Kurhessen
Carole L. Ashbridge
born in 1846. I am anxious to discover church records that might record
baptim, his parents, etc. Knowing that Kurhessen is now Hesse-Kassel,
is there a place depository that might have consolidated records; or,
what would be the best approach to discover the small towns that at that
time made up Kurhessen?
Thanks for your help.
Carole
--
Carole L. Ashbridge
School Library Media Specialist
Sackets Harbor Central School Phone 315-646-3575
P.O. Box 290 Fax 315-646-1038
Sackets Harbor, NY 13685-0290
cashb...@alumni.pitt.edu http://www.nc3r.org/shcslmc
"It is our choices that show what we truly are far more than our
abilities." Professor Dumbledore to Harry Potter J.K. Rowling
Bernd J. Kaup
> I have recently discovered that my gggrandfather was from Kurhessen,
> born in 1846. I am anxious to discover church records that might record
> baptim, his parents, etc. Knowing that Kurhessen is now Hesse-Kassel,
thats wrong: Kurhessen is the short name for Kurfürstentum Hessen-Kassel.
It was founded in 1803 and subsisted til 1868 when it became the prussian
province Hessen-Nassau. Til 1803 it was the Landgrafschaft Hessen-Kassel, the
area where the 26.000 Hassians fighting in America for Greatbritain from 1776
til 1784 stem from.
>
> is there a place depository that might have consolidated records;
there is no central record keeping for certificates in Germany
> or,
> what would be the best approach to discover the small towns that at that
> time made up Kurhessen?
good luck, the Land Hessen, which is the modern state roughly identical with
Kurhessen plus Hessen-Darmstadt, has about 3000 towns above 20.000 inhabitants
(which is the smallest size of a administratory unit after the reform of 1978).
This towns have often artificial names and combine up to 20 former villages.
There is a complete list available, but digging through it by writing to the
local authorities is just impossible.
If the name is not too often used, it might help to inspect the current
telephone register at www.telefonbuch.de to find out wether there is a
congestion of namebearers somewhere. If the first two digits of the telephone
code are 55 or 56 you are in Kurhessen.
mfg
bjk
postscriptum: Hessen has roughly the same size and number of inhabitants as
Massasuchets, or one sixth of the area and one third of the inhabitants than
your state New York.
Rotbart23
http://members.cox.net/hessen/hessedr3.jpg
Berndt
ber...@mail.com
"Carole L. Ashbridge" <cashb...@alumni.pitt.edu> wrote in message
news:3D3D7547...@alumni.pitt.edu...
Henning Boettcher
"Carole L. Ashbridge" <cashb...@alumni.pitt.edu> schrieb
> I have recently discovered that my gggrandfather was from
Kurhessen,
> born in 1846. I am anxious to discover church records that might
record
> baptim, his parents, etc. Knowing that Kurhessen is now
Hesse-Kassel,
> is there a place depository that might have consolidated records;
or,
> what would be the best approach to discover the small towns that
at that
> time made up Kurhessen?
You will make a search for a needle in a haystack unless you know
the exact place of birth of your ancestor.
Did you look for embarcation lists at the harbor place where he
entered the ship bound for America? Or did you try
http://www.hamburg.de/LinkToYourRoots/projekt.htm ? etc.etc.
--
Kind regards
Henning Boettcher
Celia Mitschelen
"Bernd J. Kaup" <bjk...@tiscalimail.de> wrote in message
news:3D3DB731...@tiscalimail.de...
<Snip>
> province Hessen-Nassau. Til 1803 it was the Landgrafschaft Hessen-Kassel,
the
> area where the 26.000 Hassians fighting in America for Greatbritain from
1776
> til 1784 stem from.
<snip>
This is not exactly correct though a widely held belief. It is true that the
German mercenary soldiers
were called Hessians and though the majority may have come from Hesse many
were
from outside the area. (Why should Hesse be the only one to profit from
selling it soldiers?)
Due probably to the majority coming from Hesse, "Hessian" became a generic
term for the all the German
soldiers fighting for England.
Celia
Bernd J. Kaup
> "Bernd J. Kaup" <bjk...@tiscalimail.de> wrote in message
> news:3D3DB731...@tiscalimail.de...
> <Snip>
>
> > province Hessen-Nassau. Til 1803 it was the Landgrafschaft Hessen-Kassel,
> the
> > area where the 26.000 Hassians fighting in America for Greatbritain from
> 1776
> > til 1784 stem from.
>
> <snip>
>
> This is not exactly correct though a widely held belief. It is true that the
> German mercenary soldiers
> were called Hessians and though the majority may have come from Hesse many
> were
> from outside the area.
Thats true, but the agents recruiting the soldiers outside Hessen, were officers
of Hessen-Nassau. The Number of soldiers was contracted between the british
crown and the Landgraf, not the nationality of the soldiers.
> (Why should Hesse be the only one to profit from
> selling it soldiers?)
because the british crown followed the single source philosophy of purchasing.
BTW: there were many wars and conflict at the time, Hassians fougt everywere,
second biggest contigent in Turkey (about 5000), another 3000 in Italy, other in
Austria (Silesia). In many cases only the leading officers were really from
Hessen.
>
>
> Due probably to the majority coming from Hesse, "Hessian" became a generic
> term for the all the German
> soldiers fighting for England.
They fought in uniforms different from the british, so all people in a Hassian
uniform were called Hassians.
I suspect that in America nobody really cared about differentiating the people
from overseas. Til today they speak of Pennsylvania Dutch, though no one was
from the Netherlands.
mfg
bjk