How Many Ancestors: 2018 Edition

Finally!

Here is my update to the ongoing "how many ancestors have you identified" quest.

The idea is to list the "known by name" ancestors at each genealogical level: parents, grandparents, great-grandparents, etc. As the potential ancestors double and the available records decrease over time, the challenge increases. Let's check mine and see what I've found.

Here's my chart from 2017:

And here is 2018's:

Some improvement...

In blue above are the generations where I found new ancestors over the last year.

In Level 7, the 4x great-grandparents, I made zero progress. The missing ancestors are my Irish lines. I may be forever stuck here. I have some new leads, but they are still speculative.

In Levels 8, 9 and 10, I located new records for my maternal grandmother's West Prussian family. I had great success with her Wuerttemburg lines in 2017, and now Ancestry added West Prussian microfilms that I had rented years ago, but were now much more complete and had some search capabilities. Many of these records are from what is now Poland.

Numberswise, I added 2 percentage points to my total, and now know fully a third of ten generations of ancestors (including me!) by name. Not bad!

I know were aren't supposed to be name collectors, but I enjoy this post every year ;)

One great record I found was the marriage of a pair of 7th great-grandparents, Marcin Mazciewski to Maria Nyckzynski, in Sommerau, Kries Rosenberg, West Prussia in 1744. I love how the marriages are just squeaked in on the page:

Happy Belated New Year and Happy Searching!

© 2018 Sally Knudsen

Snips: Ancestry.com. Germany, Lutheran Baptisms, Marriages, and Burials, 1518-1921 [database on-line]. Lehi, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2017.

How Many Ancestors: 2017 Edition

Happy New Year!

My first post of 2017 is an update to the ongoing "how many ancestors have you identified" quest.

The idea is to list the "known by name" ancestors at each genealogical level: parents, grandparents, great-grandparents, etc. As the potential ancestors double and the available records decrease over time, let's check mine and see where my research challenges are.

I realize now that I didn't do this assessment in 2016, so this will be two year's worth of progress. And progress there was!

Here's my chart from 2015:

And here is 2017's:

Go me!

In green above are the generations where I found new ancestors over the past two years.

In Level 7, the 4x great-grandparents, I made zero progress. The missing ancestors are my Irish lines. I may be forever stuck here.

In Level 8, the 5x great-grandparents, I made a LOT of progress, mostly filling in information through further research. This includes finding books on my colonial American lines, and locating more records in my French-Canadian lines.

The biggest jump is in the last group, the 7x great-grandparents. I quadrupled 2015's number. This is almost singularly due to my big break in my maternal grandmother's Wurttemberg lines. Once I broke through that brick wall this summer, the records filled in so much history. I wish you all would have Wurttemberg Lutheran ancestors, because...wow.

When I first did this exercise in 2014, I had identified 160, or 16.5% of my direct ancestors through 10 generations.

In 2015, I had 196, or 19%.

By 2017, I had a whopping 319, or 31%.

The oldest record I have to date is my maternal 10th great-grandparents, Veit SUFFEL and Maria LACHENMAIER of Rudersberg in Wurttemberg. They were married in 1649:

Happy New Year and Happy Searching!

© 2017 Sally Knudsen

In a Cave in Germany

I wish this was the cave I was visiting

I haven't posted in some time, but that doesn't mean nothing has been happening genealogy-wise lately.

I have been in a cave in Wurttemberg. Not an actual cave, but I've been in my basement research cave, after a MAJOR breakthrough this summer.

Reality also struck with both highs and lows in my family over the past few months. My younger son won the Illinois high school state cross country title and signed for a wonderful college scholarship. My older son's cross country team was second in the NAIA college championship and he's on track for another semester on the Dean's List. The lows came by way of my father's death, my maternal grandmother's death, and one of my son's coach's death. It was a very emotional fall.

Genealogy is my "touchstone," the one thing that keeps my brain functioning and me tethered to some sort of reality.

On with the show.

My grandmother that recently passed provided my German ancestry. Her mother was full Prussian (I know that's not an ethnicity but it's where her people lived for hundreds of years) and her Hummel father was mostly German by way of southwest Germany near Stuttgart. I have a copy of the family's church record from Michigan where they finally settled giving clues to their German villages. But I was very uncertain how to search for records. I contacted fellow genealogist Barbara Schmidt (@BarbFFm on Twitter) and she helped me get an idea of the village and Lutheran parish system. After that, I took a chance and ordered some FamilySearch microfilms for the area and crossed my fingers. It worked.

