I live in a pretty small community on the very south side of Chicago. My public library is small and unfortunately you wouldn't find too much information on genealogy on the shelves. However, thanks to an Inter-library Loan program I can request almost any book from any library in the United States. I request a lot of books too. I love using WorldCat and finding many many books on not only specific locations, topics, but also surnames! One of the books I am currently reading is the fourth edition of "In Search of Your German Ancestors" by Angus Baxter. I like this book so much I most likely will order it from Amazon.com. Many public libraries will have the library edition of Ancestry.com on their public computers. Who wouldn't love using Ancestry.com for their research? Although my public library doesn't subscribe to Ancestry.com, there are a number of larger libraries in the area that do subscribe to this great database. I can use their electronic databases when I visit their library.

At Governors State University library you will find the Chicago Tribune on microfilm going back to 1885! What a great resource for death notices and obituaries!

Another great resource I use at least once a month is the Chicago Heights Family History Center. I have requested many reels of microfilm from their library for my German family research. Thanks to those many reels of microfilm and many more hours reading them, I have discovered a lot of information on my Rusch and Sommer ancestors from Neckargemund, Germany. I am slowly connecting the dots, crossing the t's and dotting the i's!

Thank you Amy for suggesting people use their public libraries! They may also want to look at the local universities and Family History Centers too for discovering more information on their family history!

My Ancestors from: Neckargemund, Germany

Neckargemund, Germany

Home of my Sommer/Rusch ancestors

I have recently been working with a wonderful woman, Nancy Grossman, who I learned about from the Newberry Library here in Chicago. Nancy does genealogy and history research and she specializes in German genealogy both here and abroad. LUCKY ME!!

I contacted Nancy and via email sent her four of my many, many, many German documents. These four I believed were birth and death Church records of my Sommer relatives from Neckargemund, Germany. Being that I am always on a budget regarding my genealogy quests I was thrilled that Nancy's fee for translating all four documents was minimal. Better yet, I had the translations in less than two days!

So, I thought I would share two of those documents. This translation is my GG grandmother Katharina Juliana Sommer's birth certificate. It reads as follows:

1849

In the year of 1849 on the 18th of January at two o'clock in the morning, a girl was born. She was baptised on the 24th of January and named Katharina Juliana. The parents are: Gottlieb SOMMER, local citizen and flour dealer and his wife Elisabetha nee RUSCH. Witnesses and Godparents are: 1) Friederich RUSCH, baker from here and brother (of Elisabetha), 2) Jacob KNORR, local citizen and baker.

***Notes: from Nancy Grossman

Flour dealers go hand in hand with the baking industry! (Thank you for this note Nancy!)

Now, Katharina immigrated here to the Chicago area in the early 1880's with her widowed mother Elisabetha and her sister Juliana. Here is Juliana's birth certificate translation.

It reads as follows:

1851

In the year 1851, here in Neckargemund on the 8th of January at eight o'clock in the morning, a baby girl was born. She was baptised on the 3rd of February at two o'clock in the afternoon, and named Katharina Juliana. The parents are: Gottlieb SOMMER, local citizen and flour dealer and his wife Elisabetha nee RUSCH. The witnesses and Godparents are: 1) Jacob KNORR, local citizen and master baker 2) his wife Katharina, 3) Friederich RUSCH, the unmarried brother of the mother of the child, a baker from here (Neckargemund).

Neckargemund, the 3rd of February, 1851

***Notes: from Nancy Grossman

Another relative...Friederich RUSCH, Elisabetha's brother! Jacob KNORR may have been a relative as well, possibly an in-law on the mother of the father's side.

***Additional Notes: from Nancy Grossman

I wouldn't say it was common for siblings to have the same name, but it was not unusual. The sisters had the same Godparents too. This may have something to do with it. For example, both were probably namesakes of their Godparent Katharina KNORR, Jacob's wife. Re. the name Juliana, I can't say yet. The sisters may have been named after the same person, or two different people with the same name.

When I find siblings with the same name, it is customary like in your family, for each sibling to take a different part of the name as their dominant one;i.e. one became Katharina and the other, as Julia.

Again, much thanks to Nancy.

So, did I learn anything NEW?? Yes, I did! I now have the names of Godparents, the exact dates of birth, father's occupation, and yet another family connection with Friederich! I could not be happier!

I also can't wait to scan more documents to Nancy for translation! YIPPEE!!

