Franconia

[David F. Schmidt]

On Oct. 26, 1996, LauriDel wrote:
>I have found references to birthplaces ZEIL and FRANCONIA on my ancestors
>death records here in the states. Any idea where to look for information.
>Are these towns, counties, parishes, or what??
>Please EMail

Franconia refers to a region--Franken--which is generally located in the western
part of the present State of Bavaria (Bayern). Franken is divided into 3
parts--Oberfranken (Upper Franconia), Mittelfranken (Middle Franconia) and
Unterfranken (Lower Franconia). The upper, middle and lower refer to elevation,
with upper being at a higher elevation closer to the Alps (i.e., in the south)
and lower being in the north. My Schneider ancestors come from Detter and
Weissenbach in Unterfranken (Lower Franconia). This is the area around
W"urzburg.

I'm not sure about Zeil, but I notice that there is a place named Zeil am Main,
located on the Main River east of Schweinfurt. This is not far from the area
where my ancestors come from, and it could possibly be part of Franken
(Franconia).

David F. Schmidt
Walnut Creek, CA
74073...@compuserve.com

[zurth]

Hi,

some more remarks about Frankonia: Frankonia is called the NORTHERN part
of Bavaria with Unterfranken (Lower Frankonia) in the West, Mittelfranken
(Middle Frankonia) in the middle and Oberfranken (Upper Frankonia) in the
East. As David mentioned correctly these parts are named this way because
of their elevation which is higher towards the Bayerischer Wald (Bavarian
Forest) and Thueringischer Wald (Thuringian Forest) at the eastern
"frontier" of Frankonia.

As far as I know there are two little villages named Zeil in Frankonia,
one east to Schweinfurt as David mentioned and another some miles west to
Wuerzburg. Both are located in Unterfranken (Lower Frankonia).

I hope this helps.

Best regards,

Uwe Zurth, born in Middle Frankonia, living near Regensburg, Germany