Thursday, February 11, 2010

Locating the Villages

Let's start with our Wahl ancesters. We know that Christian Frederick Wahl (my great grandfather) came from Doelitz, Kreis Pyritz, Pommerania. How did we know that - VERY LUCKY! We have written accounts that say the family came from Doelitz, Prussia. But there were several villages named Doelitz in "Prussia" at that time. This is the lucky part: We ALSO have a copy of a baptismal certificate in the Evangelical Church in Doelitz, a confirmation certificate, a Fuhrungs Attest, and another document relating to military service, stating Christian Frederick Wahl was born in Doelitz, Kreis Pyritz, Regierungs-bezirk Stettin. Bingo! Now we can pinpoint the CORRECT Doelitz, based on the county and district. We can get information about Doelitz from 1871 - 1918 in Meyers Orts and Verkehrs Lexikon (see https://wiki.familysearch.org/en/Step-by-step_guide:_Using_Meyers_Gazetteer_Online - also available at Ancestry.com). When I Google Doelitz Pyritz Stettin, I find the following:
a) Dölitz, Pommern, Germany, now Dolice (Stargard Szczeciński), Szczecin, Poland
b) Taufen, Heiraten, Tote 1824-1874 - FHL INTL Film [ 1273129 Item 1 ] - Baptism, Marriage, and Death records are available at the Family History Library
c) Dölitz ... Pyritz ... multiple articles have been published on this town in "Die Pommerschen Leute", a quarterly publication for descendants of Pommerania

Now I go to my online mapping site of choice and search for Dolitz, Pyritz, or the current name, Dolice, Pyritz, and find it is now located in Poland, not far from the larger city of Stettin or Szczecin. I can also search for information about Pommerania and find that it was a region on the south shore of the Baltic Sea, now occupied by parts of Germany and Poland. So now I have this village marked and saved on a current map. This is progress - probably enough for today - I'll be back soon with my next steps!

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