Having some sense of the Hummel family already, I started working with my great-great-great-grandmother's Ebinger line, which I knew only by the two children who emigrated to America. Fortunately, my microfilm guesses were correct as I found both of their births in the Dafern parish records. Then with lots of scrolling, it was off to the races. Suddenly, I had a huge German family!

Johann Lorenz Hummel (1843-1901)
Christina Karolina Ebinger (1849-1895)

At home, I tried finding more records at Ancestry. Amazingly, not only did I find records, but I found the same digitized microfilm records as the ones I had ordered. And thus, I have scarcely left my computer in the evenings because I keep. finding. people.

Some of the interesting things I have encountered (your mileage my vary):

• the vital records are pristine, accurate, and cross-referenceable by date/age and parents/father
• you definitely need creative database skills
• surnames are underlined about 99% of the time
• Jerg of the 1600's became Georg of the 1700's
• Johannes is not the same as Johann, but Hans and Johann are usually interchangeable
• you "hope" for an illegitimate birth because the pastor went out of his way to describe the circumstances of the birth, then "hope" the father acknowledged the child
• learn to read upside down because that's how many illegitimate births were noted!
• in the 1730's, there was a sudden use of astrological symbols in the birth records
• the records are a "moveable feast" because all the births may be in one parish but the marriages in the neighboring parish
• and so much more!

I am (proudly) at the name-collecting stage. This has been a fascinating few months of work. Here is my database if you'd like to check for common ancestors. 

Come find me in Germany (in my mind)!

* German diacriticals and spellings omitted here because...American keyboard ;)

© 2016 Sally Knudsen

Photo credit: By Enzyklofant (Own work) [CC BY-SA 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

#52Ancestors (19) Johann Lorenz Hummel, Germany to Michigan

Johann Lorenz HUMMEL was previously introduced in my blog as both my great-great-great-grandfather and the unfortunate victim of a runaway horse and buggy. Let's start from the beginning and learn a little more information about "Lawrence" HUMMEL.

Johann Lorenz Hummel
c 1893

Johann Lorenz HUMMEL was born 16 May 1843 in a small village called Buenzwangen near present-day Stuttgart, Germany. He was the ninth of eleven known children born to David HUMMEL and Rosina Dorothea BUCHELE. Much research was performed on the families of this region, including the Hummel's, through the thousands of record transcriptions found in this database. I contributed my known family records to the database as well. [Kudos to Kathy for her hard work!]

The Hummel family looked like this:

Descendants of David HUMMEL
---------------------------
David HUMMEL
  born: 26 Oct 1804, Bünzwangen, Donaukreis, Wuerttemburg, Germany
  died: 8 Oct 1880, Germany
  parents: David Hummel and Barbara Eitle 
 +Rosina Dorothea BUCHELE
  born: 26 Oct 1806, Bünzwangen, Donaukreis, Wuerttemburg, Germany
  marr: 24 Apr 1827, Albershausen, Donaukreis, Wuerttemberg, Germany
  died: ?
  parents: Johann Georg BUCHELE and Rosina Dorothea MAURER
|--Johann Georg HUMMEL
|    born: 9 Jul 1828, Bünzwangen, Donaukreis, Wuerttemburg, Germany
|    died: 31 Dec 1828, Bünzwangen, Donaukreis, Wuerttemburg, Germany
|--David HUMMEL
|    born: 5 Sep 1829, Bünzwangen, Donaukreis, Wuerttemburg, Germany
|    died: 7 Feb 1890
|--Johannes HUMMEL
|    born: 25 Oct 1831, Bünzwangen, Donaukreis, Wuerttemburg, Germany
|    died: 7 Oct 1835, Bünzwangen, Donaukreis, Wuerttemburg, Germany
|--Johann Georg HUMMEL
|    born: 23 Oct 1833, Bünzwangen, Donaukreis, Wuerttemburg, Germany
|    died: 13 Nov 1835, Bünzwangen, Donaukreis, Wuerttemburg, Germany
|--Jacob HUMMEL
|    born: 27 Jan 1835, Bünzwangen, Donaukreis, Wuerttemburg, Germany
|    died: 5 Mar 1837, Bünzwangen, Donaukreis, Wuerttemburg, Germany
|--Margarethe HUMMEL
|    born: 16 Aug 1837, Bünzwangen, Donaukreis, Wuerttemburg, Germany
|    died: 21 Feb 1923  ?
|--Boy HUMMEL
|    born: 2 Dec 1839, Bünzwangen, Donaukreis, Wuerttemburg, Germany
|    died: 2 Dec 1839, Bünzwangen, Donaukreis, Wuerttemburg, Germany
|--Rosina Dorothea HUMMEL
|    born: 16 Jan 1841, Bünzwangen, Donaukreis, Wuerttemburg, Germany
|    died: 21 Sep 1909
|--Johann Lorenz HUMMEL
|    born: 16 May 1843, Bünzwangen, Donaukreis, Wuerttemburg, Germany
|    died: 16 Sep 1901, Adrian, Lenawee, Michigan
|--Anna Maria HUMMEL
|    born: 16 Nov 1845, Bünzwangen, Donaukreis, Wuerttemburg, Germany
|    died: 7 Jun 1856, Bünzwangen, Donaukreis, Wuerttemburg, Germany
|--Barbara Catharina HUMMEL
     born: 20 Mar 1848, Bünzwangen, Donaukreis, Wuerttemburg, Germany
     died: 2 Mar 1919, Hubbard, Trumbull, Ohio
---------------------------

