Christopher, anglicized from Geistdörfer or similar (ie Geistdorfer, Geistdoerfer, Gaißdörfer, etc.)
Murrhardt, Württemberg, Germany (18th Century) -> Buffalo, NY and/or Titusville, PA (date)
For a long time this line was one that I was consigned to think of as a dead-end. All I knew about this Great-Great Grandmother was her name, her marriage date and place, and her birth date & place given as "Widenberg, Germany" in a handwritten entry in my parents wedding book. For many years I wondered if "Widenberg" might of been a misremeberance of "Wißemberg" (in German), more commonly known as "Wissembourg" (in French), a city in Alsace near to where the Haas family came from, but I could never find any evidence. Given the lack of information about her, and the fact that she had a common first name as a surname (thus making most web searches impracticle), I dispaired of ever finding anything more on her.
Thankfully Larry Stitt, a descendent of my GG Grandmother's brother found my website and was able to provide a lot more info. The overwhelming majority of the information on this page is thanks to his research (much more can be found on his website), and I owe him a big "Thank you!". He tells me that they were an immigrant german family and that the parents died in the 1854 Cholera outbreak, while most of the kids were still minors, and the various children were split-up amongst the homes of friends and family. The name was at some point anglicized to "Christopher" from a name originally spelled either "Geistdorfer" (or more likely, I think) "Geistdörfer" (which in turn can be rendered as "Geistdoerfer"), while other sources suggest it might be Gaißdörfer (which in turn can be rendered as "Gaissdörfer", "Gaißdoerfer", "Gaissdoerfer", etc.). Further, apparently "Widenberg" was not a misrememberance for "Wißemberg/Wissembourg" but rather for "Württemberg", specifically a place named Murrhardt in Württemberg. Murrhardt CoA
Murrhardt, which has been part of Württemberg since the 14th Century (previously part of the Wolfsölden holdings of the Counts of Löwenstein), is an ancient Cloister (a type of monastery or abbey) which was secularized in 1806, and an assotiated town, in the Stuttgart region near the Black Forest (nowadays part of the Rems-Murr District). Websearch's also seem to point to one branch of Geistdörfer's or Gaistdoerfer's, from nearby Großaspach (or Grossaspach), who went to Bessarabia in Jan. 1810, and that one or more of their descents also came to America.
TBD: DISCUSS FAMILIES IMMIGRATION TO AMERICA, hotel ownership and Buffalo-Titusville confusion, etc.
My 5th Great Grandmother, Marria Margarita Maierin
Source: L. Stitt.
note: I've read that in German, especially in Swabian dialects of German, -in is often added to a woman's name to specify a gender in cases where such might not be clear from the usage, so therefore is the surname actually the very common Maier?
My 4th Great Grandfather, Christof Friederich Geistdörfer
Born 4 Aug 1783 in Murrhardt, Duchy of Württemberg, Swabian Circle of the Holy Roman Empire. Died 4 Jun 1829 in Murrhardt, Backnang, Neckarkreis, Kingdom of Württemberg, German Confederation. Married Carolina Dorothea Magdalina Fehleisen (dau. of Fosna Fran Friederika Nagabin) 11 Oct. 1808 in Murrhardt, Schorndorf, Kingdom of Württemberg, Confederation of the Rhine (note: she married 2nd one Georg Michael Geistdörfer and had children, descendents include the Indiana Geistdörfer's).
note: Carolina Dorothea Magdalina Fehleisen later married a Georg Michael Geistdörfer in Murrhardt, undoutably a relative, and one of their 4 children, Jacob Michael Ferdinand Geistdörfer, immigrated to Indiana.
7 Children: Source: L. Stitt
My 3rd Great Grandfather, Christoph Friederich Geistdörfer, aka Frederick Christopher
Born 26 May 1812 in Murrhardt, Backnang, Neckar, Kingdom of Württemberg, Confederation of the Rhine. Died 1854 in the USA from Cholera. Married Rosina Caroline Seuffer (1813-1853, dau. of Johann Michael Seuffer III & Christina Hudelmayer) 28 May 1839 in Murrhardt, Backnang, Neckarkreis, Kingdom of Württemberg, German Confederation.
Larry Stitt found the family on a ships list in 1851, but he himself is not listed, presumably he had immigrated previously and then sent for his family.
I found the abstracts of 2 records in the Baden-Württemberg archives for an individual that may be this ancestor, both in German: A record from the 1828-1844 timeframe which appears to mention "planning applications for the dyer's" ... Frederich Geistdörfer and Hirschwirts Wüst in Murrhardt[1], and an 1843 record in Murrhardt mentioning a Brewer named Friedrich Geistdörfer[2], but I can't make out enough german to figure out how to access the full records. Might he have been a Dyer and/or a Brewer? Or do one or both of them refer to a different individual? Given the time range, that first record could even potentialy be refering to his father.
9 Children: see also here & here, both on L. Stitt's site.
My Great-Great Grandmother, Amelia Pauline Christopher, aka Pauline Emelia Geistdörfer
Born 30 Aug 18, 1847 in Murrhardt, Backnang, Neckarkreis, Kingdom of Württemberg, German Confederation. Died Aug. 9th, 1924 in Titusville, Crawford Co., Pennsylvania. Married Micheal John Haas Feb 18th, 1869 in St. Clair Presbyterian Church, Titusville, Pennsylvania.
In the 1860 census she (ae 13) is listed living with her sister and brother-in-law in Buffalo, NY, while her brother Fred was living with one Dr. Chas. Ottenbacher, from Germany (presumably a relative).
The story in the family originally was that Micheal & Amelia met when his civil war unit moved through the Titusville area, however this story has now come into question given that the unit he served in was never in Pennsylvania (so either the story is wrong or he served in an additional unit after his time with the 1st.).
8 Children: see also: here on L. Stitt's site & here on P. Haas's site
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