I recently acquired the images below, of records from the church book in Becherbach bei Kirn. Although I’m pretty good with translating German, I am having all kinds of trouble deciphering the old writing. I would love to know what the records say, so if anyone is willing and able to help me transcribe the records I will be grateful. The top record is the most important to me. Thank you in advance for any help you can provide!
Both of the following records contain the word “miles”, which I understand is the Latin for “soldier” (Top image language is in the record related to Martin Marcinek; Bottom image is record #3 for Joannes Szymaszek). As I am not an expert in military recruitment or service in 19th Century Austria-Hungary, I am hoping that someone can help me make sense of what the records say about any possible military service. Any help is much appreciated! Thank you in advance!
It all began with an article entitled “Baer Families of Ottenbach, Switzerland and Lehigh County, Pennsylvania” by Jane Evans Best. The article was published in Mennonite Family History, and details the history of the Baer family. On page 55 I found my ancestor Maria Elizabeth Baer. The article said that she was the daughter of Melchior Baer and “Anna Elisabetha Abegglen of the Oberland, Bern, Switzerland.” She was born on August 15th, 1697. The article also said that Anna Elisabetha’s father was “Kilian Abecky of Hasleland, Bern.”
When I saw this information I was intrigued. The article traced the history of the Baer family in great detail, but said nothing more about Anna Elisabetha. Where was she born? Was her father’s name really Kilian (strange name for 17th century Switzerland, no?) And what was really the family’s name – Abegglen or Abecky? Another source recorded the name as Abeckli. Which one was it? I had lots of questions and few answers.
A quick search on google for the family names revealed that there was nothing to be found on the web about the exact location of Oberland or Hasleland. Most people seemed content to list those places on their family tree. How is that possible??? Surely someone else looked at this information and said, “wait a minute, where the heck are these places?” Maybe someone did ask that question, but their research had yet to make it into cyberspace. In any event, I was now determined to find out where Anna Elisabetha was born.
I began by looking for information about the Abegglen or Abecky surname. Turns out that almost everyone with that surname traces their roots to a particular area of Switzerland, specifically the towns of Iseltwald and Ringgenberg. These towns are in the mountains above Bern. “Perfect!” I thought. Oberland means highland. These towns are high above Bern. Seemed to make sense to me. Delighted with this information, I ordered the church records for Iseltwald and Ringgenberg to search for Anna Elisabetha’s birth. Unfortunately, there was no record of a birth in either location for Anna Elisabetha in 1697, and certainly not one with a father whose name was Kilian (if that was even his real name). The surname didn’t lead me to her birth place, so maybe the clues about the place could.
I searched google for Hasleland and Switzerland. When the results came up, I was off and running. I found a website in French that had an old drawing. I have no idea what the page said or what the title of the drawing was, but I recognized the word “Hasleland”. In the description about the drawing, again without having a clue about what the writing actually meant, I spotted the word “Haslital.” “Hasleland . . . Haslital . . . maybe these words are connected,” I thought. I returned to google and searched for Haslital.
A wikipedia page in English was the second result. I couldn’t believe my luck. I clicked on the link and started to read the article. “The Hasli region (also called Oberhasli, or Haslital “Hasli Valley”) . . . I didn’t even read any farther. Could “Oberland” in Canton Bern be synonymous with “Oberhasli” and “Haslital”?
During my second round of searching, I also found a resource that was newly posted online. On the GenWiki website (http://wiki-de.genealogy.net/Rieschweiler-M%C3%BChlbach/Zufallsfunde), there was a transcription of records from the “Schweizer in Rieschweiler” by Dahl, which familysearch recently posted on their website. The Abegglen family moved to the parish, which is where Anna Elizabetha married Melchior Baer. The record listed “Oberhasle” as the place that Anna Elisabetha was from. I knew I’d found it. The Hasli region was now the focus of my search. The source mentioned a sister of Anna Elisabetha named Christina.
Armed with this information, I ordered the church records for Meiringen, the church that served the entire Hasli region in 1697. When I looked at the film I found, on August 15, 1697, a baptism record for Anna Elisabetha Abegglen, daughter of Gilg Abegglen and Margareth Huber. I knew from previous experience that sometimes when Swiss names were recorded in German records the “G” is written as a “K” because of the way the “G” is pronounced in German. Different dialects – different spellings. Gilg, in my experience, is much more common that Kilian as a first name in German speaking regions. Because of this, I believe that Kilian was really Gilg or Gilgian, and that when the family moved to Germany the name was recorded phonetically as Kilian. But just to me sure, I searched the years before and after 1697 for other children of Gilg and Margareth. Turns out that they had a daughter named Christina in 1699. Just like the “Schweizer in Rieschweiler” record said. I was even more confident that I found the family’s Swiss origin.
It’s not often that I get to do research like this. Even if someone already found Anna Elisabetha’s baptism record, I hadn’t heard about it. It is rare that I truly blaze new research trails. There were so many researchers before me, compiling records and making connections. Virtually the only other time I’ve undertaken true original research is to trace my mother’s family in Poland. With my father’s family, my research goal is usually to get back far enough so that I am able to link up to research that someone else already completed. That was the case with the Baer family. Get back far enough to connect to the Baer family, then order the article by Ms. Best and cite to her research. It’s fun to find your family tree already mapped out for you, but there is something rewarding and uniquely exciting about seeing a baptism record you have been searching for appear before your eyes on microfilm. I’m not going to sit on this information. I’m going to share it, because in the end sharing results and discoveries is the most rewarding part of genealogical research. Already this information led me to possible connections with other published genealogies related to the Huber family. The journey continues. I only hope that this information will contribute, at least in some small way, to the understanding of not only my ancestors, but the ancestors of my distant cousins who share a connection with the Baer family.
