I must mention one more friend/relative in Germany. Richard Plankenbuehler is my tenth cousin, once removed. I was introduced to him and his family by a friend here in the US and we corresponded with Richard at some length before we met in Germany. I am especially grateful that he was able to tell me the positive link between Gresten, Austria, and Neuenbuerg, Germany.
Richard and his wife Gisela live in Nuremberg (Nuernberg in German) in Bavaria, not far from Dietenhofen to where so many of the Gresten people immigrated. They have one son Roland, who also lives there with his family. (Note: Neuenbuerg is not the same as Nuernberg or Nuremberg.)
The common ancestor that Richard and I have is Kilian Planckenbuehler, who lived on the Plankenbichl farm in 1600. Kilian was married twice with two families. Richard descends from one wife and I descend from the other, hence we are half cousins.
The history of the Blankenbakers that had been provided by Gary Zimmerman and Johni Cerny left open the connection between the Planckenbuehler family in Gresten and Neuenbuerg. The story as they told it depended entirely on the unusual name which is not common. It also the case that they had not constructed the family correctly in Gresten.
There are records at Schoss Stiebar in Gresten which were maintained by the Lord of the region who was responsible for the civil administration of the area. These records are in private hands. Pastor Kuhr of Mittelfranken in Bavaria copied these records at the Schloss (Castle) Stiebar. The Plankenbuehlers, working with Pastor Kuhr, were able to reconstruct the family and to find the link between Gresten and Germany.
Also, the Plankenbuehlers were able to find one other record in archives at Linz in Austria. This is incomplete in that it does not add any new genealogical information but does show their were earlier members of the family before Kilian and they were definitely involved in the turmoil in Austria. At the time of the Counter Reformation, one of the local nobles in the Gresten area brought suit against Georg Treuer who had been serving as a pastor. The court took evidence from seventy-five citizens who all supported Pastor Treuer. The fourth and fifth witnesses were:
4. Erhart Planckenbuhler has no complaint.
5. Leonard Planckenbuhler has no complaint, on the contrary the Pastor was esteemed and valued.
These names are not signatures; they are the recorded court testimony written in the best handwriting that I have seen. The relationship, if any, between these two men and Kilian P. is unknown.
(28 Apr 05)
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.