You have to shake a tree to see what falls out

Its been a long year

2011-09-09T15:09:00.000-07:00

Circumstances being what they are I have not posted anything on the family in a long time. Mostly because I do not have new info. I have been improving my German langauge skills slowly and surely and totally obsessed with Matthias Reim's music. Talk about taking a detour! But also the family past has had to take a back seat to the present. I am so jealous of people who get to invest 40 hour work weeks on their family history. I just do not have the that kind of time while I am wrapped up in surviving.

That said I was surprised to find that we have two new followers... Laura and Fritz. Google was not able to connect me to a profile so I know nothing of them except that they are here and they have some sort of interest in our goings on. So "Wilkommen!" And "Veilen Dank" I am glad you are following. Feel free to leave comments. I activated the post moderation so that anyone who shares personal contact information doesn't get hassled. I know that makes it a hassle for everyone else. But telephone numbers and such posted on the internet is a bad idea and I just can't get some people to understand that. So please.... please... please keep leaving comments. The moderating is just for your personal saftey.

A sheild

2011-07-05T10:01:00.000-07:00

I don't know what the source for this is. I suspect it comes from a better version of the Wappenbuch that I mentioned before. I haven't made much progress here lately. Been a hectic year. But I do hope to have more to offer soon.

This strikes me as a bit of a "Do'h" kind of a thing. A scriptorium monk in the sheild confirms what the author of Dirty German says... Germans are geeks. I guess it's in the DNA or something. So if you obsessively collect anything, spend a lot of time in your head researching things in depth on subjects that seem rather archaic and pointless to others while hanging your hat on obtaining every piece of new technology that you can afford.... you gotta know that you are definately, unabashedly and irrevocably German.

New Birth

2010-09-18T08:03:00.000-07:00

Jacob Neven Welsh was born in Germany today to James (son of Kevin, son of Anne, daughter of Alfred and Ada) and Simone.

Hs name means "Usurper Saint Welsh". Jacob is Hebrew and Neven is a variant spelling of the Irish name Nevin which means saint. Since his name means usurper, I think that James can look forward to kicking him out of his favorite chair.

Postscript: James informs me that Neven is Croatian. But it still means saint in Irish if you spell it Nevin.

Huh...

2010-07-06T14:19:00.001-07:00

Remember when I said I thought that there might be a connection to Wallachia? encyclopedia.kids.net has an article on the Lechfeld battle of 955. It's a bit earlier than I was thinking. Basically the Thuringian Knights, part of the Lauenstein regency from 1222 and so on, apparently went galavanting into Transylvania to route a Magyar incursion on orders from Otto I the Great. There was a decisive battle at Marienburg. And Andrew II of Hungary brought the Tuetonic Knights, of which there would have been some Thuringian knights, back in 1211. The knights occupied Burzenland in Transylvania. Andrew's daughter was supposed to marry the Landgrave of Thuringia to solidify some borders.

I keep finding names that dance around Lauenstein but no real solid links. Grrr..... I am getting tired of sitting in the library with the screen floating in and out of focus!!!!!

Exciting Times

2009-12-08T08:07:00.000-08:00

Hi All,
Blogs in brief: a blog is an online journal that is either self built or uses a company's predetermined template. Blogger has free templates and offers a variety of settings to make it easy for you the writer to use and the reader to navigate. I have this set to notify me in my email account when new comments are posted. So no worries about your comments not being seen. I left things really open on my end because I know that the way they keep enhancing search engines is going to bring people to me since getting to them has been so frustrating and tedious.
Blogger also allows you, the readr, the option of following the blog so that you will be notified by email when there are new comments.
Personally, I can't wait to talk to Barb. I believe we knew each other in a past life (current) from either my days at a rubber stamp store or through Tim. I used to sit for Tim and Sue's kids. I don't want to publish my phone # here. But I can be found on Facebook if you guys have accounts there. Facebook has a fairly adequate instant message system that would let us chat in real time.

We Have a Hit

2009-12-04T19:26:00.000-08:00

Well, its been a crazy kind of busy since the last time I posted. And I have a bite here. It looks like there are tons of questions all around.

Dear Edith,
I will call your mom soon. Work has been nuts and I want to be able to talk to you guys with all my concentration. I wasn't really certain I'd ever get anything but a good base in the family tree. I am so happy that you found this and contacted me.
Sherry

Dear Family,
The Erna Gerbstadt I found was indeed Grampa's sister. She passed at 100 years old. The family found the blog and has contacted me. As I said to Edith, its been nuts so as soon as I get a solid block of time to call I will. And I'll publish the results here. With luck we can all get together soon.

