In my last post about Lawrence Huber, I explained about finding a letter from his brother-in-law, Michael Doll. That letter was written in Oberkirch, which at the time was in the Kreis Offenburg in Baden. Today it is part of the Ortenaukreis in Baden-Württemberg. This was the only specific German town I’d found possibly relating to Lawrence’s origins. I wanted to see if his baptism might be recorded at the Catholic church there.
At the time I did this research, I still had to order the microfilm from the Family History Library (now the FamilySearch Library). Today the records are available online if you are at an affiliate library or a FamilySearch Center. We’ve come a long way!
I had information that Lawrence was born about July 1817. Unfortunately, the baptism records in Oberkirch had no baptism record for him between 1812 and 1822, inclusive. So, what now?
I knew the brother-in-law’s name, but I did not know his wife’s name. She would be Lawrence’s sister. I searched the Oberkirch marriages beginning in 1849, the date of the letter, and worked backwards.
I found one marriage for Michael Doll to Magdalena Huber on 27 February 1832.[1]
Fortunately, this was a detailed record, It told me that Magdalena was born 24 April 1810, the daughter of Joseph Huber and his wife, Theresa Kuder. Her parents lived in Butschbach at the time of the marriage. Unless Magdalena and Lawrence were half-siblings, these are also Lawrence’s parents.
Butschbach is a small village just south of Oberkirch. The Catholic church for residents of Butschbach was in Oberkirch.[1] Based on this added information, I circled back to the Oberkirch baptisms and found Magdalena’s baptism in Oberkirch.[2] She was born 24 April 1810, as her marriage record stated. She was born in Giedensbach, which is right next to Butschbach. Its Catholic residents also attended church in Oberkirch.
There were no other children of Joseph and Theresa in those records. So where was Lawrence baptized? Come back next week for more details!
[1] Kevan Hansen, Map Guide to German Parish Registers, Volume 2: Baden (Bountiful, UT: Family Roots Publishing, 2008), 169.
[2] Katholische Kirche (Oberkirch, Offenburg, Baden), Taufen [Baptisms], 1778–1840, p. 359, Magdalena Huber; FamilySearch, FSL 995,507.
[1] Katholische Kirche [Catholic Church] (Oberkirch, Offenburg, Baden), Heiraten [Marriages], 1811–1900, p. 133, no. 6, Doll-Huber; FamilySearch, FSL 995,510.
Lind Street Research 