Just joined this list a couple of days ago. I have been researching for
about 3 years. But, after reading this lists' archives, I find that I am
overwhelmed with possibilities and foresee spending a fortune in obtaining
actual documentation. I had concentrated on getting information from my
parents who are still alive. Then, I was planning on writing to local
churches, and trying to obtain local civil records. From what I have been
told, Bartels lived in Oldenburg i/o for centuries. But, that is the family
myth. I have no proof. I know that Bernhard Bartels, my great great
grandfather had a business "am Stau" meaning on the street named Stau. His
business was building and installing ceramic stoves. My grandfather and
father also were in that profession. They lived on Bergstrasse. But, that
Bernhard Bartels married again and I have no further information and have
not attempted to obtain any records without further proof. I do know that
great grandfather Babiel was the son of an army person. I say army person
as I don't know if he was an officer or an enlisted man. And, Babiel just
does not show up in any Oldenburg genealogy searches. I know that he worked
for 'the railroad". Which railroad, I haven't been able to determine. My
great grandfather Schumacher also worked for the same railroad. I suspect
that Babiel is not a German name. When searching that name at the LDS site,
I find that there are many Spanish Babiels.
Then there is the Manthey side. This is the one that has me completely
stumped. My father says that he "believes" that his grandparents emigrated
from Bukovina, or Galicia. That is so vague I cannot even begin to fathom
how to search for that. The only thing that I have determined from my
grandmother's Stammbuch is that her parents were Gustav Gottlieb Manthey and
Juste Nowak. I have no date of birth. I do know that they died in
Nordenham. And that my grandmother was born in Lehe, Landkreis Wesermunde,
Germany. It is a town so small that even now it only has 1000 people. My
grandmother had 2 brothers that emigrated to the US in the early 1900s.
William and Hugo Manthey. I am 85% sure that I have found Hugo's Social
Security death record on the internet. And I cross referenced it to a
listing of a Hugo sailing on the Bremen to Brooklyn in 1925. But, that is
another puzzle. When I last saw my grandmother in 1980, she told me that
her brothers were older than her, and she was born in 1900. Yet in the
listing for Hugo on the ship, it showed that he was born in 1907. I know
that many immigrants lied about their age so that they showed as being
younger than they actually were. So, I want to get more facts. All my
searches for a Hugo show only these 2 references. As far as William is
concerned, there are too many! I don't know where to start.
A question about Stammbuchs: Can I trace from my grandmother's Stammbuch to
her parents' Stammbuch and then further back?
This list is fantastic. But, everyone here seems to be so much more
advanced in their techniques and their research, I am concerned that I have
been going about my own research in the wrong way!
Marlies E. McNicol, nee Bartels
http://members.shaw.ca/bartelsgenealogy/
Researching: Bartels, Manthey, Babiel and Schumacher
