Month: February 2022

Kubsch Family

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This will be the final entry in the Kirsch Family Origins series. Below is the genealogy beginning from the earliest known Kubsch (also Kupsch, Kupsz, Kubsz, and possibly Kuppisch) ancestor to me. Again, much of what I write refers to my great-grandmother, Martha Kirsch, who is the focal point of the family history book I am writing (Kirsch family and ancestors).

  1. Gottfried Kubsch m. Ewa Rozyna <Unknown>
  2. Gottfried Kubsch m. Anna Rozyna Rismann
  3. Anna Karolina Kubsch m. Krzysztof Kirsch
  4. Samuel Kirsch m. Karolina Wurfel
  5. Martha Kirsch m. Julius Kelm
  6. Robert Kelm m. Lyla Krause
  7. My parents
  8. Me

In 2017 and 2019, blogger Pawel Dudek visited an abandoned German evangelical cemetery on a hill overlooking Florentynow. The hill is called Kubscha Gorka because the land belonged to the Kubsch (Kubsz) family, the last descendant in the area being Gustaw Kubsz. The cemetery, nestled within a copse of trees, was cared for until the early twenty-first century. Now, locals sometimes leave candles and flowers among the remains of headstones.[1] You can view some amazing photographs at Pawel’s blog about historical Radomsko and area right here.

The first recorded Kubsch birth in available records (those records or indexes of records readily available to the English-speaking public) is Boguslaw (Gottfryd) Kubsch, born in Florentynow, Lodzkie, Poland, in 1812 to Krystyan Kubsch and Elzbieta Lindner. However, there is, so far, no definite link to Martha, who was related to the Kubsch family through her paternal grandmother, Anna Karolina Kubsch, born in Florentynow in 1817 to Gottfried Kubsch and Anna Rozyna Rismann. Gottfried Kubsch was born in Chrzastowo, Posen, Prussia, which was where the Wurfel family also originated. His parents were Gottfried and Ewa Rozyna Kubsch. He and Rozyna migrated to Florentynow before 1815, which was the first record of a child, Samuel Kubsch, being born in the colony. Jan Karol Kubsch was born in Florentynow in 1813, but his parents are recorded as Boguslaw (Polish variant of Gottfried) and Anna Kubsch.

Indexed Gottfried Kuppisch and Anna Rosina Rissman marriage record at Poznan Project

According to records indexed by the Poznan Project, Gottfried Kuppisch (thirty years old) and Anna Rosina Rissmann (twenty-four years old) married in the Protestant community of Zaniemysl, Wielkopolskie, Poland, in 1804.[2] The names and marriage date align, and Zaniemysl (Santomischel in German) is approximately twenty kilometers from Chrzastowo, Gottfried’s place of birth; however, the ages of the bride and groom are approximately ten years younger than our Gottfried and Rozyna Kubsch, whose dates of birth were determined by their death records (see records below; it should be noted that sometimes dates of birth as reported by family members for death records are often approximate, depending on the relationship to the deceased). The Gottfried and Rozina of the Posnan Project record would have been born in around 1774 (Gottfried) and 1880 (Rosina). These dates, however, perhaps make more sense with the ages of their children, who, by the death record dates of around 1763 (Gottfried) and 1771 (Rozyna), were born to parents much older than was typical.

Descendants of Gottfried Kubsch m. Anna Rozyna Rismann

Gottfried Kubsch (b. abt 1763 in Chrzastowo, Schrimm, Posen, Prussia; d. 23 Apr 1852 in Florentynow, Lodzkie, Poland) m. Anna Rozyna Rismann (b. abt 1771; d. 23 Feb 1851 in Florentynow, Lodzkie, Poland)