Translation update

2009-04-12T06:15:00.000-07:00

I am almost done translating the first half of this thing. I've got the words fairly accurately thanks to my Cassells that I unearthed from the depths of dad's living room. But I am uncertain of the proper application of the words. So I'm kinda stuck at the moment. But I will be posting the word for word soon.

there ain't enough Excedrin on the planet

2009-03-03T11:51:00.001-08:00

Okay, my zeal for the translating has completely degenerated into a headache the size of... well what's bigger than the Universe? So i decided to try to find more Gerbstadts by using some married names as bait. Guess how you know you are the only one interested in a topic. The answer:
Because your own blog is the number two find on a search engine.
Yeah... hilarious. Apparently the Heupels that Erna married into aren't looking for the rest of the nuts on the tree. I did find a few people with the surname: reporters, geneticists and a couple of bankers. Mostly links to a geneticists trying to uncover the link to hydrogen peroxide in the body.
Yeah... who knew our bodies made THAT! And that is why our hair goes grey. Apparently the older we get the less we cvan get rid of so it just discolors our hair. Like it does right out of the bottle.
I must be insane or tired to be that interested in these kinds of tangents. No, wait. I'm a geek. That would explain some of it. Not enough of it though.

Partial transcription. Abbreviations are a killer

2009-03-03T06:00:00.000-08:00

68 IV 925/53 Abschrift
betr. die Verfugung von Todes wegen der Erleute, Kaufmann Armin Gerbstadt und Anna Gerbstadt geberene Meyer, Hannover, Nieschlagstrasse 13.

Eroffnet am 13 Juli 1953
Das Amtsgereicht Hannover, Abt [my guess(Arbschrift)] 68
ges. Kuhlman, Justizinspektor als Hechtspfleger

Nr. 266 der Urkundenrollen
Jahrung 1942

Geschen zu Hannover, Am 5 August 1942

Vor mir, dem Dr. Jur. Walter Geiss mit Amsaitz in Hannover erechiegen, mir von Person bereitz bekannt:
1.) der Kaufmann armin Gerbstadt
in Hannover-Linden, Nieschlagstrasse 13

2.) desen Khefrau Lina Gerbstadt geb. Meyer, erbenda.

Dieselben erauchten mich em die Beurkandung ihre gemeinschaftlichen Testamentes, indem sie baten, von Zeugen Abstand su nehen.

Die Erechienenen erklarten, mir, dem Notar dass Folgend mundlich als ihren gemeinschaftlichen lahten willen:

I wir setzen uns gegenseiti zu Erben ein dergestallt, dass der belebe de von ins Erben des seurat Versterbenden von uns wird.

II Nach dem Tode desLetztversterbenden von uns soll unser beiderseitziger Nachlass fallen an unser Kinder Frau Martha Holze geb. Gerbstadt in Hannover, Burgermeister Fink-strasse 7 und den Tischler z.Zt. Soldat Willi Gerbstadt in Hannover, Nieschlagstrasse 13, Feldpost numer L10271.

zu Erstzerben jedes unserer Kinder bestimmen wir deren Erben.

III Wir setzen folgende Verasschtnisses aus, mit denen unsere in II 2 genanten Kinder MArtha Holze beg. Gerbstadt und Willi Gerbstadt besw. deren Ersatzerben bescwert sind:
Unsere Kinder Drogist Alfred Gerbstadt und Frau Erna Heupel geb. Gerbstadt, beide in Detroit (U.S.A.), Pasadena 1926, sollen jeder ein Vermachtnis Erhalten, das einer Zahlug von 1/4 des Wertes des gesanten [ ]achlassen besteht. Diese vermachtniser sollen aber Vermachtnis[ ]mer nur dann erhalten, sofern und sobald eine Ausgablung der Vermachtnisee nach den zu gebender Zeit bestehenden gesatzlichen Besti mungden und vererdnungen zulussig ist.

Unter denselben veraussetsungen erhalt Erna Heupel geb. Gerbstadt ein Weitres Vermachtnis von 500.00 Reichmark.

zu ersatzvermachtnisnehmen bestimmen wir die Kinder der Vermachtnisnehmer.

