SEPTEMBER 1993 NEWSLETTER
Where has the summer gone? It has been delightful however and most productive for our genealogical research.
I will include an updated copy of Charles GEISSINGER's family group sheet with this newsletter. You will see that we only have 4 of his children identified---Charles Jr., Catherine (wife of Michael MOWER), John, and Michael. We have some good clues however because we know that Charles Sr.'s father was named Matthew. Undoubtedly Charles named one of his sons after his father. We shall look for WALSER family names too and see if we can pick up on any American GEISSINGERs with those names. We also know that Michael and Catherine (GEISSINGER) MOWER named children, Jacob, Henry, Susan, and Sarah and that they possibly had other children named:
John George son of Michael MAURER and Catherine born 27 Feb 1794 (FHL #975.291 K28w Washington County, Maryland Church Records of the 18th Century, page 107)
Maria, dau. of Michael MAURER and Catherine, born 18 Apr 1799, bap 13 May 1799 (FHL #975.291 K28w Washington County, Maryland Church Records of the 18th Century, pg. 111)
Catharine of Michael MAURER and wife Catherine, born 12 Feb 1801, bap. 15 Mar 1801 Wit: Philippina Reitenauer (FHL #975.291 K28w Washington County, Maryland Church Records of the 18th Century, page 112)
George is a name that has carried on down into the MOWER descendants and possibly some of these names mentioned were also the names of the brothers and sisters of Catherine GEISSINGER, daughter of Charles Sr. Lots of clues means more work to do.
I am wrapping up work with Jim PETTY presently and will put him on hold at least through next spring. I am putting our funds to work where they are the most productive.
RESEARCH REPORT BY TRUDY SCHENK ON THE GOETZIS, AUSTRIA EXTRACTIONS 19 July 1993: "Dear Jerry, In order to get the enclosed new name extractions to you, I'll send this handwritten short report. As you will see I did continue on all lines what at this point are your pedigree lines. This group includes all WALSERs who could turn out to be your Maria WALSER's family. I still hope to determine the correct one as I come to her death date and hopefully the pastor will have an age written down. There are a number of marriages to which no children are born. These are listed separately on a sheet of paper. It is very hard to place the deaths expecially those of infant children since the priest at the time did not name the child. This group of names represents the amount of 20 hours of my time. I still have $300 to work with. Thank you kindly for the checks you sent off so faithfully. I have a microfilm reader at home and our floor manager let me take the Goetzis film home so I can work as fast and as long as I want. Good luck with all the names, Sincerely yours, Trudy Schenk."
The reason we can send off checks to her regularly is because you folks are regularly financing this work. It could not be done nearly as quickly without your help. The names are rolling off the film like crazy. I told her we want all of our relatives extracted who are related through bloodline or marriage into our family lines. The result is that she has sent me 672 names of relatives to date which I have entered onto the computer into my master GEISSINGER file. All of those names can have temple work done. None of the names on the Goetzis, Austrial film have had any temple work done (with the exception of our Grandpa Charles GEISSINGER.) If your temple needs names let me know 4 weeks in advance and I will send in a submission. I think all temples are currently in names.
I received an interesting querie from a Mr. Nelson EDDY of Terra Haute, Indiana this past week. He received my name from John GEISSINGER in Bechtelsville, Pennsylvania. Mr. GEISSINGER and I have been corresponding regarding his relatives and he passed my name on to Mr. EDDY. The interesting part of this is that Mr. EDDY has traced his GEISSINGER ancestors back into Frederick Co., Maryland. He descends from a Charles GEISSINGER who was born in 1754, who was the son of Johannes Caspar GEISSINGER and Barbara WEISSIN. This family also lived in Frederick Co., Maryland. This may help us tie in the various GEISSINGER families we have extracted in Maryland records.
What is most interesting is that his family history says that Johannes Casper GEISSINGER was an immigrant from Vienna, Austria. It very well could be that all the Frederick Co., Maryland GEISSINGERs came from Austria and are related. This is getting kind of intriguing. I have written him and asked for the documentation he has regarding his Charles and the line of descent from that Charles to Mr. EDDY. Once I get that information I should be able to tie in alot of other GEISSINGERs we have been studying in the Virginia, Ohio, and Maryland areas. This GEISSINGER puzzle seems to be coming together all of a sudden. There must be someone who wants this family put together correctly. I hope we can be successful and careful in our conclusions.
I have recently been in contact with a lady in Hagarstown, Maryland who is a descendant of Martin BRILL. She is constructing a book of Martin's descendants. Suddenly, out-of-the-blue I received a letter from Washington of a lady studying the BRILLs who provided several missing links for us on the Virginia BRILL family. That led us to the connecting of about 150 descendants of Martin BRILL into the master BRILL file. I sent these to the lady in Maryland who is writing the book. These rather large genealogies are coming together rapidly. We have more info to share on those interested in the Cockerham and East lines next newsletter.