APRIL 1996 NEWSLETTER Every once in a while we have breakthroughs and that makes genealogy lots of fun. This last while Trudy and I have been collaborating on evidence for the Michael Maurer file. We have kept two irons in the fire--- the Brills and the Maurers. We really can not research the Brill family any more than we have until we get to Europe. She is going this month. The Maurer family can be researched however and we have been funnelling some research funds in that direction. It has been a challenge to find the wife of Michael Maurer. We have researched so much about the Maurer family, yet this wife has eluded us. This month we have gone over all the evidence again and both Trudy and I have come to the conclusion that the wife of Michael MAURER is Anna Elisabetha KOLB.
I have been researching extensively on the Internet and I have found many, many connections to the Maurer family and descendants of the Maurer family. My first connection was with Robert and John CULP. They are historians of the KOLB family. Through their records they helped me identify Anna Elisabetha KOLB. She was born 6 APR 1726, the daughter of Johannes Conradus KOLB and Anna Elisabetha GERICH. What a great find! There linking evidence that is very significant. Remember when Tedi Jeen and I found the birth of one of Andrew MOWER's sons in Loudoun County, Va. (Johann Conrad MAURER born 6 DEC 1786)? Well, that puzzled me because there was no known Conrad MAURER in any of the records. Usually, families named children after relatives. Now we know that the grandfather of Andrew MOWER was Johannes Conrad KOLB. That makes sense that Andrew MOWER named a son after his mother's father. Anna Elisabetha, Andrew's mother also had a brother named Conrad.
Searching on the internet each evening I have "discovered" bulletin board services that a person can sign up to receive. This is like placing a want ad in the newspaper, only it goes out over the internet to anyone who has signed up to receive the ad. It costs nothing to belong to these services and you can place as many ads as you want for your relatives. I have placed ads for MAURER, BRILL, AMICK, GEISSINGER, KOLB, HALL, TUTTLE, COCKERHAM, and other family lines. The result has been very good. I am receiving about 50 e-mail messages per day. Usually 1 or 2 have to do with my queries placed on the net. I have linked up to old researching acquaintances from Ohio, Colorado and all over the USA as I meet people I have written to in years past who are now on the net researching. Names are coming our way.
I have more BRILL names coming from Patty Smith in Virginia. I have received notification on the net that a lady was researching the BRILL line, so I sent her an e-mail and she is mailing me photocopies of her BRILL files by snail mail (the USA mail). The work is expanding.
Letter from Trudy Schenk Dear Jerry: After receiving your last letter I began seriously looking into the Kolb connection. It really looks like Anna Elisabetha Kolb, chr. 6 Apr 1726 is the wife of Michael Maurer. When you see the given names of the Kolbs and Gerichs in Germany and the names chosen in Pennsylvania, it makes sense that there is a connection. Also, the surnames in the early PA parishes where the Kolbs and the Maurers are, helps conclude that yes, Anna Elisabetha Kolb and Michael Maurer were a married couple. Anna Elisabetha Gerich died in 1731, so she never came to America.
The Meckesheim parish records luth. and reformed have been exhausted. They begin in 1658. The Gerichs come from Moosbrunn, the church was in Haag. The Haag parish records begin in 1650. I have exhausted these, also.
Anna Maria Trautmann, wife of Hans Georg Gerich is listed coming from Igelbach. This village belongs to parish Ebersbach. The records ev.-reformed begin in 1615, but there are many faded pages in these early years. I found the Gerich and Trautmann's earliest families here.
In the marriage on 7 Aug 1659 in Moosbrunn, Anna Maria Trautmann is listed as a daughter of Peter Trautmann. Yet the Eberbach parish records show only a Georg Trautmann with family. The Peter must be wrong.
I have not checked all of the Muehlenberg records, apparently not all early marriages were recorded according to a PA specialist. There are a few more parishes I could search to possibly extend the Kolb line. They are millers by trade and came to Meckesheim around 1679. At least this is the first entry of a chr. in 1679.
I extracted one Kolb family in the Eberbach early parish records. Surely the families are related. At this point, I have $3500 in your account for Germany. Hold off sending me more until I return and know more about the Brills and Maurers. Regards, Trudy Schenk.
NOTE BY JERRY MOWER: Thanks to all who contributed to the European research of the Brill family. I will not be sending Trudy any more Brill money until her return trip from Germany. I do plan on sending her contributions on the Kolb research. We still have several questions to answer regarding Kolbs: A Martin Kolb and an Andrew Kolb witnessed the christenings of Michael Maurer's children in Bucks County, Pa. Obviously they were close relatives, but how close? How do they fit into the Kolb family? I suspect they were brothers, cousins or uncles. Research needs to be done here. I have identified several Martin Kolbs actively christening children in Bucks country during this time period. One had a son named Andrew born about 1730. Things look promising. Lots of work needs to be done.
I will enclose in this newsletter a pedigree chart for Anna Elisabetha KOLB, wife of Michael MAURER. Please keep in mind this is always subject to revision.