Sollen die fur das wirksammenwirken der vermachtnisse eben angegebenen Vorasusetzungen nicht binnen 6 Jahre unsere in II genannten Kinder Martha H. geb. Gerb. und Willi Gerb. besw. deren Ersatzerben bescwert sind:
Unssere Kinder Drogist Alfred Gerbstadt und Frau Erna Heupel geb. Gerb., beide Detroit (U.S.A.), pasadena 1926, sollen jeder ein vermachtnis erhalten, das einer Zahlug von 1/4 des Wertes gesanten { }achlassen besteht. Diese Vermrechtisre sollen aber die Vermachtnis[ ]mer nur dann erhalten, sofern und sobald eine Ausgablung der vermachtnisee nach den zu gebenderZeit bestehenden gesatslichen Besti mungen und Verdnungen zulussig ist.

Unter deselben Veraussetsungen erhalt Erna Heupel geb. Gerbstadt ein weitres Vermachtnis von 500.00 Reichmark.

End page one

Also found...

2009-03-03T05:42:00.000-08:00

A last Will and Testament for Armin and Anna (Lina) Gerbstadt. It turns out that Grampa had another sister, Martha. Erna married a guy named Heupel. And according to the will, Grampa and Aunt Erna lived in Pasadena in 1926. Stunner! The real stunner was the other sister. It makes me wonder how many sibs Grampa really had. And why we didn't know about them.
I am working on a better, detailed translation but that is the highlights. I sent James a more detailed list as he is going to be in Berlin. But I will put as much of the document up to this site; ya know, just in case any one knows someone who knows more German than I. Geez, I better make some German friends.

MIssing HAnnover tape FOUND!!!!

2009-03-03T05:40:00.000-08:00

Hey guys: tape was uncovered in a box of gifts that were never sent and stashed under the stairs. Will send it along to whatever address you tell me.

About yeast cake

2008-12-25T11:55:00.001-08:00

I found this recipe, nearly word for word, in a jewish cookbook. This is called a strudel and it is credited with an Askenazi heritage. Unfortunately there is no picture in the book so that I can see how the finished project will look to confirm. But the proportions were exact, the instructions were the same so it should be the same thing.
I haven't seen anything in another cookbook to confirm it's origins.

finally!

2008-12-25T11:41:00.001-08:00

A hundred thousand apologies! You all live here so you know what the weather has been like.
Anyway, here it is:
Grampa Gerbstadt's Holiday Raisin Rolls (yeast cake)

I
1/2 pound margarine
2 Tbs sugar
pinch salt
3 egg yolks beaten to a light color
2 1/2 cup sifted flour

II
I pk. yeast
1/4 cup water
1/4 cup milk

III
3 egg whites beaten to peaks
1 C sugar
1 C walnuts coarse shopped
1 pound Golden raisins
cinnamon

Mix groups I and II seperately.
Combine I and II. Roll into a ball and refridgerate covered overnight.
Except the egg whites, combine ingredients in group III and set aside while you roll out the dough. Beat whites and set aside.
Divide dough in half. Roll each half on a lightly floured surface to approximately 1/8th thickness. The rectangle should be about 8X16 inches in size.
Spread the egg whites onto rolled dough, sprinkle one half nut and raisins combo over whites. Roll as in a jelly roll, making sure to keep the seam to the bottom. Seal ends.
Repeat with the other half of dough.
Allow rolls to raise 1 hour or until doubled in size.
Bake @ 325 for 25 minutes.
Cool.
Sprinkle with cnfectioners sugar before serving.

2008-12-18T15:23:00.001-08:00

been sick and forgot my recipe book. Will get it out soon.

