USING GOOGLE EARTH IN MY GENEALOGICAL RESEARCH

Last week, my daughter and I went to the movies to watch "Lion".  According to my Google-employed son who told me about the movie, it was about a guy using Google Earth to find his birth home and village and more specifically his family.  It was a very touching movie!

The movie got me thinking on how many times I have used Google Earth for my genealogy research.  Some of my more memorable searches include the following:

1. Locating parcels of land where my Great Grandmother Bridget Chambers spent her childhood in the townland of Letter, Islandeady, County Mayo, Ireland. [If I had used Google Earth while on the road in Ireland I might have been able to see the land with my own eyes]

2. Trying to match a house that I have in a 1960 photo (the childhood home of my Great Grandfather Bryan Sherlock in Demailestown, Meath, Ireland) to see if it still exists today.  [Sadly I had no luck with my search but considering how old that house would have been -- he lived there in the late 1800's -- it probably has been torn down and a newer house built.]

3. Locating the following churches -- Katholische Maria Himmelfahrt (Helferskirchen, Rheinland, Germany), Saint Boniface Church (Wirges, Rheinland, Germany) and St. Laurentius Church (Dernbach, Germany).  [This helped with my visit to see them in 2015]

4. Trying to see what the house my Grandmother Theresa Nebgen Sherlock grew up in Chicago, looks like today.

5. And of course, looking at my Google Earth photos of my childhood home in Southern California. 

WRAP UP OF VISIT TO MY GERMAN ANCESTRAL TOWNS

It was such a wonderful gift to be able to visit 4 of my German Ancestral villages while on my Rhine River cruise this past summer.  While it required extra effort on our part -- renting a car, getting to the car rental agency before it closed at 1pm and of course finding our way back to our ship -- it was well worth it!  I loved seeing the natural beauty of the areas surrounding Helferskirchen, Wirges, Staudt and Dernbach.  I was pleasantly surprised to find that these villages are growing larger and seem to be doing very well.  I wonder if I can find any photos of these villages from the 1700 and 1800's.

I enjoyed the peaceful moments while I sat in the churches where my ancestors attended Sunday Mass -- St. Boniface in Wirges, St. Laurentius in Dernbach and the cute little prayer chapel in Helferskirchen.

While my Grandma Theresa knew that her father Peter Joseph Nebgen was from Dernbach, Germany, I don't think she knew about her ancestors from Helferskirchen, Staudt and Wirges.  I wonder if she had known, would she and Grandpa Charlie stopped and visited these villages on their trip up the Rhine River in 1961?

CEMETERY IN HELFERSKIRCHEN

As I left the prayer chapel in Helferskirchen, I wondered where the cemetery was located.  After all on Find A Grave.com, I found the listing of persons buried in the Katholische Maria Himmelfahrt cemetery which included a number of my ancestors.

I looked down a street and saw a cemetery.  This must be my lucky day!  We walked down the street and walked through the cemetery.  The cemetery looked new, like it was created in the 1980's not the 1700's.

Whenever I visit a cemetery in one of my ancestral lands, first, I look for any of my known ancestors.  I have yet to find any of them from the 1700 and 1800's.  Then I take (and also ask my traveling companions) to take photos of all the gravestones with specific surnames.

The gravestones are much larger and more beautiful than the typical ones found in the US.

I found graves for the following people (who may be related to me) in the Helferskirchen cemetery --

                                    HEIBEL    Fridolin        1913-1996
                                                      Sophie         1919-2004

                                   HEIBEL     August          1908-1989
                                                       Frieda          1911-1996

                                   HEIBEL     Margareta     1906-2005
                                                      Wilhem         1904-1989

                                   HEIBEL    Anton            1903-1990
                                                     Hildegard      1908-1995

                          HOMMRICH    Artur              1925-2007
                                                    Monika          1927-2012

                                   RAMM    Bernhard        1929-2007
                                                    Gertrud         1920-2007

                                  RAMM    Ewald             1929-2003

A VISIT TO HELFERSKIRCHEN

I learned originally about Helferskirchen on Find A Grave.com.  According to Find a Grave.com, the Assumption of Mary Church "was built in 930-959 as a fortress church".  "The present church was built in 1769" and "is considered one of the most beautiful baroque churches in Westerwald".

My husband and I drove into town and headed towards the Catholic Church -- Katholische Maria Himmelfahrt.  I was disappointed to find that the doors of the church were locked but that didn't stop me from exploring the church grounds and taking some photos.  Then to get a better feel of the area, we walked east of the church and saw some cows grazing in a pasture.  Walking a bit further in that direction, we discovered a darling little prayer chapel, hidden by some large trees.

Of course, we went in the chapel to see what was inside.  I wonder if I can find out the history of this little chapel.

I was amazed at how beautiful the area surrounding Helferskirchen is.  Okay, you know I need to show you one more photo!

WHY HELFERSKIRCHEN?

My 7th Great Grandfather Valentin Zirfas was born and died in Helferskirchen.  His daughter Anna Catharina Zirfas (my 6th Great Grandmother) was also born in Helferskirchen.  Collateral ancestors of the Hober and Zirfas family branch were born and died in Helferskirchen.  In addition, members of the Ramm family branch also lived in Helferskirchen.

Helferskirchen has a population of about 1100 people.  It is north of Wirges, northwest of Staudt and northeast of Dernbach.  Helferskirchen is 34.3 kilometers and 25 minutes from Koblenz. So it is an excellent place to start visiting my German ancestral home towns.

DREAM COME TRUE

What would make a Rhine River Cruise even more memorable to me?  Visiting some of my ancestral home towns in Germany. So, my plan was that we (my husband and I) would skip the tour of the Marksburg Castle, rent a car and drive 30 minutes or so to the towns of Helferskirchen, Wirges, Staudt and Dernbach. We would try to visit the Catholic church in the town and see if we could also find the cemetery and locate any ancestors buried in the cemeteries.  Well, that was my plan ...

The ship was originally supposed to dock in Koblenz (or so we thought) at about 11am.  However, we found out that morning it wouldn't dock until at least 12:45pm.  Okay, that still works.   Then we found out the rental car agency closes at 1pm.  What?? I saw my plan and the opportunity to visit these ancestral towns going up in "smoke". This was going to be my best opportunity, probably ever, to see these towns.  

We talked to the ship's concierge and he arranged for a taxi to meet us 50 yards from the dock.  Now, we needed the ship to dock on time.  Even though, they announced that we would be docking at 12:30pm, it takes the ship's crew at least 15 minutes to secure the boat to the dock and make it safe for passengers to disembark.  Well, thankfully the crew was a bit speedy that day.  The concierge made sure that we were the 1st two off the ship.  We ran the distance to the waiting taxi.  He drove us the 10 minute ride to the rental car agency, with us arriving at 12:50pm.  My husband rented us a car and we were on our way to Helferskirchen, the furthest of the 4 towns.  It is really happening ...