Posen Research List
- POSRL ARCHIVE 97-1 -

Webmaster's Note: The location you want has not been part of Germany since the end of World War I. It is now called Rattaje, Poland. Maps are available from Genealogy Unlimited of Orem Utah and Travel Genie Maps of Ames, Iowa. Both are FEEFHS member organizations with pages about their available Polish maps on this website.

The absence of any useful genealogy information on your ancestors - no names, no vital dates, no religion - make it impossible to help you further. Some church records do exist at the FHL for Rattai. But you appear to want to fall into the well-known trap of spending the cost of a research trip to Europe only to discover 1) the difficulty of research in Poland without Polish language skills or knowledge of how to access the archives and 2) that records may well exist in America that will cost alot less to uncover alot more information.

Webmaster's Note: Ther are no listings for Stefanowo in the 17th CD-ROM edition of the FHL Catalog. As for Bentschen, Kreis Bomst Posen (now Zbaszyn, powiat of Nowy Tomysl, Poland) there are three collections of church books - the 16 FHL microfilms of Lutheran records cover 1820-1874 - and three collections of civil registrations (1874-1938). While both cover places beyond Bentschen, the summaries do not list Stefanowo. Was there a German spelling of this name?.

The "Surname Search" section of the FHL catalog lists 5 Linke citations including two from Australia and one of a Linke family from Saxony. Nothing listed for Grunberger here.

In addition to submitting your stuff to the Ancestral File and checking it for others searching your surnames, you should check the Die Ahnenstammkartei des Deutschen Volkes since you also have a specific location in Posen where they lived.

Webmaster's Note: There are 18 Wolka place locations in Poland. Mentlow does not surface in my German or Polish gazetteers nor in the FHLC. There is a Metow 13 kilometers south of Lubin, but no records are listed in the FHLC. If Metow is the correct spelling, she seems close enough to Volhynia to consider contacting the Wandering Volhynians

The absence of church records for her ancestral towns creates obvious difficulty. It is suggested she refer to the "Sources" link above/below. In particular she should check the FHL Ancestral File (to locate others searching ALF ancestors) and make use of the Ahnenstammkartei des Deutschen Volkes collection - see "Sources" item #2. The 28 Schilling listings and 3 Alf listings in the FHL Catalog's Surname section might prove helpful.

Webmaster's Note: You embassy experience is not surprising. Most embassies consider they have higher priority tasks than doing genealogy research for foriegn nationals. AS for your location: of the several possibilities, the most likely location in Posen is probably spelled Knyszyn. The civil registration (on FHL microfilm) starts there in 1874. While you may not find your ancestor Ludwig on it, you might find the vital dates of his parents and siblings that stayed put in Knyszyn. The 3 FHL microfilms start with #1191085 items 8-13.

There are 4 Sommerfeld citations on the 17th CD-ROM edition of the FHL Catalog. One of the 26 Klinger surname listings is a family history written in German. You should also research your Sommerfeld surname in the Die Ahnenstammkartei des Deutschen Volkes since you have a location in Posen where they lived.

Webmaster's Note: Jersitz was a town in the Province of Posen - now Jezyce, Poland. Jersitz civil registration records exist for the year 1887 on FHL microfilm (#1191302, items 2-5). These records might confirm prior generations of both families if you know more about them. His name seems to be German and hers seems Slavic = Polish, thus appears to be an ethnically mixed marriage, which was not uncommon.

Berlin Telephone Directories exist that might permit the location of their Berlin address. With an address it is possible to identify the parish they lived in and from there to search its churchbook for vital dates. There are 3 genealogies on file at the FHL that mention various Grams lines. However without more information, including what you know about their vital dates, additional help is not possible.

Webmaster's Note: Look at your history of the creation of Posen (the German partitions of Poland in the mid to late 1700's). You will see migration came from many over-populated locations in Germany to the west and they came for many reasons.

I assume you have already exhausted to 22 topics of record collections for Bromberg at the FHL in Salt Lake City. IMHO you are more likely to find something of value by checking Die Ahnenstammkartei des Deutschen Volkes with an less common surname like Gatter.

You might contact the Immigrant Genealogical Society (IGS) at Burbank California. For a few dollars they will search for telephone/address listings of your Gatter surname - then you contact them in Germany. Germans are great genealogists - you might might find a Gatter family there that already has answers to your questions. And have you looked in the LDS Ancestral File for others researching the Gatter surname?

Webmaster's Note: 14 of the 24 Parsh registers on microfilm for the city of Posen are Roman Catholic - that's not the way to go when you are not even sure of the city of birth or marriage. The civil registration does not start until 1874. Where did she die and when? Have you looked for a German langauge obituary in a German-American newspaper published near where she lived? They often list the birth location.

