Learning more about German genealogical research

My mother, born in Berlin, now an Australian, still has a few German family documents, and for me these have been a valuable source of information about my German forebears, her side of the our family. However, most of what I know about about my German ancestors I learned directly from my German grandfather, who was happy to answer my family history questions. When I started researching this branch of the family I also found some good leads in the International Genealogical Index (I.G.I.) microform indexes prepared by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Researching German sources from Australia is difficult, of course, and there is much more information online about our British forebears. So I look forward to attending a day's session in August about German genealogical resources and methods for Australian researchers, hosted by Unlock the Past. The main speaker will be Dirk Weissleder, a genealogy consultant, who is national chairman of the Deutsche Arbeitsgemeinschaft genealogischer Verbände e.V. (D.A.G.V.) (at http://www.dagv.org), the umbrella organisation of the genealogical and heraldic associations in Germany. He is President of the Federation of Family Associations (Bund der Familienverbände, BdF). Herr Wiessleder has written extensively about genealogical research in Germany. See, for example, http://www.forum-familiengeschichte.de/haus-der-genealogie-hdgen/.

In Melbourne Herr Wiessleder will be speaking about primary and secondary resources on genealogy in German and about European research generally. He will also be talking about the International German Genealogical Partnership, https://iggpartner.org/about.php, and on archives, libraries and institutions for genealogical researchers in Germany.

Herr Weissleder will speak in Melbourne on Saturday 19 August.

The Roadshow costs $57 for a single day if the ticket is purchasedahead of time, or $60 on the day. On Friday 18 August, a Scottish researcher, Chris Paton,  will be speaking on British Isles research. A combined ticket for the two days is $90. Herr Wiessleder will also be visiting Brisbane, Auckland, Sydney, Canberra, Adelaide and Perth.

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Disclosure: I have accepted the opportunity to participate in the Unlock the Past Researching Abroad Roadshow 2017 as a Roadshow Ambassadress and agreed to promote the Roadshow in return for free entry. I will write again after the session on what I have learned.

P is for Plaue, Germany

My great great grandfather Karl Bertz was born on 2 September 1854 at Trechwitz, Potsdam-Mittelmark, Brandenburg, Germany and died at Plaue near Brandenburg a der Havel, Germany on 5 August 1932. These dates were given to me by his grandson, my grandfather, Hans Boltz (1910-1992). Hans also told me that Karl Bertz had been a bricklayer.

We have a photograph of Karl, seated on the right, with his wife, Henrietta Bertz, nee Ritter (1862 - 1942), his daughter Anna Boltz nee Bertz (1885 - 1961), Anna's husband Fritz Boltz (1879 - 1954), and Fritz's brother August Bolz (1871 - ?) . This was probably taken at the time of Anna Bertz's marriage to Fritz Boltz in 1909.

Karl and Henrietta Bertz had only two children. Their daughter Hedwig Anna Bertha (known as Anna) was born at Trechwitz near Götz, fifty-five kilometers east of Berlin, about seventeen kilometers west of Brandenburg an der Havel. Their son Paul was born on 25 June 1888. Paul Bertz was photographed with his sister Anna and her husband Fritz Boltz around 1909.

I have not found any records to verify my grandfather's recollections of Karl. My grandfather, Hans Boltz, did not know who Karl's parents were nor if he had any brothers or sisters.

I believe Plaue is near Brandenburg and der Havel, just over 25 kilometres west of Trechwitz.

Brandenburg an der Havel Ortsteil Plaue. Die Straße Kirchstraße mit Blick auf die Kirche. 2013. Image from Wikimedia Commons taken by user:Clemensfranz.

Related posts

• V is for Vizefeldwebel
• G is for great grandmother from Germany

G is for great grandmother from Germany

My great grandmother, the mother of my maternal grandfather, was Hedwig Anna Bertha (known as Anna) Boltz née Bertz (1885 - 1961).

Anna was born at Trechwitz near Götz fifty-five kilometers east of Berlin and about seventeen kilometers west of Brandenburg an der Havel. Her father Karl Bertz (1854-1932) was a bricklayer. Her mother was Henrietta Bertz née Ritter (1862-1942).

Anna had one brother, Paul, born in 1888.

In 1909 she married a soldier, Fritz Herman Boltz (1879-1954), at Brandenburg an der Havel. They had one son, my grandfather, Hans (1910-1992), who was born at Brandenburg.

Anna Boltz née Bertz, Hans Boltz, Fritz Boltz in 1911. Fritz Boltz is in the dress uniform of an Unteroffizier (NCO) [lace at collar, single cuff stripe] of the 35th Prinz Heinrich von Preussen Fusilier Regiment.

When Fritz left the army in 1912, Fritz and Anna lived in an apartment in Florastrasse, Berlin Steglitz, attached to a public school, where he worked as a caretaker. This was his address when he was called up in 1914. He returned to the same address after the war and Fritz and Anna were still living there in the 1940s [as recalled by their grand-daughter, my mother]. Fritz retired about 1949, aged 70. He died 6 April 1954 at Berlin Zehlendorf.

