Annual Report for 2006

If year 2005 was unusual because I did not go to Germany in those twelve months, year 2006 was equally unusual because I went to Germany twice, the first time I have ever done this. I could become accustomed to doing this of course, but there were specific reasons for these junkets, as this report will reveal. I have read through my log books to prepare for writing this year's report, and once again am impressed at how much I actually accomplished. The notes extracted from the logs come to six handwritten pages of standard paper, and they are basically short "memory jogs" for my composition here. Still, it seems I accomplish so little when actually doing research, most probably because of my singular inability to "get it right the first time": I can be a "detail person", but the factual errors can be staggering, and only looking at and transcribing records several times actually helps the process. I note here also several laments in the log books about whether I will ever finish: the breadth and depth of the "family history swamp" grows geometrically.

In looking through last year's report, I see I failed to mention that I was elected again in 2005 to the Vestry of the Congregation of St. Saviour at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine, and elected Clerk of Vesty as well. It is of course a great honor to serve in these positions; it is also (as anyone can guess) a great deal of work. I served in these positions until August 2006 when I submitted my resignation from the clerkship and the Vestry. There were several reasons for the resignations, but "personal exhaustion" would cover the situation adequately. The burdens of office had become more than I could adequately manage, and certainly time spent on Vestry business was time not spent on family research. Be assured I have not abandoned the Congregation or Cathedral altogether, I have simply refocused my participation.

To present this year's report, I will once again group my remarks around the Prahl and Felbinger families and then my research regarding specific groups and individuals.

Prahl families

In 2006 my researches into the Prahl and related families were not so much a matter of "prizes"; (for I spent comparatively little time here) as a matter of "surprises". In January I started perusing Lainhart, Ann S. A researcher's guide to Boston. Boston : New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2003, for a few hints as to how to proceed in researching the Blaicher - Baier connections. I noted in my log book that New England seems organized differently than New York with which I am better acquainted. In the city of Boston, the "City of Boston/Registry Division, Rm. 213, City Hall, Boston, MA 02201" and the Massachusetts State Archives, 220 Morrissey Blvd., Boston, MA 02125 seem most promising. As a last resort the New England Historic Genealogical Society, 101 Newbury St., Boston, MA has "lists of reputable genealogists". In the end, I have thought to make the necessary financial expense, as the only records I seek there is whether Carl Constantin Blaicher (great-grandfather)and Henrietta Marie Baier (great-grandmother) came through Boston, when they were married (and through the marriage certificate learn where they came from in Germany), and where their eldest daughter, grandmother Christina L.H. Blaicher, was born. Weighing this decision against the thought of taking money and time to go to Boston to research these four questions makes the NEHGS an attractive alternative. For their immigration records, I also noted that a trip to the National Archives and Records Administration branch here in New York at Varick Street might be well worth the trip.

In January I also discovered that the Stadtarchiv of Bad Oldesloe has a website, which leads me to believe I might actually be able to get specific information from them as to when 2GGF Charles Prahl renounced his citizenship and left for the United States.

February brought the first of the many great "surprises" in the Prahl family researches for 2006. Once again: "it pays to advertise" by having one's material on the Web. I was contacted by e-mail by a Donald Price who had seen my web pages and who claimed his maternal grandfather was one Walter Prahl whose father was Frederick Prahl whose father was Emil Prahl, and are we related. The information Donald initially sent me was tantalizingly close, but discrepencies kept throwing me off. My initial response to his inquiry would have been "No";, until I asked for the sources of his information. Donald responded he had taken the information from the Mormon Family Search website, and so I went there to check his results. In looking at the MFS records, I found two records that "lit up my Christmas tree", so a quick note to Donald saying I would get back to him. The two records were for an Alfred Valentine Prahl, born August 4, 1887 in Manhattan, and a Frederick William Prahl, born August 27, 1888, also in Manhattan. The thing that lit me up was that the parents were listed (and once again their names badly mangled) as Edward Alfred and Constance Delia Prahl! A check of my previous notes in the log book showed that Alfred Prahl (child) was buried August 13, 1887 in Grave no. 769, and Fredrich W. Prahl (child) on March 1, 1889, also in Grave no. 769 in Woodland Cemetery in Staten Island. They are two younger brothers of Grampa (Edward L.S. Prahl), previously unknown to me and Mom. Mom never mentioned them and, to my knowledge, neither did Grampa. This non-mention is in part understandable because Grampa and his sisters Adelaide and Matilda were small children less than six years of age at the time of Alfred's and Frederick's deaths, and not alive long enough to perhaps make a conscious impression. I might also guess that given the conventions of the time GGP Edward Alfred and Delia did not talk much about the children. This means my conclusion last year that "Emil" and "Fred", the two youngest sons of 2GGP Charles and Friedrike Prahl are *not* in the grave in Woodland Cemetery with their mother, as I had thought and mentioned in my 2005 report. Even at that time the information received seemed "right", but my thought was that it was like an octagonal peg in a round hole: seems to fit but not quite. Rather, the children Alfred Valentine and Frederick William, grandchildren of Friedrike Prahl, are the perfect round pegs in round holes. So where did "Emil" and "Fred" go? With the information Donald Price had given me, I called Linda Carco to make a visit to Ancestry.com. She finds an address record for a Frederick Prahl in Newark in 1891 and a 1900 census record for Frederick that shows Walter Louis Prahl as his son. Frederick found! Running Emil through the census records also reveals his presence in Newark: Emil found! So now all the information fits. It also points out the difficulty of the "lost" 1890 Federal census. Emil and Fred would certainly have come of age about 1888-1890 and moved away from their father Charles. Moving to New Jersey they may not have been routinely in contact with their sister-in-law Delia Prahl (living with her parents Ignaz and Elisabeth Merkel) and therefor not with Grampa Edward L.S. Prahl either. Hence, the only information Grampa had about them were their names. Among the other records, Linda also found Walter Prahl's draft registration card for World War I. So I wrote a long e-mail to Donald Price, a newly discovered third cousin, and the source for clearing up a significant mystery. Of course, I had to inform Mom of this discovery also; even in the midst of her dementia she truly did seem to understand what I was trying to tell her.

A visit to NYPL in March to follow up on a couple bibliographic leads: Smith, C.N. German revolutionists of 1848. The volume lists only those in Baden, but no mention of 2GGF Ignaz Merkel. Smith admits that as many as 25% of all the Forty-Eighters who left may never have been counted because they left illegally.

