Last Updated on December 12, 2019 The Gutknecht family has historical roots in Podewils dating back to the 1600s. This study focuses on possibly related lineages from the areas near Podewils in Kreis Belgard. My interest in this family stems from my own Gutknecht lineage, albeit a short and difficult to trace branch of the […]

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Rob Vance’s Gildermeister family (potentially originally spelled “Gildemeister” in Pomerania) arrived in Chicago just before the Chicago Fire. He states that his site is “about my Prussian paternal lines, with surnames they and others had a hard time spelling consistently.” From DNA research and the history of First Bethlehem Lutheran Church, he believes his family […]

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This page is currently a work in progress as I study the patterns of movement of shepherds and herdsmen from the Belgard parish. Philipp Wedig Bloedorn and Barbara Catharina Wenzel Schäfer in Ackerhof Karoline Sophia born February 1, 1794 in Ackerhof   Christoph Klotz and Christina Steffers (Steffens?) Hirte in Roggow Christoph Friedrich born April […]

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These documents were sent in by one of our readers, and further exemplifies why ship manifests alone do not paint a complete picture of our ancestors. The documentation provided here can help us learn more about ancestor professions, social standing and wealth, and potentially where they came from. While these documents might be fragmentary or […]

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I need to speak about the profession that generations of Rohrs were involved with.  Many of the old documents from Germany list the professions of the male line.  This is can also aid in finding additional information about one’s family and also confirm the information you currently have.  In the Rohrs’ case, this helped find […]

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A little Background…. As I think about the history of Germany, and the German people over time, for me, finding our family in that area of the world, has certainly given me a feeling of admiration for what these people have had to endure over the years whether brought on by themselves or others.  This […]

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One of our readers sent us a rather interesting document: the Sippenfragebogen for his relative Ewald Oskar Klebusch. It seems that this form was needed to be filled out during the Nazi time as a sort of family questionnaire. View the document here. More information about where these types of records can be found is unknown […]

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The following is a family tree submitted by Arlene Lill Cook. Her family came to the United States in 1923 while other relatives immigrated to Australia. Here is what she was able to contribute, and hopes that others might be able or willing to connect and fill in the gaps: The Family Tree Ferdinand Lill, […]

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This is one of another in a series of snippets of family trees I mapped out while working on discovering connections with DNA matches. Quite a few of my matches of interest have come from Gramenz, with names such as Abraham, Lübke, Freiberg, Färber, and Keske appearing frequently and often intertwining. One of these branches […]

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