[Ger-Poland-Volhynia] information from grandmaonline

[Jerry Frank]

My first comment is that not all people in the Grandma database are Mennonite.  My ancestral Girschewski family is in there because one of them married a Mennonite in Manitoba.  She and her family were Lutheran.  It is quite possible that your connection is through someone that converted in either direction either directly or through his/her marriage.

We cannot make any suggestions unless you provide us with more detail about the brick wall.  Who is involved?  What is the earliest record you can find for birth, marriage, and death?  Where is it located?  Etc.  And of course we would need to know if your dna flows through the Falk or Martens line.  I assume Falk but I am not a dna expert so don't know how the connections work.

Also keep in mind that some brick walls just cannot be broken down.  I have had wonderful success with my direct maternal line but have brick walls on my paternal and many side lines that appear, at least for now, to be insurmountable.  You are not alone.


Jerry



----- Original Message -----
From: "rhonda simpson" <garynrho at live.ca>
To: ger-poland-volhynia at eclipse.sggee.org
Sent: Wednesday, February 5, 2014 9:00:30 AM
Subject: [Ger-Poland-Volhynia] information from grandmaonline

I’m new to Mennonite research as I didn’t realize I had Mennonite roots. This new info is from my DNA testing.  The common ancestor with 2 of them  is a David Falk b. abt 1759 & Sara Martens b. abt 1761.  I haven’t found them on my tree as I have been stuck in 1850 for years on this side of the family.  This Falk line is well documented on many sites but cannot tie into it due to my 1850’s brick wall.

One of my matches found my grandfather Robert Litz on grandmaonline and there was a note on his page that he was the Step son of a Peter Ratze and Louise.  I have his birth record from Lomza in 1879, his mother is Wilhelmina Litz (unmarried).  Step son seems to indicate a blood relationship to at least one of them. There doesn’t seem to be anything else on this relationship, and I cannot find anything on a Peter Ratze anywhere. I know my grandfather ended up in Zhitomir sometime before 1903. 

My question is:  Any ideas  where I should go from here?  I’m totally bamboozled  on what to do next.  There doesn’t appear to be a source for this information that she can find on the site or I would be knocking on a door with alacrity!   All suggestions greatly appreciated.

Rhonda
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