Ho-hum update

I went to the LDS on Wednesday and took a lot of photos of birth, death and marriage records from Limbazi. Nothing particularly interesting except that I noticed the name "Kerstein" is spelled a few different names in the records (Kirstein, Kerstens). I find it a bit interesting because it isn't a particularly difficult name. The Kersteins are related by the first marriage to August Till, but, as I mentioned in a posting months ago, I am not related to Emma Kerstein through their four children -I am related to August Till by his second marriage and that was to someone with the last name of Puls. I probably won't follow the Kerstein record much more because of that fact. My Rogenhagen contact might be a bit more interested in it, so when you read this contact me if you are interested in finding out more. Anyway, I will have to order a couple of records from Limbazi that range from around 1800 to 1836. Of particular interest would be if I found a more detailed death record for August Till's father, Samuel. All I have is the date of his death, not the place of birth, which would be far more meaningful to further my research chronologically.

I did order four more records on Wednesday. They are all for St. Jakobs Church in Riga. Three of them are wedding records and one of them is a death record for 1918-1920. I hope to find a death record for another Truschinsky of whom it has been suggested died in that range. If I recall correctly, I don't have a birth record for that person. I don't know if his birth will be revealed to be in Kurland or Livland. The marriage records probably will get a Till and/or Truschinsky. I know Johann Till get married at Jakobs, but the date may be just prior to the date for the records I had ordered. I will eventually order those records. It will be a busy summer in that regard.

I have been a bit more, well, "concerned" isn't the correct term, but "focused" might be more appropriate on getting records for deaths in Latvia post WWII. The Latvian embassy in Washington provides a service for $10 in which it sends a form to the Latvian archives to do a search on said individual. I will look more closely at this this weekend. It is through these records that I might be able to establish a contact in Latvia or Germany.

Finally, I sent an email to the DBGG in late April and haven't received a response of any sort. It was recommended by Dr. Hermann Rogenhagen and I felt a bit optimistic that I would get some sort of response, but I have not, as of yet. I am going to wait until around May 20 and then send a snail mail letter to Germany.

More records online!

I have a lot of pretty good stuff coming up. There aren't any "breakthroughs" in them, but they do seem to further along some lines of research. They develop the Till line which, ultimately, I hope, will lead to a connection with some Tills in Heidelberg, Germany. Stay tuned!