Hello, all,
Last month I sent a query asking about the Gudtner family in Lübeck, because I think they may have been the ancestors of my Goodners in the US. I have had no answers, so I assume no one has any knowledge of them. I've decided now to give a bit more information about the research I've already done in other parts of Germany. I am hoping to find someone in Germany who is working on this family line and can make some suggestions for me. Surely somewhere in Germany there are researchers of Guttner/Gudtner/Guttener families!
For over 20 years I have searched for the ancestral home in Germany of my immigrant ancestor, Johannes Guttener. His son, Conrad Guttener, was my 3rd gt.grandfather. Conrad and his siblings came to America with his father, probably between 1762 and the closing of the ports at the time of the Revolutionary War. We know nothing of his mother, Johannes' wife. Conrad served during the Revolutionary War from North Carolina. Hugh Comstock Goodner, great-grandson of Conrad, is said to have been told by his father that the Goodners came from Homburg, near Frankfurt-am-Main. I have been to Bad Homburg and searched the civil records there, and a cousin searched the church records. Neither of us found the surname by any spelling. Because there are many towns and villages with names similar to Homburg, my husband and I set out to visit several of them. I have searched at either state or church archives (or both) marked XX, with no results:
>4100 Homberg, Niederrhein XX
>4030 Homberg-Meiersburg bei Ratingen XX
>3588 Homberg, Efze
>5223 Homburg, Numbrecht
>6313 Homberg, Ohm
>5439 Homberg, Westerwald
>5409 Homberg, near Koblenz XX
>6380 Bad Homburg (near Frankfurt) XX
>6759 Homberg, bei Lauterecken
>6650 Homburg (in the Saar) XX
>7531 Hamberg, Kr. Pforzheim
> Eig.-Homberg north of Konstanz, near Stockach
>7774 Homberg-Limpach
>8431 Hamberg, Breitenbrunn
>8771 Triefenstein-Homburg am Main, near Wurzburg
> Homburg in Thurgau Canton in Switzerland XX
In 1994 we went to Lübeck, but I covered the information there in my first query and won't repeat it here. Also In 1994 I went to the archives in Leipzig and searched through their card files, finally finding the name in the records, and finding the ancestors of the German researchers with whom I had corresponded (see below), but not being able to make a connection with Johannes and Conrad.
Back in 1987, I corresponded with two Guttner/Gudtner researchers in Germany, and both of them mentioned Sachsen and Thüringen as possible origins for their families. One of them also said the ancestors of the Lübeck Gudtners had lived in Mecklenburg.
In 1954 Herr Hans Gutner in Hamburg sent this information to a Goodner researcher here in America.
>Ancestry of Herr Hans Güttner: His family is Evangelisch.
>Great-grandfather Carl Friedrich born 28 Mar 1800 in Lissa, district of Posen.
>Grandfather Carl Louis born 3 Dec 1834 in Danzig.
>Father Adolph Robert born 6 Mar 1875 in Danzig.
>Hans born in Danzig. In 1925 moved to Hamburg. Has one brother who moved to Hamburg after the war.
>
> Hans' mother made contact with the line from Mecklenberg and got the following information:
>Johann Andreas Guttner, born 1689, died 21 Feb 1769. He was a sacristan in Carlow in Mecklenburg. He had 5 daughters and one son. (According to another German researcher, he married in 1712 in Mecklenburg, and his descendants live in the Hamburg area with the name still spelled Guttner.)
>
> The son was:
>Martin Jurgen Christoph, born 8 Jul 1727, died ?. Sacristan and tailor in Carlow.
> His sons:
>1. Hans Jacob Friedrich Wilhelm, 22 Apr 1762-30 Jun 1831.
>Sacristan and teacher in Carlow.
>2. Andreas Wilhelm Christoph, 22 Jan 1765-31 Aug 1766.
>3. Hartwig Christoffer, 6 Sep 1769-?.
>4. Joachim Martin, 5 Oct 1771-6 Aug 1814. Wheelmaker and member
>of church committee in Carlow.
>5. Johann Andreas, 1775-?. Shoemaker. Married Thrin Marie Dierk
>from Stove, 12 Jun 1813.
>6. Johann Fredrich Bonaventura, 5 Dec 1776-?.
A German descendant of Johann Andreas said that Johann Christoph in Lübeck was the brother of Johann Andreas (1689). Is anyone familiar with these Guttners?
If anyone in Germany hesitates to write in English, please write in German, which I can read. I'll always respond in English, because it takes me much longer to write a letter in German! No problem with reading it, though.
Thanks for being patient enough to read all of this.
Barbara Dooley
Cullowhee, North Carolina