retreat

2008-12-11T15:53:00.000-08:00

Yes, I have been a bit distracted in my research. With Christmas (Weihnachten) upon us it is time once again to think back to the special things that keep Gramma and Grampa alive for me. It is especially important this time of year because the weather is so frightful and the memories keep me warmer than a roaring fire. The foremost memory, beyond the Christmas balls from Wollworths and Kresge's, beyond the silver tinsel and the decorated styrofoamballs hanging in the dining room window is the strudel at the end of Christmas dinner.
Eggnog really was too rich an accompaniment to such a decadent desert even if one had only a single slice. But who could eat only one? The butter, the sugared sultanas and all the powdered sugar.... mmmmmmmmmmmmm. I think what made it most special was that it only appeared at Christmas. And it took 3 months to make.
I thought that would get your attention. It didn't take 3 months from mix to bake. That is only a short prep, an overnight trip to the fridge and a quick assembly the next day. If you don't include the resting time it only takes about 40 minutes and the recipes makes two loaves. Just before he had that last bout, Grampa promised me that he would teach me how to make it since mom was never interested. He said that he always made it the last week of October so that it had a good eight weeks in the freezer. A day in the fridge and then the rest of the time in hte freezer. It is called mellowing.
This extra step is what allowed the raisin and nut flavor to penetrate the dough from the inside out. It is also most likely what made it taste so heavy. I don't think it needs that long. I made that loaf in 2005 three days before the dinner. The other reason for freezing it is so that it can be cut while still fairly rigid and thus would not crumble as badly on the plate as if it were cut and served "fresh". Since it turned out so well, I don't feel bad about not putting this out there until now as there is still plenty of time to churn out a loaf or two before Christmas.
I also have to admit I almost lost the recipe with my last disorganized move. So in the next post I will publish the Holiday Yeast Cake recipe and tell you again what I know about it. I would have loved to have a photo but I am not able to make one this year and it never occurred to me that it would be necessary to photograph something like that. But if we don't then what happens when we lose our marbles later in life? or worse... a recipe book as priceless as our family traditions?
It was almost losing the recipes, Grampa's, Dad's, Mom's and some of my favorites from my friends' families that inspired me to post. But I also don't want to be the only person who knows how to make it. Brian's reaction when he saw it was priceless... something I wish I had a photo of. It's the kind of reaction everyone in this family is entitled to have and experience. I have found too much divisiveness within the parts of our story I have found. It should not remain a generational burden. So, don't hold your breath but tune in tomorrow or Saturday for the recipe.
Frohe Weihnachten Familie!

Search I: 2000

2008-11-25T09:20:00.000-08:00

I spent a few years in college. During the first few classes we were supposed to get familiar with search engines. Google was still refining its engine and we were playing with dogpile and others that are rarely used now. So the first thing I did was plug in Gerbstadt for a people search.

In 2000 there were 11 people living within reach of Google's search engine with the surname Gerbstadt. Genealogic research indicates all 11 of those people to be related. Among those Gerbstadts: Dr. Christine Gerbstadt, dietitian and published nutritionalist; David Gerbstadt of Pennsylvania, artist and blogger; a couple of Wayne County, MI realtors; and a physicist or genetic engineer... I couldn't pin point him.

clarification

2008-11-04T12:34:00.000-08:00

The Gerbstadts that I have traced are from North/Northwestern Germany while the names originate in the East. There is at least 600 years of migration to get from Thuringa/Sachsen/Bayern to Hannover and Hamburg. The names and places were the result of trying to document my guess as to the sefinitions of the surnames. I did not expect to find castles and cities and such.
I have written to an administrator in Gerbstet with the hope that he can put me in touch with the organization that erected miniatures of famous but ruined places in that region and within the city itself. If anyone can tell me where and when the name started and who the cities' founders and protectors were it would be that historical society. Will let you all know when a response arrives.
As for the particulars that I know, I am still trying to write something up regarding the research. Even though this is for the family, I'd hate to plagerize.

A new lead

2008-11-01T07:08:00.001-07:00

So Kevin tells me that the only other thing he knows for certain is that Gramma was originally from Leipzig.

Leipzig is just a few minutes from Merseburg. Merseburg at one time was the Rieger-Bezerk of Sachsen. That is to say, a regional seat of the district of Saxony, Prussia. This is the information contained in the Wappenbuch under the heading of Gerbstaedt. A town of Gerbstadt lies just north and west of Leipzig in a region of Mansfeld. Schloss Lauenstein lies about 200 miles south of these cities.

This connection, though tenuous, leads me to believe that I have been on the right track as far as locating the origins of Gramma's family name. I had not suspected to find a historic connection between the two families. I had thought due to the creation of a Gerbstadt crest, that the Gerbstadts were ennobled before the Lauensteins. Now I see that is not the case due to extensive quartering of the Lauenstein crest which pertains to this region of Lauenstein. The Gerbstadt crest is not quartered though two shields appear next to each other on the field. Either the crest began with a blended family or the family blended with another after its initial creation. In either case, the crest indicates that the landed status of the Gerbstadt family did not continue into another generation.

So what is the likelihood either set of grandparents belonged to a noble family? Excellent, though not in a way that you might imagine. I doubt, given Gramma's Jewish heritage, that she herself is descended from nobility. It is most likely that they belonged to a German noble through acquisition, the surname indicating possession rather than birthright.

time to play "What do You Know?"

2008-10-31T12:14:00.000-07:00

"Not much. You?" Is the audience response for the NPR talk show. I feel like it should be mine for anything that has to do with this quest. It would seem from the last family conversation that i can't trust some of what mom told me. She's the one who said that Gramma never learned to speak English. In the follwing I will list what I heard by accident that has always stuck with me, the things that were direct answers to questions and some of the cryptic things Grampa said to me.

