tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5244988912841531834.post4439151298061086548..comments2024-02-06T00:07:12.420-07:00Comments on Enduring Legacy Genealogy: Exploring my German Roots: Amend/AmentAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09108246378388789103noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5244988912841531834.post-85463916222454682262014-06-14T21:18:40.431-06:002014-06-14T21:18:40.431-06:00Dear Michael,
My name is Tom ...Dear Michael,<br /> My name is Tom Green and my ancestors ( on my mother's side ) came from Heuchelheim. The Krock ( Kroeck) family came to the US in 1850 and my 4 times g.grandfather generated records during the Civil War here in the States. That is how I discovered the town where they lived. I sent for the filmed records held by the LDS but could not figure out the exact connections. I wrote to someone in the church and they were able to trace the Kroeck family back to the late 1500's. The church holds what they call the Familia Bouken ( something like that, I can only read some genealogical German). There is a bit of a dark side to this book. Evidently, the Nazis wanted the churches to unscramble the family connections to find out who carried Jewish blood. Anyway, the good part was that they were able to send me all my family lines back to before the 30 Years War when most of the records were destroyed. In my home library I have a book written by a church member that tells the history of Heuchelheim and the various family names. As you probably know it is and was a very small town. ALL of the families are related. Cousins married cousins. ( hey, Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt were second cousins). I know I have Amends in my family tree too soooooo hello cousin. Like you I was able to visit Heuchelheim about 7 years ago. The church is fantastic. The grave yard that you visited is fairly new. The grave yard around the old St. Martins Church was leveled years ago. No really old stones exist. Through out most of Europe and the UK the remains are removed from the grave after the passage of some years and the land re-used. The stones are sometimes stacked along the edge of the grave yard but this is not the case in Heuchelheim. All the records are miraculously preserved in the old parish registers. I only saw the filmed copies. Lucky you to have seen the originals. If you would like send me an email. I can be reached at tbgnewpaltz@hotmail.com. A little about me. My name is Tom Green. I live in the Hudson Valley in New York State and am a retired teacher.Tom Greenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05864325633107015762noreply@blogger.com