Please Forward:

My sister Carole and her husband just celebrated their twentieth wedding anniversary. Whee, that was a really quick twenty years! They have moved at least nine times during their marriage, not because one of them is in the military or they changed jobs, they just move from house to house. My brother-in-law is extremely handy and can do almost anything around the house. I know because he has helped me many times with projects around my house. When they move they usually don't move far. They are only about 48 miles from my home, so we get together very often. They have lived in their current house not quite three years. This house is beautiful and continues to get better and better. I have kidded the both of them many times about moving and when are they moving next? Both say this is it, they are staying put. I have heard that before!

That got me thinking about how many times I have moved in my lifetime. I started from the time of my birth. It couldn't really be that many times. In my childhood we moved from our home in Chicago Ridge to California. In California we stayed with relatives for a short time and then we moved to San Jose. (Yes, I really do know that way to San Jose!). Living in California didn't work out very well so we came back home to the south side of Chicago. We lived with my grandmother for about one year until we could move back into our house (my mother rented our house instead of selling it---good thinking!) Anyway, I stayed put with Mom until college and then decided to work full time which of course meant moving out of Mom's house and getting my own "place." In a span of ten years, 1975-1985, I moved eight times. WOW! Since 1985 I have moved only three times and in fact have lived in my current home for almost sixteen years. Since my birth I have moved eighteen times! When I asked a friend to figure out how many times she has moved, she came up with thirteen times. Our generation really moves around a lot!

With the help of the federal census records it is pretty easy for me to track my Great grandparents Bert and Eva Hanaway. They pretty much stayed in the same area of Indiana and on the same farm most of their married life. One hundred years ago, you could have simply addressed a letter to them with the Route number and DeMotte, Indiana and they would have gotten it. Pretty simple really. That certainly wouldn't be the case today!

My mother moved twice from the time she was born until she married in 1954. In 1975 she married my stepfather Jim and they traveled a lot. She eventually sold the family home in Illinois and moved to Arizona where she spent the winters. Apache Junction, AZ was really her home base. In the summers she traveled all over the United States and worked in National Parks. If you wrote to her, the letters usually stayed in her mailbox in Arizona until she got back there in the late fall! Once in a while she would leave a forwarding address if her she had long term plans to stay put in one spot for a few months. She will not be easy to find on any census record from 1980 forward that is for sure!

My Great Great grandmother Katharine Sommer Ball moved frequently from the time of her marriage in 1885 until her death in 1923. With the help of Chicago city directories, I found her living at sixteen different addresses in those thirty eight years. She usually only lived at one address one or two years and then moved. Many years she was not listed in the city directory. So, in actuality she had more than those 16 different addresses. Plus, I have yet to find Katharine or my Great Great grandfather Charles Ball on any census record.

So, I ask "How many times have you moved?" How easy do you think our ancestors will be able to find us on a census record? Well, I'm going to give mine a little help and document all the places I've lived. I might be able to save them a little time looking for me!

Blogging=Family Connections

Yesterday was a terrific day! I met with a new cousin-Marian, who had posted a comment on my blog a little while ago. Marian found my blog by searching the internet. I had mentioned in a post that my ggg grandmother Elizabeth's hometown was Neckargemund, Germany. That little post on my blog connected me to new found family! Both of us have been looking for Sommer relatives for sometime now, although I freely admit that Marian has been working on the Sommer line longer than I and looking for relatives much longer than I. We share a great grandmother-Elizabeth Rusch Sommer, actually Elizabeth is my GGG grandmother and Marian's GG grandmother.
We both brought our Sommer binders filled with family trees, vital records, obituaries, and more. It was so exciting to find someone who shares my obsession with my family history. Plus, we each confirmed the other's information! We gabbed and gabbed for 2 1/2 hours in the warmth and comfort of the local Panera restaurant, talking about our relatives, stories past down to us, and new discoveries that we have made. It was the perfect way to start off a Sunday...plus, we plan on meeting together again in about one month....next time I'll remember the photographs!

Good things come to those who search and search and search...

