Katherine,
It looks like you were correct about the birthplace of Friedrich Joseph and
his mother.
Friedrich Joseph Gosiger was baptized in Steinfeld on May 9, 1817, son of
Johann Henrich Gosiger and Regina Carolina Flos. He was the only Gosiger
baptized in Steinfeld. His parents were (apparently) married in Steinfeld
on January 10, 1803 as Johann Enoch Gosiger and Maria Regina Flosh. Again,
this appears to be the only Gosiger marriage in Steinfeld. I note that
it's odd in this time period that they only had one child (14 years later), but
the US census records seem to agree with this as Friedrich is the only one
of that generation listed over here (of course some other kids may have
not emigrated or died, but then it's a coincidence that the only kid in the
baptismal records is the only one that shows up over here).
The father died on December 24, 1820 (as Johannes Enoch) at the age of 54.
He's listed as a Maurer (bricklayer or stone mason) from Vogtland. I am
not familiar with Vogtland, but from a quick search, it appears to be a
region in southern Germany (not a specific town). Following the theme, he's
the only Gosiger death in Steinfeld.
The mother was (apparently) born in Steinfeld on October 2, 1777 as Maria
Antonette Carolina Flos to Henrich Flos and Maria Catharina Bahlman. Her
parents were married in Steinfeld on February 5, 1770. Her father died on J
une 3, 1795 at the age of 48. He was listed as a Brinksitzer, which I
would call a low level farmer. I've pasted an old description of Brinksitzer
(along with a couple of other farming statuses) from Fred Rump from several
years ago below. It looks like Henrich was baptized on July 23, 1746, and
his parents were Arend Marcus Flos and Maria Catharina Evers, married in
Steinfeld on May 10, 1746. This mom died on February 26, 1762 in Steinfeld
at the age of 45. The dad remarried an Anna Maria Meyer, and it looks like
he had kids in Steinfeld with both women. He died on August 3, 1767 in
Steinfeld at age 50. He seems to be the first Flos to show up in Steinfeld.
There are a few Evers and lots of Bahlmans in the Steinfeld churchbooks.
I would suggest you go to your nearest Morman FHC to order the microfilms
for the Steinfeld parish and verify/document everything I've told you
independently. If you're in Cincinnati, you could go to the FHC in Norwood,
where these films are on permanent loan.
Good luck,
Don Meyer
A Vollerbe was a someone who worked land that was substantial and had
never been subdivided. In other words his son would inherit the entire
estate upon payment of certain inheritance fees to the actual
landlord. Nobody really 'owned' anything as land was always in a lien
status up the line. A Halberbe or Viertelerbe had less land as such
land only had half or a quarter inheritance rights. It gets a bit
complicated.
Erbkoetter is simply someone who sat on a small piece of land (if any)
upon which a cottage stood. This comes from Kotte (cottage) but in
early days was actually anything that provided shelter. Most Koetter
people were very poor as they had to survive on whatever they could
scrounge up in day work for others. Usually they only had a small
garden for themselves and maybe a sheep and some chickens. It was not
much to inherit for sure.
The Brinksitzer was not much better off and was probably a Heuermann
on a larger farm. Somewhere along the line the main farmer let him
build shelter out on the brink where he could let some pigs run in the
woods and maybe cut some trees to create some additional land for
farming. The Brinksitzer typically lived on the outside of the village
and did not have much status in his society.
Fred
PS a Kleinerer Brinksitzer is obviously a smaller one than the norm in
the area. Neither word is an occupation as such but rather a STAND or
life status of these people. Practically everyone was a farmer but the
who they were was the important thing.
In a message dated 5/16/2012 8:16:58 P.M. Eastern Daylight Time,
kgosiger@msn.com writes:
I posted some months ago about the Gosiger family of Cincinnati, Ohio I
believe the German spelling of the last name is different prior to their
immigration to Ohio. . I received some replies which provided additional
information. I now have newspaper postings written in German about the
family from announcements found in the Cincinnati Volksfreund newspaper.
These posting were found at the Library of Congress in Washington, DC USA.
According to the newspaper death announcement, Friedrich Joseph Gosiger
was
born in Steinfeld, Oldenburg on May 9, 1817. According to a US census, his
mother was born around 1776 and the Cincinnati Volksfreund lists her full
name as Antonette Caroline Regina Gosiger and maiden name as Floß or
(Flosz)
I believe this may be where she was born. I do not have any information
on Friedrich's father or siblings.
I have German newspaper clippings about the family I can scan and send if
someone is kindly willing to offer their assistance in translating the
German announcements to English.
Sincerely,
Katherine Gosiger
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