If this is Thursday it must be postcards, 593

 

 

 

 

 

 

Oberhessische Trachten, [Upper Hesse – Germany], Nr 5, Der Hochzelitzug, ca 1960s

 

I like folk costumes and find it interesting to see the similarities between the northern European countries.  The unused color photo postcard above shared this week shows the women wearing the traditional long-skirted dirndl that is worn, with slight differences, in Germany, Austria and Switzerland.  The picture is of a wedding procession with the bride and groom following the women.  The bride is wearing an elaborate bridal crown.  The card is numbered 5 and was a product of Wilh. Stumpf of Treysa, Germany.

 

The second unused color photo card, seen below, shows two young women also wearing the long-skirted dirndl.  This costume is identified as “Im Sonntagsstaat” or “in their Sunday best.”  The card is numbered 8 and is also a product of Wilh. Stumpf.

 

 

 

Oberhessische Trachten, Nr. 8, Im Sonntagsstaat, ca 1960s

 

Traditional dirndls vary in design between regions and villages.  The details can indicate the place the woman comes from and sometimes even her social standing.  Everyday dirndls are rural domestic costumes intended for everyday use.  They can be made from colored linen and sometimes have leather bodices.  Dirndls worn for special occasions use designs and materials, embroidery, and jewelry specific to the region.  For example, note the cutout designs on the aprons and the minor differences in the colors, sleeves and hemlines.  The traditional dirndls often also have a fancy collar and fabric pieces that cross over the breast making the costume more in keeping with Catholic ideas of modest attire. 

 

For additional information, see:

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dirndl

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Upper_Hesse

 

If this is Thursday it must be postcards, 439

Hardenberg Castle, near Göttingen, Lower Saxony, Germany, ca 1911

This used postcard has a photograph of the ruins of Hardenberg Castle, seen at the top of the hill, located on the river Leine, about 10 km or approximately 6 miles north of Göttingen, Germany.  The card has a postmark date of 2? 8 11 [2? August 1911].  The handwritten date in the message is 24 August with no year.   The card has the number 22407 and the name of the publisher:  Kunstverlagsantalt A. J. Bellson, Cassel, Wolfsschlucht 13, printed along the left margin on the reverse.  The picture is a “Real Photo” and A.J.Bellson was an art publishing company. 

Both the castle and the town of Göttingen have beginnings around 1100, with what became eventually a city, first part of a village called Gutingi in 953 AD.   The city was formally founded between 1150 and 1200 AD and the Electors of Mainz built the castle about 1101.  In medieval times the city was a member of the Hanseatic League and a wealthy town.  In 1409 the ownership of the castle was split between two family branches.  A thunderstorm in 1698 partially destroyed the castle and it was abandoned in 1720 eventually becoming a ruin.  Descendants of the Hardenberg family still own the castle but live in a nearby manor house.  The Hardenberg-Wilthen distillery was founded in 1700 and today is the second largest liquor producer in Germany. 

Visitors can take tours of the castle ruins and grounds.

For additional information, see:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nörten-Hardenberg
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Göttingen
http://www.pizzatravel.com.ua/eng/germany/9/castle_and_palace_hardenberg

If this is Thursday it must be postcards, 209

Bremen, Germany

This 1982 color postcard, published by Gunter Reinhardt of Bremen, shows part of the Marktplaz of Bremen, Germany including the statue of Roland (1404) the protector of the city seen in the foreground.  He is holding the sword of justice and a shield decorated with an imperial eagle.  Another statue in the square, not visible on the card, is of the Town Musicians, a donkey, dog, cat, and rooster from the Brothers Grimm fairy tale.  Following World War II the facades of the buildings in the marktplaz were the first buildings in Bremen to be restored by the citizens.

As the third largest city in Northern Germany, Bremen is a major port and commercial and industrial city situated on the River Weser.  Bremen with neighboring Bremerhaven comprised the state of the Free Hanseatic City of Bremen.  The Hanseatic League was formed in the 14th century as an international trade and defensive confederation of merchants and guilds originally formed for protection from raids and piracy.