Christina Carolina
(Ebinger) Hummel
c 1893

Lawrence, as he is known in American records, emigrated to the United States via the ship Vera Cruz and landed in New York on 28 September 1866. He was accompanied by his youngest sister, Barbara Catharina HUMMEL. In 1869, Lawrence married fellow German immigrant Christina Carolina "Carrie" EBINGER in Coldwater, Branch, Michigan. Lawrence's sister Barbara married Frederick Carl EBINGER, the brother of his wife, in 1870. They lived in Hubbard, Trumbull, Ohio. Additionally, at least two sons of their sister Margarethe HUMMEL HOEFER, also emigrated and lived in northern Ohio.

Lawrence was naturalized in January 1877 in the circuit court of Lenawee County, Michigan. He was clearly planning on staying! And it always makes me happy to see that my ancestors can sign their names. Big X's make me sad.

Lawrence's census records show:

• 1870: Coldwater, Branch, Michigan, cabinet maker
• 1880: Adrian, Lenawee, Michigan, cabinet maker
• 1894 Michigan: Adrian, Lenawee, Michigan
• 1900: Adrian, Lenawee, Michigan, cabinet maker

My 'children's chair'
carved and assembled by Lawrence
c 1896

***

Edited and originally posted on my blog July 9, 2013

(c) 2014 Sally Knudsen

#52Ancestors (14) Carolina Christina Ebinger Hummel

Christine Carolina "Carrie" EBINGER was my great-great-great-grandmother. She was one of several German immigrant ancestors who came to America in the second half of the 19th century. I know the basics about Carrie's life but I am ready to learn more. Sometimes her name was written as Carolina Christine. I use them interchangeably.

Carrie was born on 7 July 1849 in Dafern, Backnang, Wurttemburg, Germany. I know this from the family register of St. John's Lutheran Church in Adrian, Lenawee, Michigan. After Carrie's marriage to Johann Lorenz HUMMEL in 1869 in Branch County, Michigan, the young family moved to Adrian. Fortunately, the recordkeeping in the Evangelical Lutheran church practices included family registers (below, in two parts). The first line lists facts about Johann Lorenz HUMMEL and the second about Carrie, including date and location of birth and Carrie's maiden name:

Christine Carol. gb Ebinger, Dafern, o/a Backnang, Wurttbg, gb 7 Juli '49

The HUMMEL family remained in Adrian. Carrie died there on 28 March 1895 at age 45 of an intestinal cancer. She left young children along with her beloved husband Johann.

In my searches in America for other possible records, I located a Frederick Carl EBINGER in Trumbull County, Ohio. Turns out, Frederick married Barbara Catharina HUMMEL, sister of Johann HUMMEL. Frederick left a Will and probate file after he died. It helped piece together his family.