Grampa had a brother Wilhelm: served in WWI, and was lost. Naturally I assume that meant that he had died. The helmet and service revolver that Grampa kept in the third bedroom was said to have belonged to Willie.
David Gerbstadt said his uncle was Wilhelm, that he emigrated and that he worked in a bakery in dearborn in the 1930's
Grampa talked with Marty Killian about several places in the old country associated with the family: Schwabia, Bavaria, Bohemia, Hamburg, Hannover and a large old church there that was kitty corner from the family bakery, and a place called Sachsen.
Grampa's dad was a baker
Grampa worked in the bakery as a kid and hated math, especially math involved in recipe division and multiplication
Mom called Gramma a Bohemian when I was being just like her and mom didn't like it. She called Gramma a Bavarian when we did homework.
Grampa talked a few times about Orlamunds.

What does it all amount to? Leads to be sure... but beyond that only time will teall.

Dredging the past

2008-10-31T11:40:00.000-07:00

Many would say that the past is best left in the past, that it can serve no purpose to expose the pain and misery that our descendants suffered. I have always advocated knowing the truth, past to present. The past is a complete education; an ancestor's misery can be our road sign to avoid pitfalls. The past can also inspire and instruct. A family history is so much more than a bunch of facts and figures, though those are important too. I have always believed that. Until I talked to Kevin last night.

He didn't know that Grampa had a sister.

You see, I always have assumed that because Anne's kids are older than us, that they knew more about the family than did we. After all, they had years with Grampa when he was younger, more vibrant and capable of remembering in greater detail... not that his mind was ever dull. They would have done the same homework requiring the construction of a family tree... I thought. Apparently that was not always the back to school assignment of choice for teachers then. So I tell Kevin about Erna as he had not read the blog yet. And he didn't know.

How could he not know about her? How could he not know about Willie either? And this makes me wonder how much more I want to know. I mean, what could make siblings disavow any knowledge of each other? I was told it was about a recipe and working in the bakery. David Gerbstadt of PA said the same thing. But since I didn't know that Gramma Ada was Jewish, I wonder if the recipe was just a convenient disguise for bigotry in the family. And here is the thing... David knew about Grampa. We just didn't know about David and his family. so I wonder, again, what keeps you from acknowledging your siblings to your children and grandchildren?

It is sad. And I don't think I want to know. I almost idolize Grampa for the contributions he made to my becoming who I am. How will I feel about him if I find out that he was the reason there was a fight and he was the one who would not forgive? But what if I find that I like these other cousins and we become friends? Would Grampa think it was betrayal to like someone he clearly did not? Is even looking a betrayal of Grampa's love?

Of course, I could be too close to the whole thing since it is my family and there are generational patterns playing out even now with my own siblings. Grampa had told someone about Willie... mom and Anne fought about namesakes. And I remember several occasions where Gramma Olive rode Grampa about it, resulting in better details for the homework. I just wish that I remembered more than I did. I think. But still... no one mentioned Erna except to tease Aunt Anne about a name she said was not hers. How does this happen? Do I want to know?

The Traveling Gerbstadts

2008-10-29T17:33:00.000-07:00

Moris Gerbstadt born in 1901: departed 24 August 1905 aboard the "Blucher" bound for Germany had been residing in Detroit MI.

Frieda Gerbstadt born in 1865 accompanied Moris on his overseas voyage.
No further information for either of them is available at this time. I do not know if they returned and no reason for their departure is listed. But I suspect that this is the boy for whom Brian acquired the M. on his birthcertificate. Although, I have seen a german birthcertificate and the M. appears before a boy name because so many germanic names are actually transgendered. Little girls have F. in front of their names. It's just a german thing that might have tripped Grampa up with lasting consequence for Brian.

Emma Gerbstadt born in 1888 departed Hamburg aboard the "Cincinnati" and arrived in NY, New York 19 September 1909. No further information was taken by the purser on this voyage.

I have no further information on this group of Gerbstadt immagrants with these spellings, no point of origin, no year of emigration; I only know at this point that the 1900 Wayne County census listed the following family: Amiel H. (father) and Fredreska (mother). Children listed are Emma b. Feb. 1888, George b. Oct 1889, Freddie b. Sept. 1893, Frank b. Dec. 1885 and Hugo born in 1898/99.

An Elfreidt Gerbstadt b. 26 April 1906 was naturalized 29 August 1935. No immagration records are available at this time.