 The city’s stone walls were first constructed in 1032 or about the time trade began with Norway, England and northern Netherlands.   Like many of the older European cities this one had a Prince-Archbishop; however, the city was recognized as a political entity with its own laws.  This meant that property within the boundaries were not subject to feudal overlordship.  Even some serfs could and did acquire property.  

Bremen declared neutrality during the Thirty Years’ War; nevertheless, the city reinforced its fortifications as protection.  For more interesting history, pictures, and information about Bremen and the Hanseatic League, see:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bremen
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hanseatic_League

Alexander Lorig gravestone, update

Gravestone of Alexander and Rosa Lorig found in the Jewish cemetery at Gemünden, Rhein-Hunrück, Germany

[photo: http://alemannia-judaica.de/gemuenden sim friedhof.htm]

On 28 March 2012 there was a post titled:  "The gravestone of Alexander and Rosa Lorig" that included a photograph Stephan Lorig had sent of the gravestone.  The inscription on the stone is in Hebrew and although I did take it to my neighbor who is a Rabbi to see if it could be translated the image on the picture was not clear enough to do so.  Today I received a translation from another Lorig descendant, Ruth Mueller, and wanted to share it here as I know several have expressed an interest in knowing what the stone says.

"Here lie the man Alexander son of Mordechai who died on the 3rd of Tevet (4th month of the Jewish year) and his wife Reisechi (?) daughter of Palter who died on 9th of Tevet of the (Jewish) year 5677.*

"Beloved and pleasant in their life and in their death they were not parted (Samuel B, chapter 1, verse 23).  May their souls be bound in the bundle of the living (Jewish equivalent to R.I.P.)."

Thank you so much, Ruth, from all of us.  

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Note:  

* If I am understanding this correctly "the number of years on the Jewish calendar represents the number of years since creation, calculated by adding up the ages of the people in the Bible back to the time of creation."  Please see:  http://www.jewfaq.org/calendar.htm

The gravestone of Alexander & Rosa Lorig

Gravestone of Alexander and Rosa Lorig found in the Jewish cemetery at Gemünden, Rhein-Hunrück, Germany

[photo: http://alemannia-judaica.de/gemuenden sim friedhof.htm]

Here is something else that may be of interest to the Lorig Family Group. This is a Jewish gravestone from the village of Gemünden, Rhein-Hunsrück, Germany showing Alexander Lorig born 29 January 1824 in Butzweiler died 28 October 1916 [buried in Gemünden] and his wife, Rosa [maiden name appears to be Viktor], born 11 June 1832 in Sp---- [not legible] died 7 January 1917 [buried in Gemünden]. They are related to the noted sociologist Louis Wirth who left Germany for America in 1911. He became a leading figure in the Chicago School of Sociology and is especially known for his essay “Urbanism as a Way of Life,” published in 1938. His parents were Rosalie Lorig and Joseph Wirth. There are several other Wirths buried in this same cemetery in Germany. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louis Wirth for more information.

Even though this couple is living some distance away from Trier and closer to Frankfurt at the time of death we can see from the gravestone that Alexander Lorig was born in Butzweiler which is near to Lorich, Beßlich, Kordel, Biewer, Trier and about 23 miles from Kesten. At this point I am not sure if we can prove that Alexander is connected to our other Lorigs, it will depend on the availability of searchable records, but geographically his birthplace certainly fits in with the rest of them. It will be interesting to see if we can find anything that connects this family with the others.

