One of the great-grandfathers of Andreas Gaar was Wolf Schubel. At his death, the following was inscribed in the death register:
"Wolf Schubel, clothmaker, a very pious man, the most frequent church goer in the village [Frankenhofen], who held school for the children in his house for many years, was old 77 years less 12 weeks and 4 days. On the 18th of August at 11 o'clock in the noon he slept over and was buried the following day."
For Eva Seidelmann:
"Eva, the daughter of Georg Seidelmann, and of his wife Barbara, because of feebleness and hard labor, baptized at home."
When the paternal grandmother of Eva was married, it was recorded that, "The bride went to church without crown and music." This was the custom for girls who were not virgins.
When one set of the great grandparents of Eva were married, it was recorded:
Thirty Years' War"There were many foreign persons taking part in this wedding. On the first day there were 13 tables, on the second day 10 tables. Oh! how little do we consider the events in Hungary and the happenings in those times in the fight against the Turks."
To understand what was happening in family history, and why, one must study the general history also.
It was said of Thomas Walther, great-great-grandfather of Eva:
"Thoma Walther, innkeeper, at this place, attended on the New Year's Day the morning sermon, then in the afternoon he lay down, in the evening or at night he died, and was buried the following day in the afternoon. For many years he was a judge at Waizendorf and since 1610 he had been mayor."
In a future note I will discuss a "history", which, in contrast to the history here, is pure fiction. Somehow, when the fiction writers take over, an ancestor tends to become more "noble" and the owner of a castle, as is the case with "Baron" Fischer. It is not hard to detect the false ring to these stories, but people
do
believe them. I much prefer the history of Andreas and Eva Gaar, with its realistic and true-to-life facts.
(07 Feb 02)
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.