In May I received an e-mail from a Diane Tomlins, informing me that her great-great-grandfather was Philip Georg Merkel, born in Baden-Baden in 1826 and asking whether he might be related to Ignaz Merkel, born 1829 in the same place. Unfortunately, I have no way of knowing, because I am unaware of any siblings 2GGF Ignaz may have had, so all I could reply to Diane's inquiry is that a relationship is certainly a possibility, but unknown.

In early June I finally finished the inventory of the records of the Woodland Cemetery, publishing the results to my fellow trustees. Work on improving the condition of the Cemetery continues, but it is a slow, laborious task that will take many more willing hands than we ourselves possess. We did have a clean-up day September 23rd at a time that I was called to other affairs. I did arrive after the clean-up, to find great improvement in the Cemetery's physical condition. Having come that far, I took the opportunity to make a physical inspection of the Cemetery to more closely look at gravestones and whether there are sufficient stones in specific sections (especially the section known as "Common Ground") to employ them as markers for locating other graves in the immediate vicinity. Sad to say, several older stones are soft stones of various kinds, so that though the graves are marked, the inscriptions are mostly gone, making identification difficult if not impossible. Leaving the Cemetery, I also located the Staten Island Institute of Arts and Sciences (just a few blocks from the Ferry), so that I can find them again at a future time to research their resources.

End of June/beginning of July Alice made her annual visit to New York. To give her a taste of what it's like to do archival research, I planned a field trip for us to the NYC Municipal Archives. We looked for the vital records of several ancestors on both sides of the family. For the Prahls, I was particularly interested in obtaining the birth/death certificates of Grampa's two younger brothers, Alfred Valentine and Frederick William Prahl. We found the death certificates easily enough, and the birth certificates as well. But Alice, sharper-eyed than I, noticed a peculiarity in Alfred Valentine's birth certificate: rather than being listed as the fourth child, he is listed as the "5th child, 4th survived". Fifth child? How can this be, if there were only five children? We looked at Frederick William's certificate, and noted that he is listed as "6th child, 5th survived". This was truly a mystery, because it was clear from these two records that GGP Edward Alfred and Delia Prahl had *six* children, not five. Stunned by this revelation, Alice and I looked for the birth certificates of Grampa's two sisters, Adelaide and Mathilda Prahl, and found they too were listed as the "3rd child, 2nd survived", and "4th child, 3rd survived" respectively. This left only Grampa (Edward L.S. Prahl) to be considered, and as I mentioned to Alice, his birth certificate is so faded as to be almost illegible. Nevertheless we looked for it, and by straining our eyes and looking at the microfilm record sideways, we are fairly persuaded that it says "2nd child, 1st survived". And who is the mystery "first child"? If GGP Edward Alfred and Delia were married in October 1881(not 1880 as Schlegel reports), and Grampa was born December 5, 1882, this means he was conceived sometime in early March 1882, so there was only 6 months between the marriage and Grampa's conception. Did Edward Alfred and Delia have another child, most likely stillborn, between October 1881 and March 1882, and if so, when? Or was Delia pregnant before the marriage? A search by me in August did not reveal any birth/death certificates for this mysterious "first child". But my search was hasty, and only later did I consider it might be listed under "Merkel" rather than "Prahl". Another mystery to be more closely explored in the Municipal Archives.

I did not accomplish great feats of research in July and August, but the months were particularly momentous in discovering resources ("more surprises"). Cruising the Internet one day for information about the 45th NY Infantry Regiment, I found an article by Stephen Beszedits: Charles Semsey: Hungarian patriot, Union soldier, and Ellis Island official. Momentarily, I was intrigued: how does this man have any connection to the 45th NY? A quick scan of the article indicated Semsey enlisted in the 45th NY in 1861, was promoted to major, and served with the regiment through its actions in the Shenandoah Valley the following year. He resigned in 1862. What particularly caught my eye was that he was elected president of the Veterans' Association of the 45th NY in 1881, to serve the following year. In that capacity, he was present on September 17, 1882 in Lutheran Cemetery, Middle Village, NY, to dedicate a soldier's monument for the burial ground of the Koltes Post No. 32, Grand Army of the Republic. According to the account, the "battle-weathered flags of the 7th, 40th, 45th, 58th, 62nd and 66th New York volunteer regiments" fluttered in the wind. The article at least proves that the 45th New York *had* a veterans' association, and I might assume Ignaz Merkel was a member. The article also caused me to do some checking, and I found that the G.A.R. records for the New York regiments are in the State Library and Archives in Albany. On a short trip to Vermont in the first week of August, I stopped in Albany for a few hours to visit the Archives (have never been to the facilities), to at least familiarize myself with the building. The entire south side on the 7th floor is set aside for those doing genealogical research. I did find the index for the special 1890 Federal census of Civil War veterans, but did not find Ignaz's name listed. Of course, I should go back and check his pension records for the original date of application. A visit to the Archives on the 11th floor at least showed me where they are located, but of course they are not set up for the casual visitor. A letter to them about the G.A.R. records, and perhaps an inquiry about the 71st Regiment National Guard (for Charles Edward Prahl) should start the ball rolling.

Even most significant than these discoveries was the discovery I made in the middle of August. The New York regional branch of the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA), located on Varick ST downtown, was holding a lunchtime presentation on New England genealogy. Strange to relate, I have never gone to NARA here in New York, so for the sake of finding its location and the thought of getting some better grip on finding GGP Carl and Henrietta (Baier) Blaicher, I went to the presentation. In itself, the presentation did not suggest much more than I already know. But ... look for one thing, find another: while waiting for the presentation, I perused NARA's reading and reference area, and found a book that presented me with a clue for which I have been looking for easily 20-30 years: Munden, Kenneth W. The Union: a guide to Federal archives to the Civil War, Washington, D.C., NARA, 1962 (frequently reprinted). Specifically, pp. 401-406 indicated the manuscript records of the 45th New York may well be in the National Archives in Washington. Oh, happy day!!! A quick check of NARA's website strongly suggested this, so I wrote a letter Washington. I received a *three*-paged letter by the end of the month that: yes, indeed the records are here. I now have visions of spending my retirement shuttling back and forth between Germany, Albany and Washington to get all of this material under control. Right, like I got a reason to stay home. 8-)

End of August I found a website for the Veterans' Association of the 71st Regiment, NYNG. I wrote its president, Clarence Anspake, about GGU Charles Edward Prahl. In September he replied, telling me that the records of the current association are not extensive, and besides, the service of members in peacetime tend "to fall between the cracks". He did suggest I write the NY State Military Museum in Saratoga Springs, but of course I visited there a few years ago and they effectively sent me to the Veterans' Association. Of course, I can check the Adjutant General's reports, though I am not sanguine about these. And the Military Museum has a "Veteran Burial Location File". Now I know where Charles is buried (Woodland Cemetery), but the presence of his name in a file would be helpful also.

