A true tale for those who think bulletin boards are a waste of time

I have a branch of ancestors that seemed to dead-end in Ohio. They were German immigrants, but I could find no records telling me where they came from. They were here by 1840, before the Germans to America series of books begin, so I was at sea, so to speak, with no direction.

In 2001 I serendipitiously walked past a new book in the State Historical Society Library, a book of passenger lists for arrivals to New York covering a short period - 1829-1833 - caught my eye. What are the chances, I thought and laughed at my own folly for wasting my time on it. Miracle of miracles, they were there. I nearly cried.

My ancestors, Johann Knodel and his wife Elisabetha and their two children appeared in the list along with Johann's brother (I surmised), sister-in-law and three nieces and nephews, all coming from Ochsenbach, Wurttemberg, Germany in 1832. Alas, a place of origin and an explanation as to why they seemed to have started a family so late. Both of Elisabetha & Johann's children died in the crossing, along with his brother, sister-in-law and one of the nephews.

Victor, my "internet cousin" researching the same family worked with me to discover more. He managed to get a hold of Wurttemberg church records on microfilm through the local Mormon family research center. We'd both remembered enough of our German to make the translations but had difficulty diciphering the handwriting. Eventually, we discovered enough to find that we had more family on that ship than we knew, and with that discovery, more deaths and more orphans. The crossing had apparently been difficult. Elisabetha's parents and several siblings, some married with their own children, also crossed with them. But translating the Wurttemberg documents was slow and much of it relied heavily on guessing. Some of it, abbreviations especially, were absolute mysteries.

But the solution came to me through a posting on a bulletin board. The orphans, the ones who landed here, were missing. So I posted their information on a surname bulletin board at Rootsweb.org, knowing their descendents would likely be more at sea as to their family origins than I had been. I hoped they would find me.

I was shocked a few months later to find a nibble, but the fish I caught was not the one I was expecting. The first post, in fact the only post to date, came from Roland, another "internet cousin" in Germany researching his family history, looking in America for the cousins who immigrated in 1832 and unable to find them. I have never been happier to find an internet cousin!

I filled Roland in on what happened to the families that immigrated. And he helped me and Victor not only decipher the two and three hundred year old records we got from the Mormons, but assisted us with finding more in Germany. Roland's native abilities with German proved invaluable. The history of the area he provided us as well as some societal/cultural background really helped round out the search.

Within the span of a year, we went from dead end to having the line at least 80% complete back to the end of the records. (early 1600's to late 1500's)

And I still harbor hope that decendents of those lost orphans will one day find me as well through my post on a bulletin board.

I usually talk about my dad's side on here, since it's the one I'm writing the family history about.

But my mom's side has some cool stories too.

My mom's mother was French and German. Her maiden name was Gravlin (derivation of the French "Gravelines"), and her mother's name was Hammann.

We had always heard that my GGGgrandpa's name was "Dobre'", and that they had come from Alsace Lorraine. I knew his name to be Daniel Dobre', and that he had a daughter named Margaretha.

One day I was combing rootsweb, and saw a posting by a woman who was looking for a Daniel Dobra and his daughter Margaret.

"I've seen weirder things," I thought, and sent her a reply. Charlotte was so thrilled to hear from me, as she was sure by now that her family had been dropped on this planet from outer space. No one else knew anything of this family. But we began trading stories.

Turns out Daniel had also come from Wuerttemberg, but his family had originally come to Germany from Poland. Dobra is Polish for "good." He married a woman named Christina Schaeffer, and they had my great grandmother and several other children. Margaret had married a man named John Hammann, and they had 5 children.

She had had problems finding all the births, and was ripping her hair out, until I told her that according to my Ggrandmother's accounts, ALL the kids were born in different states, and I gave her the ones I had that my grandmother had written down. Their father was evidently a tinker, and traveled around repairing pots and pans. She was so excited that she began searching in all the spots I gave her and found them. Between us we were able to put a pretty good history of the family together.

Daniel and Christina died in Texarkana, Arkansas. My Ggrandmother remembered deserting soldiers during the Civil War threatening them, so they would grab Ggrandpa's sword on the wall and rattle it in its scabbard to frighten them away, making them think he was girding for battle inside the house. My grandmother still had a portion of his blue coat from the Civil War that I think my mom still has.

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PS- I've found at least 5 "internet cousins" I'm very close to through the boards. One of whom is a certified genealogist, turned me onto the Godfrey library, and in a roundabout way, got me started writing this family history. They RULE!

and all that can be accomplished through teamwork! :toast:

genealogical anecdotes such as yours and some of the ones told in the cable TV programme "Miracles", hosted by Roma Downey, could fail to believe in divine Providence.

We have a similar story in our family, when my mother, who was on holiday from Australia, asked in a small bookshop in Worcestershire or Shropshire if they had a book on a family called Winter (various archaic spellings) - not exactly a famous name.

The man in the shop told her that he didn't, but that a man had come in the shop the week before, asking the same thing, and to please contact him if he did get one in stock - or maybe manage to find one. Can't remember.

He said that he hadn't but that he would, and in the meantime gave her the address of the man who'd been in there earlier asking about it.

Well, she got in touch with him and he has been an absolute mine of information on the subject, his wife being distantly related to my mother. Much more than would ever have figured in the book.

It gives you a buzz though, doesn't it, when you read of the bizarre serendipities other people enjoy, while researching their family history.

I, however, am not a believer in divine providence. :shrug:

Someone born in 1765 is today, in 2005, likely to have between 4096 descendents (with an average family size of 2 children over 12 generations) and 16,700,000 (with an average family size of 4 children over 12 generations as was the case with my line on this side of the ocean).

Based upon the fact that here in the US over 70% of the population has access to the internet and that Germany has a higher rate, It would be a testimony to the ineptness of we three descendents to never find each other when in fact we are intentionally seeking each other on an international genealogy bulletin board.

But it still makes for a fine cautionary tale on leaving no stone unturned.

but by no means miraculous coincidence. Either way, good news we're happy to read about, and thank you for sharing with us. Go sybylla!

I actually feel it's a bit of divine intervention, too.

On more than one occassion I have found family info on the birthday of the person I was searching about, for ex.

One of my favorite stories is this one: My sisters and I had an old family photo of my great grandfather standing at his parents burial plot, and we often wondered just where the plot 'had been'.

Through three different encounters with complete strangers we learned that the plot was in fact a historically protected one and WAS STILL THERE on what had once been the family farm.

To make a long story short, we all went there and tidied the place up one fall day! We cut branches, weeded and just had a fabulous time doing it. What was really priceless though was seeing my 82 year old father, Conrad Knerr, standing next to his great, great grandfather's headstone and learning for the first time that he was named after him- J. Conrad Knerr (died in 1777).

But wait...Here's the funny part. The very next day my sister found a poem written by my great grandfather (who was also burried there) about how he loved to sit and watch the sunset over the family gravesite!!

explained to the world why people get hooked on genealogy.

Thanks for sharing! :toast:

However, it's just the mysterious kind of dispensation of Providence I've heard so many accounts of, which however are not plausibly explained by any mathematics or configuration of circumstances. So, she and I unambiguously diverge on that point.