Annual Report for 2002

In March 2002 I traveled to Nuremberg and again to Regensburg to continue work on the family history.

In the Landeskirchenarchiv Nürnberg I found several interesting documents relating to the Felbingers. I found only one register from the Ickelheim village school. This register covers graduations between the years 1852-1878, and from this I have excerpted the graduation records for the Felbinger and related children in Document no. 10 (see below). I also found original reports concerning the paternity of several Felbinger children born out of marriage; as this supporting documentation was often in a clearer handwriting than that in the birth registers, I used this information to correct my transcriptions of the birth registers in several instances. Lastly, I examined the account books of the Ickelheim poor relief efforts (Armen-Kasse). During the 1840s-50s Anna Margaretha Felbinger's (d. 1844) orphaned children became entitled to distributions from these communal funds, and several entries pertain to them. I will have to examine the registers more closely in order to make a comprehensive report of its contents.

In Regensburg I continued work on the Ickelheim vital registers. First, I proof-read the work I had done in 2001, and was able to correct several entries in the birth, marriage and death records (Documents nos. 7, 8 and 9), or at the least improve the readings. Readers of last year's versions of these documents will note the significant reduction of red transcriptions in the records. Progressing with further work, I was able to complete transcriptions of the Felbinger and Sturm birth records (Document no. 7). Other family names started appearing in this record (being married to Felbinger women); these will require transcription at a later time. I was able to add several entries for Felbinger marriages (Document no. 8). There was insufficent time to work on the death register (Document no. 9); however, I did transcribe a long entry from the entries for 1843 which describes the ceremonies upon the occasion of the opening of a new village cemetery that year (one of the first interments was Anna Margaretha, d. 1844). I spent rather more time looking at the vital registers of other localities, especially Westheim (which also covers the small hamlet of Sontheim) and Oberdachstetten, that I might transcribe important birth, marriage and death information from the late 18th century/early 19th century found in those registers. This information, which starts with a revised version of the birth record of Jobst Felbinger (b. 1769) has been transcribed in the corresponding documents in this index with appropriate indication of the source.

The work is not complete; further research is required.

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RIP -- With sadness, I note here the passing of my cousin Douglas Felbinger. It was Douglas's mother Dorothy who wrote a letter in 1970 to my aunt May Felbinger (then living in Queens Village, New York) to inquire whether they might be related. Aunt May passed the letter on to my father William Henry Felbinger (June 17, 1901-January 28, 1983), who had contact with some cousins in Illinois and through whom he was able to determine that indeed we were all related. At the time Dad and I could answer only certain questions about the immediate past, and unfortunately we lost contact with Dorothy. In the meantime, I continued my own research into the family history, which results are in these pages. In the last five years via the Internet I have again come into contact with the next generation of Felbinger descendants living in Illinois and California, and have also discovered relatives still living in Germany.

So, to Dorothy whose letter set me on this journey, and to Doug, to whom I could finally give so many answers to thirty-year old questions, I dedicate this year's work. -- JEF