In September I wrote Trinity Lutheran Church in Stapelton, Staten Island, whether they might have a death record for 2GGM Friedrike Prahl; finally had to call them and the short answer is "No". On a Google website, I did find that Grampa Edward L.S. did register with the draft in World War I, and was able to obtain the record from Linda Carco.

Work on the Internet became the "order-of-business" for the months of October through December While working on some Woodland Cemetery business in October, I did take a look at the NY City Death Index on the German Genealogy Group website. I was pleased to find that GGM Henrietta Blaicher had finally made it to the list (having died in 1942), I also found some additional Blaichers in the Bronx (Henry, 2 months, 12/22/1905; William, 11 months, 9/27/1906); in Manhattan (Marie, 1 month, 1/7/1924; Violet ("Aunt Vi"), 36 years, 12/7/1936); in Queens (Annie R., 51 years, 1/23/1930; Jennie, 40 years, 12/2/1936; Maria, 56 years, 5/24/1947). As the name is not common, taking a look at these might prove intriguing.

Additionally, Ancestry.com allowed several "free" search times on their websites from October through December. I took full advantage of this opportunity to do research, both for passenger lists and census records to track down several Prahls and related families. I xeroxed out several Prahl and related family records. The passenger manifests for New York and Boston revealed several possibilites both suggestive and intriguing. Never being particularly sure when 2GGP Ignaz and Elisabeth (Stephan) Merkel were married, I double-checked Ignaz' pension records, to discover the date is October 15, 1851. This eliminates much of my previous research done for 2GGM Elisabeth Stephan. Still, there is an intriguing passenger record for a Eiles Stephan (female; approximately the right age) arriving in New York from Baden in August 1851. Extensive search brought me to the conclusion that no Blaicher or Baier immigrated to the U.S. passing through the port of Boston. Rather, I found only one record for a Carl Blaicher coming through New York on February 19, 1880 from Bremen and Southhampton. There are several Baier, Bayer, Beier, Beyer possibilites also through New York in 1881/82. One entry I did find particularly intriguing: for a Marie Bayer, about 19 years (approximately the right age), arriving June 19, 1882 from Antwerp on the ship "Vaderland". As GM Christina Blaicher was born August 1886, there would have been sufficient time for GGP Carl and Henrietta Marie Blaicher to be in the Boston area, married and ready for the birth in that time frame. Additionally, I found another very intriguing record for a Louise Bayer, born about 1867, age 16 years, arriving May 23, 1883 in New York on the ship "Hohenzollern"; from Bavaria, final destination: Massachusetts. This person could very well be GGM Henrietta (Baier) Blaicher's younger sister (again, the age is approximately right), who married Joseph Anrig, living at 983 Amsterdam Ave. in Manhattan for many years. I traced the Anrigs through the Federal censuses for 1910, 1920 and 1930 (finding no mention in the 1900 census). The Anrigs all died comparatively young: wife Louise died January 18, 1918, aged 50 years; husband Joseph died December 1, 1921, aged 65 years; daughter Katherine died December 15, 1928, aged 34 years; son Raymond died December 24, 1936, age 36 years. Only son Henry was still alive in l936. The thing is (and there are a lot of "if's"): if I can find the birth records of the children, and if I can find the marriage record of Joseph and Louise Anrig in the NYC Municipal Archives (they may have been living in "the Bronx" in 1895, which was then part of Manhattan), it might state where they were born in Switzerland and Germany respectively. It would be particularly gratifying to find that GGM Henrietta Blaicher came from Bavaria; the listing of "Nautaug(??)" on her death certificate has not been helpful.

There are additional Prahl matters to be mentioned here. At church one Sunday, I mentioned that I inherited a Civil War era diary from Grampa. My fellow acolytes became intrigued, and the mention perked up my curiousity as well. One evening in October, I took the diary out of the files to examine it more closely. According to Grampa, he (along with Mom and Aunt Chris) was living in "the Bungalow", a small house he owned in Mastic, Long Island, NY in the late 1920s and 1930s. One day, Grampa took a walk through the neighborhood and came upon a house being demolished. While the workmen were demolishing the house, they were also throwing whatever detritus they found into a pile for later removal. Grampa poked through the pile and found the diary. When he returned to "the Bungalow" and examined the volume, he realized what he had, went back to the demolition site to see if he could find more, but by that time everything had been cleared away. The diary came into my possession upon his death. The diary was written by a James Thorne, resident in Manhattan before the Civil War and into the early war years (the diary runs from 1857 to December 31, 1862). On the front fly-leaf, the diarist's brother Henry wrote a note that James was a Democrat, but "strong for the Union"; James joined a regiment in Brooklyn and fought in the Gettysburg campaign (not recorded in the diary). Inspired to do a little research, I looked for "James Thorne" in the various Internet sites listing veterans of the Civil War, and indeed, found one "James Thorne" who had enlisted in the 23rd Infantry Regiment, New York National Guard. This regiment was raised in Brooklyn, had a thirty-day enlistment between June 15-July 15, 1863 and was sent to Pennsylvania, participating in two minor engagements related to the invasion of Pennsylvania by the Army of Northern Virgina (Gettysburg campaign). During the free Ancestry.com events, I checked for James Thorne in Manhattan in 1860; though a common name, there is only one James Thorne listed, an engraver by trade. This fits nicely, as the diary is written in a extremely miniscule handwriting indicative of someone who was used to doing extremely small handwork. So, Grampa had discovered a real treasure, but only the miracle of the Internet allowed me to follow up on this intriguing artifact of American history.

