So my German Russian family tree has been spelled out on the other entries, but here’s a summary – we’ve got Mehlhoff’s marrying Leno’s and Krause’s marrying Otto’s. Other surnames that married into these lines include Rieger, Schopp, Lang, Haeberle, Nathan, Lorenz, Wiederrich, Ganthner, Schmelzler, Spielhaag, Bechtold, Heck, Hinsz, Maier, Schell, Reitz, and Ohlhaueser.
Some of these, I’ve been able to trace back to Germany, while others remain “stranded” in Hungary, Prussia, Poland or even still in Russia.
One of my goals over the next few years is to spend a little time on each of these lines to see what leads I can track down.
For example, I was able to research the Schmelzler line and found their hometown in Germany – Gomaringen. I found this city name on Johann Lorenz’ wife’s death record (listed as her birthplace). Sure enough, upon reviewing the records of the town, I found her birth record – Magdalena Schmaelzlir, born April 14, 1778 to Johann George Schmaelzlir and Magdalena (last name unreadable). I didn’t find additional information about them. So now perhaps it’s time to check the records of surrounding villages. Will I find their ancestors or more children?
The Lorenz family is listed by his death records as from Allenfeld, Pfalz. I have made some inquiries there already. Can I find more?
My efforts at finding the Schopp’s in the town of Neuplattendorf, Sachsen-Anhalt, proved fruitless. Are there more leads if I can trace them more carefully backwards from their stay in Tscherwenke, Hungary?
The Leno family is listed as potentially being from Scherwinga, Hungary. In the last efforts I made, I hadn’t located that village yet. Perhaps there is more info on the Internet available for that search now?
The Ganthner family was identified as being from Schwezeretz, Poland. Also, no idea where that is as of today.
Are there any further records for the “Warschauer Umsiedler”? I need to see if anyone else is researching this group of people. Perhaps I can then find leads on the Otto family. There is the Nathan family – also “Warschauer Umsiedler” – to consider as well.
There are also the Reitz, Schell and Ohlhaeuser families. It’s time to spend more time on them to see what information we can put together on these relatively newly found branches of the family.
And as far as the Mehlhoff line goes – it seems well traced. So perhaps now it’s time to track down the wife’s lines. Is there more to learn about the Wiederrich’s and families that married into their line? The Rott, Newinger and Bucher families?
The Haeberle line was the last “gold mine” find I made before the original newsletter came to an end. Are there loose ends on that line? Of course! What are the next steps in researching the Schaeberle, Zirgus, Schillinger, Ganser, Winter, Schwaab, Pfau, Wessner, Heinzelman, and Werner families? Some of these are actually already traced back into the 16th century!
Can I get the Krause family back one more generation? is there a connection between Martin and Michael Krause? How about the Heck family? Where did they come from? Where is Grugetz or Grupetz, Poland?
As you can see, there are plenty of things to track down still.
Kendall's Genealogy Newsletter 