DECEMBER 1997 NEWSLETTER
1 Nov 1997
BRILL RESEARCH REPORT (September & October 1997)
Another trip to the Lutheran archive in Eschwege proved negative. I was able to search parish records which were not available at my last research there. The city archivist provided me with a couple of parishes extracted from the church records. These are for the villages Alberode, Burghofen, Hasselbach, Kuechen and Rodebach.
The places south of Eschwege belong to the district Rotenburg. These church books are being filmed at this time and are not available. I went to Bad Hersfeld to check some of the places in this Lutheran archive, also south of Eschwege the name Brill appears in some places, but nothing noteworthy to record, the given names did not jive with what the Brills were who left for America.
I searched the following places at the actual parishes which seemed to show possibilities because Brills showed at some time in the parish records. These are Vacha, Dorndorf, Kieselbach and Merkers. In Kieselbach was mention of a Martin Brill whose son, Johannes, married there before 1700, they were listed as coming from Voelkershausen. This is a small place very near to Bad Hersfeld and Eschwege, yet the parish is vacant at this time. There is a shortage of pastors because of lack of finances in the Lutheran church. Then I had a great find at least at the time it seemed as if I had finally found the Brill family. This is how it began.
The first two days after I arrive in Germany on the 23rd of September, I was scheduled to work with a couple from Provo in some parishes north of Marburg, also in the Hessen-Nassau district. Some time before I left I wrote to the pastor of each place to make appointments. In one case the pastor wrote back saying you are welcome to come, yet from your address I can see that you live in Utah if the client you are working for is a Mormon, I will not allow you to search in the church books. This was devastating to my client, yet she has a cousin who lives in Arizona who is a Lutheran and he prepared a letter to show the pastor. He himself had visited the parish before and his name was familiar to the pastor. It gave me the "in" at the parish. Well, to shorten the story the following took place.
While making all preparations for this research trip, I prayed that I would be led to where the Brills came from and as I would do research in the Marburg area and the Brills should come from this corner that I would find them, knowing that there are many Brills and Briels from Marburg a town which had been looked into before.
In this area no filming has been done and the records are in the parishes it is therefore much more complicated to conduct research. One has to make appointments with pastors, and many times they are busy and away. Nevertheless, as I searched in the parish records of Muenchhausen for my other client and she sat next to me I kept coming across the name Briel exactly how the three men spelled it on the ship list. Yet not only the name Briel, but also the given names Martin, Heinrich, Andreas and Hermann. I said to my client "something is happening here, I have goosebumps" and explained the situation. She said, "write out the information", but there was too much to write and I had needs to come back to work a day here on the Briels.
The pastor had left for the day and I told his wife my plight. I said I had to come back and would the pastor let me in. She couldn't tell me and I said I would call back as we left. This was the weekend before I had made the plans to go to Eschwege. I had to keep my appointments there for I had reserved their microfiche reader for a whole week in the mornings except for Monday all day and the afternoons at Bad Hersfeld for that's the only time they are open. I had to travel back and forth during noon time and in the evenings.
Nevertheless, I managed to get in touch with the pastor in Muenchhausen and he told me I could come on Wednesday which was the first of October. It was a 2 1/2 hour drive so I left early in the morning to be there by 9:00 a.m. for that's when he told me to be there. On the way, there was a detour which added 30 minutes to my driving time, but I made it. The Pastor wanted to know what I was going to search and who it was for. I was prepared for I had one of Jerry's letters with the letterhead, the Wyoming address and the information of Martin Brill who belonged to the Springfield Lutheran church. This satisfied him and I went to work, extracted all Briel entries. [Bless your heart Trudy!]
The church records include three sections, each a different village, Muenchhausen, Ernsthausen and Wollmar including the village Roda and Simtshausen. I extracted all Briel entries. There still is not a Martin with wife Anna Maria. It is noteworthy to say that the marriages of these Briel men did not take place in this parish and the Pastor did not record the wife's name at a christening before 1780.
There has to be one other parish nearby where more Briels are recorded. I checked the town of Bracht and Niederwald. In the same parish are the reformed church records for the area which I also checked.
As far as names on ship Halifax which show in this parish are lots of Koch, Keil, Braun, Tussin (Dussing) and Brecht as well as the given name Dieterich. On the Briel extractions I also searched the death records to 1770. There are some missing years in between, also incomplete marriage records. Jerry, please look over the sheets which are enclosed. I feel I am very close and I have written three letters to Wetter, Todenhausen and Rosenthal parishes nearby.