While on a field trip in November to visit my cousins Lorraine Stewart and Georgine Farish in Virginia (Felbinger side of the family), I did some Prahl business as well. Cousin Lorraine lives in the Richmond area, Georgine outside Washington. While driving between the two metropolitan areas, I took time (both going and coming) to visit the Fredericksburg/Chancellorsville battlefields. I have been particularly interested in these battles, for though the 45th NY Infantry was not engaged at Fredericksburg, it was very much involved in the Battle of Chancellorsville. The 45th was in the 1st Brigade, 1st Division, 11th Corps, Army of the Potomac, a unit not highly regarded because its personnel were mostly immigrants, mainly German. The fortunes of war are such, that the 11th Corps was on the right flank of the Union line, and the 45th one of the four regiments (along with the 41st and 54th NY, and the 153rd PA infantry regiments) that formed the extreme right flank of the 11th Corps' sector, where action was expected to be "quiet". In the early evening of May 2, 1863, these four regiments were the first to receive the full brunt of the daring surprise attack made by Stonewall Jackson's Confederates. According to 2GGF Ignaz Merkel's pension records, he was accounted "present for duty", though allegedly wounded the day before. Perhaps a good thing: reports of this debacle are confused, stating the regiments fought as well as they could or fled without firing a shot. Seeing 26,000 Confederates coming at you full tilt, whooping the Rebel yell, knowing there were only you and 1,200 very surprised, very unprepared fellow soldiers to stop them, I'm sure many men thought it prudent to retire with as much grace as might be mustered in the circumstance. I stopped at the Chancellorsville Visitors' Center that stands near the alleged spot where Jackson was wounded by "friendly fire" later in the night. Obviously, the Center staff were most interested in asserting this fact; they were a bit crestfallen when I said I was really looking for the ground of the 45th NY Infantry (more Southern than Northern tourists coming through, little doubt). Still, they were gracious and pointed me in the direction to the west where the initial assault happened. There is a short road off the north side of the busy highway with a few signs explaining the action at this point. I took pictures and headed north.

Finally, I took time in December to scan various Prahl and related family pictures into the computer. These photographs I sent to Robert Prahl and Donald Price.

One final note: I kept an eye on the renovations begun last year at 983 Amsterdam Ave. The work has been completed, and a good job too. In one of those strange opportunities that occur once in a lifetime and will never come again, I was in the Post Office at West 104th ST one afternoon to pick up a package. A woman came in to complain that her mail was still being delivered, though she had told the Post Office not to do this and to keep it for her. You may well guess her address: 983 Amsterdam Ave. Obviously I would have like to have talked with her, but her frustration, outrage and anger were so intense that she was not approachable. So it goes.

Felbinger families

After re-reading what I have written above, I am amazed at exactly how much I accomplished in 2006 to advance the Prahl records on this web-page. At the actual time I was doing all this, I had the feeling I was doing more for the Felbinger and the related families. My report on my activities for them follows.

In January and February I spent much of my time preparing the annual report for 2005 and planning activities for 2006. I also tried to back up several files, and all went well until it came to the final file,the Ickelheim Findbuch of the archives in Nuremberg, which would not be back up because it was "corrupted". I suspect the computer did not like the original formatting of the file, and that I had not worked on it in a long time. Enlisting the help of Columbia University Libraries' Electronic Text Service, I was able to make another copy of the file, but I spent an inordinate amount of time actually having to type it over.

I spent more productive time in January through March going through the Brenner Archive records at the Family History Center in Woodside, Queens, working on the Sturm family. My concern here was to find the several family members related to Johannes Sturm who, though no ancestor of mine, was nevertheless the ancestor of several Sturms who played roles later in the Felbinger family history. I was especially interested in finding record of his first wife (Anna Barbara Schmidt, the sister of Anna Sibylla Schmidt, who later married 3GGF Jobst Felbinger) as well as records of his ancestors. Certainly I found Johannes Sturm's extract record among the records in the Brenner Archive. It indicates his father's name was Georg Sturm, a shepherd in Gerbersdorf, and that Sturm's age at the time of his death in 1799 was 48 years of age, which would put his birth sometime in 1750/1751, and in Sontheim. As for his ancestors, the records I found in the Archive presented me with no clear-cut case of his ancestors. For all his descendants I found the various sheets and copied them for the records.

Early in the year I started making preparations for a trip to the archives in Nuremberg and Regensburg. As part of that preparation, I noticed the FOKO (Forscher-Kontakte) on the Genealogienetz.de website. Just for fun I input "Felbinger", and found two contact people. I wrote letters to both. From the one person who alledgedly has information on the early Felbingers (pre-1760), I did not receive a reply; he will go nameless here. The other, Marianne Amann, seemed more familiar: indeed, I have met her before in the Gesellschaft für Familienforschung in Nuremberg. Subsequent contact with her in Nuremberg indicates that her step-great-grandmother was Anna Barbara (later called Babette) Felbinger, born April 28, 1852, and whose record are listed in my files. This makes Frau Amann and I related by marriage.

In March I made the trip to Germany. I had planned to spend two weeks, the first week in the Landeskirchliches Archiv Nürnberg, the second week in Kirchenbucharchiv Regensburg, and the intervening weekend in Munich. That was the plan anyway. The plan was immediately derailed by dental trouble, which I had been having off and on even before I left and which flared up immediately upon take-off in New York. I fared no better in Nuremberg. Now, my German is adequate enough to tell a dentist what is wrong, but any dentist would look at me with askance were I to tell him I require root canal for *three* teeth. A German dentist would tell me simply to go home. I will spare the reader of these lines the grim details, except to say I cut the trip as short as possible and returned to New York within the week. But as I had a couple appointments to keep and as it took me a few days to make the necessary arrangements to fly home, I continued work as best I could and, for all the pain and misery, still managed to accomplish a few things.

In the Landeskirchenarchiv, I had the copy of the marriage dispensation required by Johannes Sturm to marry Anna Sibylla Schmidt photocopied, so I might bring it home and decipher the few words I have heretofore been unable to read. Of course, the minute I pick up the original and look at the document (for the third time), I can decipher the words: always the way. OK, so I still need the copy: I want to post it on the web page. The rest of the week I spent working on the Ickelheim Armenkasse records (RA1-12) to get previous work corrected and to continue transcription, and to start transcribing the Pfarr-Beschreibung (Ickelheim Nr. 54) dating from the years 1833-1843, the heydays of the Felbingers.

My two appointments also went very well. One was a dinner visit with cousin Dieter Kett; always pleasant to get together with him and catch up. The other was to go Wednesday afternoon to the Stadtarchiv Nürnberg to visit the Gesellschaft für Familienforschung in Franken (GFF). Actually, on Wednesday morning Frau Amann came to work in the Landeskirchenarchiv and presented me with her records and recollections of her step-GGM Anna Barbara (Babette) Felbinger. From all account, Frau Amann met Anna Barbara a few times, the last time in 1942 during the war when Anna Barbara was already 90 years old. Frau Amann never saw her again; it is mostly likely Anna Barbara did not survive the war, cause of death unknown. In the afternoon I went to GFF, paid my 2006 dues and presented them with copies, both paper and on computer files, of all the Felbinger research I have done, and obtained all the Gesellschaft's sheets on who has done what research for the Felbingers, Fichtelmanns, Sturms, Schmidts and Schuris. It was only the following day I realized I had not asked for the Beierleins and Eders, but oh well, another day: I have enough to keep busy for a while.

