I have probably spent enough time on our trip to Germany and Austria. However, if some questions were sent to me, I might answer them publicly. To us, it was a thoroughly enjoyable three weeks which we would like to repeat, but one learns more by doing something new. To me, the hot items now are the church records in Dietenhofen, and perhaps records outside the Catholic church in Austria.
Sgt. George is bringing up web pages which will be devoted to some of the photographs that Eleanor and I took in Germany and Austria. These will take a while and you might want to look in several times. Even if you think you have seen all of the photos for a given village, I may find more photos and the text may change. Oberfischbach is the first village to come up, and I have already sent some photos for Illenschwang and Ötisheim. George will probably be making an announcement and he is doing most of the work in making them available to you.
( Note from SgtGeorge: The pages for Freudenberg, Illenschwang, Oberfischbach, and Ötisheim are now active. Just click on "Germany-Photos" after the last Note on this page to go to the Index Page for John and Eleanor's photos.)
You may make a print of a photo for your own enjoyment but remember that the photos are copy righted and may not be used for commercial purposes.
I have mentioned our visit to friend Jost Gudelius. I thought I would spend a few paragraphs on the family here in America.
The name Gudelius could be considered a Germanna name. Had it not been for unusual conditions of the year 1738, we would have had a Tillman Gudelius living in the Germanna community. A relative of Tillman, Johann Peter Gudelius, did come to America and start a branch of the family in America; however, Johann Peter lived in Pennsylvania, and his descendants spell the name as Gutelius. (This merely shows that we should be liberal in interpreting how definitions of " Germanna " should be applied.)
Johann Peter Gudelius was born in the period 1708 to 1711, at Niederholzklau, in the heart of the region from which the Nassau-Siegen immigrants came. He was the son of Christoph, born at Dirlenbach, about 1664, and of Elisabeth Magdalene Baum, born at Eisern, about 1674. The exact date of birth of Johann Peter is not possible to ascertain, because there are gaps in the church records at Oberholzklau. But, census data and records of sponsorship help fix the date.
There is a record of two illegitimate sons of Johann Peter, one born in 1743, and one 1745. After 1745, Johann Peter Gudelius cannot be found in any record in the Nassau-Siegen area. Johann Peter Gutelius arrived at Philadelphia on 31 Aug 1750. This same ship brought several other people from the Nassau-Siegen area, such as Tilman Creutz, Johannes Jung, Dilmanus Weissgerber, and Johan Henrich Jung.
The last will of Johann Peter Gutelius, of 5 Aug 1773, records his name in that form. His tombstone is written in German. He lived in German surroundings where there was a German Reformed Church. There must be several million Americans who wish that their German ancestors were as well documented as Johann Peter; however, not all of the Gutelius family members accept the German origins of Johann Peter.
(26 June 00)
We gratefully acknowledge the work of John Blankenbaker who published over 2,500 Germanna History Notes via the Germanna-L@rootsweb.com email list from 1997 to 2008. We are equally thankful to George Durman (Sgt. George) for hosting the list and republishing the notes via rootsweb.com.