Easter 1941: My mother sitting on the knee of her great grandmother Henrietta Bertz née Ritter. and with her mother and her Boltz grandparents.

My mother with her grandmother outside the Sommerfeld bakery shop in Berlin in November 1943.

In 1949 Hans, the only child of Fritz and Anna, emigrated to Australia. His wife and daughter followed him a year later.

In 1960 my great grandmother emigrated. Anna Boltz came on the Australia probably embarking at Genoa and arriving on 29 February 1960. The MS Australia belonged to the Lloyd Triestino line..

National Archives of Australia: Incoming passenger list to Fremantle "Australia" arrived 29 February 1960 (K269, 29 FEB 1960 AUSTRALIA Page 3 of 33). Anna is passenger 49 on the list.

The shipping list records Anna as German, travelling tourist class . Her port of landing was Sydney, and her address in Australia was 19 Ridley Street, Turner, Canberra, A.C.T. This was the address of my grandparents.

Anna was 75 when she made this journey to the other side of the world. After she had sold and packed all her possessions in Berlin, she made her way from Berlin to Genoa at a time when Berlin was isolated in East Germany (although the Berlin Wall had not yet been built). This was quite an undertaking for an elderly woman travelling by herself. She had little English or Italian.

I looked at the other passengers on the "Australia" and found that Frieda Gunther, passenger 269 on page 9, also disembarked at Sydney. Her address in Australia was 3 Myall Street, O'Connor, Canberra, ACT. I recognised both the surname and address. Hans Gunther, like my grandfather, was a cartographer from Germany, and in fact I think from Berlin. My grandparents were good friends with the Gunthers. We often visited them at their house and they came to the Boltz's.

Frieda died in 1982 aged 87 years. (Family Notices. (1982, November 16). The Canberra Times (ACT : 1926 - 1995), p. 15. Retrieved from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article130829619) This means she was born about 1895 and ten years younger than Anna. It seems likely that Hans Boltz and Hans Gunther made plans for their mothers to travel together from Berlin to Australia.

My mother remembers that Anna brought a tea chest of possessions. They included:

• a tea set with a rose design and also a white china dinner set;  I can remember my grandparents using these in later years
• an ashtray with the shoulder strap of the 35th Prinz Heinrich von Preussen Fusilier Regiment, the regiment of my great grandfather
• a device in the shape of an owl which was meant to remove the smell of cigar smoke from a room. My great grandfather had liked to smoke cigars. My grandparents however did not smoke so I think it did not get much use in Canberra.

The ashtray with the shoulder strap of the 35th Prinz Heinrich von Preussen Fusilier Regiment

Anna died on 29 April 1961, a year after arriving in Canberra to be with her son. She is buried at Woden Cemetery, Canberra.

Further reading

• Lloyd Triestino's - MS Australia, Oceania & Neptunia - 1951- 1963: http://www.ssmaritime.com/MS-Australia-and-Sisters.htm

Related post

• V is for Vizefeldwebel  

V is for Vizefeldwebel

My great grandfather Fritz Hermann Boltz was born on 17 July 1879 at Trechwitz near Götz fifty-five kilometers east of Berlin and about seventeen kilometers west of Brandenburg an der Havel.

Fritz was the younger of two children of August Bolz (1840 - 1916), a foreman in a Trechwitz brickworks, and Wilhelmine Bolz née Bamberg (1844 - 1926).

Friz became a soldierthe rank of Vizefeldwebel [Senior Sergeant] in the 35th Fusilier Regiment [Prinz Heinrich von Preussen; Prince Henry of Prussia's Own]. He left the colours at the end of 1912, at the age of 33.

On 26 April 1909 at Brandenburg an der Havel he married Hedwig Anna Bertha (known as Anna) Bertz (1885 - 1961).

During the 1914-18 war he was a Feldwebel-Leutnant in infantry Ersatz battalions [reserve, depot and training] at Berlin and Küstrin/Cüstrin near Frankfurt on the Oder in East Prussia. With senior experience, and too old for front-line action, Fritz served as a training officer.

Peacetime regulations had allowed for certain senior non-commissioned officers (NCOs) to be promoted to the rank of Feldwebel-Leutnant to fill positions as platoon commanders for which commissioned officers were in short supply. This system was extended during the war, but only  those who had retired as senior NCOs before the war and were of good character could be given this appointment. Some retired officers were also called up to serve as a Feldwebel-Leutnant. In practice a Feldwebel-Leutnant was given administrative duties, and generally did not serve on the front line.

The 35th Fusiliers formed part of the 56th Infantry Division. During the First World War the regiment initially served on the Western Front notably at Liège and the Battle of Mons. In 1915 it was transferred to the Serbian Front, then back to the Western Front in 1916 for the Battle of Verdun, then to the Eastern Front in 1917 and back to France for the German Spring Offensive of 1918. (Dale, C. "Prussian Line Fusiliers 33rd-40th Regiments." Imperial German Army Uniforms 1900-14. C. Dale, 14 Apr. 2012. Web. 26 Apr. 2015. <http://s400910952.websitehome.co.uk/imperialgermanuniforms/inf%20prussian%20fus.htm>. )

In 1916 Fritz spent some time in hospital. My mother recalls being told that her grandmother Anna went to nurse her husband. Their son would have been only about eight years old at the time but perhaps he stayed with relatives.

