Seeking information regarding my great grandfather, Matthias Haas

Question

I am seeking help confirming the earlier lineage of my great grandfather, Matthias Haas. He was born on August 2, 1859 in what was then the Grand Duchy of Baden. He died in White Haven, Pennsylvania, USA on May 7, 1924. I have record of his father's name, also Matthias Haas, and mother's name, Katharina (Buhler or Buderer) Haas. I believe I have found record of his baptism in a town called Prechtal. I'm really struggling with online records, largely due to many similar names and surnames. Seeking help knocking down the proverbial brick wall!

Comments

It looks like the brickwall is his son which has no sources.

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Ancestry.com. Baden, Germany, Lutheran Baptisms, Marriages, and Burials, 1502-1985 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2016.

Answer 1

https://www2.landesarchiv-bw.de/ofs21/bild_zoom/zoom.php?bestand=10028&id=2242606&gewaehlteSeite=05_0000497315_0129_5-497315-129.png&screenbreite=1680&screenhoehe=1050

This is the permalink to the birth record of Mathias Haas:

In the year 1859 on the 2nd of August at 4 o'clock in the afternoon was born here and baptized on the 4th at six o'clock in the evening by the undersigned: Mathias, legitimate son of the citizen here and day laborer Mathias Haas and his wife Katharina, née Bühler from here. Godparents are 1. Georg Kaspar, Citizen here and farmer, 2. Gottlieb Kaspar, citizen here and forester, 3. Elisabeth Blum, née Bühler, wife of the shoemaker here and citizen Georg Blum. Witnesses: the 2 godfathers Georg Kaspar and Gottlieb Kaspar. Prechthal, the 2nd of august 1859.

 

Comments

Tremendous. Thank you again for your help.

Answer 2

Are you looking for records for the 1859 Mathias, or his father?

Comments

Primarily trying to confirm earlier lineage, but any new information on my great grandfather Matthias (b. 1859) would of course be appreciated. He immigrated to the USA in 1880, so I do have some records in USA, such as his death certificate. Here is a link to my ancestry.com family tree, should it be helpful (disclaiming, earlier lineage shown is a guess, at this point) ...
https://www.ancestry.com/family-tree/tree/64761163/family
... Thank you to all for your help.

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I'm a little confused. If you have the birth date of Haas-2349 - 12 Aug 1841 per the marriage record that you have on Ancestry - why did you put his birthdate back to 'before 1859'?

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I did so, as I am unable to confirm or corroborate that the Mathias Haas shown on that marriage record is the same Mathias Haas who is the father of my great grandfather Mathias Haas (1859-1924). (Wish these people had chosen differing names)! The marriage record you referred to shows his wife's maiden name as Buderer, not Buhler. All part of the "brick wall" that I have encountered! I appreciate your considering my effort and welcome any and all help. Thank you.

Answer 3

Prechtal is now a district of Elzach. "Standesbücher" (duplicates of church books for baptism/birth, marriage, and death) from 1810 - 1870 are available in digitized form for free from the Landesarchiv Baden-Württemberg.

Comments

Thank you. Unfortunately, I am unable to proceed, as I cannot read or speak German. Those high school classes completed in the 1970s did not "stick"!

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Are there similar resources available in English?

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Apologies, I found an option to translate the page to English. Thank you again! I begin searching now!

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For protestant church books from Germany there is a website called Archion which has a English version. It's a pay-site, though, but one can do an index search for free and only pay for access to the actual record.

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Again, thank you for your kind effort to help me.

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Helmut, does this exist: a  document or reference book for those areas who Have their own LANDESARCHIV? and is there a predictable estimate of the number of pages or the inclusive dates for those areas we must search?  We who have German roots would benefit greatly by such.

Thanks too for the longer note this time about Archion and its utility for us,

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Roberta, every state in Germany and Austria has a Landesarchiv and can be found by googling "Landesarchiv + name of state". Many give a language option but not all. Their holdings are digitized to varying degrees but in general they are more and more putting church books and other sources online. For many archives, though, this has just started relatively recently and collections are still incomplete.