Thursday, October 14, 2010

Taking a break from Ireland and searching for my GERMAN ancestors

It begins with the following email from my Great Aunt Betty who has been searching for our ancestors for 20+ years.

according to Aunt Sissy:  the one that was killed in a mine explosion  was:
John W. Schweinsberg    aug. 1839 or 1840     Germany    died,24 apr. 1867  (his wife was)
Catherine Elizabeth Lindeman,,,24 oct. 1843  /14 oct. 1912    Hesse Cassel   Germany
her father::: Conrad Lindeman
her Mother:::Dorothea Coleman
after John was killed she married a Manus Boyle,,   he already had several children and his wife died, then togeather they had children... he was quite a bit older than she was, maybe it was a convienince marriage???
children:::
1, Ludwig Schweinsburg:::::4 aug.1861   Hazleton   
2.Henry Philip Schweinsberg:::13 Jul. 1863 HZL.
3. Lewis Schweinsberg:::-------Humbolt
4.Maria (Mary) Schweinberg:::  Nov. 1865    HZL.
5* William Schweinsberg::::28   Dec.  1870  Harwood, Luzerne, Pa.
some where in there the name was shortened to Swinesburg, also Swinsburg

do you have these people already?     aunt betty


Unfortunately, my aunts are not big on saving "documentation" to back up the family connections.  A lot is by stories that have been passed down.  At their ages 70+ 80+ they have a lot of "old" memories that I will never have and that is a wonderful thing.


I guess this is where I need to come in and find the "proof" needed for our family line.  I hope to find something to connect and fill in all the holes that we keep tripping in.  I feel my dog Maxwell has hit our family line like my backyard and keeps digging up holes as I am filling them in.  Bad dog and Bad lack of records.  


I will be searching  Pennsylvania newspapers, cemetery, mine company and court records trying to hunt down any clue to John William's parent's and so on maybe find more on the family in Germany even.  I will also search message boards hoping for a connection that is also on the search for facts and truth in the family stories.  


Happy hunting for all of you who are lost in family stories and mysteries. 

4 comments:

  1. I love these posts! They are so interesting and so investigative. Happy hunting!

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  3. Hey.
    I loved your post, actually as i looked at it i realised that i think i might be related to you... You see apparently Catherine Elizabeth came over to Australia (or one of her sons did)because my grandfather was telling me about it. You see my last name is Swinsburg- shortened 30 years ago from Schweinsberg.
    Thanks so much for this information, it helped so much.

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  4. Wow, we are related :) I'm a Swinsburg! I have been researching this for a while, but never knew about the Boyle. William Schweinsberg was my great grandfather. My father said that William's son John Lewis changed the name to Swinsburg, although I have no way of knowing if he's the one who actually did. I have quiet a bit of info on this family, but I only got as far back as Johann Wilhelm Sweinsburg (same as you)coming here from Germany. Feel free to email may if you want. janeener at gmail dot com. Or I can request you as a friend on Facebook. Thanks for sharing your info!!

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