Section of road map with small towns highlighted
[map: Auto Atlas 1989/90 Bundesrepublik Deutschland 1:200.00]

Stephan Lorig pointed me toward a couple of Jewish websites [that fortunately had English version buttons] and I will paraphrase material found on them--Gemünden had a small community of about 100 Jews in the early 19th century that peaked to about 147 persons in the mid to late 1850s. Most of these people were engaged in trade. They had their own Jewish school with the lessons taught in German and following the same curriculum as the Christian schools. In 1874 the Jewish school was closed and the children were transferred to a Protestant school. By 1930 the Jewish population had dwindled to 60 persons most of whom dealt with cattle. The synagogue was set on fire during Kristallnacht in 1938 and five people were deported east. Please see http://www.alemannia-judaica.de/gemuenden sim synagoge.htm for the complete text. [reference: Article from "The Encyclopedia of Jewish life Before and During the Holocaust". 
First published in 2001 by NEW YORK UNIVERSITY PRESS; Copyright © 2001 by Yad Vashem Jerusalem, Israel.]

The old cemetery at Scholssberg was used up to about 1815 and then a newer cemetery was in use from that time until approximately 1942. The cemetery has been an historical monument since 1992 is maintained and is in good condition. The grounds cover about 26 acres.

The picture of the gravestone at the top of the post is the original photograph as it appears on http://www.alemannia-judaica.de/images/Images%20184/Gemuenden%20Sim%20Friedhof%20185.jpg Thanks to Stephan who sent me the photo and the link via email. I took this photograph to my neighbor, Will, who is a Rabbi and asked him to look at it for me. He was not able to translate all the text because the Hebrew letters were not distinct enough on the photo to read but he was able to read enough to tell me it basically says something like “Here lies Alexander son of Mordecai and the dates including the month of Tevet [the 10th of the 13 Jewish months].” The Hebrew portion of the text on the stone would have the dates in the Jewish calendar and the German writing at the bottom of the stone has the dates in the Gregorian calendar. It would be a typical inscription on a Jewish headstone such as this. He asked if there was a town by the name of Lorig nearby and then said that most of the Jews took the name of towns as their surnames rather than use a patronymic or other descriptive names. He did not think there were Jews living in this area of Germany earlier than about 1700 or 1750 so if we find that there were some here in the 1600s I think he will be very interested in that. He kindly offered to help with Hebrew translations and historical background if we find more.


Here’s what had to be done to the image to help read the inscriptions.

Step one—inverse the image

Inversed image of gravestone

[photo: http://alemannia-judaica.de/gemuenden sim friedhof.htm]

The letters on the right side of the stone are still not clear enough to read.

Step two—change to a black and white image and sharpen

Black & White image of the headstone

[photo: http://alemannia-judaica.de/gemuenden sim friedhof.htm]

Unfortunately it is still not clear enough to read but it is a little better than the original full color image. I personally think that the inverse is a little clearer than either the color or the black and white. We will continue to investigate this and post results at a later date.

Marriage records for three of the children of Severii Lorig

I thought these documents were worth sharing as an illustration of what the original written records look like. The first one is a copy from the parish register of Kordel and Biewer dated 26 January 1701 showing the marriages of three of the children of the then deceased Severii [Severius] Lorig. The first entry is for his son, Joannes [Johannes or Johan] who is marrying Eulolia Thespern. The second is for Anna marrying Maximus Weber and the last entry is for Anna Catharina marrying Jo’is [Joh. or Johannes] Rodt.

When I examined these I used Photoshop to inverse the original parish register negative copy to a positive form and then increased the magnification so I could read the text. I thought it was interesting to see that Joannes is labeled ‘Honestus’ [honest or upright] but Maximus is Virtuosis [upright and honorable] and Jo’is is Virtuous and Honestus. We think this may indicate some sort of social standing with Joannes being a little lower down than Maximus and Jo’is. Joannes Lorig who would be turning 21 in 1701 is labeled as “adolescens” but I think that just means young man [unmarried] not particularly underage or teenage. The other two men are also listed as adolescens. Included here is the text for the first entry only.

The text: 1701 die 26 Jani. . . Honestus adolescens Joannes [Johannes] Lorig legitimus defunti Severii Lorig filius uxor honesti Baches Thespern honesta filia [?] Eulolia attestantibus Mathias Müller et Joannes Aachen coramme Mathias Erasmi pastor corimatrimonium contractant.

