Zierenburg, Germany

I had the opportunity to travel again to Germany last week and this time I decided to visit the places I knew my ancestors lived. Today I am going to take you to Zierenburg, Germany. A village located in Hesse, Kassel, Wolfhagen, Germany. I will also share what I know about my ancestors that lived there. As we came upon the village I was surprised at how big it was. It was the largest of the four villages that I visited. According to Wikipedia it has a population of about 6,500. I was also surprised because it was very busy and we could not find a place to park. So my husband stayed in the car while I wandered around for a little bit. As I found the church to take photos of I discovered the reason for the busy day. There was a wedding taking place. While it prevented me from walking completely around the church, I was still able to see most of it. I was a little surprised by the wedding as it was Monday afternoon, which seemed like an odd time to get married.

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It was hard to get a good picture of the church because there were so many buildings around it. I tried to find the date this church was built but could not find it. As I walked around the church I was thinking about my ancestors who once lived here and if they had attended this church or maybe helped build it.

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It truly was a beautiful German village. As I looked around I wondered if my ancestors had lived in any of the houses or what their life was like here. I wondered how much I would have loved to meet them and learn more about their lives and how they meet and if they married in the church. I am so grateful for having the opportunity to visit and see where my ancestors lived.

The first ancestor I found living in Zierenberg is my fourth great grandmother Gertrud Elizabeth Thielemann, born 15 December 1803 and died in Wehlheiden, Germany 1 October 1865. She married Jost Heinrich Gossmann, born 12 July 1800 and died 10 March 1872 in Wehlheiden, Germany. I have not been able to locate when or where they married. Elizabeth’s parents were Johann Daniel Thielemann and Marageret Wachenfeld.

Johann Daniel and Margeret Elizabeth had six children, Anna Margarete born 5 June 1791, Johann Heinrich born 5 October 1794, twins Katharina Elizabeth and Anna Beata born 18 June 1802, Gertrude Elizabeth born 15 December 1803, my fourth great grandmother, and finally Johannes born 11 October 1807. Out of six children that I have found only one lived to adulthood. None of their other children lived past two years old. The twins died at birth. When I was in Zierenberg, I did not remember that they had lost all their children except my fourth great grandmother. What a hard life this must have been.

After the marriage of Gertrude Elizabeth to Jost Heinrch Gossman, they moved to Wehlheiden, Kassel, Germany. Wehlheiden is now part of Kassel Germany. Jost and Gertrude had five children, Johannes born 2 August 1830, Hermann born 17 September 1831, Martha born 7 September 1833, Jost Heinrch, my 3rd great grandfather, born 1 November 1835, and Catherine born 26 December 1839. All of the children were born in Wehlheiden. I am still researching the children to find out more about their lives. I know the most about Jost Heinrich and Catherine. You can read about Catherine’s life here https://ellajaneanne.home.blog/2019/07/17/the-death-of-loved-ones/

I am still working on finding more about this family especially Johann Daniel Thielemann and Margaeret Elizabeth Wachenfeld. It has been hard to get farther back as the records that are available seem to only list a fathers name and sometimes just the name with no parents. I am trying to learn other ways to research in Germany other than church records.