Emil and Amiel are variations of the same name as are Frederika and Fredreska. These could be the same people. I think that they are because the consistant information is the child Hugo born in 1998. At the time of the 1930 census he was 31 years old and the only child listed living with the parents. The 1900 census in which I found Amiel and Fredreska asks what age the children were the year prior to the census being taken; Hugo's age is listed as 1 year. The difference between 98 and 99 is the time of year in which the form was sent in relation to when Hugo was born. Undoubtedly these are the same people.

Meet Emil Gerbstadt, baker

2008-10-29T17:16:00.000-07:00

I knew from a david Gerbstadt in Pennsylvania that there was a family bakery in Detroit and that his grandfather, Wilhelm, was some how affiliated with it. From the sketchy stories I had heard, I thought that the bakery belonged to Wilhelm. In its last days it may have. But the bakery started, I surmise, with Emil.
Emil was born 15 May 1859 in Kretzschan, Saxony and left the port of Hamburg aboard the "Hammonia", arriving in the states 1 July, 1884. Five years later, on 10 March 1899 hecame a naturalized citizen of the United States in Ward 2 Detroit MI.
He applied for a travel visa to Germany twice. The first time was 12 February 1904, one month after Erna was born. At this time he lists Drangodd as his father living in Hannover. The second application dated for 9 May 1922 lists Drangodd as deceased. His visa application describes him at the age of 45 as being 5'1" with light grey eyes, light hair tinged with grey and occupied as a baker.
Sometime in his life he married a Frederika A who was born in 1866, 14 years younger than himself. They had one son listed as living with them on the 1930 census form. Hugo Victor age 31 was single and drove the bakery truck. The family lived in Nakin twonship of Wayne MI. Hugo was born 6 August 1898

Meet Erna Gerbstadt

2008-10-29T16:50:00.000-07:00

I was growing frustrated with trying to find Gramma Ada through regular searches. Even running her name through the Jewish resource filter at ancestry turned up nothing. So since I had found that Grampa arrived in the States in '25, and his first child was born in 27 or 28, I reasoned that perhaps he and gramma were married before they left Germany. So when I plugged gramma's first name in with Grampa's surname, I got quite a surprise. I found one female emigre from Hannover... Erna.
Erna,born 1 January 1903, left the port Bremen aboard the "S.S Muenschen" on 12 January 1927 and arrived in New York, New York 23 January 1927 with a final destination listed as Detroit MI. At 24 years old, Erna was listed as single with no occupation and having last lived in Hannover. Her nearest relation in her home country was listed as Armin Gerbstaedt at Concordiastrasse 8, Hannover. This is the same information that Grampa listed on his ships registry. She stated that she was to visit an uncle, Emil in Wayne MI.
Her visa describes her as 5'5", blonde hair with blue eyes and a fair complexion with no birthmarks. Aside from a naturalization tag, no other record of Erna Gerbstadt exists in this database.

I have had a little time since finding her yesterday to ask myself a few questions, which I hope Kevin will answer... attempt to answer. Why would she come to Michigan and not stay with grampa? He was here two years before her and in the same city as their uncle, the same city in which she was to reside. My next question is what happened to her? I found Emil and a wife, Frederika A. in the census record of 1930. No Erna is listed in their household. Where did she go? She arrived in 27, either the same year or just before Anne was born to Alfred and Ada. Had she been coming to help care for a newborn infant? Had she come hoping to find marriage and a family of her own? Did she find that? But now I really want to know, among so many other things... why did I not know about her? And how did she just disappear?

Yeah TADL Friends

2008-10-29T15:51:00.000-07:00

The friends of the Traverse Area District Library have purchased a subscription to Ancestry.com. With this subscription, anyone can walk in an look up their family with access to the full range of services that Ancestry provides. This means that any of you can do what I did yesterday:

Look at Grampa Gerbstadts registry at Ellis Island
Look at the vessel which brought Grampa to the States
Look at Grampa's naturalization tag registered with Wayne County MI
Find addresses for the Gerbstadts remaining in Wayne County MI
Look at his Uncle Emil's requests for a passport; one request was to return to Germany in 1922 in which he lists his father as deceased
See the Census records for Gerbstadts living in Wayne County in 1900, 1930
Gain access to ship manifests and immigration records of trans-Atlantic crossings
be disappointed that Gramma Ada shows up NOWHERE in these records

Ancestry also has a feature that puts the information that you plug into the software into an easy to read, genealogically correct format. Between the translating and the web searches, compiling the information will take just a little while longer. In the meantime there is the column to the right.

