Hello to everyone,
I have hit a dead-end on finding my gr-grandfather Stier. My maiden name is
Stier, and I have about the least information about them than all the rest
of my German relatives. My gr-grandfather's name was supposedly Carl
Benhart Stier, and his father was supposedly Benhart Stier. He would have
been born in approximately 1840 or so. I am told that first names must be
Christianized names, and he was Protestant, and that Benhart would never
have been approved by his local town.
People have suggested that it may have been Bernhart, Bernhardt, or
something like that. Even with that, I have no luck on ancestry.com. I
have seen the death certificate of Carl Benhart Stier, and it is clearly
Benhart on that. But he died in Illinois, US, and they will put whatever
the family tells them to put. My grandmother taught me how to read and
pronounce the old style German lettering when I was 6 or so, and it had
helped a great deal in learning the language, but I am still far from
fluent. But her help in pronunciation has helped me very much in learning
the language, which I daily work on, and I took it in college, and I learn
in on my own through Rosetta Stone, duolingo, and yabla german.
But I cannot find anything with ancestry.com past my gr-grandfather Carl
"Benhart" Stier. Does anyone have any suggestions? I would really
appreciate the help. Could Benhart have been a first name in Germany in
1840 or so, or does it have to be Bernhardt or something like that?
Vielen Dank,
susan stier voth
Stier, Kirchhoff, Busse, Behr, Behrens, Schipper (Dutch name) but lived in
Germany, Pfingsten
also looking for Voth near Dortmund