G2G: Is Heinrich Diedrich Friedrich BORMANN the son of Johann Gottfried BORMANN

Question

Hi all,

a book written in 2019 claims that Heinrich Diedrich Friedrich Bormann is the first and only child of the marriage between Johann Gottfried Bormann and his first wife Johanne Caroline Elisabeth Schultz.

I can find at least three births to this marriage - none of which is Diedrich. In fact, as others have failed before me, I cannot find Diedrich's birth/baptism at all.

I would appreciate it if others could check my work - all known sources are on Gottfried's profile.

Comments

Unfortunately the book in question - despite being over 600 pages long - apparently cites no sources.

Answer 1

Good question. For anyone who looks for an answer please take note of the common spelling variations between the 'r/rr' and 'n/nn'.

Comments

Thanks Steve, good point. I've even got "Bornemann" as a variant. Gottfried is a shoemaker from Meseritz, in case there are two or more families with similar names.

Answer 2

Do you know where in Preußen he was born? I have a lot of Bormann, Borrmann, Bornemann in my tree. They are all from the eastern Harz region, which was at that time part of the Prussian province Sachsen. And a lot of Johann Gottfried are between them.

When it is written the only child, could it mean, the only child which was alive at that time.

Comments

Hi Dieter, thanks!

because the claim is that he is the son it would mean somewhere around Meseritz/Prittisch. I would imagine.

The claim seems to be the only child, not the only surviving child. The second marriage has an infant born and die within weeks, and that child is recorded in the book.

---

Thanks very much Dieter.
Without supporting evidence I lean to a view that the only child was the only child alive at the time.
There remains a deeper question. Perhaps it is possible that a branch of the family tree has been forgotten.

---

The book states: "Only child of Johann Gottfried BORMANN and Johanna Caroline E Schulz".

So, are Gustav Adolph, Mathilde Wilhelmine, and Wilhelmine Amalie not children of this couple?

If that is the case, why is Gustav Adolph naturalised in South Australia at the same time as his father, and Diedrich naturalised two years later?

I'm not against having Diedrich in the family, I just have no sources for making that claim.

In addition, the birth dates of Gustav Adolph (22 Oct 1820) and Diedrich (1 May 1821) are too close, so if they are part of the same family then one of those dates is wrong.

---

I could not find him in the baptismal register for Meseritz. Therefore, I suspect that he was born somewhere else and without the correct baptismal record it is not possible to determine with certainty who his parents are.

---

Thanks for looking Dieter - much appreciated.

Do you think that https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Bormann-334 and https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Bormann-335 are children of this marriage? The sources I have all use the last name Bornemann rather than Bormann - all other details seem to match.

Thanks, Chris.

---

Ok, so I've finally found his Naturalisation certificate.

It states he's from Bremen, 32 years old in 1848 (birth year ~ 1816), and had been in South Australia for three years (arrival ~ 1845).

Bremen is 450km from Meseritz and he's arrived 4 years later than the rest of his supposed family. His new date of birth is also four years before the marriage it's attributed to.

As a side note: how would I describe Bremen in 1816? Bremen, Deutsche Hanse?

---

Could it be that he was a sailor/seaman? On ancestry there are at least three Diedrich Bornemann from Bremen (born 1816 and 1818) wo left Bremen on a ship.

One (born 1816) deserted in Baltimore 1838, one (born 1818) enrolled 1837 on a Bremer ship, one (born 1818) enrolled 1835 on a Bremer ship.

---

Thanks Dieter, it is certainly possible. I have no source for how he arrived. I'd feel more confident if one was a Bormann, rather than Bornemann.

Thanks again.

---

@Dieter. Good comment about being a sailor, or possibly any other member of the ship's crew.
In my family I have a relative who joined the British merchant navy. His undocumented arrival in South Australia might have been planned.
My wife has an ancestor who was a Norwegian sailor. It is well documented that he just abandoned his ship when it arrived in Australia.