Photo by Wilhelm Hubler of old Wuerttemberg in the Grossgartach area
Today is the birth day of my 3rd Great-grandma, Katharina Rathgeber. Her mother was Anna Susanna Rieker b. 1796 in Grossgartach and her father was Christian Rathgeber from Jagsthausen. They did not marry. Katharina was born 1 June 1821 in Grossgartach and christened on 5 June. She lived to be 84 years old! She died 26 July 1905.
Katharina kept her father’s surname. Rathgeber means “advice giver.”
Here is Katharina’s birth entry in 1821:
On 24 September 1839 Katharina married Johann Christoph Sieber in Grossgartach, whose occupation is listed as Burg-Fuhrmann in Grossgartach, or a teamster or coachman for the feudal overlord who lived in the nearby castle.
Here is the family register entry for Katharina and Johann Christoph Sieber, who she married in 1839. You can see her father’s name is crossed out. Johann Christoph and Katharina had a large family with 11 children.![IMG_3340[1]](https://annlaemmlenlewis1.files.wordpress.com/2019/06/img_33401.jpg?w=640)
Family members all lived and died in Grossgartach.
Ann's Stories 
Hi, Do you have the birthdate or parent’s names of Christian Rathgeber?
No I haven’t found his birth record. In Katharina’s birth record it says she is illegitimate. with her mother being Anna Susanna, Johann Dieterich Rieker’s illegitimate daughter. Her father is listed as Christian Rathgeber von Jagsthausen. Perhaps the church records of Jagsthausen have been digitized and we might find him there.
Hi Ann,
Iâve gathered quite a bit of genealogy concerning the Rathgeber family of Jagsthausen. I had met a few third cousins of mother there. I still discover new branches. Unfortunately, the church books arenât available online. However, Iâve still been able to put together an extensive tree, which can be viewed at WikiTree.
As far as the info I have is concerned, itâs seems probable for only one person who could be Katharinaâs father. That would be Christian Friedrich Rathgeber, born 1797 in Jagsthausen. He married first Johanna Hammer in 1823, two years after the birth of your Katharina. I am descended from his second wife, Rosina Köhler. Christian is my 3x great grandfather. See https://www.wikitree.com/index.php?title=Rathgeber-48&public=1
I did a DNA test with MyHeritage, which I uploaded to GEDmatch: H838614. If you did a test, you could compare our results.
My best,
Bill Wires
>
I am very happy to meet you, Bill. Christian is my 4th great grandfather. I am Very Excited to see the tree you’ve researched! Thank you for sharing this link with me!! I did a DNA test with Ancestry. What do I need to do to compare our results? THANK YOU for contacting me!!
Thanks for the quick response. I’m in Germany, so because of the time difference, I may not answer so quickly.
My sister*s DNA results are at Ancestry.com. I searched for name and found nothing. But not all siblings are related the same with 4th and more distant cousins. Her name is Carolyn Lalonde.
You could upload to GEDmatch. Here are the instructions: http://www.irelanddavis.com/dna/gedmatch/default.aspx Read the instructions, perhaps do some research and decide if you want to follow through. It’s free.
Even if I haven’t found the right Christian Rathgeber, we must be genetically related through the Jagsthausen Rathgeber family.
That’s unusual that Katharina took on the Rathgeber name. I’ve never come across that before. In the church records, unmarried fathers were typically not mentioned. Perhaps Christian was engaged to Anna Susanna Rieker, but then it was called off for some reason. A year or so goes by and then he met some else….
Actually, you have the Familien-Register page, mentioning his name. I wouldn’t know where other pertinent info would be. If you clicked on WikiTree link, you can see the Familien-Register page for Christian, his two wives and all the children. No mention of your Rathgeber ancestors, which is not surprising.
Anyway, DNA may tell…
Thank you!! I’ll read these instructions and figure it out. My father also took a DNA test and he’s one generation closer. He was born in 1930, 9 months after his parents emigrated from Germany to America. He claims to be a honeymoon baby conceived on the trip to America!
I was also happily surprised to find Christian Rathgeber’s name in the church records. I wish we knew the story. I’m really grateful to you for sharing this information about his family. I’ve wondered about him for a long time. Where in Germany do you live? My family is from Grossgartach, now Leingarten near Heilbronn. Do you live near Jagsthausen?
Hi Ann, I’ve been living in Berlin for almost four decades. About twenty years ago I visited Jagsthausen. I tested with MyHeritage and my DNA data is at GEDmatch. Please write me with your DNA info: wireswilliam@gmail.com