[Ger-Poland-Volhynia] changing names, assumptions, and other factors

[Nancy Gertner]

Karl:  your assumptions may be correct, but without the proof (and  
maybe you can never find it), it's an unproven hypothesis.

Maybe you want to build a data base to chart the assumption(s) you're  
building your GEDCOM on, and also chart other possibilities.  Then,  
if and when you find additional info, you can check your assumption  
factors.  I have built families based on assumptions that later were  
found false when records of additional parishes revealed the families  
of origin included more parental couples than my original assumption  
contained.  (My research collaborator, "Cousin Tim," is good at  
following the scientific method, and pointing out my assumptive errors.)

There are other possibilities, that the couple Samuel Taron &  
Julianne Taron

are not the same as Samuel Taron & Julianne Fitz

or as Wilhelm Taron and Julianne Fitz

Have you looked at the death / burial records?

[More records may prove/disprove your theories, and can also create  
more data and more chaos!]

Samuel could have had 2 wives named Julianne.  1852 - 1856 can be a  
large interval in between the birth of babies, more frequently born 2  
years apart, from the research I've done.  Or Julianne could be the  
same person, and perhaps her marriage to Samuel is not her first.   
The surnames Taron and Fitz could represent a first husband's  
surname, and a maiden name.

Do you have birth / baptism records for Samuel and Wilhelm?  Consider  
also that they could have been brothers, in addition to possible  
cousins.  Have you seen marriage records for the couples cited?

Men frequently married their brother's widows so the children (their  
nieces and nephews) would be cared for [a practice perhaps promoted  
by the grandparents].  If you find any records (ie. death) that show  
Wilhelm Taron a few years younger than Julianne Fitz, it might  
support this theory.

If a Taron died in military service, the death may not be recorded in  
the family's parish, but in the records maintained by the military  
chaplains.  Deaths in the Prussian Army were also from cholera,  
typhoid and diseases, in addition to combat.  Church records of the  
military chaplains also recorded baptisms, marriages, and sometimes  
confirmations.

 From my great-grandfather's service in the Prussian Army during the  
1860s, here's what I know about the military life of one Prussian  
man, his brother-in-law, from the obituary:
"Ludwig

Born January 24, 1839

Ludwig was born January 24th,  [1839], in Niedarzien [Niedarzin]  
Province Pozen Germany.  He was baptized in Revier and after due  
instruction, confirmed in the Ev. [Evangelical] Lutheran faith.  At  
the age of 20 [1859] he was drafted to serve as a soldier and was in  
training for three years [with the Prussian Army].  In 1863 he was  
again called and sent to help guard the Russian border.  Hardly  
discharged, he again was called to take up arms in war against  
Denmark in 1864 and in 1865 against Austria, participating in some of  
the fiercest battles at Getch and Koeniggraetz.

The Lord shielded him and in 1867 he sailed for America and located  
in Chicago, Ill. "

The keywords here, 'fiercest battles,' and 'The Lord shielded him'  
indicate to me that many of Ludwig's comrades in the Prussian Army  
did not survive their military service.  The years cited in the  
obituary, coincidentally, match the ones you cite in the birth  
records of your ancestral family.  I believe military service of  
three years in the Prussian Army was the standard for young men at  
that time.

Nancy in Minnesota


On Jul 30, 2006, at 12:45 AM, Karl Krueger wrote:

> I am in a bit of a dilemna. I have been studying a group of Taron  
> families I believe are probably derived from 3 brothers who settled  
> during the founding of the town Michelsdorf. From the church in  
> Lublin I have received quite a number of records concerning this  
> town. In EWZ I can trace some lineages of people who survived in  
> 1940 back to inhabitants of the early Michelsdorf days. With the  
> relative wealth of records I have I can make good educated guesses  
> on the composition and lineages of the 3 Taron families I am  
> studying - at least so I thought until I recently got a few more  
> records from the Lublin church. Two of these records raise some big  
> questions in my mind. I wonder if any of you out there have seen a  
> similar predicament that I will now describe.
>
>   One of the second generation couples in Michelsdorf is named  
> Samuel Taron & Julianne Fitz. Unexpectedly the recent records I  
> received show a completely new couple I have never seen a hint of  
> before in all the records I studied - Samuel Taron and Julianne  
> Taron. Ages correspond reasonably closely as I have only their ages  
> as parents on birth records to go by. At about 1862 a couple moves  
> from Michelsdorf to Wanda (where the Fitz family was) and now I see  
> a couple as Wilhelm Taron and Julianne Fitz.  To summarize here is  
> what I have compiled according to chronological order of births.
>
>   1852 - Wilhelmine Taron born to Samuel Taron & Julianne Taron  
> (Lublin birth record)
>   1856 - Julianne Taron born to parents unknown but later lives in  
> Wanda (EWZ)
>   1858 - Wilhelm Taron born to Samuel Taron & Julianne Fitz (Lublin  
> birth record)
>   1861 - Ludwig Taron born to Samuel Taron & Julianne Taron (Lublin  
> birth record)
>      previous births in Michelsdorf - subsequent births in Wanda
>   1863 - Emilie Taron born to Wilhelm Taron & Julianne Fitz (EWZ)
>   1865 - Friedrich Taron born to Wilhelm Taron & Julianne Fitz  
> (Lublin birth record)
>
>   I have seen no other instances of any combination of this/these  
> couple(s)
>
>   The problem I have is Julianne Taron  and Wilhelm Taron pop out  
> of no where among the rather extensive list I have from Michelsdorf  
> prior to this. My hypothesis is the transcriber in Lublin was  
> getting sloppy with Julianne's surname, or for some odd reason  
> twice indicated her maiden name as Taron (incorrectly?). While  
> living in Michelsdorf Julianne Fitz is married to Samuel while now  
> suddenly when she is in Wanda her husband is Wilhelm.
>
>   My hunch is this is all the same couple correctly named as Samuel  
> Wilhelm Taron & Julianne Fitz. Notice how nicely all these kids are  
> spaced out with different names. While in Michelsdorf, Samuel would  
> not be called Wilhelm since there were several other Wilhelm Tarons  
> (one who I believe is his older brother). Could it be that when he  
> moves to Wanda and now becomes the only Taron in town that he  
> prefers to be called by Wilhelm?
>
>   What do some of you with more experience in working with parish  
> records feel? I have found the transcriber in Lublin to be quite  
> reliable but this chaniging surname of Fitz/Taron for Julianne has  
> me concerned.
>