I made an amazing discovery just a week or so ago.

In my blog Winter Works 01/24/2013, I discussed the family line that I had tracked to the USA.  I found a 3rd cousin, H. Louise Westergard (nee Werner).

I decided to transfer my Card Family database to Legacy and see what could be done with it.  This is my wife's maternal family line with strong Mormon roots, and a lineage going back to the 1600s with Richard Card.  The database has approximately 30,000 entries and was the first database I worked on many years ago before there was anything like Ancestry or FamilySearch.  I think Rootsweb was around and the Family Tree Maker website.  I don't ever remember there being discussions about citations and sources.

There were some familiar surnames in the lineage of Louise that also appeared in the Card database, but there did not seem to be any real link.  I worked with FamilySearch and some other online sources and gradually added some family lines that were missing.

Voila!!  Suddenly the connection was there!

Not only is Louise my 3rd cousin......SHE IS MY WIFE'S 6TH COUSIN!!

I emailed her, posted it on Facebook and told my family.   The reaction?   Like a wet rag.

Makes me wonder why I do this at all.  I guess it is for my own amusement; and to keep me off the streets, out of the bars and other activities that cost money.  It satisfies my interest in history and my roots.  I am a bit of a packrat and this allows me to collect without taking up real space.

This space does not produce the desired relationship chart so it will be posted on my data website.

 

The last couple of weeks have been spent exploring a plethora of Reformation connections.  I re-established contact with a gentleman in Germany with whom I had contact several years ago.  He provided me with long and complicated family tree, in text format for his connections to Johannes Mathesius.
I also purchased Legacy Family Tree as I liked some of the features it provided, especially the making of webpages.  More of this will come later.
I also "stumbled" upon the German Wikipedia and it has proven to be a font of information on lineages, and also pictures.  A great many of my ancestors weave in and out of the events of the Reformation.  They also weave in and out of their families.
As an example, I found that Christina Strauch [37671] (1652-1711) is directly related to Lucas Cranach the Elder in three different ways.


Relationship Chart Christina Strauch [37671] is the 3rd Great-Granddaughter of Lucas (The Elder) Cranach [86]
Common Ancestor * Lucas (The Elder) Cranach [86] (1472-1553) * Barbara Brengbier [136] (Abt 1485-1540) Married 6 Jan 1508 [16] |
| * Lucas (The Younger) Cranach [134] (1515-1586) Magdalena Schurff [135] (1531-1606) Married 24 May 1551 [44] |
| * Augustin Cranach [133] (1554-1595) Maria Samuela Selfisch [91] (1558-1626) Married 26 Nov 1577 [43] |
| Aegidius Strauch I [106] (1583-1657) * Euphrosina Cranach [97] (1590-1665) Married 20 Jan 1607 [47] |
| * Augustinus Strauch [486] (1612-1674) Dorothea Sophia Lentz [37672] (1621-1655) Married Aug 1643 [37411] |
| * Christina Strauch [37671] (1652-1711)

Christina Strauch [37671] is the 4th Great-Granddaughter of Lucas (The Elder) Cranach [86]
Common Ancestor * Lucas (The Elder) Cranach [86] (1472-1553) * Barbara Brengbier [136] (Abt 1485-1540) Married 6 Jan 1508 [16] |
| Caspar Pfreundt [32] (1517-1574) * Anna Cranach [29] (1527-1577) Married 13 Dec 1549 [15] |
| Conrad Fluth [35] (1538-1608) * Anna Pfreundt [34] (Abt 1545- ) Married 30 Jan 1570 [19] |
| Prof. Dr. jur. Benedikt Carpzov the Elder [6237] (1565-1624) * Anna Fluth [36] (1573-1598) Married 1 Sep 1590 [11480] |
| Friedrich Lentz [37673] * Maria Carpzov [6246] (1598-1640) Married [37412] |
| Augustinus Strauch [486] (1612-1674) * Dorothea Sophia Lentz [37672] (1621-1655) Married Aug 1643 [37411] |
| * Christina Strauch [37671] (1652-1711)

Christina Strauch [37671] is the Wife of 2nd Great-Grandson of Lucas (The Elder) Cranach [86]
Common Ancestor * Lucas (The Elder) Cranach [86] (1472-1553) * Barbara Brengbier [136] (Abt 1485-1540) Married 6 Jan 1508 [16] |
| * Lucas (The Younger) Cranach [134] (1515-1586) Magdalena Schurff [135] (1531-1606) Married 24 May 1551 [44] |
| Prof. Dr. theol. Polycarp Leyser the Elder [103] (1552-1610) * Elisabeth Cranach [90] (1561-1645) Married 17 May 1581 [14] |
| * Prof. Dr. theol. Wilhelm Leyser I [383] (1592-1649) Regina Tetzel [6249] (1602-1631) Married 11 Feb 1622 [11482] |
| * Wilhelm Leyser II [6251] (1628-1689) Christina Strauch [37671] (1652-1711) Married 23 Apr 1667 [37410]

There may be more, but this is a good example of how tightly knit the Reformation Family was.

It's been awhile since I provided any update, but that doesn't mean that I have been idle.

The major development has been making contact with a line of cousins in the US.  Well, third cousins actually.  Leonid Issajeff married my great grand aunt Auguste Emilie Julianne Heldt.  One of their sons, Theodore Werner Issajeff, emigrated to the US in 1902.  Auguste tried to emigrate in 1905 but she and two of her daughters were rejected for medical reasons and were returned to Europe.  She eventually died in Riga, Latvia in 1913.  Theodore's son, also Theodore Werner, dropped Issajeff as his surname and used Werner instead.  This is the line that I found.  He married Afton Thornton who died 23 Jan 2012.  I had been curious about this line and accidentally stumbled across her obituary in the online edition of Desseret News.  I signed the guestbook at the funeral home asking for family to contact me.  I heard nothing for a year so earlier this month I emailed the funeral home directly, and lo and behold, I received an email from my third cousin Louise Westergard, the daughter of Theodor and Afton.  She had been handed over the role of family historian from her mother.  I was able to provide her with a lot of information about the Issajeff and Heldt families and I look forward to getting updates about the family in the US.

I have just uploaded the Cranachids database to my website .

These are the descendents of Lucas Cranach the Elder who is my 14th Great Grandfather.  Some of his other notable descendents are Wolfgang v. Goethe, Manfred v. Richthofen, and Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands.  There are probably plenty more to discover as the lines are developed.  I have been in contact with two other Cranachids who are my 14th cousins.

 I have also made a page that displays my connection to major figures of the Reformation, including Lucas Cranach.  Unfortunately no direct connection with Luther, but he and Lucas were godparents to each others children

After the conjunction entry, something clicked in the back of my memory and I remembered that there was a double wedding in the family.  The record here shows the weddings of Great-Grandfather Carl Alois Hornung with Great-Grandmother Charlotte Semmel; and, her brother Diedrich with Johanna Nelius.

I keep two data files in FTM, one for each of my maternal and paternal families.  As I was going through the church records for Kuldiga ( Goldingen), Latvia, I noticed that I had to switch back and forth as I found family members on each side.  The conjunction came when I found the confirmation record that is pictured here.  Johann Heinrich Geide is a maternal 2nd great grand uncle and Ernst Friederich Theodor Semmel is the same on the paternal side.  These are the only two that were confirmed together, even though they are several months apart in age.  Their siblings were confirmed but not in any of the same groupings. 
The families lived in the same town for decades and generations, going to the only Lutheran church in town.  Yet, none of them married into the other family.  They were also of the same social status, if occupations are compared; and, of the same ethnicity. Another puzzle to ponder.