In my previous post I explained how I discovered that my paternal grandfather had a brother who died at age 1 and how surprised I was to discover that fact just last week. When I visited my Dad in the nursing home this afternoon I brought up my story here on my blog and let him read it. His hearing is failing and it's difficult to carry on a lengthy conversation so I thought he'd absorb the information much better by reading it. Last Friday I visited him and asked if he knew about this brother Heinrich. He said he hadn't heard of him. But there are days when his memory is foggy...that was one of them. Today after he read my blog post, he turned to me and said "I know where he's buried. I've been there". And he was totally correct. He described the exact location of the Milberger Cemetery as it's listed on FindAGrave and as it's shown on the map. Down to the County line! He said as a boy each time his family drove by the cemetery, his mom would say "That's where Dad's baby brother is buried". Now isn't it something that I'm 65 years old and had NEVER heard about this baby boy? Dad told me Heinrich ("Henry") is buried quite near his mom and dad and does not have a grave marker.
Dad also noted as he read the Church Register entry that had been transcribed by Janet Flickinger that his grandmother Maria Katherina Winter (geb Kunz) Margheim was "geborn Kunz" or born Kunz. Dad remembers enough of his German to understand that. I had to go to Google translate yesterday to find that out. He didn't seem as shocked as I was. I just always knew my great-grandmother was Katie Winter. Now we need to find out if Winter was a first husband and what happened to him!
The story gets even crazier. I mentioned in my previous post yesterday that I originally discovered Heinrich when I saw him listed as a child to this family on FamilySearch. The entry was made by a Lisa Hagner. After I wrote my blog post I wrote an email last night to Lisa Hagner so she'd know what I found on FindAGrave. She replied to me tonight that she thought it was awesome and was happy to have been able to help me. Then her closing line in her email says: "I am wondering what (geb Kunz) means ...as Kunz is my maiden name." Do you believe it? My son was visiting this afternoon as I read this email and I just gasped and shared this new development with him.
I said in my previous post that I now have new research to do on the Kunz line and tonight I got my first lead, from the same woman who put me onto this trail in the first place. My ancestors are really at work here to get this story straightened out. I fully expect to find someday that my great-grandma Mary Katherine Kunz Winter Margheim is related to this Lisa Hagner. I will keep you all posted! Who knows what I'll learn next?
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