Doesn't the name and occupation seem awfully familiar? So, is "Wendelheim, Hessen, Germany" anywhere near Deilheim and Horrenburg? When I look at a map of Germany, I locate Mannheim first, because our Jansons came from just south of that city....so, when I found a current map of where Hessen is...yes, Mannheim is on the bottom of the bright pink part, see?
Evidently, the newspaper misspelled the name of the town, too. It should have an s:
Hmm, there seems to be two Wendelsheims, both in southern Germany--one in Rhineland-Palatinate and the other is a suburban district of Rottenburg am Neckar in the administrative district of Tübingen in Baden-Württemberg (Germany). I'd guess we're talking about the second one, huh?
While googling "Wendelheim, Hessen, Germany", a family history book from another family showed up too: Record of the Descendants of Johann Jost Wentz, by Richard Willing Wentz. What caught my eye was a discussion of name origins, specifically WENDEL and WENDELIN (like grandpa's older brother, Wendelin). Take a few minutes and read these three pages--it's background that definitely pertains to our family and the naming traditions in Catholic Germany of the time:
No, you're right, none of this connects the above obituary to our Jansons. He might have been related or not, but finding that obit got us a whole lot more information, and THATS cool. ☺
No comments:
Post a Comment