I'm looking for ancestors for my great grandfather Wilhelm Kepper

Question

Born January 9, 1853 in Wellen-Waldeck, Germany.His son is Adam Kepper. There is no variation of the last name spelling.

Comments

So from what I understand from Helmut is that Wellen was a town in the German state of Waldeck. My great-grandmother was Christaina Kepper born in the same town on Feb. 8, 1857.

My grandfather Adam was born on May 22, 1895 and died 23 May 1951.

This is the information I have from my father putting in this as part of my family tree in my baby book.

I'm on Ancestry.com come as well and can't find anything yet. Thank you for your comments and assistance. Hope we can find more.

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Waldeck was a Grafschaft (County) in the Holy Roman Empire. In 1712 it became a Fürstentum (Principality). It became Waldeck-Pyrmont in 1848. It became a Freistaat (Free State) in the Weimar Republic in 1918 and became part of the Prussian province of Hessen-Nassau in 1929. German births and marriages are only very spotty on Ancestry or FamilySearch, the great majority are not available there. You are lucky because you have dates and town which should allow you to get transcripts of the church books pretty easily - unless they were destroyed by war, fire, or other calamities that is.

Answer 1

Could you make a profile for Wilhelm Kepper, please? Include all the information you have; was he born and died in Germany? Did he come to the US? If he did, do you know when or what port?

Also, where exactly is Wellen-Waldeck, Germany?

I'm looking on Ancestry but having trouble finding things with so little information.

Comments

Kepper-12

Never came to the US

Only have birth date and place and spouse with birthdate.

Town location - see comments from Jungschaffer.

Thanks for your help.

Answer 2

Wellen is today part of Edertal. Prior to the 1870's church books are pretty much the only source for vital records. The parish address for Wellen is

Ev. Pfarramt Wellen

Bonifatiusweg 18

34549 Edertal (Wellen)

email: pfarramt@kirche-wellen.de

web: http://www.kirche-wellen.de/navigation.html

 

Comments

I just emailed the address you gave with my relatives information requesting anything they can supply. Thanks