Thank you for your reply. I will have to see if I can find out
where Maria was from as I have no idea at this point. Would
she have gone back to her parents' house to have her children?
Her son, my great-grandfather always said he was born in Berlin.
But the records seem to show he was born in Thymau.
He also said they were from a place called Friederichsburg.
Now there was a place called Colonie Friedrichsberg that at
that time was just outside of Berlin (to the east) in the area that
I think is now Friedrichshain. Of course, he came to the US
when he was only 6 years old so he may not have remembered
a lot of his life in Prussia/Germany.
And thank you, I had not thought about them taking a train to
Antwerp.Silly of me, it seems rather obvious now. So I will
look into that further also.
Hi Kathi,
you´re very welcome! Seems like Thymau and Muehlen were neighbouring villages.
Let´s see... here are the records for Thymau:
- Protestant (Evangelic) church: Mewe (rural district Marienwerder) > church books available at the EZAB Berlin: Births 1681-1943, Marriages 1681-1943, Deaths 1766-1942
- Catholic church: Mewe until 1922 (church books see above), after that Thymau > church books available at the Mormons: only deaths 1849-1872
- Registry office (after 1874): Pehsken > registers available at the State Archive Gdansk (Poland): births, marriages, deaths 1874-1911.
I couldn´t find that much about Muehlen. But as these places seemed to be neighbouring villages, the jurisdiction might have been the same (you should check that).
I think you are right with the suspicion that your great-grandfather was too young to remember where he was born, but remembered only that he spent his first years in "Berlin".
It might be useful for you to contact the EZAB in Berlin. Here´s the site: http://www.ezab.de/
This page also has an English version. Just give it a try and send them an email regarding Maria´s birth in Thymau. Good luck!!! Tina
Tina