Month: January 2022

One or Two Hansch Families

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Welcome to the first post of 2022! I hope everybody is having a Happy New Year.

I am having fun searching Geneteka for early ancestors in central Poland (see Kirsch Family Origins), focusing on the Hansch, Kubsch, and Wurfel families. I made the mistake of relying too much on a public family tree and had to go back and delete dates of birth from my last post about the Hansch family. While I do not want to discredit the hard work done by other researchers, we are all human and make mistakes (and I would not want other researchers copying my work without checking). In this case, I think the author of the family tree I copied from may have arrived at a conclusion before I did (keep reading), but I needed to review indexed information and digitized records myself in order to better understand the full story. In this post I will try to walk you through how I am puzzling out this “mystery.” Comments and opinions are welcome!

One or Two Hansch Families

While compiling lists of Hansch family members (namely descendants of Andrzej Hansch and Anna Fryderyka Wolf), I kept coming across confusion due to there possibly being another Andrzej Hansch living in Konradow in the early nineteenth century. What makes it more confusing is that this Andrzej Hansch was married to Dorota Wolf. I decided to make a list for each couple from what I could find indexed by Geneteka.

Example of one set of search results in Geneteka using “Andrzej Han*” and showing only birth record results in Radomsko parish, Lodzkie, Poland. The surname Hansch is also indexed as Hanyz, Chanyz, and Haniz.

Children of Andrzej Hansch and Anna Fryderyka Wolf

  1. Augustyna Hansch (b. 1838 in Konradow, Lodzkie, Poland)
  2. Julianna Wilhelmina Hansch (b. in Konradow, Lodzkie, Poland; d. 25 Jun 1847 in Florentynow, Lodzkie, Poland)
  3. Anna Fryderyka Hansch
  4. Ludwik Hansch (d. 05 Nov 1887 in Antoniow, Lodzkie, Poland)

Children of Andrzej Hansch (b. abt 1775 in Kozmin, Wielkopolskie, Poland; d. 12 Mar 1851 in Konradow, Lodzkie, Poland) and Anna Dorota Wolf (d. 26 May 1853 in Konradow, Lodzkie, Poland)

  1. Andrzej Hansch (b. 1811 in Konradow, Lodzkie, Poland)
  2. Julianna Krystyna Hansch (b. 1812 in Konradow, Lodzkie, Poland)
  3. Anna Fryderyka Hansch (b. 1815 in Konradow, Lodzkie, Poland)
  4. Emanuel Godfryd Hansch (b. 1817 in Konradow, Lodzkie, Poland)
  5. Dorota Hansch (b. 1819 in Konradow, Lodzkie, Poland)
  6. Jan Ludwik Hansch (b. 1821 in Konradow, Lodzkie, Poland) m. (1842 in Radomsko (parish), Lodzkie, Poland) Anna Justyna Schulz
  7. Dorota Hansch (b. 1823 in Konradow, Lodzkie, Poland)
  8. Dorota Hansch (b. 1825 in Konradow, Lodzkie, Poland)
  9. Justyna Hansch (b. 19 Sep 1827 in Konradow, Lodzkie, Poland) m. Ludwig Knull
  10. Karol Hansch m. (1851 in Konradow, Lodzkie, Poland) Karolina Mager
  11. Eva Rozyna Hansch (d. 11 Mar 1889 in Feliksow, Lodzkie, Poland) m. Reschke

I was unable to locate death records for Andrzej Hansch (husband of Anna Fryderyka Wolf) or Anna Fryderyka, but did find death records for Andrzej Hansch (husband of Anna Dorota Wolf) and Anna Dorota. Fortunately, in the death records for this time, the names of surviving children are typically listed near the end. I tried to extract a list from each record (getting translation help for the death record of Andrzej Hansch) to see if I can compare all four lists.

“[Andrzej Hansch death record, 1851]” from “Akta stanu cywilnego Filiału Ewangelicko-Augsburskiego w Dziepółci (Dziepolc Civil Records, Evangelical Church of the Augsburg Confession),” Archiwum Państwowe w Łodzi (Lodz State Archives), digitized by Polskie Towarzystwo Genealogiczne (Polish Genealogical Society), accessed 01 Jan 2022 through Geneteka. Translated by Eva Sitek.

In Radomsko, at 8 in the morning on March 2 (March 14), 1851, Ludwik Hansch, age 29, and August Reschke, age 26, both farmers from Konradow, appeared. They stated that, on February 28 (March 12) of this year at 5am, Andrzej Hansch, age 76, a farmer residing in Konradow, died. He was born in Kozmin, Wielkopolskie, of unknown parents. He left behind his children: Bogumil, Fryderyk, Ludwik (one of the witnesses), Karol, daughter Fryderyka (widow, married name Kliche), Ewa Rozyna (married name Reschke), Karolina (married name Wurfel), Justyna (married name Knull), Wilhelmina (married name Reschke), and Dorota (married name Hoffmann). After that, the record was read to the illiterate present and signed by the priest only. [Addition: Wife Anna Dorota born Wolf]

For easier viewing, here are the children of Andrzej Hansch and Anna Dorota Wolf as listed in the above record:

  1. Bogumil (Gotlieb) Hansch
  2. Fryderyk Hansch
  3. Ludwik Hansch (b. abt 1822)
  4. Karol Hansch
  5. Fryderyka Hansch m. Kliche (d. bef 1851)
  6. Ewa Rozyna Hansch m. Reschke
  7. Karolina Hansch m. Wurfel
  8. Justyna Hansch m. Knull
  9. Wilhelmina Hansch m. Reschke
  10. Dorota Hansch m. Hoffman
“[Dorota Hansch death record, 1853]” from “Akta stanu cywilnego Filiału Ewangelicko-Augsburskiego w Dziepółci (Dziepolc Civil Records, Evangelical Church of the Augsburg Confession),” Archiwum Państwowe w Łodzi (Lodz State Archives), digitized by Polskie Towarzystwo Genealogiczne (Polish Genealogical Society), accessed 31 Dec 2021 though Geneteka.

I didn’t get help translating the above death record of Anna Dorota Wolf, but tried to make out the names of her children, listed below:

  1. Fryderyka Hansch
  2. Karolina Hansch
  3. Ludwik Hansch
  4. Wilhelmina Hansch
  5. Dorota Hansch
  6. Justyna Hansch
  7. Eva Rozyna Hansch
  8. Karol Hansch

After putting all four lists into a very rough spreadsheet, there might be enough information to support the theory that there is one Andrzej Hansch and that his wife went by both Anna Dorota and Anna Fryderyka.

I have highlighted similarities across all four columns, Anna Fryderyka Hansch being the only person recorded as having a mother named both Anna Fryderyka and Anna Dorota Wolf (her married name, Kliche, is referenced in multiple records, which makes it easier to confirm it is the same person).

If we are talking about the same married couple throughout, then the marriage record for Andrzej Hansch and Anna Dorota Wolf gives us a new generation of great-grandparents to add to the family tree. According to the record, Andrzej is the son of Gotlieb Hansch and Anna Gutsch. Anna Dorota is the daughter of Samuel Wolf and Katarzyna Gierszterndorf. According to Andrzej’s death record, his family was from Kozmin, Wielkopolskie, Poland.

“[Andrzej Hanyz and Dorota Wolf marriage record, 1809]” from “Poland, Częstochowa Roman Catholic Church Books, 1226-1950,” Archiwum Archidiecezji Częstochowskiej (Czestochowa Archdiocese Archives, Czestochowa), digitized by FamilySearch, accessed 01 Jan 2022 through FamilySearch.