Greetings Albert
Your mail to Barbie-Lew was very interesting to me. I am searching for my great grandfather, Julius Wilhelm Burgdorf, who in his Hamburg Emigration records state that his place of origin was Baddeckenstedt. He was born about 1825 and left for America in 1859.
Someone in Holle searched church records in Baddeckenstedt for me but came up empty. Julius also stated on his son's baptismal certificate in New Orleans that his place of birth was Hildesheim in Hanover. A search of church records by a paid researcher for the time frame 1820-1830 in Hildesheim also found nothing.
You also provided in your mail a web site for the Lutheran Landeskirche in Braunschweig. I went to that page and noted a listing of many villages near Braunschweig including Baddeckenstedt. Sadly, I cannot read or wrte German so I do not know what the contents of that page said. This is only a guess but it may be an archive of Lutheran Church records in these villages. If so how can I contact that site to request a search for Julius Wilhelm Burgdorf.
Julius has been very elusive. I do not have the names of his parents or siblings (if any), his marriage certificate in New Orleans, his religion (although he baptised his son in the First German Proteatant Church of New Orleans).
Any help will be greatly appreciated.
Max
Hi Max,
you are right: the web site shows the locations in Braunschweig area, of which the church books are available in the archive of the Evangelische-lutherische Landeskirche in Braunschweig. The name of town is followed by the years of the church book and an indication whether the archive provides the original church book ( O ) or a microfilm version ( F ).
So they have Baddeckenstadt from 1656 to 1875 as film.
The archive offers to all interested persons to look at their films and originals during the normal opening times. As I have to work in my company from the early morning to the late evening every day from monday to friday, I am sorry but I cannot go to the archive myself. But I will phone to them and ask whether there are possibilities to send queries to them and they will look for you.
I will give answer to that in the next days.
Albert
<mailto:pharmaxx@charter.net> schrieb:
Hello Max,
Your search for Julius Burgdorf's birthplace has been a long one. I
think all of us on the list will be happy when you are finally successful.
I think you know of the listing in the Wolfenbüttel emigration archives
for Julius Burgdorf. It always bothers me, because I keep wondering if he
could your relative. This Julius Burgdorf is listed as living in Salder
which is indeed in Braunschweig rather than Hannover. The date (1849)
doesn't fit with your findings either. Also, there are 4 other persons
listed with him which are Christine, Conrad, Sophie and Wilhelmine. Do those
names mean anything to you? Salder is not that far from Baddeckenstedt, but
it doesn't fit with the information you have. I don't know if the town as
listed in the archives is where the person is living at the time he applied
for emigration or if it is the birthplace.
I know this is probably not helpful at all, because only the name
matches the information you have. There seem to be dead-ends or brick walls
in everyone's research, but we will all celebrate when you find your Julius
Burgdorf!
Barbara