            Note: Anna Rozyna Rismann’s name was erroneously transcribed as Rozyna Kitzmann

  1. Anna Rozyna Kubsch m. Jan Dawid Kimmel
  2. Gotlieb (Bogumil) Kubsch (b. abt 1812 d. 27 Apr 1876 in Florentynow, Lodzkie, Poland)
  3. Jan Karol Kubsch (b. 1813 in Florentynow, Lodzkie, Poland) – parents recorded as Boguslaw and Anna Kubsch
  4. Samuel Kubsch (b. 1815 in Florentynow, Lodzkie, Poland)
  5. Anna Karolina Kubsch (b. 23 Jan 1817 in Florentynow, Lodzkie, Poland; d. 20 Jan 1876 in Florentynow, Lodzkie, Poland) m. Krzysztof Kirsch (b. 22 Jul 1813 in Florentynow, Lodzkie, Poland; d. 04 Jul 1846 in Florentynow, Lodzkie, Poland)
  6. Anna Dorota Kubsch (b. 1819 in Florentynow, Lodzkie, Poland)
  7. Anna Kubsch m. (1825 in Radomsko, Lodzkie, Poland) Franciszek Hofman – possibly duplicate of Anna Dorota Kubsch

Note: List of children likely incomplete

“[Rozyna Kubsch 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 31 Dec 2021 through Geneteka. Translated by Dorothy Woloszczuk.

Registered in Radomsko on February 14 (February 16), 1851, at seven in the morning. Bogumil Kubsch, age 38, and Samuel Kirsch, 30, both farmers residing in Florentynow, stated that Rozyna (maiden name Kitzmann) Kubsch, 80 years old, died in Florentynow where she lived with her husband. She leaves behind her husband, Gottfryd Kubsch, a farmer, and three children: the information, Bogumil; Rozyna, married to Kummel; and Anna Karolina, widow of Kirsch.

“[Gottfried Kubsch death record, 1852]” 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 03 Jan 2022 through Geneteka. Translated by Dorothy Woloszczuk.

Death registered in Dziepolc on April 24, 1852. Gottfryd Kubsch died on April 23, 1852, 89 years old. He was born in Chrzastowo in the Grand Duchy of Poznan, the son of Gottfryd and Ewa Rozyna, deceased. He was a widower leaving behind children Bogumil; Rozyna, married to Kummel, and Rozalia, married to Kirsch.

[1] Pawel Dudek, “Cmentarz ewangelicki we Florentynowie [Evangelical Cemetery, Florentynow]” [blog post], 05 Nov 2017 [published], Radomsk.pl, accessed 04 Jan 2022, http://radomsk.pl/cmentarz-ewangelicki-we-florentynowie/

[2] “[Gottfried Kuppisch and Anna Rosina Rissmann] marriage entry” [search result], Protestant community Zaniemyśl [Santomischel], from Poznan Project, accessed 03 Jan 2022. Note: Thank you to Gilberto Magroski for conducting the search. I have yet to gain access to the original record.

Wurfel Family

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Happy February! This is another post written as part of a Kirsch Family Origins series, this time about the Wurfel family (also Werfel, Wuerfel, or Würfel). While I am happy to have finally found points of origin for many of these families (Kirsch, Hansch (2), Wurfel, Kubsch), I have decided to take a break from working backwards in order to focus on finishing a first edition for my family history book, which I hope to finish later this year. Searching Posen before the nineteenth century will be a new learning curve and I need to take time to orient myself. The book will then begin in around the 1760s, which is still more than 250 years of history to explore.

Note: If the text makes reference to a record and there is no citation, the citation is a record indexed by Geneteka.

The Wurfel Family

The list below is a reference from the earliest Wurfel ancestor to the me. Scroll down for more detailed Wurfel families by generation.

