Germany and German Ancestry

Comment

Comment by Catherine Davis on January 3, 2011 at 10:57am

Michael, I think I have most of the stuff on your record figured out, although I've had to give you question marks on some items.

Census place:  Schwerin, Mechlenberg

Fore and family name:  Friederick Hesse

Sex: male

Age:  born the 8 th May in year 1869 (not absolutely sure if this is an abbreviation for 8th or 18)

Birthplace: Cumlosen, state of Prussia, province of Brandenburg

Religion:  Evangelisch

Personal status: single

I cannot figure out all the wording of 7a, but the handwriting says "soldat" = soldier

7b:  position in occupation--looks like the German letters hurbhe or hurshe to me but I can't find anything close to this in the dictionary

Nationality : Deutsch = German

Place of Residence:  Alexandrinen (?) # 16

10.  Active in Mechlenberg Grenadier Regiment No. 89

 

Comment by Marvin A. Huggins on December 30, 2010 at 4:34pm

See http://www.lcms.org/ca/www/cyclopedia/02/display.asp?t1=h&word=...

and

http://www.lcms.org/ca/www/cyclopedia/02/display.asp?t1=h&word=...

Comment by Frederick george henchell on December 30, 2010 at 1:38pm

Thanks Michael.  Yep, those are all spellings that I am aware of and have considered.  It's my understanding that the name HAENTZSCHEL and its derivitives are fairly common in Germany.  What appears unique is the middle name ESAIAS.  For some reason this name has been passed down through generations.  I was excited to discover it in my Great grandfathers citizenship papers.  I'll try to learn more about Clemens Esaias Haentzschel. I'm aware of a Emil Esaias Rudolf Haentzschel (1907-abt 1926).  I'm hoping someone else has done some genealogical research on there folks and maybe developed some family history and a family tree.  So far I don't know where to look in Germany and I don't speak or read German, (but I know how to use the on-line translators if I find something).

Thanks Fred 

Comment by Katie Heitert Wilkinson on December 30, 2010 at 1:07pm

Catherine ...thanks so much for the suggestion to return to LDS and use the research guide.  I feel as if I should give myself a thump on the head  ...didn't even think about that.

 

Katie

Comment by Frederick george henchell on December 30, 2010 at 10:50am

Catherine,  Thanks. I am aware of the Bremen sailors registry.  I'll check out the Carl Hentschel entry at Castle Gardens.  Charles, aka Carl first shows up in the 1880 US census in SF CA.  By then he is married and my granddad is 2yrs old. (He's "Charley Henshell" and his wife is Mary).  Our names has been spelled and miss-spelled seven or eight different ways.  I've fought it all my life and found humor in discovering that it started way before my time.  I have found his naturalization records and history.  About the time of WW I, I think he got panicky about getting deported back to Germany. So he finally became a naturalized citizen. Those records indicate that "he first arrived in the US in 1864". The 1910 census says 1866.  So maybe he was literally floating back and forth for a few years and 1870 may be possible.  He died in 1934, and I have visited the mausoleum where his cremains are stored. I have a death certificate, but I know some of the info on it is incorrect.  I started my research with almost no info.  Because he resided in San Francisco prior to the earth quake and fire, I have had little luck in finding marriage records and my grand dad's birth record. I am hoping to find some info about his German parents and other siblings.  Thans again, Fred

Comment by Catherine Davis on December 30, 2010 at 10:01am

Katie, I don't know German so can't answer your question about the -er on the end of words.  And, I really don't know where you can find out about derivative surnames.  But many surnames in any language derive from occupations (e.g., Miller/Mueller) or descriptive adjectives (e.g., White-from something like Philip the White Haired One), so I always check a dictionary to see if a surname might also turn out to be the same word as an occupation or an adjective.  Have you checked out the LDS research guide for Germany?  There is a brief discussion of both fornames and surnames included in it.  If you don't have this document, go to the new familysearch.org, click on browsing records at the bottom of the page, then click on Germany, and then scroll down to research tools.  Almost at the end of the research tools section is a link to the "BYU Research Guide."

Comment by Catherine Davis on December 30, 2010 at 9:53am

Frederick,

     I checked ancestry.com.  They have a Bremen sailors registry which shows various ships on which Carl Gustav Esais Haentzschel was a crew member between 1866 and 1870.  There are also several passenger lists for different spellings of Carl Hentschel (none with Haentzchel, though) with similar birth years.  One, however, Carl Hentschel, age 22, b. Germany, sailed from Liverpool to NY in 1870 aboard the ship Idaho.  I also found this record at the free Castle Gardens webpage (that's the site for NY arrivals prior to the start of Ellis Island).

     Have you found Carl in any US censuses?  The censuses for 1900-1920 will tell you the year he immigrated.  The 1920 census, if he was still alive will also tell you the year he was naturalized, if he was.  You can then look for naturalization records in the town he lived in during the year he was naturalized. 

Comment by Frederick george henchell on December 29, 2010 at 11:45am

I am researching the surnames HAENTZSCHEL and MERZENICH.  My great grandfather was born in Cologne on 1 Feb 1848. His full name was Carl Gustav Esais Haentzschel.  His parents were Ferdinand Esais Haentzschel and Elise Merzenich.  Carl (later changed to Charles) immigrated to the US sometime in the mid to late 1860's.  I don't know much about his immigration. He went to sea as a teen-ager. He may have "jumped" ship after several Atlantic crossings?

Comment by Katie Heitert Wilkinson on December 28, 2010 at 12:46pm

Catherine ....thanks so much for taking the time to look this up for me.  I appreciate it so much.  Can you suggest any ways I might follow through now and research derivative names?  Interesting ....in my research, I have found that the German word "heiter" is used very frequently.  I read recently that the suffix -er, when appearing at the end of German surnames, means "one who ...." Is this accurate? 

Comment by Catherine Davis on December 27, 2010 at 8:07pm

Katie,

     Heitert is not in my dictionary, but according to google translate, heitert means "cheers."  The word "heiter" is in my dictionary and means serene, bright, fair, cheerful.  Possibly your name is a derivation of this and was a descriptor of the first Heitert.

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