My Genealogy

Xaver Schillinger’s German Birth Record

I was Google searching the other night for information about the hometown of my 3rd Great-Grandfather Franz Xaver Schillinger.  I had a notation that he was born in Urloffen, Germany, a small village in the Grand Duchy of Baden, near the French border.  There is not much on the internet about the village of Urloffen.  It’s a small village with only about 4500 people who live there today, and since 1975 has been incorporated as part of a larger town of Appenweier.

While hunting for information about Urloffen, I came across a family history website for the Oatney family.  On that website, they have a page with links to German archives for the Baden region, including Landesarchiv.  And while I don’t speak or read a lick of German, I was able to navigate the site, by utilizing the in browser translation option in Chrome.  Once Chrome translated the page elements to English, I located record set L10, Nr. 3728, “Urloffen, Appenweier OG; Catholic Church: births 1827-1847”.

I had information that Xaver was born in August 1836, so I started to browse through the records trying to locate his.  There are 344 document images in the record set.  Since 1836 is approximately halfway through the time period for the records, I jumped to about midway through the image files.  Image 160 turned out to be the index page for the year 1836, and part way down the lists, I found an entry I thought might be for Xaver Schillinger.  Old German script is really hard to read, so I was unsure if it actually said Schillinger, but I was willing to find out!

German Birth Register Index

German Birth Register Index for Xaver Schillinger, http://bit.ly/1puWkY2

I scrolled back a few images, until I found page 173, and located item 55 on the page.  Based on what little I could see in the image, my hoped increased that I had found the right record.

I had previously joined a group on Facebook called “Genealogy Translations“, but had not used it up to this point.  I decided this record was the perfect choice for my first translation request.  The group is run by two admins: Nick Gombash and Julie Roberts Szczepankiewicz, and they offer a free and fabulous service for those of us doing research in the archives of ancestral homelands.  There are a few simple rules for posting in the group, but primarily it’s about asking for help without taking advantage of the kind people who voluntarily translate these documents.  I posted the image with my translation request yesterday at 9:26am.  Within 10 minutes, Johann Kargl had transcribed the image, and based on the German transcription, I was able to confirm that indeed this was the birth record for my 3rd Great-Grandfather Xaver Schillinger.  Johann then translated the record for me!  Here it is:

German Birth Record for Xaver Schillinger, Image 153

German Birth Record for Xaver Schillinger, Image 153

In German, it says:

Im Jahre eintausendachthundert und sechsunddreißig, den zehnten August, Nachmittag um vier Uhr, wurde gebohren, und den eilften August, Nachmittag um ein Uhr getauft: Franz Xaver – des Franz Xaver Schillinger, hiesigen Bürgers und Strumpfstrickermeisters, und der Franziska, geb. Stöckel – ehelicher Sohn. Pathen sind: Franz Joseph Stöckel, hiesigen Bürger und Schustermeister, und Petronilla Schillinger, Ehefrau des Felix Schmid, hiesigen Bürgers und Zimmermeisters. Zeugen sind: der obige Franz Joseph Stöckel, alt 51 Jahre, und Franz Xavers Lenz, hiesiger Bürger und Webermeister, alt 54 Jahre; welche dem Act zugegen waren. Hug? Pfarrer

In English:

In 1836, on 10 August, at 4 pm, was born and baptized on 11 August at 1 pm: Franz Xaver – legitimate son of Franz Xaver Schillinger, citizen and master hosiery knitter from here, and of Franziska, nee Stöckel. Godparents: Franz Joseph Stöckel, citizen and master shoemaker here, and Petronilla Schillinger, wife of Felix Schmid, citizen here and master carpenter. Witnesses: the above mentioned Franz Joseph Stöckel, 51 years old, and Franz Xaver Lenz, citizen and master weaver here, 54 years old, who were present at this act. Hug? Parish Priest

This confirms that Xaver Schillinger was born in Urloffen, and now I know that his birth date was 10 August 1836.  It confirms his mother’s name, and provides the names of witnesses, who were likely close family members and friends.  It also points to a legacy for an occupation in clothing.  Xaver was a tailor as an adult, and it appears he likely learned the trade from his father, who is listed as a hosiery knitter.

52 ANCESTORS – #10: Annie

Annie was born in New York in approximately 1749.[1]  Her maiden name and information about her family are unknown.

 

Draught of New York

Lionel Pincus and Princess Firyal Map Division, The New York Public Library. “A draught of New York and Perthamboy Harbour.” New York Public Library Digital Collections. http://digitalcollections.nypl.org/items/510d47da-eed3-a3d9-e040-e00a18064a99

In the 1810 US Census, her husband William Golden is listed in Westchester, Westchester County, New York, and presumably, she is the female over the age of 45 noted on the census as well.  There is one boy between the age of 10 and 15; three girls under the age of 10; one girl between the age of 10 and 15; one girl between the age of 16 and 25.  Also listed within a few entries of William Golden are other Golden families (presumably sons): Isiah Golden, notated as 26-45 years old and Simmonds Golden, notated as 16-26 years old.[2]

In the 1820 US Census for Westchester, a “Mrs. Golden” is listed, and in addition to herself, a male over the age of 45 years is marked as living in the household.  This is probably son living in the home with her, as if it was her husband, the household would have been enumerated under his name.  Some of the same neighbors as in the 1810 Census are enumerated on the same page as her, including the Bathgate, Hunt and Leggett.  In addition, the several Ward households are also enumerated nearby, which is the family her grandson Isaiah married into in 1809.[3]

Annie died in September 1850 in West Farms, New York at the age of 101.  Her cause of death was listed as “Old Age”.[4]

1850 US Census Mortality Schedule, Annie Golden, Ancestry.com

1850 US Census Mortality Schedule, Annie Golden, Ancestry.com http://bit.ly/1oQQOhL

[1] 1850 US Census Mortality Schedules, New York, Westchester, Roll M2, Page 364, Line Number 27, (Ancestry.com Operations, Inc. 2010)

[2] 1810 US Census: New York, Westchester, Westchester, Roll 37, Page 1152, Image 0181391, (Ancestry.com Operations, Inc. 2010).

