Hello,
I am trying to determine if my sixth great grandfather, Dr. Peter Trisler, came from the Hanover area of Germany. The only clue I have is a notation written in a Bible he owned. The notation was written by his grandson shortly after Dr. Peter Trisler's death in 1821. The notation says that Dr. Peter Trisler was born in "Sustenburg Chille" in Germany in 1745. I suspect that the grandson did not speak German and was attempting to spell in English what he had heard from his grandfather. I am wondering if he could have meant Suderburg near Celle?
I know that Dr. Peter Trisler came to America sometime before 1780 and that he was Protestant, possibly Moravian since he seems to have been acquainted with the Moravian missionary Rev. David Zeisberger. In addition, the German community he traveled to KY with and lived with in Jessamine County KY were either Moravian or Brethren.
I would be grateful for any suggestions or ideas about how I should proceed to see if Suderburg or Celle could be a correct location and if there could be records of Dr. Peter Trisler's family in the area.
Thanks.
Connie Shotts
Charlotte, NC
Hello Connie,
I found this:
Dr. Peter Trisler was born in Wittenberg, Germany, in 1745. He came
to Hagerstown, Maryland, when a very young man, and settled on Jessamine
creek in 1791.
From this webpage:
There is an email address there--perhaps you could make contact.
Perhaps that is a guess from someone else of what is written in the Bible.
There is Lutherstadt Wittenberg and two others listed in my autoatlas. And
there are two Wittenburgs listed as well.
There are only two Trislers in the German phonebook--both from Hamburg.
Good luck,
Barbara
Barbara,
Thanks so much for the link. The poster is Sheila Brunner Ramos, a good
friend. Her item includes the popular lore regarding Dr. Peter Trisler and
his origins. However, that lore has not led any of us to any concrete
sources over the past 20-30 years. The closest thing we have to a
contemporary record for him is the notation that I cited in my original post
and that was made in his Bible by Dr. Peter Trisler's grandson -- and that
was done at some point after Dr. Trisler's death in 1821.
Of course, I am most interested in pursuing ANY lead. Can you tell me more
about the Wittenburg references you included? I know very little about
Germany and get quite confused trying to sort out current Germany from the
German areas of the mid-to-late 1700s when Dr. Trisler and his family were
there. If someone can point me in the right direction, I am more than
willing to tackle trying to find records.
And, I would love to make contact with anyone currently living in Germany
with the Trisler name (or any variations such as Trissler, Tresler,
Tresslar, Tressler, Triesler, etc.). Maybe they will turn out to be long
lost cousins!
Thanks again.
Connie
Connie Shotts
Charlotte, NC
Hi Connie,
There are a several Wittenburgs and Wittenbergs! I found this which is
regarding a Michael Trisler born in Wittenberg, Dessau, Germany:
http://freepages.family.rootsweb.com/~pixieprincess/pafg08.htm#335
Scroll down to #224
Who knows if there is a connection? There is an email address on this
page:
My Family
Perhaps you've seen this already.
Then there is this:
http://boards.ancestry.com/mbexec/message/an/localities.ceeurope.germany.gen
eral/13168
That is about your Trisler. Note that it says he had a brother
Michael. So--could it be that the right Wittenberg is the one in the area of
Dessau? And Peter Trisler went to the University of Wittenberg, which I
would assume is in Lutherstadt Wittenberg. Martin Luther went there and
taught there, I believe.
The LDS has records for Wittenberg -- perhaps, if you could, you could
look there.
What a mystery--
Barbara
Hi Barbara,
Thanks again. I am going to check out the various Wittenburgs to see what
may show up. I have also sent an email to the person who posted the
information about Michael Trisler (who was Dr. Peter's brother) to see if
she can tell me her source for citing Dessau as Michael Trisler's
birthplace. Where is/was Dessau?
The person who wrote about Michael being Dr. Peter's brother is a cousin.
She was correct about Michael but wrong about Valentine. He belonged to
another branch of Trislers that we have not been able to connect.
It is a mystery - and one we have been chasing for many years. I suspect
that if we are to find an answer, it is going to be in Germany rather than
in the States.
Thanks so much for your help. If I can ever provide you with any
assistance, please do call on me. As you can tell, I do enjoy a good
mystery!
Connie
Connie Shotts
Charlotte, NC
Hello Connie,
I am not at all familiar with the part of Germany where Dessau is.
However, I have a very good Autoatlas of Germany. You can go to
mapquest.com and find these cities. Lutherstadt Wittenberg is in Sachsen-
Anhalt (that is similar to a state) south of Berlin and east of Highway 9.
It is in the region of Dessau (Dessau, the city, is just west of Highway 9).
It is west and a little south of Lutherstadt Wittenberg. Both of these
cities are near the Elbe river, if that helps any.
This is a handy webpage for finding cities (no map though):
http://www.muc.de/~cfaerber/dmoz/de-gemeinden/
That page is good, but not every single little village is listed
there.
I would suggest that because Dessau is a region in itself--maybe like
a county? But it is also a city - so what Wittenberg, Dessau might mean as
the birthplace I can't be sure. The problem is, there are a number of
Wittenbergs and Wittenburgs!
One of those references about Trisler mentioned Halle. That is yet
further south to the west of Highway 9.
By the way, the German phonebook has many Trisslers:
http://www.telefonbuch.de/
When you solve the mystery, let me know!
Barbara
Hi Barbara,
You have been so kind. Thanks for all the ideas and suggestions. I will
keep following leads. Maybe one of these days, I will find more pieces to
the puzzle that will lead to a solution.
Thanks!
Connie
Connie Shotts
Charlotte, NC
Hi Connie,
Do you know this person? Perhaps you've seen this:
Barbara
Hi Barbara,
Yes, cousin Tina (pronounced with a long "i") is another family member. She
descends from one of Dr. Peter Trisler's sons while my family descends from
another of his sons.
Thanks for looking for me. I really do appreciate it. Tina and I have
spent hours culling the Kentucky State Archives holdings of original court
papers. Most of our concrete evidence about Dr. Peter Trisler comes from
those records. Most everything else, including speculation about his birth
date and location, and when and where he arrived in America, is legend that
gets regularly repeated -- so often that several Trisler researchers have
taken it for fact. I think I mentioned that we have the legend that Dr.
Peter Trisler came to America in April 1780 on board the ship Royal Edith
with Robert Strong as ships master. Dr. Peter was supposed to be with his
sister Barbara and her husband Frederick Horine and someone identified only
as Andreas. In years of searching, none of us have ever found a ship by
that name, a ship master by that name or any ships arriving in April 1780
with those names or anything close to them on the passenger list. I would
just like to be able to sort fact from fiction!
Another German researcher seems to think that it is likely that Dr. Peter
Trisler's family came from eastern Germany because of the time period of his
emigration -- some time between 1750 and 1780. I'm definitely going to have
to study some German history! And, I think I am going to get some of LDS
microfilms with records from the time period -- if there are any -- and go
through them with the hope of finding something.
Thanks again!
Connie
Connie Shotts
Charlotte, NC