In 1648, Michael Ulmer, his wife Anna, and six of their children joined the stream of
Catholic refugees fleeing Germany to France as a result of the Thirty Years War.
Little did they realize that three and a half centuries later, their many-times-great
granddaughter would reach back across the Rhine to reconnect them with their
German origins and to document their struggle for survival using tools inconceivable
to those so many generations in the past. The key in unraveling the mystery of the
Ulmers was not so much what the records of those times included. It was
recognition of what was missing.
- What clues link the Ulmers to their German origins?
- What hints do the baptismal records give about the diet of the Sigolsheim villagers?
- What does Sigolsheim have in common with the Salem Witch Trials that occurred
twenty-five years later and thousands of miles away?
For the answers to these questions, and a fascinating account of life in 17th century
France derived from baptismal, marriage, and burial records, read the chapter A Case
Study in Database Detective Work - The History of the Ulmer Family.
First page of baptismal records Sigolsheim, Alsace, France 1664
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First page of marriage contract between Joseph Ulmer and Louise Hentz Reichshoffen, France, January 17, 1853.
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The History of the Ulmer Family
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