Has anyone been to Eningen, Germany
 

We are doing a land tour through Germany between two cruises to and from Europe.

My ancestors have been traced to Eningen as far back as 1475.

I don't know much about the city, and when we Google it, it appears very industrial.

I am searching for the Eningen Evangelical Lutheran Church which maintains heritage records, I understand.

Does anyone have any information that might be helpful to us as we travel through Eningen?

To me, Eningen does not appear industrial. It is a village, however not too exciting.

An "Evangelical Lutheran Church" does not exist. This sounds like an American concept.

There is, however, the "Evangelische Kirchengemeinde Eningen".

Here is the homepage of the pastor:

http://www.gkempka.de/

And his email:
[email protected]

P.S. Are you sure that it is Eningen unter Achalm and not Ehningen?

I think it is an unfortunate case of mistranslation where the word "Evangelisch" in German was mistranslated to Evangelical in English instead of Lutheran(protestant).

Thanks for info.

I am sure I am driving to Eningen.Many, Many of my ancestors have the name on their documents.

I understand that the records of the city population (which contain the name Muehleisen, my family name).

Can you, Dax or traveller1959, read or translate the German on the pastor's webpage?

Thanks for the help,
Cathy

cmcbride,

They are not always perfect, but have you tried using an internet based free translation service? There are a few, one I know of for sure is www.freetranslation.com

Hope this helps!
H

The pastor's page contains four links: Personliches (personal), Kirchliches (church), Fachliches (professional), and Ubersicht (site map).

At the lower left in small type is a disclaimer stating that as a result of a court ruling in Hamburg in 1998 he is accepting no responsibility for anything in the links from his page.

If your main interest is to do research on family genealogy and not necessarily to visit the town of Eningen, you don't need to go there to search the church registers.

All registers of the individual Lutheran church registers are also on microfilm at the archives of the Lutheran Church of the state of Baden-Württemberg (where Eningen is located)

Maybe you find this info on their website helpful:
http://tinyurl.com/36y7tn

Here is the website of the Archive of the Protestant Church of Württemberg (not Baden-Württemberg, cowboy, Baden has its own church) in Stuttgart with some information in English how to do family research: http://www.archiv.elk-wue.de/webrun....LK=1&NR=54

Contact them as soon as possible. You may need a reservation. I don't know about the Württemberg ones, but some others require a reservation several months in advance because the church registers are on microfilms and there is but a limited number of readerprinters available.

Just a silly little question: Are you able to read the old German handwriting? You'll be handed microfilms of the originals and will have to read them by yourself, there is no transcription into modern writing. Don't underestimate that problem. Or hire a professional historian.

quokka.. thanks for pointing out the difference between Baden's and Württemberg's state churches.. I completely forgot about that.

Since the link does not work, here the full text:

(you see, they have the same stuff in Salt Lake City)

Family research at the Landeskirchliches Archiv

1. What do we have

We own microfilms of the church registers (Kirchenbücher) of all parsonages of the Protestant Church of the State of Württemberg (Evangelische Landeskirche in Württemberg). Since 1952 the State of Württemberg (up to 1918 Kingdom of Württemberg) has been part of the present?day State of Baden?Württemberg (see map). There are more than 1200 protestant congregations in Württemberg whose registers we have microfilmed.
These microfilms include all old registers (baptisms, marriages, deaths) in some cases beginning in the late 1500s up to the year 1875. From 1876 to the present day births, marriages and deaths are recorded at the local Offices of Vital Statistics (Standesamt).
Our microfilms also include the family registers (Familienregister) that were begun in 1808. One entry in the family register gives the name of the father (Hausvater) and the mother (Hausmutter) with the dates of their births, marriage and deaths. There are also mentioned the names of the parents of this couple as well as their children. Thus there are three generations on one sheet.
These microfilms can be viewed at our archives. In this case an appointment has to be made by phone beforehand (0711/2149-373). The microfilms will be loaned by written request in Germany and Europe to people willing to refund the postage.
Copies of all our microfilms are also in the possession of the Genealogical Society of Utah. For information ask: Genealogical Society, Center Library, 50 East North Temple, Salt Lake City, Utah 84150, USA.

2. What can we do for you


Our general intention is to help people to do their research by themselves. Our staff is not big enough to do research, all we can do is to give you a start.
In most cases those, who are researching today are looking for people who emigrated in the 1800s. This is the time of the family registers (see above). We are willing to look up this family and to make a copy of the entry for this specific family for you.
We are able to give you only a copy and not a translation of the entry for the specific family. If you want more information, for example about former generations you will have to do the research by yourself or hire a professional genealogist. We are able to give you an address.
Our church registers are not the only source for research. There are emigration records in the state archives that can be searched also. If your ancestor came from Württemberg and if you know his place of origin you may write to: Hauptstaatsarchiv Stuttgart, Konrad-Adenauer-Str. 4, D-70113 Stuttgart.

3. What do we need from you


It is essential that you give us the name of the place where your ancestor came from. There is no general index for the family names of the 1200 communities mentioned above. So look for documents preferably official ones like birth certificates (Geburtsurkunde), renunciation of citizenship (Bürgerrechtsverzichtsurkunde) and the like. There might also be an old family Bible or even letters from the old country. As the old German script is not easy to read for people who are not used to it please just make a copy of your document and send it to us. We'll find out what it says.
It is useless to state that somebody came from a village "near" ? for example ? Stuttgart. In a densely populated country like ours there are dozens of villages near a bigger city and nobody will be able to search dozens of registers in hopes of finding a needle in a haystack.
You do not have to write us in German. Almost everybody here is able to read English. It is fine if you have some command of German because you will need it to read our letter when we write you back.
You do not need to send a self?addressed stamped envelope. International reply coupons (Internationale Antwortscheine) sold at your post?office are much easier to handle.
The fee for our services is Euro 8,- per 15 minutes if one of our staff has to work on your questions. There are other fees for the usage of our reader-printers and for mailing microfilms. If sending a check please remember that those for smaller amounts are mostly eaten up by the fees the banks charge. It is easier and generally safe to send cash in an envelope.

Posters, I owe you an apology for not responding or thanking you for your thoughtful knowledge and effort to answer my post. I left to go south for the winter soon after I initiated my question, and I have no excuse but to say I'm sorry.

If people treated others on this forum the way I have behaved, we would never get any assistance in our travels.

To respond to your comments, I have already received a thorough tracing of my ancestors from Eningen all the way to births in 1475. I primarily wanted to walk the same dirt as they did. I wanted to see the landscapes they looked at. and I wanted to say I was there. But, I also wanted to confirm a small glitch in the research, if possible. It seems that would be more work than necessary, considering the concern.
We are looking for hotels in Eningen and other bits of information about the city. We will be there August 27 only.

Once again, thank you so much and I am so sorry I didn't respond to your posts.

Here the hotels in Eningen:

Hotel Eninger Hof
Am Kappelbach 24
Eningen unter Achalm
Tel.: +49-7121-988550

Landgasthof Wolf Inh. Frank Walter, Brunnenstr. 13, 72800 Eningen Tel. +49-7121-87269

Traveler 1959,

Thank you so much, I'll attempt to make contact with the hotel.

I appreciate your efforts.

Cathy and Jim