Last September, I was able to photograph the naturalisation documents (H01/152/5977#10620) for my niece's Gx2-g-father, Moses/Morris MARKS, held at TNA in Kew. From that I was able to get the specific DoB and read the PoB as "Himbach, Germany" (the specific place was not intelligible in the censuses, just the country).
Knowing Germany's habit of having a website for every place, I experimented, with a bit of googling as well, and found this site:
Willkommen auf der Startseite der Gemeinde Limeshain
from which there was a link to:
Geschichts- und Kulturverein Limeshain (local history and culture society)
which included a contact e-address for the chairperson. I sent an email explaining that I was researching Moses/Morris MARKS, shoemaker, who had been born in Himbach 4 Mar 1834.
I received very amiable replies, saying that they would pass on my request to a member with specific interest in genealogy. They also sent me a booklet about the town, plus a booklet about their recent celebration of their town's 950th anniversary. Eventually (while I was away on holiday, this last fortnight) I received an email to say that they had found a lady researching the history of the Jewish presence in the area. When I got back, there was an envelope with:
There was also a handwritten addendum, which indicated that the info I had sent to Germany in support of my enquiry had unravelled a puzzle for her: she had a sibling of Moses/Morris who was described as fourth child of the marriage, but she could find only two older siblings for her, including Moses/Morris, whom she had recorded as eldest child. The 1861 census showed an older sister in England with Moses/Morris as well as a younger brother about whom some info was already known.
I really feel that I hit the jackpot there - largely through the generous help of some people in Germany, whom I've never met, but who took the time to find someone who would have relevant information for me - and then sent it to me at no small expense.
I hope I may be able to make the smallish diversion from one of our possible routes when travelling in Germany on holiday, so that I can visit Himbach, and, possibly, meet the lady who was kind enough to give me such a big chunk of information, just for the asking.
Christine
~~~~~~~
In this context, researching: FRIEDMAN/FREEMAN (England, Oz, Pikallin in Lithuania), MARKS/MARX (England, Oz, NZ, Himbach-Limeshain in Germany), COHEN, JACOBS JONES, GOLDSMID, & GOLDBERG (Lithuania)
1861 RG9-2142 fo33 p9
1871 RG10-3081 fo60 p1
1871 RG10-3081 fo60 p1
Knowing Germany's habit of having a website for every place, I experimented, with a bit of googling as well, and found this site:
Willkommen auf der Startseite der Gemeinde Limeshain
from which there was a link to:
Geschichts- und Kulturverein Limeshain (local history and culture society)
which included a contact e-address for the chairperson. I sent an email explaining that I was researching Moses/Morris MARKS, shoemaker, who had been born in Himbach 4 Mar 1834.
I received very amiable replies, saying that they would pass on my request to a member with specific interest in genealogy. They also sent me a booklet about the town, plus a booklet about their recent celebration of their town's 950th anniversary. Eventually (while I was away on holiday, this last fortnight) I received an email to say that they had found a lady researching the history of the Jewish presence in the area. When I got back, there was an envelope with:
- her family-tree info for the MARKS/MARX family (parents, more siblings, grandparents, uncles/aunts, cousins, cousin's children), some with snippets of extra detail, and going back to the name of the patriarch who had selected MARX as the family surname in 1815,
- a copy and her transcription of the parents' 1830 marriage record
- a copy and her transcription of a 1905 letter, written by Moses/Morris from his son's house in London (the address matched the 1901 and 1911 census address) to the Bürgermeister, requesting a copy of his birth certificate.
- a print of a ?scanned photo of each of the graves of Moses/Morris's father and mother
There was also a handwritten addendum, which indicated that the info I had sent to Germany in support of my enquiry had unravelled a puzzle for her: she had a sibling of Moses/Morris who was described as fourth child of the marriage, but she could find only two older siblings for her, including Moses/Morris, whom she had recorded as eldest child. The 1861 census showed an older sister in England with Moses/Morris as well as a younger brother about whom some info was already known.
I really feel that I hit the jackpot there - largely through the generous help of some people in Germany, whom I've never met, but who took the time to find someone who would have relevant information for me - and then sent it to me at no small expense.
I hope I may be able to make the smallish diversion from one of our possible routes when travelling in Germany on holiday, so that I can visit Himbach, and, possibly, meet the lady who was kind enough to give me such a big chunk of information, just for the asking.
Christine
~~~~~~~
In this context, researching: FRIEDMAN/FREEMAN (England, Oz, Pikallin in Lithuania), MARKS/MARX (England, Oz, NZ, Himbach-Limeshain in Germany), COHEN, JACOBS JONES, GOLDSMID, & GOLDBERG (Lithuania)
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