This is the tale of finding a long lost ancestor, how she was different from what I expected, and a highly speculative explanation of how she came to be born in such an unusual place.

It had never occurred to me to look for confirmation records for my Müller family. I had found this part of my family early in my German research, because I was lucky that they were transcribed by the LDS many years ago. Müller should have been the most difficult name to research, since it is the number one most common German surname. Instead, this is where I got my feet wet in genealogy by ordering the films of German records for a small town near Frankenthal called Grossniedesheim. My family was from the even tinier town of Kleiniedesheim. I first learned to muddle my way through reading old German script. It isn’t as simple as learning what the German letters look like. You have to take into account the variations between writers with good penmanship and those who just scrawl! Also, to add to the confusion, some of the records are in French since this area of Germany was occupied by France during the Napoleonic Wars.

I recently subscribed to a German website called Archion, which provides archival images of German church records. So far, I think they only have Protestant records. The site had been in beta testing for a while, and I was eagerly awaiting it to go “live.” It is similar to other “pay” genealogy sites in that there are several different plans from which you can choose. Fortunately, you can browse the site in advance to see if any of the towns fit your research interests. The names within the records are not digitally indexed, though, so it is much like renting an un-indexed film through FamilySearch.org. I was thrilled to see that the Grossniedesheim records were included. I figured that they were probably worth another look after a 20 year hiatus.

That is the background on how I came to scour these records – this time with a more in-depth knowledge of who I was looking for and what I was viewing. Don’t get me wrong; I still need help reading these documents and expertise on German locales and customs. When I do, I usually turn to one of the German Facebook groups.
Here is my Müller family that immigrated to the US on the ship General Dunlop, arriving from in New York from Liverpool on 9 August 1852.

Year: 1852; Arrival: New York, New York; Microfilm Serial: M237, 1820-1897; Microfilm Roll: Roll 117; Line: 25; List Number: 1112 Source Information Ancestry.com. New York, Passenger Lists, 1820-1957 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2010.

In my previous encounter with the Grossniedesheim records, I found the christenings of Margaretha, Philipp, Andreas and Eva. I also knew about Maria from US records, but August was an entirely new name. I decided this was a male name, despite the passenger list identifying this person as female. After all, my grandfather, Andreas, and his brother, Philipp, were also designated female. I hunted and hunted, but I never found any sign of August, nor of Margaretha, after the family landed in New York.

Last night, I decided to take a look at the confirmation records that I had previously snubbed. I wondered if there could be any information there that would fill in some of the gaps on this family. I wasn’t disappointed. Three of the children were old enough to go through confirmation before the family left Kleineidesheim in 1852. First, I found Philipp, the middle son. I was interested to see how much detail was in these records, including date of birth, names of both parents, and occupation of the father. I learned that Katharina’s full name was Maria Katharina Reich. Next, I located Maria, confirmed in 1849, and noticed that her birthplace was Hanau. Wow! This was new. Hanau, just outside of Frankfurt, also tied in with information I have that Katharina Reich was from Hesse. Could Hanau be where my 3x great-grandmother was born?

Now, I was pretty excited. This explained why I had no baptism record for Maria. I decided to press my luck and look for the oldest son, August. I scanned through the pages for the appropriate years. No, I wasn’t finding August. I was ready to call it a night, but had one more thought. Maybe I should look for births from Hanau. I went back and started over. Nearly all of the children were born in Grossniedesheim or Kleinniedesheim. Those who weren’t stuck out like a sore thumb. And, then, I spotted it. Born in Mariabu–? on 25 February 1835 to Philipp Müller and Maria Katharina Reich – Anna Maria Augusta. I was in shock. The oldest son of the Müller family was a daughter! This is the only record that I have found for her beyond the passenger list of the General Dunlop. Once again, I had been looking for the wrong person for years!

1845 and 1849 Grossniedesheim Lutheran Confirmation of Augusta and Maria Müller

My next, move was to locate a town of birth that begins with “Maria.” There were several Mariabergs, but none of these was very close to Hanau or Grossniedesheim. I decided to turn to the Ahnenforschung in Hessen/Genealogy in Hesse Facebook group for expertise and guidance. I posted an excerpt of the record and stated that I thought the place might be Mariaberg, but one member pointed out that the last letter was certainly an “h.” He thought it was Mariabuch, but he said he knew of no such place. I found a Maria Buch in Austria, but it was 700km away from Grossniedesheim. It just didn’t seem a likely match. Then, another member chimed in that there is a place called Mariabuchen (Lohr am Main). While still a distance from Hanau, at 80 kilometers it is a feasible journey.

Relationship of Three Possible Müller Birthplaces

Mariabuchen, though, is not a town. It is a Catholic santuary in the Spessart Mountains with a legendary story. The conversation in my Facebook group got sticky. This was not the birth place, but the church where Anna Maria Augusta was baptized. I double checked the confirmation register. It said “Geburtsort” or birthplace. Then, my original informant suggested that the baby was born there while her mother was on pilgrimage. He told me that Mariabuchen is (and was) a very popular shrine. Catharina could have traveled there most of the way by river and walked the last part. Look at that hill, though. No wonder she probably had her baby on the spot!

Aerial View of the Wallfahrtskirche Mariabuchen Photo by Sigi Knoll (Lagaly de)

I will probably never know if baby Augusta was really delivered at Mariabuch. Perhaps, I will turn up her christening record there. There is one interesting thing that supports the idea of an unusual and special birth. This eldest Müller daughter is the only child in the family with three given names – Anna Maria Augusta. The other children are simply Mary, Margaret, Philipp, Andrew and Eva. Only the first-born was different.