I flew home to New York on Saturday, April 1st. For all the misery, I still accomplished some things. As a consolation prize, I got to sit in first class on the flight home: something else I could get used to (leg room!) were it not so expensive.

Upon my return, I spent April cleaning up the Sturm records from the FHC in Queens, and writing out the lists for the other families requiring research (Eder for the Felbingers; Schmidt, Schuri, Krauß, Weiß, Engelhard and Helm (all related to the Fichtelmanns). April was also spent transcribing all the material I collected in Nuremberg.

And work on the Sturm records continued through May. Oh, Heiliger Bimbam, can I ever copy anything right!?!?!?!

Beginning in June I started working in earnest on the Meyer entries in the registers of the Zion German Evangelical Lutheran Church, 125 Henry ST, Brooklyn. I confess to a certain accidia in approaching these records; for some strange reason I found it extremely difficult to get going. Some of this lethargy was generated, little doubt, by the thought that GM Cenie was the only Meyer in the registers, as a cursory search had not yielded anything. To help myself, I printed out the Zion Church indexes from the German Genealogy Group (GGG) web-pages. There are no Felbingers in these registers, I did not expect to find any. Rather I was looking for the Meyers and Doppmanns (GM Cenie Felbinger's parents and relations), and the Pfortners (large in Felbinger family lore). I should also look at the Müllers as well, as an Eva Margaretha Müller is listed as one of Cenie's baptismal sponsors. I edited the indexes, red-pencilling all the entries that could not possibly be related to Cenie (dates, mostly), and then using the edited indexes to go through the registers meticulously. I started with the Doppmanns and struck immediate pay-dirt with six of them in the baptismal registers, as the fathers are all from Wulmsdorf, so I assume they all might be related to GGM Catarina Doppmann. One specific baptismal entry caught my eye: Carl Friedrich Heinrich Doppmann (b. August 24, 1868; baptized August 30, 1868. One of Carl's godfathers was listed as Johann Heinr. *Meier*. This was too coincidental: I have always known GGP Meyer as "Meyer", but Meier is of course a standard variation. Checking for Meiers in the GGG index, I found a Carl Meier born and baptized in 1867. Checking the register on June 9, 2006, I struck paydirt: the citation was for Carl Johann Heinrich Friedrich Meier, b. April 17, 1867, baptized June 9, 1867 (same day as today!), son of Heinrich Meier of Brinkum and Catharina Doppmann of Wulmsdorf. Aunt Gene's information holds up: this Carl Johann is "great uncle Charlie", GM Cenie's older brother. According to the information provided, GGP Meyer were living on Rutger St. in Brooklyn. Subsequent research turned up no reference to a "Rutger St." in Brooklyn, but little matter: the find was solid and presented hope I might find additional siblings in the registers.

End of June Alice came for her annual visit to New York. Details of our activities regarding the Prahl side of the family are in the "Prahl" section above. In addition, we were hot on the trail of Felbingers and Meyers as well. We looked for the death certificate of Maria B. Felbinger, daughter of GGP Johann Georg Felbinger and Maria Barbara Fichtelmann. Maria B. died December 12, 1871, aged two year, five months, twelve days of pneumonia crouposa ("The Croup"). This would make her birthday ... July 1, 1869. The ironies of dates in the family multiply. For Alma Felbinger, another daughter, we found her birth certificate (name on the certificate: "Fellwinger", another variation), born May 2, 1884; and her death certificate (name on the certificate: Filbinger, though no dot over the initial vowel, no loop in the letter either), died July 12, 1884 of cholera infantum. The surprise for Alma is that she is listed as the *tenth* child. Dad insisted there were only eight: so who might the other two children be?

During Alice's visit we made a number of field trips in addition to working in the archives. Ending our archive work in the early afternoon, we headed north from Chambers St. to visit the Tenement Museum at 97 Orchard St. The original building was built 1863, so it would be very similar to the tenements that the Prahls and Felbingers faced when they first got to America. Obviously the Museum has cleaned up their building greatly. But it's real clear why 2GGF Prahl moved within a few years to Staten Island: no romance about his interest in hunting, fishing and botany, rather to get the family away from the grime and filth and living cheek-by-jowl with so many others, I say. Room size alone is severely restrictive: makes my 550 square feet for me alone seem palatial.

The next day Alice and I took off to Brooklyn. We went to Brooklyn Heights, seeing the outside of the Zion German Evang. Luth. Church on Henry St. (couldn't get in). We wandered the neighborhood to Columbia Place (house numbers end at no. 44). Took a walk along the prominade to look at lower Manhattan from the Brooklyn side. In the afternoon, we went to the Brooklyn Historical Society, looking at the exhibits of work by immigrants in Brooklyn, made a short excursion to the Plymouth Church (where Henry Ward Beecher preached), then back to the Society for the "library open house". Alice brought with her a picture of Dad with a baseball team, hoping we might identify the team; I checked the catalog for "Germans" in Brooklyn, found a ouple promising entries.

Couple days later, Alice and I returned to Brooklyn. We met with Nancy Wiesenfeld, one of Alice's high school friends, at Borough Hall and headed with the B61 bus to Red Hook. There is no subway service there, Red Hook is a peninsula. In the 1860s and 1870s when the Meyers and Doppmanns lived there, Red Hook was busy because it functioned as the port for New York. Lower Manhattan could not handle the quantity of shipping, so much trans-Atlantic and Erie Canal traffic went to Red Hook. The docks required all kinds of manpower because it was all manual labor. After World War II Red Hook went into steep decline because container ships came into use, and the offloading of ships went to the New Jersey docks. Red Hook is now just beginning to revitalize because of the lowness of its rents and its out-of-the-way situation. We went down Van Brunt St. and got off the bus at Coffey St., walked back to Wolcott St., and had to be careful: some traffic, no traffic lights. After walking up and down Wolcott St., we could not find house number 100 where GM Cenie was born, but from the existing house numbers we determined it was either on the northeast corner of Wolcott and Van Brunt (a playground), or what is now a vacant lot behind the brick building on the northwest corner (and beyond that a church building, built 1899, now a hispanic Pentecostal Holiness Church). We walked back to Coffey St., which was Partition St. in the 1860s/70s and took pictures of the old street signs in the brick work of the buildings of Partition (Coffey) and Conover St. We continued west on Coffey to Ferris St. where I walked back north to Wolcott to take a picture of the HMS Queen Mary II, sitting in the Atlantic Basic. People in cabs asked us how to get to it; what do we know, we're tourists. Indeed, a number of people asked Alice why we were taking pictures; they were genuinely pleased to learn we were looking for family sites. After walking to the end of the piers to look at the Statue of Liberty, we continued along Van Dyke St. east to the Brooklyn Clay Retort and Firebrick Works (corner Richards St.). The building is original from the 1860s when GGP Meyer lived there. At Lorraine St. we took a B77 bus to Park Slope. We walked to 7th Ave. and 14th St. where lived GGF and GF J.G. Felbinger (as "Febbinger" in the Brooklyn City Directory 1897/98) on the east side of 7th. We then walked up 7th Ave. to Carroll St. Just south of Carroll is a Key Food supermarket on the west side of 7th, destroying 320 7th Ave. where GGF J.G. Felbinger Sr. died in 1918. Then walked up to Grand Army Plaza and spent the rest of the afternoon in Nancy's apartment. Must go back at some point to look at the Revolutionary War sites for the Battle of Long Island, and other Felbinger addresses.