You might also try the Posen Burgerbuch - 7 FHL fiche starting with #60081612. A surname like yours might be found in Ahnenstammkartei des Deutschen Volkes collection.

Webmaster's Note: I sense you live in Germany. While you do not state the religion of your ancestors, the originals of the civil records of Schwerin Warthe - now Skierzyna Poland - (Lutheran: 1822-1874; Catholic 1817-1873)) are at the Brandenburgischem Landeshauptarchiv at Potsdam. If that is too distant for you, you should know that in 1992 they were microfilmed by the Family History Library of Salt Lake City. If Lutheran, you might find his birth record and parents listed in microfilm 1816704 item 1. If they were Catholic, look at microfilm 1816706 item 1.

If that fails, check your surname in Ahnenstammkartei des Deutschen Volkes collection - see "Sources" item #2.

Webmaster's Note: Of the 24 collections of Church records at the Family History Library (FHL) for the city of Posen, 3 pertain to Military Church records. The two Militägeminde collections might interest to you. I would also suggest you search the Ahnenstammkartei des Deutschen Volkes collection - see "Sources" item #2. There is a 37 page Ahnentafel of a branch of the Eisermann family on FHL fiche 6000543 that might also be interesting

Webmaster's Note: Bob Scheffler's current eMail address is unknown. FEEFHS will accept responses to his query until he contacts us with a new address.

Webmaster's Note: The FHL Catalog shows 6 topics and 13 record collections for Gnesen (now Gniezno Poland). Lack of a stated religion prevented a recommedation of microfilm with the 13 church record collections, but you can review them at your nearest FHC. There is only a history book in Polish listed for Znin at Salt Lake City. I suggest you get a German/Polish translator to look at the document for Mnichono=Hausland to see if there is an alternate spelling that conforms to a known location in either language.

Webmaster's Note: Both of your surnames appear to be ethnic Polish. Thus I suspect you will receive more help from the resources shown on our Polish Cross-Index of genealogy societies that on the genealogy societies shown in the German Cross-Index and suggest you contact the one closest to you - in Connecticut and the national Polish G/S in Illinois.

The location of Wagrowiec was formerly called Wongrowitz in Poznan during the German Partition of Poland. If your ancestors lived close enough to attend church there, it has civil registration (1874-1945) on FHL microfilm (46 reels) and Catholic Church records (1593-1855) on microfilm as well. I find nothing for Kakulin in the 17th CD-ROM edition of the FHL Catalog.

Webmaster's Note: The FHL Catalog shows two RINGEL listings you might find interesting: a 29 page "Ahnen Ringel" family from Speyer, Bayern (Bavaria) on microfilm #1573157 item 24; and a 64 page genealogy with Wappen (heraldry) on microfilm #1181848 item 9. Be sure to also check the Ahnenstammkartei des Deutschen Volkes collection - see "Sources" item #2.

There is reference to the FINNER family of Oering, Holstein in a book available at the FHL. The FHL also has a book (144 pages indexed with pedigree chart) on the SCHROTTER family of Wohnsdorf, Bartenstein, East Prussia. Remember, most FHL (Family History Library) microforms (films and fiche) are available on loan for viewing at any of the 2800+ FHC's (Family History Centers) worldwide. However books do not circulate. They must be researched at Salt Lake City, Utah.

Webmaster's Note: There are FHL microfilm records (3 topics) on Kolmar, Posen, including an LDS extraction of christenings (1821-53) and the Evangelical Church register of vital records (7 microfilms 1809-1874). Anastasia should be on film #0807993 (1832-1845). Anastasia's birth record might hold the names of Johann's parents, siblings and other relatives (under godparents). Other years might disclose other children of Johann and Anna.

Kolmar is on the FEEFHS 1882 Posen Map listed as Chodziesen. It is west of Bromberg on the rail line from Schneidmüle south to Rogasen.

While MULLER is hard to research as a very common surname, knowing a location (Kolmar, Posen) might just be the key to helping you find Johann's line in the Ahnenstammkartei des Deutschen Volkes collection. In using it, be sure to include the MÜLLER (Mueller) version of that surname.

I see 3 listings for the Grieger surname in the FHL Catalog (17th CD-ROM edition) but none look promising. Check the FEEFHS website for others searching the same surname. It is known a merchant with the Grieger surname married a woman named Val. GENZKY at Goldberg, Silesia on 25 July 1848. Goldberg is on the FEEFHS 1882 Silesia map, southwest of Liegnitz. The Grieger name seems sufficiently unique to be able to also expect to find its genealogy and place of origin in the Ahnenstammkartei des Deutschen Volkes collection