Excerpt from my 6 June 2009 journal entry of our trip through eastern Germany and Poland:
Then we got back to the car and drove through Dresden and on to Chemnitz, and eventually to Zwickau, where John’s grandmother, Charlotte Meisel was born. Barbara had scrambled to put together a bit of info for John so we had something to go on in Zwickau, but neither ever had time to really discuss it. Somewhere in Barb’s notes it said that perhaps Grandma Charlotte was christened in a parish called Weisenborn bei Zwickau. We decided to find the church there and see if we could learn anything. Zwickau is a large town, and very old. We had a good road atlas and found our way to Weisenborn without much trouble. There was an old church in the center of the village, it’s always easy to see the Spital (steeple). So we found the church and found a place to park. It was raining. There was a car parked in front of the church with wedding decorations on it–we could see a wedding was taking place. So first we wandered through the beautiful Friedhof behind the church and took some photos. In Germany, cemeteries are very different. A family leases the plot and then maintains the plot. Each has an enclosed area, about 5×7 feet or so, planted with beautiful plants and flowers. Family members usually visit their family plots a couple of times each week to weed and water the plants and flowers. Each plot is beautiful. After 25 or 30 years, the leases expire and if the family doesn’t renew them, the headstones are removed and the space is used for another person. So in any given Friedhof, you seldom see head stones of people born before the early 1900s. All the old ones are gone. Most of the headstones are large, polished stone with letters (names) attached, not carved in. The cemeteries are like beautiful gardens, but their histories are relatively recent.
We didn’t know how long the wedding would continue, so after our wander through the cemetery, we slipped into the back of the church and went up the spiral staircases, one on either side, to the balcony area at the back of the church where we could watch the rest of the wedding. It was a small church. The main level was filled with people and a few others were up by us. After about 20 more minutes, the wedding ended. It was like a church service with several congregational hymns. Then the bride and groom, who had been seated in the front by the alter, made their exit with tossed rose petals. We waited for the guests to greet them at the back door, and when all had gone, we approached the preacher, who informed us that he was a visiting Pfarrer (from another youth congregation the couple attended) but he told us the Pfarrer of this church lived in the house next door, and we went over to see if he was there. He was. A very nice man with a full beard who looked like a younger version of Burl Ives. We told him who we were and what we were doing and asked if we might take a look at the old Church Books to see if we might find Charlotte Meisel there. John ran back to the car for my laptop so I could check the dates and names of all her family members. Roger helped with the explanations. Then he brought the books out and laid them on the table in front of us. We checked in the Tauf (birth) records first and within minutes, we were looking at an entry for Charlotte’s birth to Otto Meisel and Christiane Kruegel in 1890. It was Thrilling! Then we spent some time finding all of her siblings that could be found. The records in the books they had only began in 1883.
Charlotte’s first sister, Elise was born in 1880, so we didn’t find her, but we found the next six. With each name, it was exciting. Then Roger asked for the marriage records, and there we found Otto and Christiane. Then we checked the Confirmation records (done at age 14) and found a family of Kruegels that we will take time later to study. I photographed each entry and page, using different camera settings because I didn’t have my tripod and I was nervous about holding the camera still enough. Took some with the flash, some with other settings. Interesting that the Pfarrer couldn’t read the old handwriting and he also got excited for us. He gave us some free postcards and pamphlets with info about the church and we took his name in case we need more info in the future. John was thrilled and couldn’t wait to tell Barb. This was exciting for me too–my first ever experience actually holding the old church books I’ve looked at for hours and hours on microfilm. There is nothing like that feeling. It’s like holding history. It’s almost like seeing faces on the pages.
Next we drove to another nearby village called Cainsdorf, which is another place mentioned by Otto in his records. We think he may have lived there in his younger years–maybe he was even born there. We found the old church up on a hill, near a very old school and the Pfarrer’s house. He was home and was happy to let us look at the old church records there, but they didn’t begin until 1869, and we needed records earlier than that. We checked confirmations and marriages, but no luck. He said Cainsdorf was a part of Planitz and we might find some records there. He was very kind and lived in a very old brick home. So much history remains in Germany. Everything there is older than anything in America.
The skies were dark and it was rainy. We found some wonderful yellow and black striped snails on the old rock walls. Photographed a few to show Berd. Took photos of the old schools and church, then drove to Plauen, another closely connected village, part of Zwickau. Plauen is also mentioned in these family records. There is a Huge church in Plauen. The St. Johanneskirche. It was open and we got to go inside. Someone there was preparing for tomorrow’s services, and when he finished, we had to leave. This church was built in 1122. It burned and was rebuilt in 1556, and was rebuilt a few more times since then. Took photos in and around the church. Barb thinks Otto worked on the copper roofs on this church in the 1880s.
It was all very exciting and we determined that a return trip with Barb would be great someday.
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