Germany
– April/May 2011 – by Myrna Beach Goodwin, © 2012
In the spring
of 2011, my husband and I, along with my first cousin, Donna, took a
wonderful trip to Hesse, Germany, where Donna’s and my grandfather,
John Born, emigrated from in 1892. Our grandfather’s
older brother inherited the family property and remained in
Todenhausen, Germany. We went to meet our 2nd
cousin, Helga Kahl. While there we toured the house where our
grandfather was born, visited his elementary school, and went to his
church. A friend of Helga’s helped us locate church birth and
marriage documents. We also met descendents of our
grandfather’s mother’s family in the small town of Hermershausen
and they helped with church records as well.
After several
days in Todenhausen, we drove to the village of Aua where our
grandmother’s father, John Bechstein, came from in 1855.
Although we did not have a contact person, everyone in Aua pointed
out the “Bechstein” home, so we knocked on the door. We met
the current Bechstein family. They took us to the Aua church and
cemetery and even though their English was limited, we got basic
information to help with future research.
Our
final stop was Bad Hersfeld where our grandmother’s mother,
Henrietta (Kolbe) Bechstein emigrated from in 1857. We
walked past the old Kolbe home in the city center and visited their
church built in the 14th century. The church
documents for the Kolbe family had been obtained by others in 2005,
so we just enjoyed visiting the area.
Meeting
family, finding records and walking the streets of these villages
made for an amazing trip.
[Editor's
note: This is a series of “genealogy travel and research”
articles submitted by our members.]
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