My interpretation: 1701 the 26th of January, The upright young man Joannes Lorig, legitimate son of the deceased Severii Lorig takes to wife the upright Baches Thespern’s upright daughter . . . Eulolia attested or witnessed by Mathias Müller and Joannes Aachen contracted in the presence of Mathias Erasmi pastor

Marriages, Kordel and Biewer, Rheinland-Pfalz, Germany, 1701 for Joannes Lorig, Anna Lorig, and Anna Catharina Lorig as found on FHL #0466488

The original records were written in what is referred to as Germanic Latin a more or less standard form for church records in Germany of that time period. The script is often a mixture of Gothic and Latin as is the case here. Usually the names are written in the Latin or Roman script but you will notice that Weber is written in the Gothic style on the copy above. Click on the image to see the entire entry and to enlarge.

The same information, excluding the extra wording, is found in the familienbüch and is shown below. Familienbücher were compiled in the 1930s and 1940s therefore the handwriting is more familiar making it much easier to read.

Marriages for Kordel and Biewer, Rheinland-Pfalz, Germany, for Joannes Lorig and his two sisters, Anna and Anna Catharina as found in the familienbüch, FHL #1336837.

Lorig family lineage

Church in Biewer, Rheinland-Pfalz, Germany
[photo: courtesy of Google images]

Some of you may have wondered if the Lorig/Lorich family could be traced back further than the father of Henry Lorig (the immigrant) who was Franz Lorig, born about 1767 probably in Kordel or Biewer, Rheinland-Pfalz, Germany and his wife, Angela Zimmer who was christened in Biewer on 4 May 1778. Franz and Angela were married 26 May 1803 in Biewer. They had twelve children (see the earlier post on Henry Lorig). Franz died 10 February 1854 and Angela died just two years before on 21 January 1852. Both died in the town of Biewer. You will note that Henry left Germany for America the year before his father died. I do not have photos, portraits or even drawings of them or those who came before but I can trace the family back a few more generations.

Surnames are rather interesting. In the beginning people just used a given name but as more and more people had the same given names it became important to have a way to distinguish this John from that John so a second name was added. It could be descriptive such as John Baker, John Stout or telling us that this John came from a certain place, or was a soldier, or had red hair, or any number of things that would make him different from the John who lived and worked next door. As I mentioned in an previous post there is a small town named Lorich located near Biewer with Biewer being more or less a suburb of the larger city of Trier. I believe at some point in time the family originated from Lorich and took the name of the town as their fixed surname.* To date, however, I have not gone back far enough to find the first Lorig/Lorich living in that town.

This area of Germany is predominantly Roman Catholic and our Lorig/Lorich ancestors were Catholics. We are digging into a time long enough ago that Germany was not a truly unified country but was warring within itself with each small duchy fighting its neighbors. In addition to fighting among themselves they often fought with the French therefore from time to time the control of the area switched hands and the records changed from being written mostly in Latin and German to Latin and French or just German or French. A quarrelsome bunch of folks it seems, although we need to remember it was the ruling class that instigated the wars not the common people who were forced to fight them.

Franz Lorich born about 1767 was the son of Nicolaus Lorich, born 16 April 1737 in Kordel not very far from Biewer and Gertrud Adam, born 19 January 1740 in Biewer. They were married 24 January 1760 in Biewer. The first child I found listed in the records was Franz or Frans born about 1767.** I think it is most probable that there were at least two other children born earlier who may have died in infancy or who appear listed in another church register. So far I have only found two other children Maria Angela who is listed as a child but no birth or christening information is provided and Margaretha born about 1781. With this many years between the children I would be very surprised if we don’t eventually find several other children born into the family. With a 50% mortality rate among children a common factor, however, it is likely that about half of the children born into the family did not survive childhood.

