unknown German town/village names 1800s

[KathyS]

Hi, I located an 1866 First German Presbyterian Church marriage records from NYC.  I am certain the couple I located are relatives but I am having trouble determining the names of the German towns they were born in.  I have come up with a few guesses but the towns are not coming up when I do a search.  I would greatly appreciate suggestions of any town names that you may think these are.  They were born in 1841 and 1842.




Thank you,
Kathy

[MartinN]

Can you attach a higher resolution image?

Meyer's Gazetteer may be of help - has listings of every place name in the German Empire (1871-1918);
A little after your dates, but I would guess the towns still existed.

https://www.meyersgaz.org/index.aspx

[KathyS]

Hi Martin,

I'm attaching another screenshot but larger this time.  Do you have any ideas regarding the village names?
Once I have any suggestions I will definitely give meyersgaz.org a shot.  Thank you very much.  This should be much clearer.  I have some ideas as to what one of the villages is and the other I am not finding what I think it may be anywhere on the web

[MartinN]

This has got me stumped
Looks to be cursive written in the style called Kurrent
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kurrent

The really tricky part is that there are lots of letters that are very close to each other with subtle differences
Cap B  looks a lot like a capital L
Cap. I and cap T look similar
Small c looks like a small i without the dot
Small e looks like an small n
Small f, h and s are very close


Examining the handwriting on the other portions of the entry, would be helpful - for Catherine - you can see that both "a" look more like "u".

I'll keep trying and testing them against Meyers




Anyone out there that has mastered German handwriting from the mid-19th century?




Ancestry page:
https://www.ancestry.com/interactive/61048/43102_3421606199_0938-00463?pid=297501&backurl=https://search.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/sse.dll?indiv%3D1%26dbid%3D61048%26h%3D297501%26tid%3D%26pid%3D%26usePUB%3Dtrue%26_phsrc%3DZGI6%26_phstart%3DsuccessSource&treeid=&personid=&hintid=&usePUB=true&_phsrc=ZGI6&_phstart=successSource&usePUBJs=true#?imageId=43102_3421606199_0938-00463

[KathyS]

Thank you Martin.  I'm beginning to realize how much I don't know.
This has been very interesting and I will take a look at the information you have provided.

I think for Diehl it may be Hohuau, I did find a Hohnau but not sure if I should accept that.

Thank you again for your efforts.

[Mike Thumm]

Hi,

For the Schwind entry it looks like "Merksheim" which could be the spelling used for "Merxheim" which is a town in the Rhineland Palatinate.

For the Diehl entry it looks like "Hohnau (illegible middle word) Coblenz" where the "o" in Hohnau has an umlaut over it.  I looked but could not find any towns named Hohnau near Coblenz but I guess there is a town of similar spelling somewhere near there.

Mike Thumm

[KathyS]

Thank you Mike,

I found some similiar village names and will try researching them.  Appreciate all the help and suggestions.

[Futse]

Hello Kathy,
any progress in your search?

For Philipp Schwind the village name Merxheim is probably right - the family name Schwind is common there.
There should be a family book (check in FamilySearch).
Church records are not yet online.

For Catharine Diehl the village name is Hähnen RB Coblenz
(RB = Regierungs Bezirk = Government district, Coblenz is an old form for Koblenz).
But there are several Hähnen in this area:
Hähnen, today part of Dattenberg
Hähnen, today part of Hausen (Wied)
Hähnen, Rheinbrohl

[Allan Cole]

KathyS, I am not an expert but the name of the town next to Catherine Schwind may be Hölinan Ra( or an abbreviation) Coblenz may refer to a current large centre called Colnrade south west of Bremen. This is just a suggestion. More skilled persons than myself are more helpful.

[Allan Cole]

Kathy S, My apologies as I was working from memory I said Catharine Scwind it should have read Catharine Diehl

[KathyS]

Hello, thank you so much for the info you shared.  I'm so sorry it took me so long to see these post that have come in this year.  Never was the email notifications.  I will look into the info very soon.  
Kathy S

[KathyS]

Thank you Allan your info is very much appreciated.  I will investigate further.  
Kathy S

[Allan Cole]

Kathy S, This is just a suggestion. Look at the names nearby . I noticed on your lower resolution image some names above. These may give a pointer.

[berliner_genealogy]

I am a professional genealogist and was born and raised in Germany. I woud love to help you with your research. Shoot me an email, if you are interested!
[e-mail]

[Pepperon92]

To je fascinující objev! Staré matriky mohou být skutečným pokladem, ale často je těžké rozluštit historické názvy měst kvůli změnám pravopisu nebo švabachu. Doporučuji zkusit porovnat podobné tvary jmen v historických mapách Německa z 19. století nebo se obrátit na genealogická fóra. A pokud se chystáte na badatelskou cestu nebo rodinné setkání, stylové šaty mohou být perfektní volbou, jak spojit historii s elegancí.