After Alice's return to Vancouver, it was back to work at the Queens Family History Center on various Felbinger-related families. Brenner-Archive microfilm I had ordered had finally arrived, and I was able to check for two families, the Schuri (ancestors of GGM Maria Barbara Fichtelmann) and the Eder (3GGM Kunigunda Felbinger's family). There was nothing of interest in the Schuri microfilm; Eder proved more interesting, of which I will write more later. Work proceeded on the Zion Church files. Within their records I did find their confirmation records from the earlier period. In 1881, I did find a "Karl Meyer" listed; from the age I might guess it's great-uncle Charles. Better confirmatory evidence (bad pun) was found in the 1883 class: "Sophia Gesine Dorothea Marg. Meyer" was confirmed Palm Sunday, March 18th. Each child got a Bible verse (nice custom): Cenie's was John 5:24: "Wahrlich, wahrlich, ich sage euch: Wer mein Wort hört und glaubet dem, der mich gesandt hat, der hat das ewige Leben und kommt nicht in das Gericht, sondern er ist vom Tode zum Leben hindurchgedrungen." "Truly, truly I say to you: whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me, has eternal life and shall not come to judgment, but has gone from death to life." Finding this entry also confirms Aunt Gene's recollection of "Sophia" as being one of Cenie's names. It might also mean Cenie knew more German than she ever let on.

Did not accomplish as much in July as I thought I might. Some time was taken because I assisted my friend Rhonda Rubinson with a wedding for which the bride and groom required substantial material rendered into German. Happily, I do have a 1979 Episcopal prayer book in German, so that presented the least of our concerns. At the end of the month, however, I found more of the Meyer children in the Zion Church baptismal register; Aunt Gene's information continued to prove a reliable guide. These children included: "Henry" - Johann Heinrich Dietrich, b. March 22, 1870, baptized June 19th; "Dorothea" - Dora Margaretha Helene, b. November 21, 1871, baptized April 21, 1872; "Catherine" (known as "Aunt Kate") - Catharina Margaretha, b. November 22, 1873, baptized February 1, 1874; "Fred" - Friedrich Wilhelm, b. May 28, 1875, baptized October 31, 1875; "Alex" - Alexander Dietrich, b. March 28, 1877, baptized July 22nd; "William" - Dietrich Wilhelm, b. January 7, 1879, baptized July 13th; another "William" - Wilhelm Anderson Meyer, b. February 13,1883, baptized July 8th (and most likely the "Uncle Will" for whom Dad was named); "Annie" - Anna Magdalena Rebecca, born March 18, 1885; baptized August 9th ("Aunt Annie"). Except for an "Uncle Johnny", who Aunt Gene mentioned, these were all the Meyer children I could find, ten in all (counting great uncle Charles and Cenie, of course). Aunt Gene mentioned there were twelve, 2-3 having died young. Research in the baptismal registers for the following years turned up nothing, nor were any to be found in the death registers. But again, another look at some point might prove helpful; a search of the Municipal Archives would also be a wise idea. Still, the Zion registers have yielded more than I expected.

Before writing further, I mention here that in July a note from a Brian Cook, living in California, appeared in my e-mail box. Subsequent e-mails determined that Brian is the great-grandson of Martin Felbinger, b. 1888 to Johann Leonard Felbinger (b. 1853) and Eva Margaretha Felbinger (b. 1863). This would make his 4GGM Anna Margaretha Felbinger (b. 1807) and his 5GGF Jobst Felbinger (b. 1769). As Jobst is my 3GGF and his son Martin (b. 1802), brother of Anna Margaretha, this makes Brian and I 3rd cousins, twice removed. Good to have another cousin on board.

In August I began working earnestly on the Eder microfilms at the Queens FHC. This work continued through September. I must say I probably spent more time on these records than I should, tracing the Eders of Oberdachstetten/Spielberg from their earliest-mentioned ancestor, Abraham Eder (b. 1621; d. 1689), one of the Exulanten coming out of Austria. In this instance, I continued transcription of Oberdachstetten/Spielber Eder records through to the early 20th century. Even if related only by marriage, it does become a fascinating study of how war and religion factor into family history.

Other minor work done in September/October: I sent a note to Richard Haberstroh who has written the book on German churches in New York City. My inquiry concerned John Henry Meyer and Catarina Doppmann and where they might be married. My only lead was from their marriage certificate: the attending clergyman was John *Banth*. Richard wrote back that the clergyman is *Banks*, who was involved with the German Evangelical Church which was at the corner of Schermerhorn and Court Streets in Brooklyn. Alledgedly, Concordia College in Bronxville, NY has the records from the church. A letter to them yielded no reply, so a phone call might be a better approach. I also checked GF J.G. Felbinger's baptismal certificate; it was signed by a Daniel Duerstein. Checking Haberstroh's book, I found that Duerstein was connected with the German Methodist Church, founded 1856 in the Carroll Hill section of Brooklyn, and from 1868-1882 at Dekalb Ave. near Fleet St.: its records are unaccounted for.

The big activity in October was the second trip to Germany, to continue the research interrupted by dental troubles in March. It's amazing how much a person can accomplish when actually feeling "well". The first week was spent in Nuremberg in the Landeskirchliche Archiv. I limited my efforts to working on the Ickelheim Armenkasse records and the Pfarrei-Beschreibung of 1833-1843. The Armenkasse records proceeded well enough, but again I was plagued by all the niddling little details of transcription and, much to my surprise, I found additional material in the post-1870 registers. I will have to make another effort to finish these records at another time. Transcription of the Pfarrei-Beschreibung proceeded rather better. Having transcribed the first six pages in March, I was able with great effort to transcribe the 7th through 24th pages of the document, so progress is significant. Why, it might take me only another ... 3-5 years to finish the transcription. Of course, I would have to go back to check it all.

