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The
Birthplace of George Adam Kellenberger / Killenberger.
From the Goshenhoppen Register:
KILLENBERGER, George Adam, adult [born before 1748], admitted this day, 1 June
1766, to the sacraments (of penance and eucharist) born in Creutz-Steniach,
in the Upper Palatinate, of a Catholic mother and a Calvinist father,
instructed in Lutheranism by his step-father, but never professed this
heresy, emigrated with his parents to Halifax seventeen years ago [c.1749],
came to Pennsylvania last year [1765], and is now staying in
Falkner's Swamp.
I
believe that I have found this city "Creutz-Steinach"; in
the Lower Palatinate, not the
Upper - in a city today called Heiligkreutzsteinach.
For
decades, the search for Creutz-Steinach in the Upper Palatinate
went unsatisfied; The word Steinach is contained in
dozens of cities across Germany and appears to mean "stone".
Those knowledgable of old German tell me Creutz is a variation
of Kreuz; meaning "Cross". In the Upper Palatinate, no
cities have been found containing both words.
The more time I spent learning about the Palatinates and German
immigration around 1750 (see list below), the more reasons there
were to focus the search on the Lower Palatinate:
1) "The Palatinate" (Pfalz or Kurpfalz) is
frequently referred to in Genealogy and nearly always means the
Lower Palatinate (Rhine Palatinate).
2) "Upper Palatinate" is rarely referred to as a location
in and of itself. Cities in this area are usually referred to as
Bavaria.
3) the Lower Palatinate (or Rhine Palatinate) was where
the influx of Germans came from between 1748 and 1752...Lunenberg,
Nova Scotia being one of the main landing points.
4) The Rhine Palatinate was by far the source of the largest group
of German immigrants in America at the time of George Adam Kellenberger.
5) Bavarian Germans were rare in America at this time.
In all of Germany, just one city is found with both Kreuz and
Steinach in the name: the city of Heiligkreuzsteinach;
currently in Baden-Wurttemberg but prior to 1803 a part of the
Rhine Pfalz (the Lower Palatinate).
And in this city is where I found the death of Adam Kellenberger
6 Feb 1746 in the Reformed (Calvinist) Church Records...fitting
in perfectly as George Adam's father; as described in the Confirmation
Record of the Goshenhoppen Register:
Tag des totes
Date of Death |
Verstorbene
1746 pag[ina] 31
Deceased
1746 page 31
|
Alter
Age |
Tag d[es]
Begräbniß
Date of
Funeral/Burial |
Texte
Text |
6ter
Feb
6th of
Feb |
Adam Kellenberger Bürgl[icher] Einwohner
u. Schneider Meister zu HXSteinach
Adam Kellenberger, civil inhabitant
and master tailor of Heiligkreuzsteinach |
29 Jahr
7 Tag
29 Years
7 Days [Born 30 Jan
1717] |
d. 8 (or 9)ten
dito
8th (or 9th)
[this place] |
----- |
Click here to see the actual image.
And the added bonus: Another Kellenbarger is found in the records
of the same Church...quite possibly George Adam Kellenberger's
Grandfather:
22te ditto [Feb]
22nd Feb [1740] |
Joh. Georg Kellenberger, Burger
und Einwohner, Schneidermeister.
Johann George Kellenberger, Burger and citizen, master tailor
of this place. |
58 jahre, 10 Wochen, 1 Tag
58 Years, 10 months, 1 day [Born
21 Apr 1681] |
23te
dito [Feb]
23rd Feb |
----- |
Click here to
see the actual image.
For more about these records, and the city of Heiligkreuzsteinach,
see my old pages:
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