Tag: Beresan

52W Mark IV – Week 48: Card L9 Margaretha Bechler

Margaretha Bechler (1844-?)

Talk about “leveling up” one’s genealogy. My maternal grandmother’s ancestry has been so difficult to research over the decades. However, thanks to the spin I’ve taken on this year’s 52 Ancestors Challenge, I’ve managed to improve my work on this branch. I’ve spent a lot of time double-checking and updating my research. As a result, I’ve changed a lot of what I’ve recorded about my maternal grandmother’s line, some of which has been unchanged in 30 years.

Case in point is my Great x3 Grandmother, Margaretha Bechler, who until about a week ago I had as “Boechler” in every genealogy database I’ve used since the mid-90s. In fact, until three minutes ago, the draft I’ve had for this post for the last two weeks has had “Margaretha ‘Regina’ Boechler (1844-?)” as the caption under her image above. I removed the “Regina” because I cannot find where I got that from. So even if it was correct, I can’t back it up.

In the old country, the name was spelled “Bechler” and “Boechler” in the new world. This is reflected in the church register for Margaretha’s marriage to Valentine Schmidt. It is the spelling used in the 1858 Karlsruhe, Beresan census entry for her family. “Bechler” is also the spelling used in “The German Colonies in South Russia” by Konrad Keller, one of the leading sources for Germans from Russia.

For many of the descendants in North America of Margaretha’s father, Gregor, they use the spelling “Boechler”. This is demonstrated by one of the few resources I have had for many years, the Boechler Family History, by Tim Boechler and Annette Boechler, published in 1994 and revised in 1997.

For the longest time, these were two of my main sources for Boechler/Bechler. For the last few weeks I was wishing I had a copy of that census book, only to discover a week ago that I had bought a copy in 2001. It’s been sitting in a bankers box labelled “To Do”. I better get “To It”.

As a result of revisiting my research, I’ve also come to reject a photo I had accepted without question that is reproduced it the Boechler Family History. I have no idea about the provenance of the photo. It is said to be a photo of Gregor Boechler, his wife Katherine Geiger, and their seven children, including Margaretha. Some time in the last 30 years I came across another copy of the image that has a caption with the names of the people who are supposedly in the photo.

Unfortunately, much of the information in the caption does not pass scrutiny. First and most egregious, the 1858 Karlsruhe census states that Katherine died in 1853. It further indicates that Gregor married a woman named Marianna by 1854. The census includes five children said to be Gregor’s. Three were born before 1853 (Margaretha, Jakob, Andreas), two were born after 1853 (Katharina, Franz). Given that the photo has children born after 1853, that cannot be Katherine in the photo. It must be Marianna. The photo doesn’t include the younger Katherina, but it is possible she had died before it was taken.

For some of the children, the birthdates in the caption are wildly different from those in the 1853 census, primarily those who can be attributed to Katherine Geiger. The most glaring of these is Margaretha. The census indicates that she is Gregor’s eldest child, but the photo says that she is the youngest. If Phillip and John (both born after 1858) are the youngest, it cannot be Margartha (or any girl) on the woman’s lap.

On that point, I have no sources for Phillip and John. FamilySearch has a Phillip and Johannes listed as Gregor’s sons; however, none of the sources attached to these individuals provides any evidence that they are Gregor’s sons.

After having revisited my research, what do I know about my Great x3 Grandmother?

Margaretha was born in 1839 in the Beresan district, most likely in the Karlsruhe colony, to Gregor Bechler and Katherine Geiger. Gregor was originally from Karlsruhe in the Grand Duchy of Baden, who moved to the Beresan with his family shortly after he was born. I know nothing about Katherine other than the fact she married Gregor and had three children with him.

Margaretha married Valentine Schmidt on October 21, 1863. Together they had two daughters, my Great x 2 Grandmother Barbara and a younger sister, Elisabeth. There may be four other subsequent children, but beyond a list of names I have not seen proper sources for them. While that is not the end of Margaretha’s story, that is the end of what I know about her.

52W Mark IV – Week 47: Card L8 Valentine Schmidt

Valentine Schmidt (1839-?)

The unexpected benefit of the way I’ve chosen to do the 52 Ancestors Challenge this year is that I come out knowing more about each of my ancestors than when I started to write the posts. When I came up with the idea, I thought it would simply be a matter of writing up my research.

Instead, the gaps in my research and lack of knowledge for most individuals became readily apparent when I started to write about them. I’ve ended up doing much more research than anticipated, and that’s been a great thing. It has helped me hone and practice my genealogy skills while fulfilling the primary reason I do the challenge, which is to write more. As I said back in March, it’s turned into participating in a second challenge – Yvette Hoitink‘s Level-Up Challenge!

The primary downside is that I spent several months many weeks behind in the Challenge this year. I finally caught up a few weeks ago, but largely only because I know so little about the final suit of my deck and there are so few readily available resources. Many of those individuals were barely above a “one” before writing them up over the last few weeks.

Case in point is my Great x3 Grandfather Valentine Schmidt. A few weeks ago, I had little more than a birthdate, a vague idea that he was born in the Beresan colonies of the Germans from Russia and the name of his spouse. However, I did have some additional information that I hadn’t incorporated into my database – some of which I’ve had for decades.

Valentine was born in 1839 in the Karlsruhe Colony of the Beresan district in Ukraine, which at the time was part of the Russian Empire. He was the seventh of 13 children born to Mathias Schmidt and Elisabetha Messer.