Greetings!
I cannot believe my luck this week! As I mentioned in my post a week ago, I finally discovered the names of my ggg grandparents Galief Sommer and Elizabeth Rusch Sommer. Thanks to my blog and message boards (you always need to post a query on a message board!) a new friend contacted me regarding Elizabeth Rusch Sommer. Elizabeth is her gg grandmother! WHAT A DISCOVERY! After we corresponded a couple of times she verified most of the information I have collected regarding my Sommer relatives. She has been searching for Sommer relatives for 20+ years. She even sent me a picture of Elizabeth Rusch Sommer...my first picture of a ggg grandparent...I feel like I've won the genealogy lottery!
It seems that although on Julia Sommer's death certificate her father's name is listed as Galief, it is actually Johann Gottlieb Sommer. My "newly found cousin" actually gave me Johann's parents names too. All this information in one week...it's almost too good to be true! This was meant to be!
The best part of all--my "newly found cousin" lives less than fifteen miles from me...that's what I mean about good things happen to those who search and search and search.
We are setting up a day to meet, greet, and share....and best of all CONNECT!

A little bit of a treat before Halloween...

Greetings,
Like many of my blogger friends, I have been working on my family history for quite a while now. I still get very frustrated when I make one of the simplest mistakes and don't realize it for too long a period. Where did my brain cells go??
Example-I have been searching for the names of Katharine Ball's parents, my GGG grandparents. They were not listed on Katharine's death certificate. Katharine's sister Julia died in April of 1928. Both sisters are buried in Oakwoods Cemetery here in Chicago. I contacted the Cook County Clerk's office for a copy of Julia's death certificate only to be informed that they had no record of it. (Cost $15). According to Oakwoods Cemetery, Julia died on the 24th of April and was buried on the 26th. That tells me, she had to have died close by. Where else could I find a death certificate if the county clerk doesn't have it? The cemetery doesn't have a burial permit either, which may have indicated where Julia had died. I tried to think of other places to find Julia Sommer's death certificate.
I tell people all the time, try different spellings for your ancestors. Many times names are misspelled on any document including vital records. Did I follow my own advice? After way too long a period of researching. A light bulb FINALLY went off. I was searching for Julia Sommer, but could a death certificate be under Julia Summer? Yes, I searched the Cook County death index and there she was...date of death matched! I requested a copy from Chicago Genealogy and within one day had a digitized copy of Julia's death certificate. (Cost $5.46, including PayPal fee) All the information matched with what I already knew...her date of birth, husband's name and address. Julia's son Phillip was the informant on the death certificate and he was quite knowledgeable. He knew Julia's parents names and where they lived! Galief Sommer and Elizabeth Rusch Sommer resided in Neckargemund, Germany. I now know the names of my GGG grandparents on another branch of my tree!
"If only..." can now be another lesson learned the hard way. Sure hope I don't need to learn it the hard way again. I am thrilled to add two more names to my research but also to have another direction to move toward finding even more ancestors!
What a great hobby!

Given names, middle names, and surnames, oh my!

In my quest to find out as much information as I can about my family history, I usually search by surnames. It is just an easier and much faster method to identify my ancestors. However, there are quite a number of times after hitting a few brickwalls, that I've just used the given name and a birth date and bingo! there they are! Of course it doesn't happen all that often, but enough for me to almost automatically search that way when I hit a brickwall. Middle names are often unknown, or your ancestor just used an initial. I have ancestors who named their children; Marie Isabelle Boudreau, Marie Mary Boudreau, Marie Elizabeth Boudreau-all in the same family, the same parents. It can create a few struggles (and headaches) searching and connecting ancestors.
After receiving all of the Sommer information from Oakwoods Cemetery, I started a little research into this new "branch" of my family tree. What I found out pretty quickly was that several of my ancestors used their middle names instead of their given names. Upon receiving the marriage certificates and death certificates of several of my Sommer ancestors and reviewing federal census records, I quickly discovered that Jacob Sommer was Frederick Jacob Sommer and that James Sommer was Philip James Sommer.
Some people just prefer to be called by their middle name or a nick name instead of their given name. Such is the case with a couple of my first cousins who are known by their middle names. If I was to mention my cousin "Arlene," very few people, if any, would know who I was referring to. She uses the name Terry, short for Therese. My cousin was named after my beloved mother Arlene, but prefers to use a nick name for her middle name. Are you following me here? Imagine trying to find her on a census record one hundred years from now!
My GG Grandfather Marion Albert Hanaway was known by "Bert," short for Albert. He is listed as Marion Hanaway on some census records, and as Bert Hanaway on other census records. You just have to keep plugging away in your research.
Lesson learned: when you can't connect a family member with their surname try their given name and when you can't find them by their given name, well then try their middle name or even a nick name. It can certainly get a little complicated trying to find our ancestors!

