Though the below deals with a much later time period, it might be
interesting to most of you, as we search for the origins of the B
ancestors and the reason(s) they left Germany for the Colonies. The
author has other writings, such as, "Forgotten Villages in Northern
Bavaria" and "Dusting off Old Books in Bavaria." See LINK information at
the end of the article. EB
TRACKS TO THE NEW WORLD
by Walter Koempel WKoempel@t-online.de
The tiny village of BIRX, next to FRANKENHEIM, located in the
state of Thuringia and bordering the states of Hesse and
Bavaria, was fenced in by the Iron Curtain for more than four
decades until the end of 1989, when the Cold War was finally
over. BIRX (Birg), founded in 783, was known as Perkuehes in
the middle of the 17th century. The villages were administered
under Sachsen-Weimar (Saxony-Weimar). The village of SEIFERTS
used to be part of the Kingdom of Bavaria; in 1866, it became
part of the state of Hesse. A few weeks ago, I visited an
archive to search for certain information in several newspapers
more than 100 years old, and found the following article.
. . . Im Dorfe Seiferts ist die Auswanderung nach
Amerika eine derartig starke, dass nicht weniger als 11
Anwesen leer stehen, . . . Im Dorfe Birg (Birx) hat die
Auswanderung noch groessere Dimensionen angenommen. Von
dort befindlichen gewesenen Maedchen im Alter von
14 - 25 Jahren sind nur noch zwei anwesend.
[. . . In the village of Seiferts are 11 empty
buildings, because a lot of people immigrated to America.
In the village of Birx it is even worse. From all the
girls, ages 14-25 years, only two are left behind.]
Source: BA, Number 87, dated 22 July 1882
Getting curious, I have searched for reasons why these people
left their families and their home country. Birx, with an
elevation of about 2,400 feet above sea level, has poor living
conditions. For three-quarters of the year winter prevails
and the remaining quarter also has bad weather. It is reported
that these people lived in clay sheds. There was hardly any
income. Many lives were lost in an 1875 famine that was caused
by bad harvests. The combination of a rough climate and wet,
rocky fields did not allow good farming. Therefore, a lot of
inhabitants left their home country to find a better way of
life, among them these families: FRIEDRICH, ABE, HARTMANN,
DIETZEL, RAUCH, HOHMANN, HANDWERK, KRENZER, and others --
surnames that are still common in this area. Where in America
they settled is unknown.
[Walter Koempel, Am Kueppel 14, D-97772 Wildflecken-Oberbach,
Germany, is volunteer chronicler for the villages of
Wildflecken, Oberbach, and Oberwildflecken. To find his other
articles that have appeared in MISSING LINKS, including
"Forgotten Villages in Northern Bavaria" and "Dusting off Old
Books in Bavaria," search for Walter Koempel at
http://www.petuniapress.com/cgi-bin/s.cgi ]