Matthias and Elisabetha were born in Alsace, which has a long history of moving between French and German control. Matthias was born in Röschwoog, which practically sits on the current French-German border, in 1806. At the time Matthias and Elisabetha were born, Alsace was firmly in the control of Napoleon. Matthias and Elisabetha most likely settled in the Beresan as teens, moving with their families. By 1819, they were both in Karlsruhe and by 1831 they were married, when they had their first child.

As far as I know, Valentine lived his whole life in Karlsruhe. He married Margaretha “Regina” Boechler on October 21, 1863. They had at least two children that I have researched and who have some sort of documented sources – my Great x 2 Grandmother Barbara and a younger sister named Elisabeth. While FamilySearch tells me that there were four more children after Elisabeth, not a single source has been cited for any of them.

Valentine was still alive in 1894, when his father passed away. He was also most likely still in Karlsruhe, which means he was still there when his daughter Barbara and son-in-law Michael Lerner emigrated to America.

Since Valentine was still alive well into his 50s and at the time his daughter emigrated, I considered whether he had also emigrated to America, particularly given the lack of evidence he died in Karlsruhe. However, I have never found anything indicating that occurred.

52W Mark IV – Week 46: Card L7 Anastasia Wormsbecker

Anastasia Wormsbecker (est. 1840-?)

My Gx3 Grandmother, Anastasia Wormsbecker, was born sometime around 1840, most likely in a German colony in the Beresan District of Ukraine, which was then part of the Russian Empire. It is likely she was from the colony of Rastadt. The original founding colonists included some Wormsbeckers; as well, Anastasia married a man, Franz Lerner, who was also likely born in Rastadt. I know nothing about Anastasia’s parents or what part of Germany her ancestors were from before settling in the Beresan.

Anastasia and Franz likely married sometime before 1860, which is the year that their first child, Elisabeth, was probably born. Anastasia and Franz had five more children, the last of whom was born in 1873. Four of their six children emigrated from the Beresan; three ultimately ended up in Saskatchewan, Canada, while a son ended up in Texax.

Sometime between 1873 and 1877, Franz died. By 1878, Anastasia married Thomas Schmidt, with whom she had three children. At least one of their children, Katharina, emigrated for Alberta, Canada.

Given that Anastasia had three children with Thomas, she likely lived at least until 1880. Beyond that, I know nothing more about her life.

52W Mark IV – Week 45: Card L6 Franciscus Lerner

Franciscus “Franz” Lerner (betw. 1835~1840 – 1876~1877)

I’m now entering the set of cards in this suit of my Gx3 Grandparents on my mother’s maternal line, of whom I know the least. We are in some pretty hazy territory, so I expect the next eight posts to be much shorter than the rest. My Gx3 Grandfather, Franciscus “Franz” Lerner is a prime example of this. I don’t even have a solid idea of when he was born and died.

As far as I know, with not a lot of evidence, is that Franz was born sometime between 1835 and 1840 in the German colony of Rastadt in the Beresan District of Ukraine, which was part of the Russian Empire at the time. What I know with a bit more certainty is that Franz’s paternal line hailed from the Karlsruhe area of Baden in what is now Germany. At least four generations of his direct male line likely may have lived in Baden.

The hiccup in this lineage is the identity of Franz’s father. While I know nothing of Franz’s mother, not even her name, I have two possible candidates who might be his father. Franz may be the son of one of two brothers, Michael Lerner or Bernard Lerner. They are the sons of Franz Ignaz Lerner (1759-aft. 1816) and Maria Eva Geiger (1756-aft. 1816), both from Malsch, Karlsruhe, Baden. They left Baden for the Beresan in 1809 and settled in Rastadt.

  • Michael Lerner was born on July 11, 1793 in Malsch, Karlsruhe, Baden. He was married to Maria Eva Eberle, born June 3, 1793 in Pleisweiler, Bergzabern, Pfalz, although the evidence of this marriage is not verified.
  • Bernard Lerner born February 27, 1798 in Malsch, Karlsruhe, Baden. Bernard was married to Barbara Heil, who was born about 1799 in Niederlustadt, Germersheim, Pfalz.

Franz married Anastasia Wormsbecker (there are many spelling variations) in Rastadt, Beresan sometime around 1860. They had five children. The youngest four all emigrated to North America. Two went directly to Saskatchewan, Canada. Two sons went to Texas, one of whom was my Great Great Grandfather, Michael (“Mike”) Lerner. Mike ultimately moved to Saskatchewan with his family; his brother, Jerome, remained in Texas. Only their eldest child, Elisabeth, remained in the Beresan.

As I was looking at the list of Franz’s children, my mind began to speculate. A custom in the Netherlands for naming children was that the first son was named after the child’s paternal grandfather. The second son was named after the maternal grandfather. The first-born daughter was named after her maternal grandmother; the second daughter was named after her paternal grandmother.

If there was anything similar in German culture, particularly those parts of Germany closer to the Netherlands, that carried into the Beresan, it might provide a clue as to whether Michael or Bernard is Franz’s father. Mike was Franz and Anastasia’s first-born son. The name would be in keeping with a paternal grandfather with the same name. Mike and Anastasia did not name any of their other two sons Bernard. Of course, I can’t place much, if any, weight on this, but it does make some walking around sense.

For me, Franz’s life ended as mysteriously as it began. At most, all I know is that the possibility is that Franz died in 1876 or 1877 in the Beresan.

You can find more specific information about the dates and places of Franz’s birth, marriage, and death on various online trees, but they are largely unsourced or provide unverifiable and vague citations. Without something more, they deserve to be given no weight.