Traveling to Insheim, Germany

Bernhard, Roland and me

Sunday evening after arriving in Speyer and checking into my room, I had some time to try and digest my whirlwind days in Switzerland before shrugging out of my Kubler Coat of Arms and into the one for my Metz family. Monday morning I took a bus to the train station, and then three trains to Insheim. I was met at the train station by Roland, our translator, and also Herbert and Bernhard. They drove me to the Rathaus, which is like our city hall, where I met with the mayor and a couple of other people. After some champagne and fresh rolls, they showed a slide presentation of some of the information they had collected about my Metz family. They also provided the data in a printed notebook, in English, which is awesome.

Following the presentation we went upstairs to the Glocken Museum, the second largest collection of bells in Germany. This collection was donated by a resident, and the town takes care of it.

Glocken Museum Insheim, Gemany

Swiss cow bell

Next we took a walking tour of the town, where they pointed out the historic buildings. We saw the Catholic Church, but as this one was built in 1912 and completed in 1914, it is not the one my ancestors would have worshiped in.

Catholic Church exterior

Catholic church interior

In Germany, the ruling king determined what religion the people practiced. So a church may have been Catholic for one reign and then protestant for the next. When that was no longer a law, then churches would sometimes allow both religions to use their building. That was the case in Insheim until the Catholics began building their own church in 1912. Here is the old church where the Metz family would have attended services. It is now Lutheran.

Lutheran Church exterior

Lutheran Church interior

The town cemetery is located next to the Lutheran Church. I took pictures of all the Metz graves that I could find. In Germany, and the same is true in Switzerland, the family rents the grave space for a maximum of 30 years. When someone stops paying or the 30 years is up, the tombstone is removed and someone else is buried there. I asked what happens to the tombstones, and was told that the family could take the stone or it would be ground up and reused. Talk about reduce, reuse, recycle!

Metz grave

Next we drove to Burg Landeck, a nature park containing a castle. There were beautiful views especially from the tower of the castle. We also had lunch at the castle restaurant.

Burg Landeck castle

View from the castle tower

Next on the agenda was a trip to Steinweiler, a small village located near Insheim. Maria Appollonia Schwein from Steinweiler married Andreas Metz from Insheim in 1777. In Steinweiler the local historians had located the house of the Schwein family from 1717. How did they know which house was theirs? It is etched right onto the house. When I saw these markings all I could think was how happy Americans would be to find out not only when the house was built but for whom, just by looking at the outside of the house. The markings also indicate that Schwein was a blacksmith.

Front of the house

Markings on the house

Inside the courtyard

Another courtyard shot

Inside the house

While we were taking photos of the front of the house the owner came home from work. When Roland explained that I was visiting from America and that my Schwein family had lived here, he invited us inside the courtyard and the kitchen area. He and his wife are having the house renovated, and the workmen were there at the time so we couldn't see more of the house itself. To say that it was a thrill to be able to cross the same threshold that my ancestors had crossed is a vast understatement. I still have goosebumps!

On the way back to Insheim we stopped at a vineyard as Roland explained to me that this part of Germany is often referred to as Little Tuscany. I can definitely see why. It is a beautiful area.

Vineyards

Grapes

Me with the Golden Book

Once we arrived back at the Rathaus I was invited to sign the Golden Book, an honor reserved for VIPs. I was flattered to be asked, and how fun to know that I have left a permanent part of myself in the town that my ancestors once called home. Then Roland and Herbert offered to drive me back to Speyer so I could avoid the three train rides and bus transfer to get back to my hotel. Since they had given me two commemorative glasses of town celebrations as well as two historical books, I was happy to take them up on their kind offer. This was another information packed day with yet another group of people who put a lot of time into looking for my family history, and making me feel welcome in their town. I feel so blessed that my family came from this wonderful little village.

Finding New Leaves on the Family Tree

Things have really been moving on my genealogy trip to Germany this fall. Family Tree Tour reps Kathy and Matthias have found people in both Germany and Switzerland who are willing to do some research on my family and also meet with me when I arrive. As I mentioned in an earlier post, the volunteer in Insheim is looking for my Metz family records. He will also accompany me to Steinweiler where my fourth great-grandmother was from, though she married my fourth great-grandfather Andreas Mez in Insheim in 1777. The volunteer sent an email with a document about this couple, which lists 10 additional children that my cousins and I did not know about! It was in German, so I ran it through a translating program in Gmail. I got a chuckle out of the fact that the program translated Apolonia Schwein to Apolonia Pig. Somehow, I don't think she would have appreciated that!

