If there is no place in Germany named Bier, the place your looking for may be the town of Buer near Osnabrück. In the locals in the old days spelled the name as Bühr and today they pronounce it as Buhr. If the name had been spelled Bühr on any document an American might have spelled it Buiehr or Bier. More so, if the America had heard the name pronounced he may have thought it was Bier. When going from German to English many surprising changes in spelling were made.
I think it would be worth an effort to write to Buer asking about your relative. Here are some addresses-
Or, you can send an email to Die Pfarramtseektretaerin Marianne Poskowsky, the church sectretary, who is the person who most likely is the person who will handle your request. The email address is - Pfarrbuero@Martinibuer.de .
Hallo Lori,
when you are seaking for "Brier" then the idea of Joel may be helpful:
When seaking near Osnabr�ck then spelling of "Buer" seams v e r y similar.
(The 'u' might be spelled in US faulty by two letters onto 'ri')
Buer nowadays is a part of Melle. And in Melle you may find (CD of 2002)
these BARTLINGs:
- Christian Bartling, (without a street) 4932x Melle, 05422-3233
- G�nter Bartling, Sunderbrook 11, 49328 Melle, 05427-750
- Karl Bartling, Bulstener Str.21, 49328 Melle, 05427-6125
- W. Bartling, Sehlingdorfer Str.26, 49328 Melle, 05427-1450
- Werner Bartling, Elsestr.4, 49324 Melle, 05422-44929
- Wilhelm Bartling, Bulstener Str.21, 49328 Melle, 05427-1522
And the familyname 'Knockenbrinth' sounds very "westphalic".
But in PhoneCD one can today NOT find this name, also not similar forms like
- KnockenbrinCK - KnocHenbrinCK - Kochenbrink - ...........
Town of 'Stauory' ? - very riddly!
Gru� aus Hamburg
Uwe