My Visit to My Great-Grandfather's Hometown in Germany

I've been wanting to visit Germany for a very long time. Ever since we discovered the baptismal records of my great-grandfather, Aloys Panther, and the rest of his family in Moesbach, Ortenaukreis, Baden, Germany, I've wanted to go. There always seemed to be something preventing this from happening. So why did it happen now? It all started when my son-in-law was assigned to temporary duty near Kaiserslautern, Germany. Kaiserslautern is the birthplace of my wife's mother. Our daughter visited Kaiserslautern while her husband was stationed there to spend time with him and to visit my wife's aunts, uncles and cousins that remain in the area. She absolutely loved the time she spent there and encouraged my wife to visit. When my wife said she wanted to go, I agreed whole-heartedly.

Newspaper Article About My Visit to Germany

I'll likely put together a post about my recent trip to Germany. In the meantime, here is an article posted at Baden-Online. This site requires registration to read the full article in the original German. I've done a translation for my family and readers. 

The Passing of Ken Panther

I got word that my oldest cousin, Ken "Doc" Panther passed away this past Thursday. I always knew him as "Kenny". There's over a 20 year age difference between us so we didn't hang out but he was always up for a friendly conversation. Being the first grandchild of Grandma and Grandpa Panther, there were a lot of pictures of him in his early years. His 46th wedding anniversary was on Monday. He was diagnosed with very aggressive lung cancer on Tuesday and he passed away on Thursday.

The Passing of Martha Panther Dohman

I got news that my aunt Martha Rose Panther Dohman passed away this afternoon. Sadly, it was not a surprise. We had heard she had taken a turn for the worse in the past few weeks and months and had chosen to go into hospice care. Aunt Martha was a beautiful, kind, fun lady with a huge heart. I'll never forget her laugh. She was my mother's younger sister.

Eichstätt Church Records Coming to Matricula Online

If you look through my posts about my Dunzinger, Ziegelmüller and Seefried lines, you know that I've been looking forward to the Eichstätt diocese church records to be digitized and put online. The diocese has announced that it's happening! The church records will be posted to Matricula Online between now and March 2022.

Your Ancestors' Home Town on YouTube - Mösbach, Ortenaukreis, Baden, Germany Videos

 I did a search for the town my great-grandfather Aloys Panther was born in and emigrated from when he came to America. I was surprised how many videos there are available, given how small the town is. The first I'll list is the official YouTube channel for the town of Achern.

Another Search Angel Success Story

Wow! It's been a long time since I last posted. My excuses are many. Too busy. No new research happening. No new discoveries. No new tools that excite me. Most of all, no ideas or inspiration for new posts. Finally, today, I received an incredible email. I have to share the story.

Saturday Night Genealogy Fun - #42

 Linda Stufflebean over at Empty Branches on the Family Tree followed Genea Musings Saturday Night Genealogy Fun Prompt. I'll join in. The prompt is "Who is #42 on your ahnentafel list?". If you're not sure, your genealogy program should tell you. In RootsMagic, highlight yourself, then go to Reports, Lists and select Ahnentafel. That list will list your ancestors in an ahnentafel format, which numbers your ancestors in a very specific way. Your #42 in your ahnentafel list is your father's mother's father's mother's father. Kind of like the zig-zag challenge.

An Illegal Operation

First, a word of warning. If you cannot stand reading about controversial topics, unpleasant events, tragedy and death, I'll ask that you stop reading now. This post is about the death of my grandmother's sister. I knew she died young and I had heard rumors about the cause. Someone recently posted newspaper articles about the trial that followed, which confirms what I had heard was the truth. Someone posted about her death in the West Point, Iowa community Facebook group a few years ago and another person commented that they had "heard about her". I commented that I had also heard the rumor but that I would not comment about rumors or mention what they entailed. Now that these articles are out there and the rumor has been proven true, I will post about it, as unpleasant circumstance as it is.

Time For Baseball

It seemed as if spring would never get here this year. Finally, the weather is warm enough to enjoy some time outside and the trees and grass is starting to sprout new green growth. It's my favorite time of the year. Along with spring comes baseball. I've never been athletic but if there was one sport I would have played, had I had the skills and coaching, it would have been baseball. Based on what I'm going to show here, I tend to believe it's in my genes.

Court Cases in Google Books

 I was doing some searches in Google Books to see if I could find any that contained mentions of my ancestors. With a surname like Panther, you find a lot of books that mention encounters with a member of the large cat family. So I searched for the name of my great-grandfather, Aloys Panther in quotes. I didn't find anything so I did a search for his brother's name, Ferdinand Panther in quotes. I found a book titled "Reports of Cases at Law and in Equity Determined by the Supreme Court of the State of Iowa".

More Information About My Seefried Ancestry

 A few months ago, I posted about the undocumented Seefried ancestry I had discovered. When I made this discovery, I emailed a couple of people that posted this information to see if they had any documentation or more information. One person responded that he didn't have documentation. He had gotten the information from a second cousin of his. He said he'd contact this cousin to see what he could provide him about the Seefried family research.

A Cousin on Groucho Marx - You Bet Your Life

I had heard that my third cousin once removed, Louis Menke, was on Groucho Marx's show You Bet Your Life several decades ago. That's all I had heard about it. Nothing about what it was about. I just figured it was a game show and that's as far as it went. Then someone posted on the West Point, Iowa Facebook page a newspaper article written around the time of the show. It is quite entertaining in that it was said that Louis Menke was never out-talked by anyone. Apparently, Groucho Marx heard about this and had to invite him onto the show.

The Will of Leonard Ziegelmüller

In posts found here and here, I discussed discovering the name of the mother of my great-grandmother, Elizabeth Dunzinger Panther. It ends up the surname had been in front of us for a decade or more but we had no idea that it was her last name. My second cousin has provided me with an additional piece of evidence that, had we known to look for it earlier, could have cut decades off of this search. It is the last will and testament of Leonard Ziegelmüller. In order to take advantage of this, I would have had to recognize that the last name in the headline of the newspaper article was definitely connected to her rather than believing another family the article discussed, which she was found living with in the 1870 US Federal Census, was her family. In the end, rather than providing us the breakthrough, it serves as additional evidence that what we have discovered is correct.

Reasons for Aloys Panther's Move to America

 My great-grandfather, Aloys Panther, and his wife Monica Hanle Panther, along with their oldest son, came to America from Baden in 1872. Why? I had speculated that the end of the Austro-Prussian War, the death of his brother and the death of two of his sons may have convinced him to try a for a new start in a new land. I believe his brother may have paid a return visit to his home town to convince him to follow him back to America.