John Blankenbaker's Germanna History Notes

Note 1820

Continuing to think along the lines of the last note, suppose that we want to do a search for Oberfischbach in the Catalog of the Latter Days Saints.  If I enter Oberfischbach as a place to search for in the Catalog, I get the response of:

Germany, Bayern
Germany, Preußen, Hessen-Nassau
Germany, Westfalen

Again, we need to know some geography to proceed.  First, note that the secondary names after Germany are in German.  Since I have read the Germanna publications, I have heard of Nassau-Siegen.  So if I select the second of the three above, I would be wrong.  There is no Nassau-Siegen that I might have expected to see.  If I look at the modern map of Germany with the names of the states, I would not see Hessen-Nassau or Westfalen directly.

In constructing the LDS Catalog for Germany, it was recognized that villages have appeared, in the course of time, in many different States and Principalities.  Down south in the Kraichgau, there were many independent principalities or villages which hardly anyone has heard of.  Then, over the course of time, these have appeared in many different States.  An example, from the Kraichtal (different from the Kraichgau ), the Neuenbürg of the Blankenbakers was in the lands of the Bishops of Speyer in 1717.  After about 1802, it was in Baden, and today it is Baden-Württemberg.  What do I use as a secondary specification to fix the location of this village?  This type of thing was such a problem that the LDS catalogers used different rules.  They used the political lines of 1872(?) as their boundaries, regardless of how the boundaries changed before or after this.  Actually, they have been relatively stable (except for the eastern regions) since 1872.

So looking for Neuenbürg , I would enter Baden as the secondary location.  If I did this, they would find two villages which met this specification, corresponding to the fact that names are repeated even within the same State.  In addition to the State, I need the county (or a large nearby city) to select between the two.  Again, a map of Germany is very useful.

Several people have fixed on the wrong Neuenbürg as their village, especially when they learn that the other one (the correct one) has no Protestant Church (Evangelische Kirche).  So, geography in Germany can be tricky, but a knowledge of it is necessary to find the correct location.  If the information about the location comes from a church record, remember that it may be spelled wrong (it often is).

In the Garr history, there was a reference to Kolnpach .  Immediately one might be suspicious and think it should be Kolnbach .  But no cigar.  Try Kolmbach and there is a city, but the wrong location.  The correct location, by the name of Kolmbach , is obscure, as it is the name of a farm.  It does appear on the German ordinance maps, though it is doubtful that you have one of these.  When you do reach the location, there is a road sign that says Kolmbach .
(04 Dec 03)