Between the two siblings, I hope to get back to their German roots. It appears only pieces of their family emigrated to America. I have a pretty substantial timeline for them after arrival. One stumbling block may be how common their first names are. Another is how rare their surname is. I find very few EBINGERs and they are often interchanged with EPPINGER, which is not at all their family. But it's a start!

Carrie seated bottom left
Hummel family, circa 1892, Michigan

Carrie's page in my database

(c) 2014 Sally Knudsen

Plunge to His Death

PLUNGE TO DEATH

Lawrence Hummell Fell Into a 54 Foot Well

DEATH MUST HAVE BEEN ALMOST INSTANTANEOUS

Michael Sorter Was Lowered After the Body

Deceased Was an Old and Respected German Resident

___

Lawrence Hummel, sr., an old and respected German resident of this city, met with a horrible accident about 10 o'clock this morning, at the home he had occupied for some time, just opposite St. Joseph's academy on North street. He was dead when found. The unfortunate old gentleman pitched head first down a well at the rear of the house, and was badly mangled about the head.

The well is an open one, bricked up from the bottom 54 feet below, and had about 18 inches of water in it. At the top there was a curb, on top of which was a well house with barriers and a roof. Int the roof was a large pully [sic], over which a rope worked to let the bucket down. The bucket had been dropped, and Mr. Hummel was trying to fish it up from the bottom with the rope. He was leaning over the barrier and in some way lost his balance, pitching head first down to the bottom.

The only person within sight was his little grandchild, Willie Hummel, aged five years, who was in the back yard watching his grandfather. He saw him go and ran screaming into the house. The child's mother immediately gave the alarm, and the telephone was put into active use. It was a fearful time for the family, who suffered all kinds of tortures until help came. Marshal Ullrich was soon on the scene, and Michael Sorter came with tackle and ropes. Mr. Sorter was lowered into the well and fastened a rope around the dead body. Mr. Sorter was hauled out and then the remains of Mr. Hummel were next brought to the surface. The poor man was almost completely submerged in the water, head down. Dr. Esli Morden was on the scene when he was brought out, but life was extinct, and his services were not needed. The head was horribly mutilated, where it had struck against the stones and brick. The right eye was mashed in, a horrible cut nearly severed the right cheek, and he was otherwise badly bruised and cut.

Coroner Hamilton was summoned, but after learning of the nature of the death an inquest was thought unnecessary. The remains were taken to the home of Geo. C. Burger, No. 60 Locust street, on account of the fact that the house was being broken up. Lawrence Hummel, jr., is to live over Mr. Grabner's store on North Main street; Mr. McDonald and family are moving over near the college. Their goods were all packed and partially taken out of the house. The unfortunate father was to live in the house with some parties who had rented it, he being the owner of the property. The house was therefore stripped of furniture for the present.

Dr. Esli Morden states that Mr. Hummel was subject to fits of dizziness ever since he was caught in a runaway some-time ago, and nearly killed. It must have been in one of these fits that he plunged into the well. The unfortunate man's neck was found to be broken, but no other bones were broken.

Deceased was born in Wuerthenburg [sic] , Germany, May 16, 58 years ago, and came to this country when a young man. He lived in Coldwater for some time where he married. Then he moved to Adrian and was employed for 25 years as a cabinet maker at the Lake Shore shops. His wife died about seven years ago. He was a hardworking, honest German citizen. He leaves the following children to mourn him: Miss Carrie Hummel, Mrs. Wm. Reitz, Lansing, Mrs. Edward Spies, Fairfield; Lawrence Hummel, jr., Hugo Hummel, Herman Hummel and Arthur Hummel, the latter a carrier boy at The Telegram office. There are two grandchildren: Wm. Hummel, son of Lawrence, jr., who was with his grandfather, and a daughter of Mrs. Edward Spies.

***

Obituary, The Adrian Daily Telegram, Monday, September 16, 1901, page 2 column 3, copy obtained from microfilm at State Library of Michigan, Lansing.

Hummel's By The Numbers

My Hummel family of Adrian, Lenawee, Michigan was led by immigrants to the Midwestern US, much like hundreds of other families of the mid-1800's. We learned previously that they had a "spirited" horse that drew the family buggy. It was transportation but it was also the catalyst for many mishaps, and ultimately even the death of son Otto in 1897.

