Re: Coburg look-up
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In reply to:
Kolberg, Saxony, look-up
Penny Hughes 5/15/05
Penny, your great-great-grandfather Grossheim was from what was until 1918 the very small Thuringian Duchy of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha (in German: Sachsen-Coburg und Gotha). Its capital was the city of Gotha, and the summer residence of the Duke was the city of Coburg. The eight Thuringian states were all very small. Saxe-Coburg-Gotha covered an area only about half that covered by the U.S. state of Rhode Island.
Confusion often arises with the state (until 1918, Kingdom) of Saxony (in German: Sachsen), the capital of which is the city of Dresden. This confusion stems from the fact that the names of a number of the small Thuringian states began with "Saxe-" (in German: "Sachsen-"). That was because those states were ruled by branches of the House of Wettin, the royal family of Saxony. But the Thuringian states had nothing directly to do with Saxony.
In 1920, following the abolition of the German monarchies after World War I, the eight small Thuringian states merged into one larger state called Thuringia (in German: Thüringen), with the city of Weimar as its capital. In 1944, the city of Erfurt and environs were transferred from the state of Prussia to the state of Thuringia, and Erfurt is Thuringia's capital today.
There was one important exception to what I have just said here: In 1920, only the Gotha portion of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha became part of the new state of Thuringia. The Coburg portion of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha opted instead to become part of the state of Bavaria (in German: Bayern; capital: Munich) and remains part of Bavaria today. You will find Coburg today way up in northeastern Bavaria, just the Bavaria side of the Thuringian border.
The question to be answered now is whether your great-great-grandfather was right from the city of Coburg itself, or whether he was from another town or village located somewhere within the Coburg portion of the Duchy of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha.
Grossheim is a relatively common name in Germany.If that wasn't Henry's original name, does your family lore include any explanation as to why he changed it?
Robert
More Replies:
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Re: Coburg look-up
Penny Hughes 5/15/05
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Re: Coburg look-up
robert theiss 5/15/05
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Re: Coburg look-up
Penny Hughes 6/14/05
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Re: Coburg look-up
Penny Hughes 5/15/05
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Re: Coburg look-up
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Re: Coburg look-up