Ok, I’m not really in the Capitol. I’m across the street in the State Office Building (affectionately referred to as the “SOB”), sitting in on the K-12 Finance Committee hearing.
Right now we’re hearing a bill about increasing scholarships grants to high school kids who graduate early. Well that just finished, and next up is another bill about a grant program.
However, the bill before this one gave a shout out to AmeriCorps, so I figured I’d mention it… when I heard the conversation turn to AmeriCorps I said to myself, “that is totally going in my blog.” The bill is HF 1046 and it increases funding for the Minnesota Reading Corps. I know I know not Promise Fellows, but still… AmeriCorps! What up!
My dad and I went to the NCAA Men’s Tournament first round games at the Dome last weekend, and my friend and I went to the second round games. These were the first ever tournament games I’ve been to, and I had a blast.
Here is my take on the teams that I saw play:
North Dakota State – These guys gave it their all in the first round against Kansas. Their guard had one of the best performances I’ve ever seen in person. The Dome was absolutely rocking with all of the NDSU fans. Played Kansas VERY tough and were in the game until the final three minutes.
Kansas – Took care of buisness in both games. IMO they rely too much on two players… which could be trouble if either one is in foul trouble or doesn’t play very well. Aldrich is a beast. Collins can’t miss (but also can’t play a lick of defense).
Dayton – GREAT spirit. From the band (and their incredible leader) to the cheerleaders to the fans. They brought that extra flair that makes the experience special. Looked very good against West Virginia, but couldn’t make a shot to save their lives against Kansas. Provided the best dunks of the weekend.
West Virginia – Very disappointing against Dayton. I thought they would have played much better. Good team. Good coach. Just wasn’t their day.
USC – Looked very good against MSU. Lacked some size, but had great guard play and a very balanced attack.
Michigan State – The best team I saw this weekend. Balanced attack. Great defense. Good size. USC played them tough, but they stepped up when they had to.
Having seen the teams play in person, I’d have to say that Michigan State will beat Kansas next week. I think they have the size to cause Aldrich some problems, and the guard play to cause Collins some trouble. They also had a much more balanced attack than Kansas, which allows them to better absorb a below average performance from some of their players, as well as exploit any holes in the Kansas defense that open up.
I read a press release today about a new genealogy collection being released. Something struck me as a tad odd. The release began by stating that “One in two Brits with ancestors are found in the collection.”
Now, correct me if I’m wrong… but doesn’t that statement imply that there are Brits who don’t have ancestors? I was under the impression that EVERYONE in Great Britain has ancestors. In fact, I was under the impression that everyone on earth has ancestors.
Well, they sorta did.
After weeks of cheery informational hearings, food prizes for finding “weird” symbols in bill language, and generally agreeing with everything everyone had to say, the gloves finally came off a bit this morning in the K-12 Education Policy Committee. The reason? They were taking amendments to the K-12 Education Policy Omnibus bill… an 80 or so page piece of legislation that lays out the education policy changes the legislature wishes to enact. As a political junky, all the lovey dovey stuff from before gets real old real fast. The disagreement and debate today, with amendments being defeated and divided and re-written and roll call votes and everything was great. Two things stood out to me:
I still can’t understand he focus that some legislators have on testing to determine if a student is worthy of receiving a high school diploma. There is a part of the bill that will create an alternative route to graduation for students who can’t pass the high stakes graduation test… and these legislators tried unsuccessfully to remove it from the bill. They claim that having students receive diplomas without passing the test amounts to a lowering of 1) our expectations of our students and 2) our academic standards. I can understand why people might think that, but something that one of these legislators said today didn’t sit well with me. He basically said that knowledge was most important criteria for determining qualification for graduation. I guess if you believe in high stakes testing that is what you inherently believe. This seems to be a rather narrow view of what is important in the world. Non-cognitive skills are just as important as cognitive skills. If you ask me, being a decent human being and a good citizen is far more important than any test score for determining graduation. Again, as I wrote before, we use subjective, non-numerical, non-test-like analysis for almost everything in our lives. Why should graduation be any different? Rant over.
Similarly the insistence that teachers’ performance be reviewed based on numerical cost/benefit-ish data baffles me. I won’t rant about this one because the rant is pretty similar to the one I just had.
In the end, thankfully, most of these amendments were blocked.
They had to recess this morning because they ran out of time, but the committee will be back for round two tonight at 6:30 PM. Let’s hope the excitement continues!
I was cruising the Crystal Palace FC supporter’s website this morning (www.holmesdale.net) and I came across a posting from someone with the user name “Beastie.” He/she posted, and I quote, “I’d happily contribute. It would be legendary.” “Beastie,” whoever you are, you have just scored major Mess points for using the word “legendary” during the course of your everyday life. Well played, sir. Well played.
My dad is known as “Big Mess”, “Papa Mess”, “Pops” and sometimes even “Scott”. He is amazing and he came to visit this past weekend for my birthday. Some of you got to meet him. We had a great time (more on that once I get pics of the Dome uploaded).
I love my dad. A son could not ask for a better father or a better role model. I don’t hesitate to say that I want to be just like my dad when I grow up, not in terms of being a teacher like him, but in terms of the kind of person and father that he’s been and continues to be. Without him, neither my brother or I would be the people we are today… and for that we owe my dad a great deal of thanks.
The World of the Mess 