Istha, Germany

This is the last village that I visited in Germany. This is the only village other than Kassel, that I already knew of when I started my German research. My Klapp family is from Istha and the family has been in Istha for many generations. I have also seen Klapp spelled as Clapp. So far in my family I have only found it spelled with the K.

I have several other surnames from Istha: Kessler, Hensler, Dingler, Faber, and Brustmier. I have enjoyed searching and finding out more about these families.

The first ancestor that I have in Istha is my second great grandmother. She was born on 30 August 1871 in Istha, Her parents were Johannes Klapp II and Anna Gertrude Brustmeier. You can read more about them here https://ellajaneanne.home.blog/2019/07/01/same-names-sigh/

This has been a fun family to research, it seems like they all share very similar names. Marie married Heinrich Jacob Burgardt, Heinrich was born on 2 November 1867 in Kassel Germany. They had seven children, Johann Heinrich born 5 September 1893, Jacob born 30 November 1894, twins Anna and Emma Marie born 24 January 1897, August Heinrich 6 June 1899, Julius and George born 1901. All the children were born in Kirtchditmold, Germany.

I had very limited information on this family and searched for over 10 years before adding any names. I have found so many new surnames, sibling names and parents to name in this blog. It has been hard for me to research in Germany but the reward is finding so many new ancestors and being able to document them.

As I walked around Istha it was so peaceful and felt like I was home. I can not wait to see what more I can discover about my family and learn what their life was like. Istha has Lutheran Church records dating back to about 1613. The difficult part of research back this far is most of the records I am finding have very little information on them.

The oldest baptism record I have found is for Martin Brustmeier from 1760. The difficult part of getting further back is that it only lists his father’s name. I am still looking at all the records hoping to find a marriage record or death record with more information on them.

I was thinking about my grandmother and how happy she would be that I have learned so many new things about our family. I wish she was here so I could share all of this with her.

The church in Istha was at the center of town and as I walked around I thought of all my ancestors and how their families would have been baptized, confirmed and married in this church. How many of my ancestors would have walked around the town and how many of them attended church here every Sunday? How I would love to meet them and learn more about their lives.

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I cried when I landed in Germany and am so grateful for all the time I have spent there. Germany will always have part of my heart and hopefully, I will return one day.