While in Nuremberg I made another visit to the Gesellschaft für Familienforschung in Franken, paid my 2007 dues (hey, came this far: almost cheaper to make the trip rather than deal with banks for currency conversion; more pleasant, too), and pick up on things I missed in March. My inquiries led to another gold mine of information. Frau Amann and I were looking at records done by Ludwig Wendel (remember Ludwig Wendel??? He's the researcher who did some work for me back in 1979-1981). GFF has scanned his research into their computers, so yes, I see .jpeg copies of the records he sent me 25 years ago. Thing is: there are *other* records as well, including preliminary notes to all his research, covering basic citations on all the stuff I have so laboriously copied out the last five years (and missing a lot I have extracted as well). And on the particular sheet that he sent me for 3GGF Leonhard Friedrich Felbinger (Westheim), there appears an additional note: "Beerdig.-Matrikel Kleinweisach: '1818. S. 109, Nr. 4 - Friedrich Felbinger, Schäfer, Evang., Hombeer, verheirathet, Lungensucht. Gest. den 24. März 1818 Mittags, Begr. den 27. März, Predigt, 58 Jahr.' (= Geb. Obersulzbach 19.1.1661 [sic] als Sohn des. Joh. Paul Felbinger!?) Beerig. der Ehefrau in Kleinweisach negativ." This states: "Burial record in Kleinweisach: '1818, P. 109, Nr. 4: Friedrich Felbinger, shepherd, Lutheran, Hombeer(?), married, pneumonia. Died March 24, 1818 midday; buried March 27th, sermon, 58 years old' (= born Obersulzbach 19.1.1661 [sic] as the son of Joh. Paul Felbinger!?) Burial of wife in Kleinweisach not indicated". I would like to think a 27 year search is ended; certainly it is an intriguing piece of information. Subsequent search of maps would certainly lend credence to this conclusion, as Wendel found a record for Georg Felbinger, one of 3GGF Leonhard Friedrich's sons, who died August 9, 1812, age 21 years, in Guttenstetten. Both Guttenstetten and Kleinweisach lie to the north of Neustadt/Aisch. Of course, as I noted in my logbook at the time, the distinct probability of this entry being 3GGF Leonhard Friedrich in no way goes on to explain why and when he got this far removed from Westheim (following the sheep, little doubt), or why and when his youngest daughter, 2GGM Margaretha Barbara Felbinger, made it back to Westheim to marry 2GGF Martin Felbinger: therein lies the mystery. There may be some additional information buried in the parish archives for Westheim of which I am unaware.

And if any think I spend all of my time doing nothing but research while I am in Germany: I did take a little time to do the "tourist thing". There was an exhibition going on near the Landeskirchenarchiv: "200 Jahre Franken in Bayern" - "200 years of Franconia in Bavaria". Basically, a history of Franconia within the context of Bavaria for the last 200 years. Before then, Franconia had been independent until the margrave of Ansbach-Bayreuth-Kulmbach abdicated, and it came under the jurisdiction of the Hohenzollerns in the last decade of the 18th century. At the beginning of the 19th century, Franconia came to Bavaria through various Napoleonic machinations, and has been there ever since. And often the Franconians do not think of themselves as Bavarian, which explains a lot of tensions. Interesting exhibit, especially fo the late 18th through 19th centuries while the Felbingers were still there.

After the weekend stay in Munich, I traveled to Regensburg to visit the Kirchenbucharchiv. I had a work list of 6-7 items requiring my attention, and only three days to accomplish the work (short in the money department, I'm afraid). Progress was immediately stymied because I was working with 18th century material, and the handwritings are rather more difficult. I had thought to pursue the ancestors of Johannes Sturm, as they are significant to other Felbinger family members. I found when I got to Regensburg that the Gerbersdorf bei Weihenzell records that might have yielded much information had been sent out for microfilming only the week before, so that put the kebosh on that idea. Still, that would not prevent me from exploring Johannes Sturm, his first wife Anna Catharina Schmidt (as I had learned from the Brenner Archive records in New York) and their children. I found that Eschenbach has also been filmed, so that might allow me to pursue the Beierlein side of the family. Obviously I need more time in Regensburg, but tried to accomplish what I might within the three days alloted.

Not that my time in Regensburg was without surprises. While looking for baptismal records of the Sturms' first marriage, I stumbled across the death record of 4GGF Johannes Schmidt who died in Sontheim January 24th, 1785, age 54 years and a few months. This would mean a birth date sometime in late 1730. The record mentions that he moved around a lot and had only settled in Sontheim for the last 12 years of his life. This can well mean that trying to find the records for his children (Anna Christina Schmidt Sturm and Ann Sybilla Schmidt Sturm Felbinger among them) could be more than a little difficult. Still, having his death record is a great step forward. Another important record was finding in the Oberdachstetten registers a marriage record for another Margaretha Barbara Felbinger who married Johann Michael Hörber in 1764. In this timeframe I would guess this is a previously unknown sister of 4 GGF Johann Paul Felbinger and his brother Leonhard Friedrich. A quick read of the baptismal register indicated she had a miscarriage and abortion the following year. I did not find any particular reference to other children, but then I was moving rather quickly too, so the search was hasty, complicated by the difficulty of the handwriting, so had a photocopy of the marriage record made for transcription at home. I had been looking to see whether Johann Paul had a second marriage in Oberdachstetten, but that appears not to be the case; still, I missed looking in Obersulzbach, so must try again later.

