Saturday, August 6, 2016

Another Brick Wall Success

Whitey Hoehn had learned that his ancestor Lewis Fitcher was originally Alois Pfitscher, but could only trace that family to Winnebago County, Wisconsin. Since we spend July there for the EAA convention, I had a chance to visit the local library's genealogy section in Oshkosh. An "A. Pfitscher" appeared on an 1862 plat map in Black Wolf Township. This was exciting: my Swiss ancestors and their neighbors had passed through, visited relatives and in some cases returned to be married by the Swiss pastor in that section of Winnebago County. Because of that, I knew there was a translation (at the Oshkosh library) from the German of the New Elm Church located there. Sure enough, Alois' children were all baptized in that church. The records gave the wife's maiden name, her place of birth in Switzerland and her burial record after the final child's birth. The last record found was Alois' second marriage.

Brick Wall Lesson: Find someone who is familiar with the local records! Use RAOGK, USGenWeb, or just Google the county, township or village name.

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