EXTENDING THE GENERATIONS
What could be more exciting than making a connection with a distant cousin in the homeland of my ancestors? It would be the enormous amount of records and information that were garnered through the relationship with the cousin from Hemmingen that I discussed in Part Four of this series. This cousin had spent a great number of years tracing our mutual Kolberg family and had made trips to the ancestral homeland of Groß Tuchen and Klein Tuchen long before travel to the former "East" was commonplace. She had come away from those visits with numerous records that she had meticulously copied from the church books there.
Now, years later in 1982, she made the connection with me and graciously shared this data as well.
Our correspondence was on a magic track as I would write a letter to her in Hemmingen and she would counter with a response immediately upon receiving my letter. Our letters flowed back and forth consistently and I could depend on receiving a letter from her every two weeks. Each packet that would arrive contained not only a letter but copies of numerous records and much information. I contributed with data on the five Kolberg brothers who had immigrated to America and we were both pleased with the shared information.
From the information that I received from Liane I was able to extend my knowledge on my Kolberg family back more generations from what I had discovered on this side of the ocean.
My ancestry is as follows:
Jakob Colberg, born about 1737, married to Dorothea Maria Schlutt who was born about 1737. Jakob died about 1808 while Dorothea died about 1808 in Pyaschen (Franzwalde), Kreis Bütow, Pommern. They were my 5th great-grandparents.
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Their son, Martin Colberg, born about 1754 in Pyaschen (Franzwalde), Kreis Bütow, Pommern. He married on November 12, 1777 in Pyaschen to Catharina Schlutt who had been born about 1760. Martin died on July 28, 1820 in Pyaschen and Catharina died on April 11, 1818 also in Pyaschen. They were my 4th great-grandparents.
In addition I learned that the above Catharina Schlutt was the daughter of George Schlutt who was born about 1730 and his wife, Catharina Wohler who was born about 1730. They were also my 5th great-grandparents.
In another exciting bit of information I learned that the above Catharina Wohler, born about 1730 (my 5th great grandmother) was the daughter of Kayser Wohler, born about 1700, and his wife, Maria Elisabeth Schaper, born about 1700 as well. This Kayser Wohler and Maria Elisabeth Schaper were my 6th great-grandparents.
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Martin Colberg and Catharina Schlutt's son, Johann Jakob Colberg, was born March 30, 1779 in Pyaschen (Franzwalde), Kreis Bütow, Pommern. He married on November 28, 1814 in Groß Tuchen to Katharina Pliske who had been born on December 10, 1792 in Klein Tuchen. Johann Jakob died on May 22, 1862 in Klein Tuchen and he was buried on May 25, 1862, also in Klein Tuchen. Katharina had died on March 29, 1854 in Klein Tuchen and she was buried on April 1, 1854 also in Klein Tuchen. They were my 3rd great-grandparents.
In addition, I learned that the above Katharina Pliske was the daughter of Michael Pliske who was born before 1759 in Morgenstern, Kreis Bütow, Pommern and who died on December 2, 1830 in Klein Tuchen. He was married about 1785 to Maria Szarnowski who had been born before 1759 in Tangen, Kreis Bütow, Pommern and who died April 26, 1822 in Klein Tuchen. Michael Pliske and Maria Szarnowski were my 4th great-grandparents.
Again, in another bit of exciting information, I was able to also learn that the above Maria Szarnowski, my 4th great-grandmother was the daughter of Johann Szarnowski and Catharina Polzin. The records, however, did not list any dates of birth or death for them. Records did indicate, though, that they had been married in Tangen. Johann Szarnowski and Catharina Polzin were my 5th great-grandparents.
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Johann Jakob Colberg and Katharina Pliske's son, Friedrich-Wilhelm Colberg, Sr., was born August 18, 1821 in Klein Tuchen. He married on April 5, 1850 in Groß Tuchen to Henriette Amalie Kautz who had been born on December 25, 1832 in Klein Tuchen. Friedrich-Wilhelm died on April 15, 1900 in Klein Tuchen and Henriette Amalie died on June 21, 1908 in Klein Tuchen. They were my 2nd great-grandparents.
Years later, with continued research, I would be successful in learning the parents of the above Henriette Amalie Kautz and I was able to trace back her Kautz family many, many generations. That is information for a further post in another series.
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Friedrich-Wilhelm Colberg, Sr. and Henriette Amalie Kautz' son, August Gottlieb Kolberg, was born November 24, 1854 in Klein Tuchen. He married on October 4, 1878 in Groß Tuchen to Bertha Kramp who had been born on July 26, 1860 in Borntuchen, Kreis Bütow, Pommern. August died on April 24, 1920 in Lincoln Township, Michigan, USA and he was buried in City Cemetery in St. Joseph, Michigan. Bertha died on February 26, 1915 in Kalamazoo, Michigan and she was buried as well in City Cemetery, St. Joseph. They were my great-grandparents.
Again, as in the above "Kautz" ancestry, I would be successful after years of research in learning the parents and further ancestors of my great-grandmother, Bertha Kramp. That is also information for a further post in another series.
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I was beyond excited and pleased to have received all this data from cousin, Liane, in Hemmingen, Germany. She also included copies of documents from the former Evangelical church in Groß Tuchen which is now part of Poland and called Tuchomie. From the beginning of my research, and with only the knowledge of my great-grandparents' names, I had now gone back four more generations on my Kolberg family. I had also learned parentage on the female lines of some of these generations as well. This added many more surnames to my list of ancestors.
In addition to the above data, Liane offered me the mailing address of the Catholic Church in Tuchomie where the church books from the former Groß Tuchen were housed. What had once been Evangelical German communities known as Groß Tuchen, Klein Tuchen, Tangen, Borntuchen, etc were now Catholic Polish communities with new names as well. Liane suggested that I should try writing to the priest in Tuchomie to see what information I could obtain. She was aware that the priests assigned to that small parish changed frequently and she was hoping that a new priest would share more data with me than what she had personally been able to obtain.
And, thus, the search continues...
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Johann and Berta (Hepke) Colberg Family Photos:
Copyright 2010, Cheryl J. Schulte
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