Before we learn of the fate of the progenitor, Johann Lorenz "Lawrence" Hummel, let's fill in some detail about the family. Lawrence was married to Christina Carolina "Carrie" Ebinger in Michigan in 1869. They were both German immigrants. They had ten children in total:

Johann Lorenz HUMMEL
  born: 16 May 1843, Bünzwangen, Donaukreis, Wuerttemburg, Germany
  died: 16 Sep 1901, Adrian, Lenawee, Michigan
  parents: David HUMMEL and Rosina Dorothea BUCHELE

 +Christina Carolina EBINGER
  born: 7 Jul 1849, Däfern, Backnang, Wuerttemburg, Germany
  marr: 28 Nov 1869, Coldwater, Branch, Michigan
  died: 28 Mar 1895, Adrian, Lenawee, Michigan
  parents: F EBINGER and Unknown

|--David Leonhard Ludwig HUMMEL
|    born: 17 Jun 1870, Coldwater, Branch, Michigan
|    died: 8 Mar 1875, Adrian, Lenawee, Michigan

|--Caroline Christine HUMMEL
|    born: 31 Dec 1871, Adrian, Lenawee, Michigan
|    died: 22 Jun 1951, Lima, Allen, Ohio
     never married

|--Anna Barbara HUMMEL
|    born: 22 Dec 1873, Adrian, Lenawee, Michigan
|    died: 25 Aug 1937, Lansing, Ingham, Michigan
     married to William Frederick REITZ, no children

|--Emilie Friederika HUMMEL
|    born: 22 Dec 1873, Adrian, Lenawee, Michigan
|    died: 24 Sep 1965, San Diego, San Diego, California
    married to Edwin F. SPIES, five children

|--Lorenz Simon HUMMEL
|    born: 21 Feb 1876, Adrian, Lenawee, Michigan
|    died: 9 Nov 1934, Lansing, Ingham, Michigan
     my ancestor, subject of future posts

|--Hugo Karl HUMMEL
|    born: 25 Jan 1878, Adrian, Lenawee, Michigan
|    died: 29 Oct 1967, Lansing, Ingham, Michigan
    married Flora May FOSTER, one child

|--Herman Christian HUMMEL
|    born: 29 Aug 1880, Adrian, Lenawee, Michigan
|    died: 19 Oct 1929, Pemberville, Wood, Ohio
    married Louise Sophia ERNSTHAUSEN, five children

|--Otto Karl HUMMEL
|    born: 30 Sep 1883, Adrian, Lenawee, Michigan
|    died: 18 May 1897, Adrian, Lenawee, Michigan

|--Arthur Louis HUMMEL
|    born: 14 Feb 1886, Adrian, Lenawee, Michigan
|    died: 10 Feb 1967, Lansing, Ingham, Michigan
    married Emma Mary LIPKE, two children

|--Alma Emma Barbara HUMMEL
     born: 6 Jan 1889, Adrian, Lenawee, Michigan
     died: 7 Mar 1890, Adrian, Lenawee, Michigan
-----------------------------------

Carrie Hummel died in 1895 from intestinal complications, She was only 46 years old and left several children still at home. By 1902, all of the surviving children, except Herman and Arthur, had married and most moved north to Lansing, Ingham, Michigan. The Hummel's all worked as laborers and tradesmen, first in manufacturing, then in automobile and ancillary production work.

Next, we will learn the circumstances regarding Lawrence's death.

 

Six of the surviving siblings:
Herman, Carrie, Arthur, Hugo, Barbara and Lawrence
c 1925 probably in Lansing, Michigan

© 2013 Sally Knudsen

The Hummel's Go To Church

Johann Lorenz "Lawrence" Hummel and his wife Christina Carolina "Carrie" Ebinger married in Coldwater, Branch, Michigan in 1869 and likely had their first child, David, there as well. By 1880, the new family resided in Adrian, Lenawee, Michigan, where they would remain for some time.

Part of retaining their immigrant heritage was joining a traditionally German Evangelical Lutheran congregation. In Adrian, it was St. John's Lutheran Church.

These are the church registers for the Hummel family, completed at St. John's in Adrian. It lists Johann Lorenz and Christina Carolina and their own dates and places of birth... in Germany! Then it lists in order their ten children. Dates of birth are in the second column and dates of death for David (#1) and Alma Emma (#10) are in the third column. Also note "zwillings" in the final column - zwillings is German for twins.