Coming to the third and last day of my visit, it was a toss-up as to what to pursue, there being so many items needing my attention. I decided to leave the communicant lists for another time, and to concentrate on another intriguing possibility: I chose to explore in greater depth the entry of 2GGM Margaretha Barbara Felbinger's godparent, Johann Felbinger, Halbbauer in Burgbernheim, because the entry itself in no way indicates the family relationship. In the end, I discovered they are brother and sister, but the process of getting there is longwinded. Happily, the Burgbernheim records have been filmed in the two years since I last looked at them; they have extensive indexes too, though unhappily the modern indexes are not totally correct, for they miss the marriage of Johann F. and his wife Barbara Mack in 1826. The modern indexes do go through 1956, though for reasons of confidentiality the records only go to the 1880s. Even from this information I can piece together a story. Johann F. and Mack marry and have three children, two boys and a girl. The boys die young and the girl, Margaretha Barbara Felbinger (yet another Margaretha Barbara Felbinger!), has several children out-of-marriage. The oldest child, Johann Adam, married in 1880, starts having children ... and the rest is kismet. And the connection of Johann Felbinger to 3GGF Leonhard Friedrich Felbinger? Johann's death record in 1865 states his age as 73 years, and his marriage record as "Schäfer-Sohn von Westheim". So has to be Leonhard Friedrich's son. Now Leonhard Friedrich married 1790 in Trautskirchen and only arrived in Westheim in 1794. There is no record of this Johann Felbinger in Westheim. So, are there children previous to Westheim? I dimly remember having such a record in my records. When I can get online later in the evening I find the record: Johann (Wolfgang) Felbinger, b. 1792 in Unternbibert. And everything falls neatly into place. I have searched the Internet and find several Felbingers still reside in the village of Burgbernheim, about 10 km. west of Ickelheim. Through my research I find I should be cousin with all the modern Burgbernheim Felbingers who are all descended from 3GGP Leonhard Friedrich Felbinger and Catherina Beierlein through their son Johann (Wolfgang) Felbinger and his daughter Margaretha Barbara Felbinger. So, my short trip to Regensburg was quite successful, and there is still much to do.

In the first week of November I spent my time employing the Ancestry.com free-search period looking for various Felbinger family records as well as for Prahl. I did find the listing for GGF J.G. Felbinger's naturalization, no thanks to Ancestry.com: they listed his name as "Flbinger (no vowel, "e" or "i"). I looked for GGF Johann Hinrich Meyer's naturalization, but there are so many John Meyers, John Henry Meyers, Henry Meyers (and under Meier as well) in so many courts in Brooklyn as to make the search pointless without additional information on individual records (like addresses) to distinguish them. Looking for ship records also proved an interesting experience. Again for Meyer and its permutations it is essentially hopeless. Still there were some intriguing possibilities: 1) Johann Meier, b. about 1846, age 14, arrived New York Jul 13, 1860 from Hannover, on the "Atlantic", occupation "farmer"; 2) Heinr. Meyer, b. about 1845, age 16, arrived New York August 18, 1861 from Hannover on the "Coriolan, no occupation; 3) Heinr. Meyer, b. about 1844, age 17 1/2, arrived New York from Hannover, 1861, occupation, farmer. Again, it is idle to speculate whether any of these are GGF Meyer without corroborating documentation. For the Doppmanns, I did not find too much, but one record was intriguing: Margaretha Doppmann, b. about 1847, age 18 2/3, coming from Wulmsdorf with Dorothea and Regina Meyer (also from Wulmsdorf), departing the Sanday Island, Orkneys to New York on the ship "Industry", arriving November 25, 1865. I also made a copy of the passenger manifest of the GGF J.G. Felbinger and the Fichtelmanns coming over on the "Hermann" in 1867, as well as the manifest for Johann Leonhard Felbinger (as Filbinger) arriving in New York May 23, 1891. Last, I searched for GP Felbinger in the various Federal census records. I could find nothing for them in 1900 (though GGP Felbinger are easily found). I finally found GP Felbinger in the 1910 Federal census under "Nebinger" (though Ancestry.com corrected it to "Febinger"); according to this record, they were living on Pacific St. at the time. This is intriguing, as Aunt Gene's, Dad's, and Aunt Etta's baptismal records all list them as being born on Third Ave., only Aunt May was born at Albany Ave., and yet Albany Ave. loomed particularly great in Dad's consciousness.

In the second week of November, I made a trip long desired: to visit my two 1st cousins Lorraine Stewart and Georgine ("Sis") Farish, daughters of Georgine Felbinger Campbell, now both in their 80s. Apart from the desire to visit, my principal object was to present them with several documents I have collected relating to the Felbinger family, to have them identify several unidentifed photos that Dad had kept in his treasure chest, and to talk about various members of the family, as they are the only two old enough and still living to remember GM Cenie. Lorraine is living in Glen Allen, VA, outside Richmond, and it may be said I can't remember when I saw her last, sometime in the 1980s is a guess. I spent two nights and a long day with Lorraine, looking at the pictures and getting various recollections of family members, including herself and her family. At the same time, Lorraine presented me with a formal portrait of GGF J.G. Felbinger in his later years (this is only the third photograph I know of: one belonged to Cousin Marie Zimmermann, now lost; the other in my posession of J.G. Sr. with a number of workmen), and an informal portait photo of several related family members from the 1930s. She also presented me with one of J.G. Sr.'s inlay planes for making inlays in wood, saying no one else in the family would be interested in it.

I returned to the Washington area to visit cousin Georgine Farish and her family, whom I have seen within recent years on their visit to New York, but it's been since the 1970s that I saw them in Virginia. I presented them with the same documents and photographs presented to Lorraine, had similar conversations about family members past and present, and received from them an enlargement of a 3 1/2 by 5 inch commemorative postcard (taken about 1909-1911) depicting GP Felbinger with Dad, Aunts Gene, Etta and May, and the Allen family (Anna Meyer Allen, her husband Robert and the two twins, Bill and Henry) after an obviously exhausting day at the beach in Brooklyn. I also brought additional discovered records, and so spent time with Georgine's husband George Farish, Lt. Col. USMC (Ret.), and talked with him about his family and growing up in rural Alabama during the 1920s and 1930s: certainly stories I have never heard. His reaction was the same as Lorraine's: "I haven't thought about these things in years." Definitely it pays to jog people's memories, keeps them functioning.

After my return to New York, I spent the rest of November and December writing up the notes from the Virginia trip (and sending off a copy to Alice in Vancouver), and working out at the Queens FHC on various projects: the death registers of the Zion Church on a separate microfilm (found nothing of particular import), and on the Eder files of the Brenner Archive. Indeed, much of these 6 weeks were spent doing clean-up, scanning pictures, and otherwise trying to get things in order for the coming year 2007. This is one of the curses of doing family research, of course: there is always the desire to forge ahead and find new things, but unless one gets on top of all the information quickly, a good amount of time must be spent actually putting material found into usable form so that those who read these pages can actually have the information in hand. One last item of Felbinger business should be mentioned here. In December just before Christmas I received an e-mail from Kristi Felbinger who lives with her husband Steven in Washington state. Her basic question to me is whether we are related to Klaus Felbinger, executed in Landshut, Germany in 1560 for being an Anabaptist heretic. To my best knowledge the answer is "No", but the e-mail allowed me to wax expansive about the early history of the Felbingers, which I am most desirous of getting more documentary evidence than the anecdotal information Ludwig Wendel provided me years ago.

Much work has been accomplished, but the work is not complete: much work remains to be done.