Nicolaus Lorich was the son of Johannes sometimes written as Joes or Josephi Lorich born in Kordel about 1702 and his wife Anna Bartz daughter of Theodore Bartz. They were married 6 February 1726 at Kordel. Johannes and Anna had seven children:

1. Hubertus born 1727
2. Elisabeth born 1729
3. Mathias born 1731
4. Angela born 1733
5. Catharina born 1734
6. Nicolaus born 1737
7. Anna Maria born 1740

Johannes or Josephi Lorich was the son of Johannes Lorig born about 1680 and Eulolia Thespern. Johannes and Eulolia were married 26 January 1701 at Kordel. So far I have only found the one child listed for them.

Joahnnes Lorig was the son of Severius Lorig who was born about 1655. Severius’s wife’s name is not listed but one other child besides Johannes is, a girl named Anna.

This is as far as the Lorig line has been traced to date. I can also trace the maternal lines back to approximately the same time period.

Burg Eltz, Germany
[photo: courtesy of Google images]

This area along the Mosel River where the family lived is rich farmland mostly producing grapes for wine. It is beautiful scenic countryside with a meandering calm looking river winding its way through the lush farmland. There are a few schloss or castles too. The photo is of Burg Eltz. I thought this was near Leiwen (it was labeled as such on Google Images) which is in the same general area where our Lorigs lived but just learned from Stephan Lorig, a "cousin," in Germany that this is not the case. It is a lovely castle, however, so I have left the picture up.

Example of half-timbered buildings, Germany
[postcard sent by Jackie Allen]

The houses are half-timbered. Included above is a postcard sent by Jackie Allen when she was visiting Germany a few years ago. It is not from Biewer but does show the half-timbered buildings that would have been typical of the area where our Lorigs lived. Workdays would have begun at sunrise and ended at sunset. Meals would have been simple, probably a hearty bread, cheese, sausage, cabbages and onions for vegetables, perhaps a soup or stew, beer or wine with milk for children although children were often also given watered wine or mild beer to drink as well.

Many people even in the towns would have had a pig, chickens, perhaps a milk cow or goat and a small garden if possible. Dirty washing water and general refuse was simply tossed out the window to run down the gutters in the streets. The sanitation issues involved with living like this are mind boggling for those of us in the 21st century. Transportation would have been by foot with the rare cart or wagon. The people stayed were they were because each duchy taxed them if they moved and they often had to secure permission before they could move to a different place. Acceptable reasons for moving might be marriage for a woman or employment for a man. The tiny towns where our ancestors lived, worked, and died were within walking distance of each other. Men could be drafted into military service by the local ruling authority. Since the land was in turmoil a good part of the time this was a significant factor in their lives and a cause of migration later.

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Notes

* Stephan Lorig suggested that the Lorig name may also be originally a reference to the son of a man named Laurenz or Lorenz rather than the name of the town Lorich. He has gathered information on the name and many of the people with the name Lorig. I thank him for sharing his information and hope to have more contact with him to add to what we know at this end.

**Just before and during WWII records about families in Germany were compiled in books called familienbuch. They list complete families much like modern census records but not always the month and day sometimes just the year for vital records such as births, marriages and deaths.

Please see previous posts about the Lorig family for more background and information about Walt, Clara and Harry their father, Edd, and grandfather, Henry.

Henry Lorig, The Immigrant

A pencil drawing on a very thin sheet of wood not paper is thought to be of Henry Lorig and simply has the name Lorig written on the reverse. The neck beard and the clothing date the portrait to circa 1875 when Henry would have been 53 years old. His face looks fairly youngish but the beard is gray so it seems to fit.

Henry and his twin sister Anna Maria were born 25 November 1822 in Biewer, Rheinland-Pfalz, Germany, the tenth and eleventh of twelve children born to Francisci (Frans/Franz) Lorich and Maria Angela born Zimmer. Biewer is a small town located just outside of the larger city of Trier. In today’s terminology it would perhaps even be called a suburb.