Here is St. John's Lutheran Church today:

St. John's was dedicated in 1862 and expanded to its current form in 1896. It was listed as a Michigan State Historic site in 1981, and listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1984. It has held services continually since its construction in 1862.

Here are some links to explore:

History of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America
Genealogy and the Lutheran Church
St. John's Lutheran Church historical marker
St. John's Lutheran Church as a waymark

Sources:

St. John's Lutheran Church register, copy from microfilm, obtained as a paper copy from a paid researcher on 1999

Photo from WikiMedia Commons in the public domain

© 2013 Sally Knudsen

Surname Saturday - EBINGER

The surname EBINGER belongs to my great-great-great grandmother, Christina Carolina "Carrie" Ebinger. Carrie married Johann Lorenz Hummel in 1869 in Coldwater, Branch, Michigan.

Carrie had a (likely) brother, Frederick Carl Ebinger. Carl, as he was known, married Barbara Catharina Hummel, sister of Johann Lorenz.

Some locations of these families in the US:

Adrian, Lenawee, Michigan
Lansing, Ingham, Michigan
Hubbard, Trumbull, Ohio

Carrie and Carl were born in Dafern, Backnang, Wuerttemburg, Germany:


View Larger Map

If you know the name EBINGER, please let me know!

© 2013 Sally Knudsen

The Cabinet Maker's Legacy

Johann Lorenz "Lawrence" Hummel, my German immigrant ancestor, was a cabinet maker by trade. His occupation entries on the 1870, 1880, and 1900 Federal censuses confirm this. A cabinet maker was what we might consider a woodworker or furniture maker. Lawrence worked for many years in the car shops of the Lake Shore and Michigan Southern Railroad in Adrian, Lenawee, Michigan.

During his free time, Lawrence plied his trade for personal use. My proof is this child's chair that has been in my family since 1896.

This chair was crafted by Lawrence and given as a gift to his first-born grandchild, William Lawrence Hummel, my great-grandfather. The chair measures 28 inches tall. It was always the item that could be viewed but NEVER EVER sat upon. When I was growing up, it sat in my parent's living room with my 'Mrs. Beasley' doll in it, sort of as the security guard. I'm glad it was well cared for, and it now sits snuggled in a quiet corner in my home.

seat made of leather and tacks

underside of seat with metal support

carving and spindles

detail of spindle attachments

armrest supports

 

It is still in its original condition with no repairs. Hopefully, my great grandfather or his sister or cousins used it, as there is natural wear on the arms. I love that I have this treasure and am grateful my ancestor had a skill that could literally be passed on.

© 2013 Sally Knudsen

Properly Introducing Johann Lorenz Hummel

Johann Lorenz Hummel was previously introduced in my blog as both my great-great-great-grandfather and the unfortunate victim of a runaway horse and buggy. Let's start from the beginning and learn a little more information about "Lawrence" Hummel.

Johann Lorenz Hummel
c 1893

Johann Lorenz Hummel was born 16 May 1843 in a small village called Buenzwangen near present-day Stuttgart, Germany. He was the ninth of eleven known children born to David Hummel and Rosina Dorothea Buchele. Much research was performed on the families of this region, including the Hummel's, through the thousands of record transcriptions found in this database. I contributed my known family records to the database as well. [Kudos to Kathy for her hard work!]

The Hummel family looked like this:

Descendants of David HUMMEL
---------------------------
David HUMMEL
  born: 26 Oct 1804, Bünzwangen, Donaukreis, Wuerttemburg, Germany
  died: 8 Oct 1880, Germany
  parents: David Hummel and Barbara Eitle 
 +Rosina Dorothea BUCHELE
  born: 26 Oct 1806, Bünzwangen, Donaukreis, Wuerttemburg, Germany
  marr: 24 Apr 1827, Albershausen, Donaukreis, Wuerttemberg, Germany
  died: ?
  parents: Johann Georg BUCHELE and Rosina Dorothea MAURER
|--Johann Georg HUMMEL
|    born: 9 Jul 1828, Bünzwangen, Donaukreis, Wuerttemburg, Germany
|    died: 31 Dec 1828, Bünzwangen, Donaukreis, Wuerttemburg, Germany
|--David HUMMEL
|    born: 5 Sep 1829, Bünzwangen, Donaukreis, Wuerttemburg, Germany
|    died: 7 Feb 1890
|--Johannes HUMMEL
|    born: 25 Oct 1831, Bünzwangen, Donaukreis, Wuerttemburg, Germany
|    died: 7 Oct 1835, Bünzwangen, Donaukreis, Wuerttemburg, Germany
|--Johann Georg HUMMEL
|    born: 23 Oct 1833, Bünzwangen, Donaukreis, Wuerttemburg, Germany
|    died: 13 Nov 1835, Bünzwangen, Donaukreis, Wuerttemburg, Germany
|--Jacob HUMMEL
|    born: 27 Jan 1835, Bünzwangen, Donaukreis, Wuerttemburg, Germany
|    died: 5 Mar 1837, Bünzwangen, Donaukreis, Wuerttemburg, Germany
|--Margarethe HUMMEL
|    born: 16 Aug 1837, Bünzwangen, Donaukreis, Wuerttemburg, Germany
|    died: 21 Feb 1923  ?
|--Boy HUMMEL
|    born: 2 Dec 1839, Bünzwangen, Donaukreis, Wuerttemburg, Germany
|    died: 2 Dec 1839, Bünzwangen, Donaukreis, Wuerttemburg, Germany
|--Rosina Dorothea HUMMEL
|    born: 16 Jan 1841, Bünzwangen, Donaukreis, Wuerttemburg, Germany
|    died: 21 Sep 1909
|--Johann Lorenz HUMMEL
|    born: 16 May 1843, Bünzwangen, Donaukreis, Wuerttemburg, Germany
|    died: 16 Sep 1901, Adrian, Lenawee, Michigan
|--Anna Maria HUMMEL
|    born: 16 Nov 1845, Bünzwangen, Donaukreis, Wuerttemburg, Germany
|    died: 7 Jun 1856, Bünzwangen, Donaukreis, Wuerttemburg, Germany
|--Barbara Catharina HUMMEL
     born: 20 Mar 1848, Bünzwangen, Donaukreis, Wuerttemburg, Germany
     died: 2 Mar 1919, Hubbard, Trumbull, Ohio
---------------------------

Christina Carolina
(Ebinger) Hummel
c 1893

Lawrence, as he is known in American records, emigrated to the United States via the ship Vera Cruz and landed in New York on 28 September 1866. He was accompanied by his youngest sister, Barbara Catharina Hummel. In 1869, Lawrence married fellow German immigrant Christina Carolina "Carrie" Ebinger in Coldwater, Branch, Michigan. Lawrence's sister Barbara married Frederick Carl Ebinger, the suspected brother of his wife, in 1870. They lived in Hubbard, Trumbull, Ohio. Additionally, at least two sons of their sister Margarethe Hummel Hoefer, also emigrated and lived in northern Ohio.

Lawrence was naturalized in January 1877 in the circuit court of Lenawee County, Michigan. He was clearly planning on staying! And it always makes me happy to see that my ancestors can sign their names. Big X's make me sad.

Lawrence's census records show:

• 1870: Coldwater, Branch, Michigan, cabinet maker
• 1880: Adrian, Lenawee, Michigan, cabinet maker
• 1894 Michigan: Adrian, Lenawee, Michigan
• 1900: Adrian, Lenawee, Michigan, cabinet maker

This is the basic information I have regarding Lawrence and Carrie beginning their life in America. I have several topics for continued research:

• Learn more about the Ebinger family
• Why did Lawrence and Barbara leave Germany? No more family? His trade? 
• Did the Hummel's and Ebinger's know each other in Germany?

There are so many avenues to explore with the connections I have so far. Genealogy is just a big puzzle, but these intermarrying family members and nearby villages really make me curious to put together this particular family puzzle.

Stay tuned...

© 2013 Sally Knudsen

My American Pie

Fourth of July has rolled around again with all the celebrations that entails. My family will celebrate Independence Day by cooking out, eating, eating some more, and watching fireworks, perhaps legal and perhaps courtesy of some rogue neighbors.

In addition to the mainstream festivities, I sometimes think about the Fourth of July in more historical terms. I do consider myself a genealogist, after all. Most family historians have probably attempted a little melting pot analysis of some kind. I have written prior posts on some of my background (pretty much Northern European) and the results of my mtDNA test (pretty much Northern European). I created the chart below breaking down the basic ancestry and emigration information on each of my 16 great-great-grandparents.



