As much as I am thankful for the family tree work of other family historians, I am often wary of copying without checking sources. One of my fears, for example, is that I will record incorrect information and have that replicated in other Ancestry family trees. I’m not implying that others’ work is usually incorrect; I’m just a proponent of verifying information with records.
In my search of where the Kelms of Borki originated, I’ve taken information from public family trees and user-contributed information in databases like GEDBAS and FamilySearch (Family Tree) that indicate that their forefathers lived in Netzbruch (Przynotecko), Friedeberg, Brandenburg, Prussia. However, I can’t find records that confirm this information. Because of this, my Direct Ancestors page separates Andreas Kelm and Anna Krystyna Jess, my known great-great-great-great-grandparents–the Borki patriarch and matriarch–from the Kelms of Netzbruch. The Netzbruch Kelms’ genealogies are well-documented from 1645, but, as far as I know, there is no link… yet. If Kelm genealogists have discovered this link, I would be very excited to see it.
I am revisiting what information I have collected about the first generation of Kelms in Borki (the children of Andreas Kelm and Anna Krystyna Jess) and reviewing databases like Geneteka and Society for German Genealogy in Eastern Europe to both verify relationships and double-check for the overlooked details, or the details that don’t usually make it into searchable indexes. An indexed marriage record, for example, usually includes names, parents’ names, place names, and dates. But what else can we find in the record itself?
Searching for indexed “Kelm” records in SGGEE; results with Andreas Kelm and Anna Christine Jesse or Gesse as parents
Searching for indexed “Kielma” records in Geneteka (Grabow parish); results with Andreas Kelm and Anna Krystyna Jesse (or Polish variants of surname) as parents
According to the above results, as well as additional marriage records, Andreas and Anna Krystyna had eight known children1:
- Anna Luisa (Ludwika) Kelm (b. 1797 in Wrzesnia, Posen, Prussia; d. 25 Aug 1854 in Borki, Lodzkie, Poland)
- Andreas Kelm (b. 21 Aug 1801 in Borki, Lodzkie, Poland)
- Anna Rosina Kelm (b. 19 Mar 1803 in Borki, Lodzkie, Poland)
- Christoph Kelm (b. 28 Mar 1805 in Borki, Lodzkie, Poland; d. 08 Dec 1874 in Pokrzywnica, Lodzkie, Poland)
- Anna Marianna Kelm (b. 12 Jan 1807 in Borki, Lodzkie, Poland)
- Daniel Kelm (b. 1808 in Dabie, Wielkopolskie, Poland; d. 29 Jan 1858 in Kadzidlowa, Lodzkie, Poland)
- Bogumil (Gottlieb) Kelm (b. 24 Dec 1810 in Borki, Lodzkie, Poland)
- Deogratus Kelm (b. 24 Dec 1810 in Borki, Lodzkie, Poland)
1 Some family trees list Peter Kelm, but I have been unable to confirm
Daniel Kelm, my direct ancestor, appears to have been born just over the border from Lodzkie in Wielkopolskie. I have his 1833 marriage record and, having not asked for help translating it, can only see Sobotka (Kolo County), the place of marriage, and Borki Colony, the place where he lives and where his parents lived.
The marriage record of Daniel’s oldest sibling, Anna Luisa Kelm (also spelled Anna Lowisa or Ludwika) provides an interesting clue.
[“Ludwika Kielm and Bogumil Krygier marriage record, 1815”] from Akta stanu cywilnego Parafii Rzymskokatolickiej w Grabowie, accessed through Polskie Towarzystwo Genealogiczne (Polish Genealogical Society) on 31 Oct 2020.
Monica Kucal helped me extract the following information:
The bride name is written Ludowika, Lovis in brackets, and then Ludwika. She was a daughter of late Andrzej Kielm2 and still alive Krystyna Jessowna [may come from Jess surname], age 18, based on the birth certificate from Wrzesnia church [that means that she was born there], living with her mother in Borki.
2 According to this record, Andreas Kelm died before 1815. His youngest sons, Bogumil (Gottlieb) and Deogratus, were born December 1810, which gives us a narrower death date estimate of between 1810 and 1815.
Is it possible Andreas, Anna Krystyna, and little Anna Luisa (she was four years old when her brother, Andreas, was born in Borki) came to Borki from Wresnia (around 130 km west of Borki)? We are equipped with another clue in figuring out the gap between the Borki Kelms and, if the speculation proves correct, the Netzbruch Kelms.
From west to east: Netzbruch > Wresnia > Borki
Finally, having done the Ancestry DNA test and checking their ThruLines feature (which, I should note, relies on users’ family trees being accurate), I can say that I may have found a link (see below) to Christian Kelm and Louise Kuehl of Netzbruch, the speculated parents of Andreas Kelm. Their son, Michael Kelm, was born in Exin, West Prussia, which is Kcynia, Wielkopolskie, Poland, today. Kcynia is around 80 km north of Wresnia. Our search continues.
Kelm History Blog 