Apologies

2008-10-29T15:46:00.000-07:00

Sorry Tessa,
I realized that if anyone wanted to print these pages the black background, cool as it was, would not print well. So I changed the look of the layout. It is the same blog set up but it is more readable.

Gerbstadt origins uncovered

2008-10-27T15:54:00.000-07:00

Apparently an indispensable tool in researching Germanic families is the 100 volume, Seibmacher's Wappenbuch first compiled in the middle ages. The Wappenbuch is a compendium of armory and heraldic insignias for families, regions and states within the German kingdoms. Heraldry is an intensive field of study that is as complicated as tracing the family trees of European nobility... or unwinding the genetic code from a mobius strip. Fortunately one does not have to be an expert on the nuanced meaning and the excessive quartering between blended families to know two things about the name Gerbstadt as found in the Wappenbuch. First, the Gerbstadts came from common circumstances. Second, the family and then the state of Gerbstadt, were ennobled by favor; extrapolating from hints as to the proper ways to achieve a title one is not born to, the assumption is that Gerbstadts won their favor through hard work and talent.

As I stated before, by understanding how compound words are formed in the german language we can begin to define the surname. We know that Gerb is a noun form of the verb gerben which means to tan, as in hides. A Gerber is therefore a tanner. Stadt is the German noun for a community, city, lands of a nobleman, county, province or region. Understanding that due to the offensive smells associated with tanning, the tanner and his family usually lived outside of the regular community or fortified town. According to Arthur Charles Fox's 1904 heraldry text, a leather craftsman could only produce a complete livery for an armored warrior in the King's service every 8 weeks. Therefore a fortified town would have to employ an army of tanners and leather workers to tool and sew the finished leather sheets to produce goods for warfare and everyday use. The tanners would then be a large community unto themselves. Thus originally Gerbstadt is a surname describing a specific lifestyle and would explain Seibmann's use of the word Geburgaburg in his description of the Gerbstadt sheild. That word can be interpretted as "town in a town"

In Seibmacher's Wappenbuch, we find a shield for Gerbstadt under the heading of "Staedtewappen" These are the heraldic crests of the city states employed in the German empire. One can surmise that exceptional tanners rose to noble status by royal appointment, were granted lands and the authority of their new rank and thus a small commune increased in size to that of a full city. Likewise it is possible that this free-state of Gerbstadt grew around a geographic area renown for its supply of natural materials and ease of production as the process requires very specific chemical reactions between a variety of mineral and plant materials.

The following is taken from Seibmacher's Wappenbuch:

""Gerb.", Stadt der Koniger. Preussen, Provinz sachsen, Reiger-Bezerk Merseburg. Der Ort bereits im 10 Jahrhundert al Geburgeburg, auch Gerbestede bekannt, erheilt in J.985 ein sonst beruhmtes Kloster und dadurch seine Bedeutung, bleib aber Flecken bis 1530, wo ihr Kaiser Karl V zur Stadt erholb."

trans. Gerbstaedt, city of the King, Prussia, the province of Sachsen, region Reiger-Bezerk Merseburg. The place, for ten centuries was a Geburgeburg, also known as Gerbestede. In the year 985 it was most famously known for a Cloister of particular reknown which it remained until 1530 when the Kaiser Karl the V returned it to the state as a country market town.

To the best of my understanding, the Geburgaburg is a castle within a castle or a community within the purview of the castle. Gerbestede is a similar place name. While researching the name Lauenstein, I found references to a castle that was commandeered by the church and became a Cloister under the protection of the knights of Thuringa, a region bordering Saxony, Sachsen in German, during this same time frame. In fact the dates are nearly identical. Karl took much control away from the church during his reign. Unfortunately the success of these areas seems to have been linked with the church's favor as many of these places fell into disrepair or to invading enemies of the German King shortly after the Wappenbuch's compilation.

What is in a name?

2008-10-27T14:39:00.000-07:00

Shakespeare said a rose by any other name would not smell as sweet. And Anne of Green Gables once told Dianna Barry she didn't think a rose would still be sweet if it were called skunk cabbage. How did we get our names? What does a name really mean? ? Why should we care?

