Locating the Teske Villages

With the Teske families, the challenge again was to find the CORRECT small village in Prussia from 1850 - 1870. Again, we are very fortunate - we have original documents that place our ancestors in specific villages and counties (Kreis). Thanks to Mom and her ealier documentation, we know that Julius August Frederick Teske was born 18 Nov. 1831 in Alteheide, Germany or Prussia.

We have a Reise Pass or passport issued to Julius 23 Jul. 1862, listing a birthplace of Alteheide and current place of residence in Zachan. We also have a "Loosungs Schein" indicating Julius (same birthdate and place) appeared as required to register for military duty in 1851, 52, and 53. From these, we also get the county, Kreis Saatzig, Pommerania.

I experiment with the town names at http://www.kartenmeister.com/ and eventually find Alt Heide, Kreis Saatzig, Pommern. The current name is Sierakowo, Kreis Saatzig, Province Szczecinskie, located at East 15.26;North 53.18', population in 1905: 101.

At Kartenmeister, I can also search by proximity to those coordinates to find a list of locations within 15 - 30 miles. From other stories and documents, we believe that Julius had 10 siblings, some with different birthplaces listed, so now we are looking for Alteheide, Maszeow, Suckow, and Zachan.

I find 3 of these villages on the list of locations within 15 miles of the coordinates, all but Maszeow. BUT WAIT, as I peruse the list of TESKE related villages, what do I find but Doelitz, Kreis Pyritz - the birthplace of my WAHL ancestors!!! We had NO IDEA these two families were from anywhere near each other. This will make my plan to visit these villages much simpler.

Before I leave this search, I change the parameters to search for villages within 30 miles of the coordinates and yes, I also locate Maszeow, located in a neighboring county, Kreis Naugard, north of Stargard. I am a bit curious as to how/why the family moved from village to village between 1819 and 1840, the years during which the 11 siblings were born. It's funny how finding one piece of data just leads to more areas to research.

While I am on the net, I find a site http://www.polandpoland.com/ that includes a bit of commentary and also some current day photos. I am adding the links I have referenced here today to my Links list on the right side of this page for your convenience.

More research to follow!

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!