I'm back . . . literally



Bacharach, Germany

Exactly one week ago today, I was landing at CVG (the Greater Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky International Airport) on the second leg of a trip that began much earlier in the morning in Milan, Italy. I was part of a trio from the northern Kentucky/Cincinnati area who met up with another six intrepid travelers from Florida.

I must really be getting old.  It has taken me this entire week to recover from the jet lag and get back into my normal routine -- and I'm not working like most of my fellow travelers.  Last night was the first night I went to bed at a "normal" time and woke up at a reasonable time in the morning.  There were some nights when I woke up at 4:40 AM, unable to go back to sleep.  After all, it was 10:40 in Italy!

I knew I was back on track when I could click on my google reader and read some of the many posts my fellow bloggers had written in my absence.  I actually wanted to post to my own blog.  I even created a powerpoint presentation for a talk I am giving Saturday at our library.  I'm going to try to entice others to consider writing their own family history blogs.

So now that I've "recovered" you'd think I'd be finished with traveling for awhile.  As my husband and I have frequently noted, however, once you've been bitten, the travel bug is forever with you.  So here is to the next time!

Barbara, Missy, Kristin, Kathy, Betty and Tommy

Costa Deliziosa docked in Cobh, Ireland

Taking a Break

Hotel am Markt Bacharach, Germany
(our hotel the first two nights)

I'm going on an unexpected vacation!  I've blogged before about my cousin, Barbara Pharo, with whom I share a common gg-grandfather.  We met a couple of years ago through Ancestry.com.  Although she lives in Tampa, she grew up in northern Kentucky, across the river from Cincinnati.  In the less than two years that we have known each other, we've traveled to the home of our common ancestor in Kentucky and attended the Ohio Genealogical Conference together.

Barbara had a last-minute cancellation for a European trip she's been planning for the past year for a group of nine. It is part cruise and part land travel. With the encouragement of my husband, I jumped at the chance to go. 

We start out in Germany and then take a train to Amsterdam.  This is followed by a week-long cruise that will take us to ports in Ireland,  Spain, Portugal and Italy.  After disembarking from the cruise ship, we will head by train to Venice for a couple of days.  With stops in Verona and near Milan, we will fly home on day 17.

I've only had two weeks to really get used to the idea that I am going.  Although this is my 5th trip to Europe, I've never been on a cruise and I've never been to Spain or Portugal.  So it will be a mix of places that I love (Rhine River Valley, Amsterdam, and Cobh, Ireland) with places I am sure I will love.

There are nine people in our group -- a nice blend of older and younger, and "crips" and "non-crips." I'm in the "crip" group with my knee and hip replacements, but it hasn't prevented me from doing anything I've wanted to do in the past and I don't expect that it will be a problem now. 

As a fan of European trains, I am excited that our non-cruise travel will almost exclusively be by train.  We are sure to see some beautiful countryside.

So I've got three days to "get my act together."  I've given some thought as to whether or not there will be any blog posts between now and mid-September, and I've decided that I will just have to play it by ear.  I don't know how full my days and nights will be, but taking in the experience will be my top priority.

One thing for sure -- as I have internet access, I hope to read a few of your posts.  I'm sure I'll have a few symptoms of withdrawal when I don't have continual internet access -- but I'll deal with it.  Know that I will be thinking about you and raising a glass of "whatever" to you all -- wishing you could be with me.

Bon voyage!

Past vs Present - Part II

When I see pictures of unpaved roads and what 21st Century Germans and Americans would consider to be rather primitive housing conditions, I have to remind myself that many of the same conditions existed here 150 years ago. It wasn't all that long ago, that transportation was by horse and carriage (if you were among the lucky) and indoor plumbing was uncommon -- especially in rural areas. Coming to America could, in some cases, mean exchanging one set of undesirable conditions for another. Add into the mix a new language, hostility toward new immigrant groups, a country recovering from deep divides between north and south and I find myself in awe of my ancestors.

When Bill and I went to Germany, we were fortunate to be introduced by Werner Honkomp to the Mayor of Holdorf, Bernard Echtermann. He gave us a copy of a book, written in German of course, that chronicled the history of the region. These pictures give you a better feel for the area in the early 1900s.


This is a picture of Holdorf's Main Street. Note the church steeple on the right. This is the steeple of St. Peter and Paul's Church. The street is now much wider, the trees are no longer there, and the street is paved. The first picture below on the left shows the buildings that replaced the two on the left side of the street that burned down. The picture on the right shows the current street scape leading up to St. Peter and Paul Church.


















Very close to Holdorf is a farming community called Fladderlohausen. Pictured in the book was a Heuerhaus from that community.


Another picture from the book shows a shoemaker making and wearing wooden shoes. Unfortunately, the picture is a little overexposed, but if you look carefully you can see the shoes. Holdorf is not far from the Netherlands and wooden shoes were part of the common attire. We were told that on Sunday mornings it could get quite noisy in the Church as parishioner after parishioner "clopped" their way to their pew.

Holdorf, Oldenburg, Germany

Three years ago, Bill and I had the privilege of traveling to Germany. At the time, our nephew and his wife, Christopher and Sarah were living in Frankfurt. In addition to exploring the beauty of the entire country (plus parts of Denmark), we had two primary goals: 1) visiting the home of our von der Heide ancestors in Holdorf, and 2) attending Oktoberfest with Chris, Sarah and their friends in Munich. As I look over the pictures and information collected when we were there, I long to go back. What a beautiful country!

When you travel to the "homeland", you constantly have to remind yourself that although you may be walking the same streets, it is NOT the same place. Holdorf today is a modern, up-to-date small town in northwest Germany in a country that is part of the European Union. When our ancestors lived there, Germany as a country, was just beginning to exist as a unified country.

Our ancestors came from the Duchy of Oldenburg. If you look at the naturalization papers of "Henry Vonderheide" (first and last name Americanized), Henry renounced his allegiance to the "Grand Duke of Oldenburg and the Emperor of Germany." Henry was 47 years old when he appeared in the Mayor's Court in Covington, Kentucky on November 2, 1886. He had been in this country for five years.

When Henry and his wife, Elizabeth, and their three children left Holdorf, they were near the end of a massive migration from this area to the United States. Werner Honkomp, mentioned in the previous post, helped me discover the von der Heide history in Oldenburg. I've attached a copy of the document he prepared for me. (You can probably enlarge it by clicking on the document. If you are a family member and want a copy, leave a message in the comments section and I'll try to accomodate you).


Interestingly, when a child was baptized in the Catholic Church at that time, the priest often recorded the name of the farming community where the parents lived. At times you could tell from the baptismal record if the parent was a land owner, had a cottage or worked was a non-landowning hired-hand (Heuerleute). From these records we know that Hermann Henrich (Henry) vdH was Heuerleute by Colon gr. Bolling in Holdorf at the time of his marriage. (Colon means big farmer).

Sometime between 1870 and 1873 when "Henry" and Elizabeth were having their children, they relocated to the Heuerhaus of the Lampe-Gossling farm. That farm still exists and is located right on the Gross-Strasse (Main Street) of Holdorf. The next post will include pictures of the two possible places where the young Vonderheide family lived before making the decision to emigrate.