You will see there is a Hermann Briel who had twins in 1724, a Johann Jacob, a Martin and a son, Henrich in 1726. There is no mention of this family after 1726, neither is his marriage in Muenchhausen nor in Ernsthausen, Wollmar or Roda. The twins may have died, no deaths from 1724-1730, no confirmation either.
With the new information now found I checked at the Family History Library for possible records of any kind for this area. The district town is Wetter and to my surprise I found that filmed marriage contracts are available from 1627-1874.
These contracts are not made for every couple only where special permission was needed. I extracted every entry where the name Briel was recorded. Some information helped me with the names I had found in the parish records at Muenchhausen. These poorly kept parish records of Muenchhausen leave much to be desired.
I would have liked to search in Wetter, yet the pastor was not available. There is no doubt in my mind that I am on the right track now.
The parishes where Briels can be found are Amoenau, Niederasphe Oberrosphe, Niederwetter, Wetter. Now, I would exactly know where to go. I feel the trip was worth it with the elimination done in Eschwege and Bad Hersfeld and a good start in the Wetter district. The library has filmed records of the Voelkershausen parish I mentioned earlier in my report. I did check two films time, 1695-1730. No Briel entries, film #1197764 & 1197765, right and left sides.
Now I want to write some more letters, one to Amoenau and one to Niederasphe.
In Glenzdorfs books of surnames and who does search them I found three men who have researched Briel in Hesse-Cassel. One of these is a Herr Fritz Clees who lived in Biedenkopf at the time the books were published in 1984, but he is not in the phone directory now. The other men are listed. They are Dietrich Leist and Werner Denstorff.
I will contact them too. Since the parish records of nearby Biedenkopf have been filmed I checked those records, also. There were some Briel families, but not the right given names.
Trudy Schenk
Continuation of Charles Geissinger's military story from last month's NL:
Wayne reported 15 killed and 83 wounded. As previously stated he had 1,200 rank and file in his light infantry brigade; total strength in the action was 1,350 counting officers and musicians. The figures exclude the supporting forces of Lee and Muhlenberg.
The British commander reported 20 killed, 74 wounded, 58 missing, and 472 captured, for a total of 624. American reports that 63 British were killed and about 70 wounded are obviously false. Washington approved Wayne's proposal that the captured equipment and stores be appraised and this amount divided among his troops; including the 12 cannon the sum came to $180, 655. Most of the captured guns were lost when the ships carrying them to West Point were sunk.
British General Clinton reacted swiftly to save Ft. Lafayette, and Washington's failure to plan the capture of this place made it possible for Clinton to succeed. Washington's other error was his selection of Robt. Howe to command the attempt. An undistinguished general to start with, Howe had been on the scene only a month.
The captured guns of Stony Point were turned on Ft. Lafayette and the sloop Vulture. But the Vulture dropped down the river to safety, and Ft. Lafayette was reinforced before Howe could get his operation under way. Washington wisely decided the defense of Stony Point would require more men than it was worth, so he ordered the works destroyed, the materiel removed and on the 18thg, Wayne's troops were withdrawn. General Clinton reoccupied the place the next day; he then established a stronger garrison and rebuilt the defenses.
For this brilliant exploit, Wayne was given the thanks of Congress and a gold medal. Fleury and Stewart were voted silver medals. Lts. Gibbons and Knox were commended and given promotions.
The operation had little strategic value, but it was a morale builder for the American army and people; it had the opposite effect on the British. The latter paid tribute in the Annual Register for 1779 by saying that it would have done honor to the most veteran soldiers.
Another element figured prominently in the operation--- luck. It detracts nothing from Wayne's triumph to recognize that the British post was inadequately garrisoned their intelligence faulty, and their local security measures deficient. Of course the American plan was predicated on the knowledge gained from good intelligence and thorough reconnaissance, but a little bad luck could have turned the attack into a bloody failure, and a little less good luck could have resulted in a tremendous casualty list.
The Battle of Three Rivers 8 Jun 1776
This battle was an American defeat during its invasion of Canada. Charles Geissinger also fought in this battle.
When American reinforcements under Gens. Sullivan and Wm. Thompson assembled at St. Johns on 1 June, they found the shattered remnants of the army Gen. Thomas had back from Quebec. Colonial authorities had ordered that every attempt be made to push back toward Quebec, and Sullivan directed Thompson to take 2,000 of the best troops to seize Three Rivers. This place was on the north bank of the St. Lawrence, about halfway between Montreal and Quebec and was believed to be held by only 800 men. Actually, Gen. Burgoyne's regulars had started arriving there, and the place was occupied by about 6,000 under B .G. Simon Fraser.
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