[3] 1820 US Census: New York, Westchester, Westchester, Roll 75, Page 185, Image 153, (Ancestry.com Operations, Inc. 2010).

[4] 1850 US Census Mortality Schedules, New York.

My Father in the News Again…

After the story on the local TV News, our local newspaper contacted my dad to do a follow–up story on the efforts to recognize the names of the 74 men lost onboard the USS Frank E. Evans.  The reporter Stephanie Weldy did a really nice job on story.  You can read a copy of the article here.

2016-03-02_21-43-33

Marin IJ article featuring my dad, and the story of the 74 men of the USS Frank E. Evans.

52 Ancestors – #9: William Golden

William Golden was born sometime in 1740 and baptized on November 7, 1740 in Seal, Kent, England.[1]  Seal is a small village in the district of Kent in England, located about 30 miles southwest of London.  Seal is an ancient village, having been recorded in 1086 in the Domesday Book, a survey of England completed by William the Conqueror.[2]  At some point, William Golden came to the colonies and settled in New York.  William presumably died sometime between 1810 and 1820.  He last appears in the 1810 US Census, with his family, in Westchester, Westchester County, New York.  Living in his home at the time are; one man over the age of 45 (William); one woman over the age for 45 years (Annie); one boy between the age of 10 and 15; three girls under the age of 10; one girl between the age of 10 and 15; one girl between the age of 16 and 25.  Also listed within a few entries of William Golden are other Golden families (presumably sons): Isiah Golden, notated as 26-45 years old and Simmonds Golden, notated as 16-26 years old.[3] Listed as neighbors in the few pages of the 1820 U.S. Census covering the town of Westchester were some well-known founding New York families, including the Leggett, Hunt, Bathgate and Drake families.

Excerpt of Map of Westchester County

Excerpt from: Lionel Pincus and Princess Firyal Map Division, The New York Public Library. “Map of the county of Westchester” New York Public Library Digital Collections. Accessed February 22, 2016. http://digitalcollections.nypl.org/items/510d47da-f277-a3d9-e040-e00a18064a99

 

[1] England and Wales Christening Records, 1530-1906, Seal, Kent, England, 1740-1741, (Ancestry.com Operations, Inc. 2008)

[2] “Seal, Kent,” Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seal,_Kent, Accessed: 3 January 2016.

“Domesday Book,” Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Domesday_Book, Accessed: 3 January, 2016.

[3] 1810 US Census: New York, Westchester, Westchester, Roll 37, Page 1152, Image 0181391, (Ancestry.com Operations, Inc. 2010).

Papaly.com – Organizing My Online Bookmarks

First let me say – I have no connection to Papaly.com, other than I recently discovered the website and really like how I can use it to organize my online bookmarks.  I have tons of websites that I’ve bookmarked, but it almost becomes pointless at some point because it’s too hard to find anything.  And once it becomes hard to find a bookmark, I end up re-bookmarking websites, which just exacerbates the problem!

So I started looking for another solution and I found Papaly.com.  Here’s what I like:

  1. I was able to import my existing bookmarks using an HTML bookmark file that I exported from my browser (Chrome).
  2. I can create multiple boards, and then within the boards have multiple sub-boards by category to keep everything organized.

The one thing I didn’t like: it made itself my default new tab when I open a new browser window without asking me.  And finding the setting to change that was a little difficult.

So here is how I’m using it to organize my bookmarks:

  1. I have multiple categories of bookmarks – not just genealogy.  So I created separate boards for each of those topics.  To start, they currently are:
    1. Just for Fun (silly, mind candy websites)
    2. Work Related (my 9-5 FT job)
    3. Truck (for my husband’s 1958 Chevy Truck Restoration)
    4. Dogs
    5. My Husband’s Business
    6. Personal Finance
    7. Genealogy (of course!)
  2. Within Genealogy, I have multiple tiles with lists of the websites related to those topics.  I have so many Genealogy topics, however, that I think I may need to even break up that board into multiples.  But for now, within my genealogy board, I’m organizing my bookmarks in the following way:
    1. Different sub-categories for Places – State, Cities, Countries where my ancestors lived.  Some examples: Germany, Georgia, Brooklyn
    2. Blogs I Follow
    3. Genealogy Sub-specialites, such as Military, Native American, Genetic Genealogy, Newspaper Research, Immigration
    4. Maps and Geography
    5. Genealogy Education – webinars, classes
    6. Genealogy Societies
    7. Images – sources for royalty-free, public domain and unrestricted use images
    8. Timelines – websites for generating timelines
    9. My blog – websites I use to manage my blog and generate content specific to blogging
    10. Genealogy writing websites
    11. Professional Genealogy websites
    12. Google books and other digital books I’ve found
    13. Repositories and Libraries
Papaly.com

Papaly.com