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

PRACTICING GERMAN WITH GELATO

I had been trying to learn some words in German before my trip so that I would hopefully at least understand a few words while I was there.

We stopped at a gelato shop in Heidelberg and I saw that all of the flavors were listed in German.  This would be a perfect way for me to practice my German.  So, I tried to figure out what the flavors were in German.  Of course, I was aided by the fact that I could see the color of the gelato.

There was the following flavors --

Mandel -- Almond
Zitrone -- Lemon
Maracula -- Passion fruit
Schokolade -- Chocolate
Vanille -- Vanilla
Koffe -- Coffee
Elder Beer -- Elderberry

Okay, maybe that was too easy. I also looked up in my dictionary what other flavors would be in German

Mint -- Minze
Chocolate Chip -- Schokochip
Caramel -- Karamel
Peppermint -- Pfefferminze
Cookie dough -- Platzchenteig
Cookies and cream -- Kekse und Sahne

ICE CREAM, ITALIAN STYLE, IN GERMANY

All of this visiting my German ancestral villages has made my husband and I very hungry, especially since we skipped lunch on the ship in order to arrive at the car rental agency on time.  So, while visiting the German town of Wirges, we stopped for a snack at Dolce Vita.  It  is an Italian ice cream shop that has 5 locations in Germany -- Wirges, Montabaur, Hohr Grenzhausen and two in Altenkircher.

The menu had several pages.  It reminded me of the multi-page menu at Cheesecake Factory.  How many ways can you serve ice cream?  There was a two page spread of the menu that featured ice cream dishes in the shape of pasta.  Does this count as a meal?

After perusing the menu, I selected a mint sundae since I absolutely love mint, especially with chocolate.  My mint sundae not only was covered in a green mint sauce but also contained some mint chocolate cookies and mint chocolate candy straws.  There is no such thing as too much mint.  It was delicious!

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.

NEXT STOP -- WIRGES, GERMANY

My 6th great grandfather Johann Adam Hommerich married Anna Manns (my 6th great grandmother) in the town of Wirges, Germany.  They both then lived the rest of their lives there.Their son Christian Hommerich (my 5th great grandfather) was born and died in Wirges.  Christian's spouse Anna Christina Hober was born in Staudt (a neighboring town) but lived in Wirges after she was married.

Anna and Christian's son Christian (my 4th great grandfather) was born in Moschheim (a neighboring town) but married a woman Anna Maria Bast from Wirges, where they both lived for the rest of their lives.  My 3rd great grandfather Johann Adam Homrich also lived his entire life in Wirges.  Johann's son Sebastian Homrich was born in Wirges but later immigrated to the U.S. and to Michigan in particular.

So, you can see that a lot of my direct ancestors were either born and/or lived in Wirges, so it was a "no brainer" to want to visit this town while I was visiting my other German ancestral towns.

CELEBRATING VETERANS' DAY

 On this Veterans' Day, I wanted to honor my father Donald Sherlock, who served in the US Army from 1951 to 1953.  He served overseas in Korea from 1952 to 1953.  In the above photo, he was celebrating Christmas in 1952 in Korea while his wife and 4 month old baby son celebrated back in Southern California.

Donald was the youngest of 3 sons, all of whom served in the military.  His oldest brother Charles Sherlock served in the Air Force.

His older brother (the middle brother) Edmund Sherlock served in the US Navy during World War II.According to my cousin, Edmund was only 17 years old in this photo. He looks very young. 

Thank you, Dad, Uncle Chuck and Uncle Eddie for your service to our country and your devotion to your families!

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