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While living in Germany several years ago, I was able to utilize the Head Librarian at Heildelberg University's mind. He informed me that the best way to find the family name I was looking for (Schmidt) was to go through the West German phone books and find the largest group of the name in that area. (he did this for me.)
What we came up with was that the largest group of Schmidt was located in a small town called Bad Saltzdetfurth, which is in the northern part of the country.
I called one of the numbers and was able to get in contact with the oldest Schmidt male in the town. He was at first very hesitant to talk to me, an American, and said he would call me the next day IF I gave him the name of my ancestor Schmidt who had come to the US.
I told him my ancestor (8 generations back) arrived from Rotterdam on the Phoenix in the Port of Philadelphia, in 1852. And his name was either Johannes Conrad Schmidt or Conrad Johannes Schmidt.
The next morning I was awakened by an excited 'new cousin' the same gentleman from the day before. Who stated he had been hesitant the day before because for 6 generations there had been a skeleton in his family's closet. Since 1852 as a matter of fact!!
Seems that there were 2 twin brothers born to a Conrad Johannes Schmidt in Bad Saltzdetfurth, West Germany. On their father's death bed they promised him that they would split the property (land) equally amongst themselves and not fight over who received it. (little history here is that usually only the eldest son received all the property.)
Well Conrad Johannes and Johannes Conrad after their father's death and a proper mourning period, went to Rotterdam for a vacation (? no one is really sure why they went.) Anyway only Conrad Johannes Schmidt returned and REFUSED to say where his brother was or what had happened between them. His decendents assumed that Conrad Johannes had killed his twin.
When I had called the day before, it was like hitting him with a brick.
We talked for several hours and I gave him all the info I had at the time. And he was only able to verify via Court Records that Conrad Johannes Schmidt was my ancestor Johannes Conrad's twin brother and that their father was Conrad Johannes Schmidt.
He explained that in those days the 1st born almost always carried the same name as the father with the 2nd born having the fathers middle name as his first and his fathers first name as the middle. (sorry it is a bit confusing but....)
I have a book written and researched by one of our cousins on the history and names (9) generations that I must get from my daughter.
After arriving in the Port of Philadelphia, my ancestor, Johannes Conrad Schmidt married a Catherine Roth. I do not remember much more, I will need the Family book to give more in depth information. But I do know that the descendants from Johannes Conrad Schmidt moved to a few different locations within a few years of his arrival. Some moved to Philbrook, Minnesota, some to Iowa and some to points unknown.
I'd love to hear from others of the Johannes Conrad and Conrad Johannes Schmidt lineage.
my email is irl_joanie@yahoo.com
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