VISITING THE TOWN OF WIRGES

After visiting Helferskirchen, we drove to the nearby town of Wirges, where the locals call themselves "Wirgesers".  The population of Wirges is about 5200 people so it is larger than Helferskirchen.

We drove to St. Boniface Catholic Church, which was built in 1885.  It is commonly known as Westwalder Dom. The church is located at Kirchstrasse 6 and belongs to the diocese of Limburg.

The church doors were unlocked so we happily went inside to take a peak.  We took photos of the beautiful stained glass windows and ornate figurines above the altars.  We also walked around the outside grounds where there is a grotto with a statue of the Blessed Mother, and some ancillary buildings including Bonifatius Haus (which looked like a church hall with meeting rooms) and a garden area.

There was no cemetery on the grounds nor one listed on our GPS for the town of Wirges.  According to FindAGrave.com,, over 200 people were buried in Katholische Friedhof Wirges.  According to Family Search.org, most of the older German graves have been replaced with newer deceased persons. This makes me wonder what they did with the older graves' remains.  Also, what happened to the former cemeteries that are no longer there?  I am thinking that the churches used to own a lot more property surrounding their current church building (which probably included a church cemetery) but through the years that land was sold off.  Perhaps this is one of those mysteries I may never solve.

KATHOLISCHE FRIEDHOF WIRGES REVISITED

In my June 8. 2103 post on this blog, I discussed the cemetery Katholische Friedhof Wirges which is located in Wirges, Germany.  According to FindaGrave.com, there are 212 interments. I reviewed the names again today and found that of the 212 interments, 72 belong to my ancestors and another 43 are spouses of my ancestors.

My 3rd great grandparents Anna Catharina Heibel Hommerich & Johann Adam Hommerich are buried there as well as my 4th great grandparents Christian Hommerich & Anna Maria Bast Hommerich.  Christian's parents (my 5th great grandparents) Anna Christina Hober Hommerich & Christian Hommerich are also buried there.  Anna Christina Hober's parents (my 6th great grandparents) Johann Adam Hober & Sophia Maria Sabel Hober are buried there along with Johann Adam's parents Gregarin Hober and Maria Hober (my 7th great grandparents).  Gregarin's parents Oster and Afra Hober are also buried there.  I think this place qualifies as a "family cemetery".  I just wish there were photos of the gravestones on Findagrave.  I guess that is too much to ask.

In addition to all my great grandparents, this is also the burial site for numerous of my 5th through 7th great aunts and uncles and various cousins (from 1st cousin 8 times removed to 5th cousin 4 times removed).

I have already warned my husband that is a "required stop" on any Rhine River cruise that I may take in the future.  There is also another cemetery not too far from this one in the town of Helferskirchen, named Katholische Maria Himmelfahrt.  It is time to research my ancestors in that cemetery.

KATHOLISCHE FRIEDHOF WIRGES

So for the past week, I have been researching the names of the 212 people listed as being buried at the Katholische Friedhof Wirges cemetery in Wirges, Germany (according to Findagrave.com).  I have learned some new things both about the town of Wirges and about my ancestors who lived there.

Wirges is located in Westerwaldkreis in Rhineland-Palatinate area of Germany (western Central area of Germany -- not too far east of the Rhine River).  Its population is now about 5,000.  I have no idea how many people were living there when my ancestors were alive.  I need to find some history of Wirges.   To the southwest of Wirges, is the town of Dernbach (birthplace of my Nebgen family members), to the southeast is the town of Staudt (many of my Hober relatives lived there) and to the east is Bannberscheid and Moschheim (where Hober relatives also either moved or were born).  Actually it was rather exciting to find so many ancestors in such a small area.

Of the 212 names listed for this cemetery, I can prove some family relationship with at least 107 of them.  Now there are 28 additional people who have the name Hober but I can't quite fit them into my family tree yet.  What I find interesting is that these Hober's are more current (from the 1800's) vs. the Hober's I know that are related to me (who are from the 1600 and 1700's).  Usually I have the opposite problem -- can see the relationship of more current people but not so much those ancient ancestors.  I guess it is a good problem to have!

Wirges (and even more specifically this cemetery) is now on my "bucket list".  Supposedly the graves of my 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th and 8th great grandparents are located there.  How could I not want to go?  I could also visit the nearby town of Dernbach (home town of my Nebgen's) while I am there.

Well, back to my research ....

ACCIDENTAL DISCOVERIES -- THE HOBERS

Over the weekend, I was double checking some facts that I have on Sebastian Homrich (whom I like to call my German family patriarch) when I see a "hint" (yes, a fluttering leaf) for his mother Anna Katharina Heibel. It said that she was listed on FindAGrave.com in a cemetery named Katholische Friedhof Wirges.  This cemetery is located in Wirges, Westerwaldkries, Rheinland Pfalz, Germany (not too far from Cologne, Germany).  So, as I tend to do, I decided to peruse the names of the other interments in this cemetery.  I found not only people with the last name of  Heibel and Hommerich (the German spelling of Homrich) but also Hobel (which is the maiden name of Anna Katharina's mother Maria Magdalena.

After a few hours, I realized that I have hit the "jackpot".  I found three more "probable" generations back from what I currently had and therefore found my 8th great grandfather and grandmother Oster and Afra Hober.  Okay, what is really weird is that it was not from tracing Anna Katharina and her mother Maria Magdalena's ancestors but rather from tracing Sebastian Homrich's father's ancestors.  By now, my head is spinning!  I feel like I am in a giant jigsaw puzzle!  I am finding "first cousins 8x removed", which for me is a big deal since for some of my family lines I can only trace them back a few generations.  So, "8 generations" is winning the lottery for me!

So, here's what I can piece together now --

8th great grandparents:     Oster Hober and Afra (Hober)
7th great grandparents:     Gregaren Hober and Maria
6th great grandparents:     Johann Adam Hober and Sophia Maria Sabel
5th great grandparents:     Anna Christina Hober and Christian Hommerich
4th great grandparents:     Christian Hommerich and Anna Bast
3rd great grandparents:     Johann Adam Hommerich and Anna Katharina Heibel
2nd great grandparents:    Sebastian Homrich and Anna Maria Simon

So far, I have found a connection between 80 of the 200 people buried at that cemetery and my ancestors (either ancestors or spouses of ancestors) but still need to work on the ancestors for Anna Katharina Heibel, which is what I thought I was doing originally.  Welcome to the wonderful world of Genealogy!