  1. Marcin Wurfel m. Anna Malgorzata Stafin
  2. Krystyan Wurfel m. Anna Dorota Muller
  3. Jerzy Fryderyk Wurfel m. Julianna Wilhemina Hansch
  4. Karolina Wurfel m. Samuel Kirsch
  5. Martha Kirsch m. Julius Kelm
  6. Robert Kelm m. Lyla Krause
  7. My parents
  8. Me

According to the 1825 marriage record of Gotlib Wurfel, brother of Martha’s great-grandfather, Krystyan Wurfel, and Marianna Weier, Martha’s great-great-grandparents, Marcin Wurfel and Anna Malgorzata Stafin, were from Chrzastowo, Posen, Prussia.[1] Their son, Krystyan Wurfel, and his wife, Anna Dorota Muller, Martha’s great-grandparents, were born in the village of Chrzastowo. Chrzastowo is approximately 200 kilometers from the colony of Elzbietow, where the Wurfel family migrated to in the early nineteenth century. According to Meyer’s Gazetteer, “Chrzonstowo Hauland” existed just north of Chrzonstowo, though records so far do not indicate a distinction.[2]

Chrzonstowo and Chrzonstowo Hauland as located in Meyers Gazetteer (click link for more details)

Marriage and death records indicate that at least a few of Marcin’s and Malgorzata’s sons (Krystyan Wurfel, Marcin Wurfel, Jan Gottfryd Wurfel Jan Daniel Wurfel, and Gotlib Wurfel) migrated from Posen to the Radomsko area. There are no found records of other siblings. The first record is the of the birth of Jerzy (also Wojciech) Wurfel, Martha’s maternal grandfather and son of Krystyan Wurfel and Dorota Muller, on March 29, 1810, in Konradow, Lodzkie. This places at least three brothers in Elzbietow and Konradow at the time of the colonies’ founding in 1809.[3] Krystyan, the only married brother, was twenty-seven and his wife was twenty-two (Krystyan and Dorota may have married in Radomsko (parish) in 1809[4]). Two of his brothers, Marcin and Gottfryd, married in the Radomsko area, in 1811 and 1813. Daniel, born in around 1807, may have joined his brothers later, marrying Maria Krystyna Puch in Kobiele Wielke, Lodzkie, in 1824. Gotlib married Marianna Weier the following year in Danielow, Lodzkie.

Krystyan Werfel died August 10, 1853, in Elzbietow at the age of seventy-one. Dorota Muller died seven years later, on January 12, 1860, in Elzbietow at the age of seventy-two. Her death record states that she was the daughter of Mateusz and Kunegunda Muller (also Miller) (my great-great-great-great-great-grandparents).

“[Krystyan Wurfel 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 15 Feb 2022 through Geneteka. Translated by Dorothy Woloszczuk.

Krystyan Wurfel died in Elzbietow on August 10,1853, aged seventy-one, leaving behind a widow, Dorota Muller, and six children: Jerzy, Rozyna, Karolina, Andrzej, Fryderyk, and Dorota. He was born in Chrzastowo, Grand Duchy of Posen, son of Marcin and Malgorzata Wurfel.

“[Dorota Werfl death record, 1860]” from “Poland, Częstochowa Roman Catholic Church Books, 1226-1950,” Archiwum Archidiecezji Częstochowskiej (Czestochowa Archdiocese Archives, Czestochowa), digitized by FamilySearch, accessed 15 Feb 2022 through FamilySearch. Translated by Dorothy Woloszczuk.

Death registered in Radomsko on January 14, 1860. Witnesses Wojciech Wurfel, fifty years old, and Bogumil Werfel, thirty-nine years old, stated that, on January 12, 1860 at 2 o’clock in the morning in Elzbietow Colony, Dorota Wurfel, widow of Krystyan Werfel, seventy-three years old, residing with her son and born in Chrzastowo in the Grand Duchy of Posen, daughter of the deceased Mateusz and Kunegunda Muller, died.

Descendants of Marcin Wurfel and Anna Malgorzata Stafin (Generation 1)

Marcin Wurfel (b. abt 1760 in Chrzastowo, Posen, Prussia) m. Anna Malgorzata Stafin (b. abt 1760 in Chrzastowo, Posen, Prussia)

  1. Krystyan Wurfel (b. abt 1782 in Chrzastowo, Posen, Prussia; d. 10 Aug 1853 in Elzbietow, Lodzkie, Poland) m. Anna Dorota Muller (b. abt 1787 in Chrzastowo, Posen, Prussia; d. 12 Jan 1860 in Elzbietow, