A few days ago, I received a packet of records from my researcher in Germany and breathed a great sigh of relief. I had never met this researcher before, had been given his name by another researcher that I contacted (whose price was too high) and thus was not sure whether or not the money I wired for the work would prove worthwhile.
The packet was more informative than I had imagined it would be. There were typed birth records, death records, and marriage records. There were names of siblings of some of my ancestors. And for nearly every typed record, there was at least one copy of a church record, usually written in Latin.
The records I was seeking were those of my maternal grandmother's family. Her name was Mary Bernadine (Bernie) Schulien. Bernie's father was Joseph Schulien, her mother Mary Gertrude Frecker - obvious German names. Since I already had much information on the Schulien family (from research that had been done in Germany some years ago) I was concentrating on the Frecker family, namely the paternal and maternal ancestors of Mary Gertrude Frecker, surnames Frecker and Wrocklage.
Mary Gertrude's father was Hermann Henry Frecker. For the years I have been doing genealogy, he has been the most mysterious person in the family tree. All I knew about him was that he had been born around 1837 in Lower Saxony in Germany, and come to America sometime before 1860, when he married Mary Bernadina Wrocklage. The couple had five children between 1861 and 1869, the same year Hermann died of a cancerous tumor. Hermann had an older sister, Clara Philomena Frecker who married and had several children. Hermann and Clara's mother, Angela Moenter Frecker, came to America as well and presumably their father had died in Germany before their departure. This is all I knew prior to the recent research.
Now I have much more information on the Freckers. For instance, Hermann's father was in the army in Germany. The family moved around a bit and thus I do not know for certain the town in which Hermann was born. It had always been a puzzle to me as to why no one researching this family had an exact birth date for Hermann and now I know why. Without the name of the town where someone was born, you cannot find the birth date. I have been told that the records are probably in a separate place, with military records. However, I have learned the name of Hermann's father - Johann Gerdt Frecker - as well as the names of Hermann's grandparents and great grandparents, going back to the birth of his great grandfather, Johann Cordt Frecker in 1697. I also know that the name of Hermann's mother was Catharina Engel Moenter. Engel in German is translated Angel or Angela, like the current prime minister of Germany. In addition, I have the names of Angela's parents, and a surprising fact - Angela was a twin. The records indicate that she only had sisters, so her relationship to any Moenters in Ohio cannot be that of siblings.
I also have some new information on the Wrocklages. Mary Gertrude Frecker's mother was Mary Bernadina Wrocklage. I have written about her family before. I had previously learned that the name Wrocklage was attached to a farm in Lower Saxony, and that the patriarch of the American Wrocklages had to change his surname from Esch to Wrocklage in order to inherit the tenancy rights to his wife's farm. His birth name was Christian Mathias Esch, but he used the name Christian Mathias Wrocklage after his marriage to Anna Maria Catharina Wrocklage. Much research has been done on the Wrocklage name, and there is even a comprehensive website dedicated to it. However, I knew nothing of the Esch family, and since this is Christian's birth family, I wanted to learn more. Now I have the names of Christian's parents, as well as his brothers and sisters. I also have the names of the godparents of his children, some of whom are his siblings.
There is more I want to learn. I'd like to trace Christian's family back further, and clear up a few mysteries about his wives and children. I still don't know whether Christian had two or three wives and whether the mother of his youngest child was his second or his third wife. His will names only his second wife, while some records indicate he was married a third time. I'd also like to find Hermann Frecker's exact birth date and learn whether he had other siblings.
However, none of this matters all that much. Whether I do or don't find these facts, my life will not change. But there's something that happens to you when you start to research your family tree. You become a solver of puzzles, and there's always a new puzzle to solve. I guess it's a bit like trying to finish a crossword, although at least once you finish a single crossword, you can put your pencil down and refuse to begin another. (Most crossword fanatics will tell you that's impossible.) I suppose I could draw an imaginary line in the sand and say "Once I find this out, I'm stopping," but somehow I can never do that. So I suppose I will dig into my pocket and find a little more money to pay the researcher to pursue the answer to these mysteries. After that, who knows?
