Friday, June 12, 2015

FAMILY HISTORY LIBRARY TRIP - Day 2 - A RED LETTER DAY!

I'M IN SALT LAKE CITY AT THE
FAMILY HISTORY LIBRARY!

Hello again.  This is my story of Day 2 here at the Family History Library.

I decided I would tackle some records that were completely foreign to me. GERMAN records.  I don't have many German roots, but what I've found so far is on my maternal line.  In doing research in Pennsylvania on my FRAMPTON, GILLEN and HUNTER lines, I came across information on the MARTIN family.  
Anna Barbara Martin (1747, Germany to 1822, Ohio) married John Frampton, Jr. in about 1780.  They are my 5th great grandparents.

U.S. and International Marriage Records, 1560-1900
Name:John Frampton
Gender: Male
Birth Place:or
Birth Year:1744
Spouse Name:Anna Barbara Martin
Spouse
Birth Place:Wu
Spouse Birth Year:1749
Marriage
Year:1780
Marriage State:PA
Number Pages:1

During my research at the Carlsbad Library, in San Diego County, I found a book that referenced the Martin Family and named Johann Everhard Martin as the father of Anna Barbara Martin.  And named his wife as Jacobina Elizabeth.
"Raymond Martin Bell, Mifflin County, Pennsylvania Families & Records before 1800 Supplement (N.p.: n.p., n.d.), 36. Cit. Date: 29 Jun 2010; Martin, Everhard of Derry - wr Jan 13 1784 - pr Feb 20 1784 (German) wife Jacobena Elizabeth: Christopher, Barbara, Mary, Elizabeth, Rachel"

From there I located a record on the Family Search website regarding the marriage record for Johann Eberhard Martin and Jacobina Elisabetha Wunderlich. 

Deutschland, Heiraten 1558-1929 Germany, Select Marriages, 1558-1929
Name:   Johann Eberhard Martin
Gender:   Male
Marriage Date: 16 Feb 1745
Marriage Place: Evangelisch, Notzingen, Donaukreis, Wuerttemberg
Father:  Cunrad Martin
Spouse:Jacobina Elisabetha Wunderlich
FHL Film Number:1055846
Reference ID:   2:1R0GVFP

I go down to the second floor which has the European records here at the library and set up all my stuff.  Then I proceeded to pull that film.  I didn't know what to expect.  I don't speak German and don't really know any German words.  So, I asked for help.

TIP: The consultants are available beginning at 9 a.m.  The library isn't very busy first thing in the morning and it's a good time to avail yourself of the services of the experts.

A very nice man named Daniel helped me to decipher which were the birth, marriage and death records on the microfilm. He gave me a sheet of paper with the basic German words for things I would be looking for.

Let's get to the good part of this story.  I didn't turn that film handle more than twice and THERE IT WAS!!  OH MY GOSH!!
The 1745 marriage record of my 6th great grandparents, Johann Everhard Martin and Jacobina Elisabetha Wunderlich.

This record gives the names of both of their parents.  That's right, taking my family back one more generation. 

Here is what the image looked like as I first saw it.  Can you see the record?
(CLICK ON ANY IMAGE TO ENLARGE IT)

It was the very first record on this page.  Here is close up of the record.

Here is a transcription of this record as read to me from Daniel at the library.

"1745 16 Feb - Johann Eberhard Martin who is the son of the deceased Cunrad Martin, citizen and judge in Notzingen and Jacobina Elisabetha who is the daughter of Johann Wunderlich who is a citizen and carpenter in Ludwigsburg on the Schafhof." 

Now I know Johann's father's name & profession and that he was deceased prior to 1745.  And the same with Jacobina's father, a carpenter in another city and apparently living.

I knew that this microfilm covered years from about 1650 so I decided to look for more records. OH BOY DID I FIND THEM!!

I won't go into all the details but here is a list of what I found and some images.  One record led to another and another and this is the order in which I located them.
  • Marriage of Cunrad Martin & his wife Anna on 26 Jul 1717
  • Burial of Cunrad's first wife, Margaretha, on 14 Feb 1717
  • Marriage of Cunrad & Margaretha on 15 Nov 1698(this record lists the names of Cunrad and Margaretha's father's taking us back another generation)
  • Birth of Johann Eberhard Martin on 30 Jan 1718
  • Baptism of Michael Martin, son of Jacob Martin & his wife Apollonia on 2 Mar 1669 (this turned out to be a brother of Cunrad)
  • Death record of Cunrad Martin on 25 Sep 1720
Can you believe it?  Was this a gold mine of a microfilm or what?  I am so excited to continue my research and fill in the details for all of these family members.

Here are images of some of the records mentioned above.

Death record of Cunrad's first wife Margaretha on 13 Feb 1717

Birth record for Johan Eberhard Martin in 1718

Marriage record of Cunrad Martin & Margaretha in 1697

TIP:  When I go to a library or courthouse I take a camera with me and I photograph any record I am interested in keeping, including the microfilm records. I have a Canon Powershot SX260HS.  It's a little camera, but it takes great pictures. This is the quickest method I have found when saving images.  This way they are already digitized and I will get home and crop and label them. I organize them by date. I've been doing this for many years now and find it works extremely well.  Saves a lot of time over scanning (even with a FlipPal) or copying.

I really enjoyed sharing these finds with you. I'll talk more about my FHL trip once I get home.

Happy hunting,

Michigan Girl

Copyright ©  2015   Diane Gould Hall
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.  NO USE WITHOUT PERMISSION

10 comments:

  1. What wonderful finds! I have lots of German ancestors & was thrilled when I hit the 'jackpot' like you did, too! Isn't it wonderful? My German church records took me back to 1616! Crazy!!!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Replies
    1. Jo - We can all appreciate the "happy dance." In this case I was stunned at finding so much on one film.

      Delete
  3. Congratulations! What type of microfilm reader did you use to get such good resolution?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you Emily. It was quite an unexpected find for sure. I didn't use any specific type of film reader. Just whatever one I felt like sitting at in any given row. I do put the light on the reader on high. There is a high and low setting. My camera is set at the highest resolution, which is what I think makes the difference. It's only a little camera that can fit in your pocket, but they've improved the resolution on those so much that they take great pictures. I have an iPhone and an iPad, but they are difficult to get to focus correctly and consistently. The camera just makes everything really easy.
      Thanks for stopping by.

      Delete
  4. Congrats on your finds Diane! Thanks for the tips you included in the post -- very helpful. Any others? I'm going to the FHL next year for the first time.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Denise,
      Glad you appreciated my posts. Yes, I do have other tips and hope to write about that in the next few days. Stay tuned.
      Thanks for stopping by.

      Delete
  5. Hi Diane,
    You truly did hit the jackpot...you must have been excited! I'm looking forward to updating my research now.
    Jeff

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It was a great day Jeff. My first time looking at German records. Most of my ancestry is from the UK. Glad we have connected and can share information about our 6th great grandparents.
      Thanks for stopping by. Come back soon.

      Delete

I look forward to reading your comments. If you have any connection to the people mentioned in this blog, please let me know. I write about mine and my husband's ancestors and would welcome new information or meeting a new cousin or two. Thanks for visiting and come back soon.