Meanwhile down in Switzerland, volunteer Rolf has been a busy bee! He has taken photos of over 400 documents to share with me. Wow! But perhaps even more exciting is the fact that he has contacted 25 members of the Kubler family in the area, and they want to have a family meeting with me. This is so above and beyond anything I could have imagined! We are still working out the logistics, but I believe I will leave my tour group in Boppard, Germany and take a train to Busserach on a Thursday. I have no concept of how long that will take by train, but it looks like it is about four hours by car. Then on Friday Rolf and I will go to the research center together and look at records, and Saturday will be the family gathering where we will talk about what we have found. At this point I am not sure if I will take the train to Speyer, Germany to meet up with my group on Saturday night, or if I can stay until Sunday. Currently I am scheduled to go to Insheim on Sunday to meet with the volunteer there, but Matthias is checking to see if we could do it on Monday instead.

Near Busserach is an inn called Gastof zum Kreuz where I hope to stay. My ancestor in 1854 sold his house and his land to finance his voyage to the United States. He left Switzerland after February 1854 with four children. We are uncertain at this time what happened to his wife. But how amazing would it be to stay at an inn that is part of my ancestor's history?

Yesterday I attended a workshop on writing your family history. While I have written other books, writing about family is another animal altogether. Trying to take dry statistics and turn them into something others will want to read is a challenge indeed. But I have a feeling that after my trip this September I will be able to find a way to make two of the branches come to life.

How Deep are Your Roots?

As I have mentioned in a previous blog post, I am heading to the Rheinland-Pfalz area of Germany with Family Tree Tours this fall. As a tour company specializing in genealogy, their trips combine the best of both worlds - travel to beautiful locations and the opportunity to learn more about your family heritage. In looking at all the names in my family tree, including those of Jim's ancestors, I was only able to locate one family in this part of Germany. But it happens to be the Metz family, and I have a couple of cousins who have previously researched the family so at least I have a base to work with. My 2nd great-grandfather was only 43 when he died of a bee sting in Insheim in 1862. His wife Barbara was left with a rather large family to raise, including my great-grandfather who was only 4 months old when his father died. In 1866 Barbara boarded the ship Fulton with 6 of her children, heading for Cincinnati where at least one of her older children resided.  I provided Family Tree Tours with all the information I had about this family.

Barbara Karch Metz grave, Cincinnati, OH

I was excited to learn recently that the company has already heard back from volunteers willing to help research my Metz family in Insheim, Germany. Someone will meet me when I arrive in the town and will show me around the area and talk to me about what they have found. Insheim is only about 30 minutes away from the town of Speyer that will function as our base on the second half of our trip, so that will be an easy trip to make.

As I studied the map of the part of Germany where we will be staying and traveling, I decided to gauge the distance between Speyer and Busserach, Switzerland. It appeared to be about a 2-3 hours ride. Busserach is where my 2nd great-grandfather Joseph V. Kubler was born. Kubler is my maiden name, which we always believed to be German. As I began to research the name many years ago, I traveled to Connersville, Indiana where Joseph raised his family and is buried. I found a death notice in the newspaper that stated he came from Busserach. An additional article in a book about leading industries in Fayette County, Indiana corroborated that fact. My dad was so surprised to learn that he was Swiss! No one had ever mentioned it in the family.

Joseph V. Kubler grave, Connersville, IN

I forwarded my information to Family Tree Tours, and they said it would be doable to travel to Busserach though I will have to spend the night there due to the distance. They contacted someone in the town and heard back from them right away. Someone from Busserach is willing to show me around the area, and there are still families named Kubler who live there. Further, they forwarded a Kubler family tree dating back to 1700! Is it my tree? I don't know yet as the birth year for their Josef and the one I have for Joseph (father of Joseph V.) is off by quite a bit. But it definitely points me in the direction of what I need to do next in order to see if they are one and the same.

In all my years of doing genealogy, and house research as well, things have never come easy. To have the opportunity to see these two ancestral towns with experts from the area is something I never dreamed would happen. I believe I will have much to write about this fall!