Grandfather b. 1899 in Salzstetten, Waldachtal, Wurttemberg

[sharonlmiracle]

My paternal grandfather was born in Salzstetten, Germany on June 5, 1899. His town is located in the district of Freudenstadt in the Baden-Wurttemberg region. The municipality is Waldachtal.

My grandfather left Germany in 1923, and moved to New York City. There, he met my grandmother, Austrian, they married in 1925, had my father and aunt, and returned to Austria in 1931.

Unfortunately, my grandfather died of tuberculosis in 1944. Given the conditions in Austria after the war, and given the fact that my father and Aunt were American citizens, they each returned to New York before their 20th birthday, so they would not lose their American citizenship. Afterward, they brought over my grandmother, and their little brother, who had been born in Austria.

I have contacted the local district office in Voralberg, Austria for a copy of my grandfather's death certificate, but they want a copy of my birth certificate and that of my father, to prove that I am related to my grandfather., of course I have a copy of my birth certificate, but I don't have a copy of my father's and New York wants an exorbitant amount of money to send me one.

All I'm looking for as a first step are the names of my grandfather's parents. I did see on one of his immigration papers that they mentioned his father's name as Franz. My aunt told me that they only visited my grandfather's people once, and they never really talked about them, but she believes that he had two sisters named Agatha and Franzisca, well as a brother named Josef. The only relative who we knew was his oldest sister, which we later found out was his half sister from his mother. Different fathers. Her name was Dorothea Muller Venzke, and she died in NYC when I was about 8 years old. My (much older) brothers and sister never bothered asking her anything about my grandfather's family, and I was only eight when she died, so I never had the opportunity.

Also, we learned just before my aunt passed away in 2022 that my grandfather fathered a daughter before he met my grandmother. I don't believe he was married to her mother, and all we know is that her name was Hanni, which I believe is a diminutive of the German woman's name Johanna.

1. Can you tell me where I would get my grandfather's birth certificate from in Germany. I am very confused about how many things are districts or municipalities or regions, and I know that things were different back in 1899 too. It's not as straightforward as Austria at all. I read somewhere that if the record is over 100 years old, they will let you have the information without any hassle

2. Does anyone know if a father's name would have been recorded on a child's birth certificate in the 1910s or 1920s in Germany. My father was born in 1925, my grandfather came over here in 1923, so the daughter in question had to have been born probably sometime in 1818-1823. My aunt told me that they did not know about her until their father's funeral in 1944 when she showed up with her mother to pay her respects.

[mnuetzel]

Hello,
If your grandfather was Catholic, Matricula has just added records from the Diocese of Rottenburg-Stuttgart, including Salzstetten.

https://data.matricula-online.eu/en/nachrichten/rottenburg-stuttgart-weitere-kirchenbuecher-15/
https://data.matricula-online.eu/en/deutschland/rottenburg-stuttgart/salzstetten/
https://data.matricula-online.eu/en/deutschland/rottenburg-stuttgart/salzstetten/M+0610%252C+B+010/?pg=1

Zivilstandsregister Salzstetten
Salzstetten, St. Agatha Catholic Parish
Archival identifier M 0610, B 010
Register type Baptize
Date range start Jan. 1, 1859
Date range end Dec. 31, 1940

Unfortunately, I am receiving this error from page 51 onward:
"Error while loading
This image is either blocked due to legal reasons or could not be loaded because of technical reasons."


If he was Lutheran, the records don't seem to be online
https://www.familysearch.org/search/catalog/695725
Kirchenbuch, 1610-1984
Parish registers baptisms, marriages, confirmations, deaths and family books of Tumlingen, Württemberg, Germany. Includes Waldachtal, Cresbach, Hörschweiler, Ober-and Unterwaldach, Salzstetten, Vörbach, Vesperweiler, and Heiligenbronn.

Also, check out
https://www.archion.de/ 
It is a pay site that may have some records.

Good luck in your search.

[BobGreiner]

Unfortunately, although I believe the current German cutoff for birth records is 100 years, many of the sites with church records still stop displaying records after 1875. That was the case with the Catholic records in Salzstetten. The same is true for Protestant records in Archion.

I would fully expect the parents' names to be on any birth certificate.

It would be helpful to know the name of your parents and grandparents. The family may show up in earlier records in Salzstetten. Also, can you tell us what religion they followed?

I found a marriage record for Dorothy Müller to Arthur Venske in 1911. She gave her age as 28. However, the 1930 census gives her marriage age as 22. It would appear that she was born about 1890, give or take a few years. The record is on the New York City municipal archives website at this link.
https://a860-historicalvitalrecords.nyc.gov/view/8648113