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| Farmer Chris' urban garden |
There are so many farmers in our Bramble Bush it was pretty hard to choose just one.
I decided to dig for a farmer in our tree who had a story to tell.
I found my husband's 7th great grandparents,
Christoffel & Anna Elizabeth (nee Habel) Zehrung.
Christoffel Zehrung
BIRTH 5 JUL 1657 • Ritzhausen, Hessen, Germany
DEATH 10 JAN 1714 • Ritzhausen, Hesse, Germany
&
Anna Elizabeth Habel
BIRTH 12 DEC 1675 • Unnau, Westerwald, Hessen, Germany
DEATH 24 JUN 1714 • Ritzhausen, Westerwald, Hessen, Germany
Christoffel & Anna were farmers.
By the middle of June 1714 both Christoffel and Anna had died leaving behind 6 children ranging in age from 6 months to 14 years.
While looking for information about what happened to the children I found a 'story' on Ancestry that had me fact checking where I was able to backtrack to the original source.
I found an 857 page pdf document written by Wilson Zaring titled The Descendants Ludwig Zehrung Mathia Zehrung Anna Elizabeth Zehrung and Philip Zehrung. The document is full of fact & conjecture. The authors voice is easy to read. He seems a born storyteller. If you have any connection to the various spellings of the Zehrung family I highly recommend this read. The index at the end of the documents lists each person included. The pdf document is linked in the sources below.
The first paragraph of the original document I found was included on page 36 (page 45 of the pdf document). The remainder of the information is not in the original pdf document. I am not sure where this story found on Ancestry originated from, but I have no reason to doubt it is from the same author since the top paragraph is exactly the same & the author recorded at the bottom.
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| Document found on Ancestry, September 16th 2021 |
I felt sad for these children. They were separated into 6 different homes after losing both their parents in 6 months. They each took a cow with them to their new home.
I don't know what their parents died from because I haven't found their death registrations.
The oldest child, Anna Elizabeth, was 15 when her parents died. There is no mention of where she went to live. She was married 8 months later at the age of 16.
2nd born, Johann Christ, went to a "farm that Johann Thönges keeps.” He was 13 years old. I was not able to find any further information.
3rd born was my husband's 6th great grandmother, Elsa Maria (Elizabeth), who was 9 at the time of her parents death. The document above notes her as 8. She was taken into the care of her godfather Martin Schmitt. I have been trying to find census records of Elizabeth living with the Schmitt family, but have not been successful. She married Johannes Martin Buchner when she was 23 years old. Together they had 8 children. In 1753, aged 48, she immigrated to Philadelphia with her husband and children. Many of her descendants immigrated to Ontario, Canada. The pdf refenced & sourced has quite a bit about the Zehrung/Buchner descendants.
4th born, Johannes, went to live with Johannes Reusch. He was 8 at the time. When he was 24 he married Anna Marie Crumb. The pdf document by Wilson Zaring referenced in this blog (and in the sources below) primarily focuses on Johannes and his descendants.
5th born, Johann Tonges, I can find no record of. There are some trees on Ancestry that record his death in 1715. Without sources I can't say for certain that is true. There is no reference to where he went to live in the record above.
6th born was, Johann Bast, who went to live with Bastian Höbel who was likely a relative of his mother's he was listed as less than 6 months old in the document above. Several trees on Ancestry list him as dying a few weeks after his mother. None of them have sources so can't be taken as fact.
The document references Anna Elisabetha, age 4. Unless there was a second child named Anna Elisabetha this child was 15. A possible typo in the transcription. The other possibility is that the older child's name is Anna Maria If that is the case then I have a mistake for the oldest child. I will definitely take a deeper look at the the possibility of 2 Annas.
My husband's family has a long history in farming in his paternal line.
As recorded in the reference (and sourced) book on the Zehrung family line.
"THE FIRST GENERATION
The oldest known member of our family was identified simply as Zering "der alte". He was a farmer at Langenbach. The phrase "der alte" means "the old", "the old one" or perhaps "the elder". The oldest records on our ancestors do not include dates, but allowing 30 years per generation "der alte" was born about 1480. No record has been preserved of the wife of Zering "der alte". It is likely that there were several children, but we have the name of only one. Child: a. Michel. b. ca. 1510, Langenbach." 1
As a teenager my husband worked on his grandfather's tobacco farm in southern Ontario, Canada.
His love of the land continues.
He has been a paramedic for almost 30 years. After long days at work he finds personal healing digging in the dirt on his days off.
As a healer who places life over limb he struggles with having to end life.
It is my job to thin the baby seedlings that will interfere with the growth of the keeper plants.
He is just not able to end life regardless of where that life falls on the food chain.
He takes great pride in harvesting his bounty
When you have something in common with your ancestors!!!
Cause ...
You can pick your friends, but you can't pick your family you know!
This is why I search -
Footnotes:
1 Zaring, Wilson. The Descendants Ludwig Zehrung Mathia Zehrung Anna Elizabeth Zehrung and Philip Zehrung, April 1995. Held at the Family History Library in Salt Lake City, Utah. Page 33 (document page 42), Retrieved September 17th 2021 from
http://wvancestry.com/ReferenceMaterial/Files/The_Descendants_of_Ludwig_Mathias_Elizabeth_and_Phillip_Zehrung-Zudwing.pdf
Sources:
Zaring, Wilson. The Descendants Ludwig Zehrung Mathia Zehrung Anna Elizabeth Zehrung and Philip Zehrung, April 1995. Held at the Family History Library in Salt Lake City, Utah. Retrieved September 17th 2021 from
http://wvancestry.com/ReferenceMaterial/Files/The_Descendants_of_Ludwig_Mathias_Elizabeth_and_Phillip_Zehrung-Zudwing.pdf
Links:
Amy Johnson Crow, 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks Challenge
https://www.amyjohnsoncrow.com/
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