My paternal side (top half) is almost entirely of the Emerald Isle. My ancestors left Ireland for England, Scotland and the United States. It honestly surprised me a bit as I see them all grouped together: all eight of my paternal ancestors came to America in the same generation! And even though we often think famine regarding Irish ancestors, mine came quite a bit later (although some went to Scotland and/or England first). Facts are fun!

My maternal side (bottom half) is slightly more varied: German, Germans from West Prussia, a line from Scotland. The Prussian and German emigration in the mid-1800's was due to political unrest in Prussia and Eastern Europe. And then there are my "New Englanders I know to around 1800" lines. My Spencer line went from Rhode Island to Vermont in the Revolutionary War era, but I haven't yet found soldiers. I have a tenuous war connection through my Frederick line, but I haven't personally researched those facts. I know about these families to around 1800 in America. I have no idea of their ancestry or when these lines arrived here.

I only have one quarter of my ancestry who would have potentially been on American soil in 1776. America is truly a melting pot, as evidenced by my, and probably most of your, ancestors.

In honor of the 237th birthday of America, this is my American pie. A real fruit pie tastes better but this pie will keep me more fulfilled and happily researching for a long, long time.

Photo in the public domain

© 2013 Sally Knudsen

DNA: I'm U. Are You?

I have the patience of a saint, as the saying goes. I'm that person who gets a birthday card in the mail and tucks it away until my actual birthday. I could wait patiently to open Christmas gifts. Really.

So when 23andMe offered $99 DNA kits late last year, I decided I had waited long enough and ordered one. The kit arrived in mid-December and I let it sit for a few days. I opened the kit, registered, and sent in my sample. The expected turnaround was 2-3 weeks. I received an email asking for my patience, as the holiday backlog was forcing a delay in results. I finally received my email that... drumroll... the results were in!

After logging in, I still needed patience as some of the results took longer - like actual matches! Not a problem. In another week, I settled in to explore the final results. And they were not at all surprising as I know a good deal about all the branches of my family.

www.23andme.com

I am 99.7% European. Shocked, I tell ya. Part of that is some Eastern European thrown into the DNA mixer by my Prussian-descended grandma, who is almost 95. She's on the left, in case you have a hard time telling us apart ;)

I also learned my maternal haplogroup is:

U5a2b

Solid with my knowledge that I was researching up the right trees, I ventured around the site a little more. Honestly, I was not at all sure what to expect. Armed with these mtDNA results and a lot of research on my maternal lines, I do hope to find matches. I suppose the site is like a topic-specific social media site - people join but you don't know who you might find. Yet.

Postives:

Nice graphical results

Lists of possible cousins

Fun DNA surveys

Negatives:

Share everything to make connections

Few people reply

And my biggest negative is that I was hoping it showed me more. I read articles and blogs about connections and 'I share x % of DNA with this distant cousin,' and 'y strand of DNA matches this person so we confirm our relationship.' Maybe I'm doing it wrong, but I'm not getting that warm fuzzy connected feeling. I am analytical - I want to see data. No doubt, being able to even perform this test is amazing, but I want to know more. 

Next step - talk my dad into taking a test for those elusive paternal Irish lines!

What are your experiences with testing? Have you made unexpected matches? Any tips for me, like I really missed something on the website? Do you match me (crosses fingers!)? 

Maybe I will learn that patience is inherited.

© 2013 Sally Knudsen

Surname Saturday - Hummel

Today's Surname Saturday entry is Hummel.

This is me with my almost 95-year-old grandmother. Her only sibling is 97. You read that right. Long live the Hummel's! My line, through Grandma, lived near Stuttgart, Germany, in a village called Bunzwangen, as far back as the late 1600's. Our immigrant ancestor arrived in 1866 in Michigan.

View Larger Map

Some of their American locations are:

Adrian, Lenawee, Michigan

Pemberville, Wood, Ohio

Lansing, Ingham, Michigan

Some collateral names are:

Ebinger

Kopkau
Dork / Doerk
Schmidtke / Schmeidke

Buchele

Fork

Hoefer / Hofer / Hoffer

McDonald

Lipke

Here is a link to my website with all my known Hummel names. I'd love to hear from you if you find we have anyone in common!

© 2013 Sally Knudsen