Sommer family at Oakwoods Cemetery

Last Sunday my cousin Terry and I searched the final resting place of Katherine Ball, in Oakwoods Cemetery located here in Chicago. We searched and searched for Katherine's grave to no avail. I sent a letter to the cemetery asking for some help and Kim in the office at Oakwoods was kind enough to call me and give me a lot of information! So, this afternoon, three of my children and I stopped at Oakwoods Cemetery again believing we would be lucky and find our "missing ancestors".

Boy did we luck out too! My youngest son Jeremy, found a very large monument with the name Sommer on it. (Kids can move around cemeteries so much easier than adults!) Sommer is Katherine's maiden name. Katherine does not have a marker on her grave but, Kim told me that she is buried in the Sommer family plot. Not only is Katherine buried there but so are fourteen other relatives! Here is the breakdown...

Adults

Katherine Ball, Julia Sommer-----Katherine's sister, Phillip J. Sommer----Julia's husband, Frederick J. Sommer and his wife Elizabeth Sommer, Jacob F. Sommer and his wife Phillipina Sommer, William J. Buis and his wife Margaret Buis and Elizabeth J. Eberhart.

Children

Elizabeth Sommer, Anna Sommer, Frederick Sommer, Arthur Sommer and Ernest Sommer.

Wow! I took pictures of each and every marker. Of course I researched some dates of marriages and dates of death for everyone I could find. Once again I contacted Cynthia at Chicago Genealogy to copy as many of those death certificates and marriage certificates that she can find!

Searching Ancestry from my local library I was able to find many of these relatives on the Federal Census records. For instance, on the 1900 federal census Julia and Philip have two children Elsa (10yrs) and Philip (8 yrs). Frederick and his wife Elizabeth are also living with them. I believe that Frederick and Elizabeth are Philip's parents only because they had been married forty years in 1900 and Philip was 37 years old at that time.

I now have some work to do, putting all these relatives on my family tree! There's lots more research to do now as well, what with all these additional Sommer relatives and their descendants. Plus, I am not absolutely sure of how some of them connect to the others.

Newspaper Announcements

The other day I posted a query on a message board on Rootsweb. I have posted a number of queries on different message boards so this was not unusual. A kind person responded to one message in particular and indicated that she had searched the Chicago Tribune Historical Archives. That got me thinking.......
Charles and Katharine Ball were married here in Chicago, perhaps there was an announcement of their wedding in the newspaper. Who knows? I thought it was surely worth a search.
I work at a state university which just happens to own all the Chicago Tribune newspapers (on microfilm) from 1875, so I could easily do the search myself. I did just that. I went to April of 1885, knowing that Charles and Katharine were married April 22, 1885. I figured the announcement would be in the April 23rd issue or later. I could not find any wedding announcement but, I did find on April 22, 1885 an announcement indicating that they got a marriage license on April 21, 1885. I already knew that information because it was listed on their marriage certificate. What I did discover was a wild coincidence...a woman named Gussie L. Sommer, age 20 and her fiance' Paul E. Polzin age 27, also obtained a wedding license the same day as Charles and Katharine. To make it even better, Gussie and Paul married on April 22, 1885 as well! Now, to me, this is really interesting. Double weddings are not uncommon. Gussie MAY be a sister or a cousin of Katharine. I don't know but I believe I will do some research on Paul and Gussie and see if I can come up with some family information and perhaps a connection.
Some people say that there is no such thing as a coincidence......wouldn't it be wonderful if Gussie turned out to be related to Katharine? We'll see what happens!

Charles and Katherine Ball

My great-great grandparents Charles and Katherine (Sommer) Ball are an elusive pair! I hit a "brick-wall" regarding everything about them except the date and place of their marriage and the birthdate of their daughter, my great grandmother Alma. They were married here in Chicago at Central Christian Church in 1885. This church no longer exists. I can find one or the other on the Chicago city directories until 1900 and then they both "disappear". According to my great grandmother Alma's birth certificate (which I was very LUCKY to get my hands on considering that documenting birth records at that time was not required) both Charles and Katherine were born about 1857, in Germany . I cannot verify when they came over from Germany, although I have a pretty good idea that Katherine came over by herself in 1880. There is no 1890 Census to check. Charles, Katherine and Alma do not show up on the 1900 Census.
We can all hit a "brick-wall" when searching for our ancestors, you just need to keep on plugging away looking for clues anywhere; in vital records, census records, and talking to any relative who may provide a clue to steer you in the right direction. Wish me luck!