The first person to have a name was Adam. Adam's name is related to the Hebrew* word for red clay, or red earth, adom, or adama sometimes spelled edom. It is suggested that the name Adam is a derivative of the word which describes where he came from since the Bible claims he was created from the earth. Throughout the Bible people are named by the promise God made to the parents, the life goal of the child or the parent's hopes for the child, or as in the case of Isaac, because of something that happened at or prior to birth. Sarah laughed at the thought that she could become pregnant so when she gave birth the child was named Isaac. It is a derivative of the Hebrew word .
Eventually, as the populations grew, it became necessary to have a surname, to distinguish one Adam from another. In Hebrew bar, ben, ba are common conjunctives linking the child's name to the father's name. Shimson ben Dovid would then be Sampson, son of David to separate him from Shimson ben Ari. Place names or geographic descriptors, vocations or, less commonly, character traits are the roots of our surnames. Some of those surnames have been around for ages and others die within generations.
This day and age, we are less likely to think on the importance of our names, first or last. It is perhaps one of the things we most take for granted, thinking little about the meaning beyond a fourth grade exercise. Yet names are very important. Look at yourself in the mirror and call yourself by another name. Then call out your own name. Now look at a family member. Could you call then by any other name and really feel that name should stick? Okay, for you Welshes that change names like Nascar changes sponsors this is perhaps unfair. But you'll at least know why your cousins still call you by the names they knew as kids. Any other name is not likely to feel right in our Western ears. Yet, it is a very Hebrew thing to change names with changes in ones life such as marriage, career change, self perception and surviving a serious illness. Beyond that there is power in the spoken word. And this is why a name is important.

Words are powerful. Words create and they destroy. The entire Universe was spoken into existance with just a few words. For this reason Jews do not pronounce YHVH lest God should think that a human was attempting to usurp His powers or to control the forces of Creation. It is thought among occultists that to know a demon's name is to leash its powers. In the spy business knowing a secret agent's real name is to have power over the agent. Knowing your name and where it comes from or why it was chosen for you can have a powerful effect in your life. Your name is charged with meaning that you can tap into, that can empower you to make changes or inspire you to find new direction. It can fill in something that was missing. Or, hopefully, you find that your name's meaning is completed in you.
Further, knowing what your name means and where it came from can link you to people that you may never meet, but can learn much from. To that end, I have been researching the origins of Gerbstadt and Lauenstein. I will also incorporate a list of family first names and their meanings into the blog with a column to the right. **

*As frequently as possible, I will throw Jewish/Hewbrew bits of imformation into the blog as it is a part of the family heritage. I find it absolutely fascinating that we have this connection to a culture that I have been studying for years, not to mention that the oldest naming traditions started within the Fertile Cresent region.
** The transliteration into Hebrew with the possible meanings for these names will be included in each name study. Those meanings will be more intuitive than academic as each letter has several possible meanings attached to them and the addition of each letter leads to a more expansive description.

About the name

2008-10-25T09:11:00.001-07:00

One of the things that I have found in recent communications with the cousins, is a sense of humor that is a bit offbeat and campy. Since this blog is for us in this generation, and those to follow, I wanted to write in a voice that honored this commonality. Besides, if I didn't go with humor, then I would have gotten all nerdy/geeky on everyone and made up some latin sounding thing about trees and progeny. No one needs that. So I am keeping it simple and light.
A shaken tree is either going to yeild fruit, nuts, seed pods or a whole mess of work to do right before Winter. I don't know what all is in this family tree. It will be interesting to see what turns up.

Wilkommen Familie!

2008-10-07T14:05:00.000-07:00

Welcome to the inaugural post for our family blog.
Ever since the discussion after Christmas dinner 2005 at Kevin and Linda's I decided to look into our maternal grandparents' history. I had a great three page newsletter written back in March. But some weird technical clitch that no one could explain refused to save the file before I sent it to the printer and only one page printed before the data was lost. I know... only me, right? Well, this is one of the reasons that I took so long to get into the whole technilogical landscape. How am I really certain I can't blow up the world or at least launch a wargame? Yeah, too much sci-fi as a kid.
Anyway, I finally got to the point where I can understand this crazy thing. So, to prevent losing ALL my data, I am putting this stuff into a blog. I can recreate a post better than I can recreate a whole newsletter.
I will try to keep a running bibliography in the sidebar, probably do the occassional extraneous blog about the process of research and the hazards of crazy wars on documents, and when possible I will make the attempt to bore you with how I have translated something. This is important, not only because you can see where my thinking is, but if someone outside that knows more than I do looks at my work, they can see where and how I went wrong and help correct the error. Or they can just laught themselves into a coma.
I hope you find this as interesting as I do. Its alot of work but it is fun.... for a total geek with two years of highschool Geerman. Yes, most of my sources will be German.