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.
Showing posts with label Gerbstadts. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Gerbstadts. Show all posts
Tuesday, March 3, 2009
Wednesday, October 29, 2008
The Traveling Gerbstadts
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.
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
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
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
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?
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?
Monday, October 27, 2008
Gerbstadt origins uncovered
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.
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.
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