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 STAUDT, GERMANY

Since we couldn't locate a cemetery in Wirges, Germany, our GPS said that the nearest cemetery was in Staudt, Germany.  My 8th great grandfather Oster Hober and his wife Afra were both born and died in the town of Staudt.  His son Gregarin Hober (my 7th great grandfather) also was born and died in Staudt.  Gregarin's son Johann Adam Hober and Johann's wife Sophia Maria Sabel (my 6th great grandparents), were also born and died in Staudt. Their daughter Anna Christina Hober (my 5th great grandmother) was also born in Staudt.  This gave me plenty of reason to visit the town of Staudt.

At the cemetery, we took photos of the gravestones of "potential" ancestors and relatives, including the following:

HEIBEL                   Katharina      1888-1967

HEIBEL                   Josef              1904-1968
                                 Maria             1915-1996

HEIBEL                  Bernard          1903-1976
                                Antonia          1908-1999

HEIBEL                  Josef               1902-1980
                                Irmgard           1908-1994

ZERFAS                 Mathilde          1943-2009

HEIBEL                 Theresia           1904-1988
                                Eugen              1903-1990

HOLZGEN             Werner            1931-1986
                                Maria              1931-1995

BAST                      Raimund         1922-1987
                                Elfriede           1929-2014

BAST                      Josef               1911-1993
                                Hedwig           1913-2000

HEIBEL                 Antonius          1912-1994
                                Klara               1920-2000

PFAFFHAUSEN   Leonard           1927-2001

HOMMRICH        Siegfried          1925-1991
                               Evelyn             1932-2015

THE HOBERS

According to Ancestry.com, Hober is an occupational name for someone who lifts heavy loads.  "Heben" means "to lift" in German.  I don't know if one of my ancestors had the job of lifting heavy loads or not, but I can trace the Hober branch of my family ancestry back to my 8th great grandfather Oster Hober (1625-1690).   Oster was married to Afra (1630-1693) and looking at their dates, they must have had some good genes to live that long in the 1600's.  Oster and Afra lived in the town of Staudt (see photo above) in the Rheinland Pfalz area of Germany (not too far from the Rhine River).  Yes, I do have a cruise on the Rhine River near the top of my "bucket list".

Oster and Afra had 8 children (or at least 8 that I have found in my research):  Johann (1650), Johann Georg (1653), Peter (1655), Margaretha (1660), Christian (1661), Andreas (1663), Gregarin (1670) and Elizabeth (1675).  

Some of the eldest son Johann's descendants changed the spelling of their surname to Hoefer and immigrated to the United States, settling in Iowa and South Dakota.  The midwest was not the final destination of some of the Hoefers, who also eventually moved West -- to Oregon, Washington, California and Colorado.  Other surnames of these descendants were Merkes, Muehl, Tressel, Koenig and Velder.  I have a lot of information and a lot of names for Johann's descendants, possibly because they immigrated to the US.

For the other siblings of Johann (except for Gregarin), I haven't been able to trace their descendants for more than a 2 generations and the trail stops in Germany.  It will be interesting to find out if any of them also immigrated to the America.

Next up:  Gregarin Hober

STAUDT

While I am getting somewhat proficient at researching my ancestors in the US, I still run into a lot of problems when I try to research those in Europe (Germany, Ireland and Poland).   While Ancestry has some German records, typically my ancestors are not found in those records.  Find A Grave.com was a huge resource where I discovered records on many of my German ancestors.  However, my greatest resource has been my German cousin's wife Susanne.  I know I have mentioned her in other posts, but she is definitely worth mentioning again and again.  In fact, I have decided that she may be my "Guardian angel for German genealogy".

Last week, she sent me a birth certificate for one of my 2nd great uncles and also the link to Staudt.info.  Susanne thought that I was already familiar with this site, but she gives me far too much credit.

My fifth great grandmother Anna Christine Hober was born in Staudt, Germany in 1725.  Her father, grandfather and great grandfather were also born there.  So from 1625 (when my 8th great grandfather Oster Hober) was born in Staudt until sometime after 1725 (probably when Anna Christine got married and moved a very short distance to a neighboring town of Wirges) did my ancestors live in the town of Staudt. So, imagine my glee when I followed the link to Staudt.info.  Besides giving information (including a short history), it also lists genealogical information.  What can be better than that?

Staudt is located in the Southern Westerwald region of Germany, near the towns of Montabur and Wirges (more about my Wirges roots in another post).  It is a 20 minute drive to Koblenz.  Yes, I am already planning a side trip when I some day take my dream trip -- cruising down the Rhine River.

What I found interesting about the history of Staudt is that there were 18 families in Staudt in 1605 but that number decreased to 9 in 1684.  The Hobers were one of those 9!

This site (Staudt.info) also gives a listing of births (1700 and 1800's).  In addition to the baby's name, it also lists the parents' names.  Yes, my Hober's were among those listed!

German genealogy is definitely easier with a little help from a friend!  Thanks, Susanne!

TRAVEL TUESDAY

# 4 -- WIRGES, GERMANY

Continuing on with my Genealogical Travel Bucket List , #4 would be Wirges, Germany.  I should have noted before that these aren't in any particular order (most important to least, alphabetical, close to far, etc.). Wirges is a collective municipality, located in the Westerwaldkreis District of Rhineland-Palatinate in Germany.  There are about 10 local municipalities within the collective municipality of Wirges, including Dernbach, Bannberscheid, Staudt, Helferskirchen, Leuterod, Moschheim and Wirges.

Most of the roots of my German family history originated (or at least to how far back I can go now) within these municipalities.  My 7th great grandfather Christian Hommerig was born in Moschheim as was his son (my 6th great grandfather) Johann Adam Hommerich.  The family then moved to Wirges, where my 5th great grandfather Christian Hommerich was born.

Christian's wife Anna Christina Hober (my 5th great grandmother) was born in Staudt, Germany.  Both of her parents, Johann Hober and Sophia Maria Sabel were also born there. Anna's paternal grandparents, Gregarin Hober and Maria were also born in Staudt, as was Gregarin's father Oster Hober (my 8th great grandfather).  The cemeteries of Katholische Friedhof Wirges (in Wirges) and Katholische Maria Himmelfahrt (in Helferskirchen) are the burial locations of a great many of my ancestors.

So, how could I not want to visit this place -- basically the birthplace or ancestral homeland of my German roots?  Now if I could just figure out a way to combine this pilgrimage to the homeland with a river cruise on the Rhine River, I would be thrilled!