I recall it being mentioned that Fritz was wounded at Verdun. I cannot find any record of this. While casualty lists for the German army for World War 1 have been digitised I have not yet been able to find his name.

After leaving the army in 1912, Fritz lived in an apartment in Florastrasse, Berlin Steglitz, attached to a public school, where he worked as a caretaker. This was his address when he was called up in 1914. He returned after the war and was still living there in the 1940s [memory of his grand-daughter, my mother]. He retired about 1949, age 70.

Fritz died 6 April 1954 at Berlin Zehlendorf.

Australia Day: Climbing our family's gum tree

CLIMBING OUR FAMILY’S GUM TREE, a blogging challenge from Pauline Cass for Australia Day 2014

My children have fifty-one direct ancestors who were immigrants to Australia. It has been quite a job to gather and arrange this information about them.

My first ancestor to arrive in Australia was my fifth great grandfather George Taylor (1758 - 1828). He came to Tasmania in 1822 with wife Mary née  Low (1765 -1850) and his family. His descendants still run Valleyfield near Longford, the property he and his sons farmed.

"Valleyfield" Epping Tas. The "Taylors" have lived here for over 100 years. , about 1914 - about 1941 Photograph in the collection of the State Library of Victoria. Accession number H22546. A.C. Dreier postcard collection. Retrieved from
https://www.slv.vic.gov.au/pictoria/gid/slv-pic-aab47005

Were there any convicts? There are no convicts on my side. On my husband Greg's side we know that Caroline Clarke, his great great grandmother who married George Young, was born in New South Wales about 1835. We haven't been able to trace her parents, so perhaps they were convicts.

Where did our ancestors come from? Twenty-six from England, seven from Scotland, two from Wales, eight from Ireland, and four from Germany.  One of our English forebears was born in India. There are at least four immigrants in the list of fifty-one that I know nothing about.

Did any of our ancestors arrive under their own financial steam? Many paid their own passage, and there were some assisted immigrants.  Only one seems to have worked his way to Australia. This was John Plowright, who stated when admitted to Maryborough Hospital in 1873 that he had arrived in the colony on the Speculation from London about 1853 and his occupation was mariner.  He wasn't listed as a deserter but perhaps he signed off to go to the goldfields.

How many ancestors came as singles? couples? families? Thirty-two of the fifty-one immigrants, or sixty percent, came as families. Thirteen came as single immigrants and there was only one couple without children: John and Sarah Way.

Did one person lead the way and others follow? There are quite a few instances of this. 

• The de Crespignys probably came because Charlotte's brothers had been given jobs by Governor Latrobe. 
• The Edwards probably came because Mary's sister Sarah and her husband Francis Tuckfield were already in Australia. 
• Philip Chauncy followed his sisters, who had arrived in Adelaide two years previously. 
• The Plaisteds followed Ann's sister and brother, who had arrived twelve years earlier in Adelaide. 
• Isabella Hutcheson née Taylor followed her parents and brothers to Tasmania in about 1833 after the death of her husband.  She came with five young children.
• My grandfather came first after the war and his wife and daughter joined him ten months later. My grandfather was the only immigrant to arrive by air.

Which state(s)/colony did our ancestors arrive? Eight arrived in Tasmania, eighteen in Victoria, fifteen in South Australia, two in Western Australia and four migrated to the Australian Capital Territory.

Forty-two, or ninety percent, of our forty-seven immigrant ancestors arrived before 1855, one arrived in 1888, and the remaining four arrived in the middle of the twentieth century after World War 2.

Number of arrivals by year of arrival:

1822	1833	1835	1836	1838	1839	1840	1849	1850	1852	1853	1854	1888	1949	1950	1960
2	2	3	1	2	2	3	6	3	3	6	9	1	1	2	1

Did they settle and remain in one state/colony? No, for example

• the Ways moved from South Australia to Victoria and then to New South Wales
• the Ralphs moved from Victoria to South Australia
• the Plaisteds and the Hughes moved from South Australia to Victoria
• the Cudmores and Nihills moved from Tasmania to South Australia
• the Hutchesons moved from Tasmania to Victoria
• Philip Chauncy moved from South Australia to Western Australia to Victoria

Did any of our ancestors leave Australia and go “home”? William Snell Chauncy visited his children in South Australia for only twelve months before returning to England. Gordon Mainwaring and his wife Mary née Hickey both died in England as did their son-in-law, Wentworth Cavenagh-Mainwaring. My grandparents and mother visited Germany.

generated by https://www.tagxedo.com inspired by the image by Sharon at https://shazlex.blogspot.com.au/2014/01/australia-day-challenge-2014.html who also responded to the challenge