Birthplace of my grandfather Karl/ Charles Hermann. Hermann-1075

Question

Now that Santa's Elves have finished their work I thought that I would pose the following challenge/request.

Karl Herman ( my paternal grandfather ) told his children & the 1901, 1911 & 1921 census records confirm this, that he was born in Karlsbad ( now Karlovy Vary ) Austria/ Czechoslovakia in 1870. I have struggled for years to confirm this & the only records that I could find were from Germany. Does anyone know if the borders of the above countries changed to make my profile of Karl possible - otherwise all his ancestors are incorrect & I have been using the incorrect record. I have been so uncertain that I removed myself as profile manager of all the Ancestors related to him from 1870 back to the 1700's.  If there are any Wiki colleagues who are familiar with the area, please assist as my brick wall is pretty thick. NB I only have Family Search so there might be a Karlsbad record somewhere else.

Comments

I think the first question to be addressed is what is the basis for him having been born in Freyburg?

There are cases of people relocation from Germany in the Austrian Empire—parts of my family did this (but earlier in the 1800s), but I have family records and documents that link the family in Moravia to an origin in Brandenburg.

It may be possible that your ancestor was not born in Karlsbad, but in a town/village very near there. This means identifying the towns and looking through all the church registers. There are no comprehensive indices, so this means potentially quite a bit of work. Records could be in Czech, German, or Latin (more common for older records, not those of the later 1800s).

As Colleen noted, there are extensive Czech records online from the Czech Regional Archives. These archives typically have much more than FamilySearch.

Membership in GenTeam May be helpful. This is a website for research in Austria and the Austrian Empire. Membership is required, but it is free. The website has an English version. It has a very useful gazetteer that has place names in both German and English, as well as links to the regional archives for each town.

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I noticed that Karl's German baptismal record says he was born in September, but baptized in November.  So, with a gap like that, it is certainly possible that he could have been born somewhere other than where he was baptized.  But then you would be looking for a record for a birth not associated with a baptism.  Given that the sources we have available are church records, it seems unlikely such a record would exist.

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Thanks for the tip George. I will definitely check GenTeam & see if there are any likely entries.I think that the best reply should be shared by Colleen & yourself as you have both  given me food for thought. As I cannot read German any German website is a waste.

Cheers

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Very, very interesting Colleen. This would definitely explain why I and other experienced Wikitreers have struggled for so long. I will leave Karl Otto Hermann where he is unless a definite Karlsbad record is found. Thanks.

Answer 1

There are extensive Czech records online. Some records for Karlsbad in Karlovy Vary are at the Portafontium website.  For example, this page from a Catholic church birth/baptism index includes the year 1870, but does not show any Hermanns as far as I can see: https://www.portafontium.eu/iipimage/30063533/karlovy-vary-30_4000-r

I think there are also some Lutheran records available, but I did not check those.  Presumably, someone has already checked at least some of these sources as the biography states that there were no birth records for Karlsbad for the dates in question. 

Comments

Thanks Colleen

I appreciate the assistance. We did try a couple of years ago & found nothing. Dieter assisted me at the time. We will carry on the search.

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From doing a search on FS for the name Werner, I noticed that there were Werners in Ottowitz, which is very close to Karlsbad.  Perhaps Karl's mother was staying with relatives when she gave birth? 

There were also Herrmanns in Ottowitz. For example:  https://www.portafontium.eu/iipimage/30068113/sedlec-072_0550-n?x=462&y=608&w=335&h=211

Answer 2

There is a Karl Hermann in Karlsbad in 1904 https://books.google.de/books?id=Y97CiEeEIDQC&newbks=1&newbks_redir=0&dq=%22Hermann%2C%20Karl%22%20Karlsbad&hl=de&pg=RA1-PA147#v=onepage&q=%22Hermann,%20Karl%22%20Karlsbad&f=false and in 1883/84 https://books.google.de/books?id=aJQGi1mvPpsC&newbks=1&newbks_redir=0&dq=%22Hermann%2C%20Karl%22%20Karlsbad&hl=de&pg=PA54#v=onepage&q=%22Hermann,%20Karl%22%20Karlsbad&f=false 

.But the name Hermann is not a single name.

Comments

Thanks Alexandra-Brigitte

By 1904 Karl was living in Newcastle under Lyme Staffordshire.  As I cannot read German I am handicapped.

Thanks for your efforts though.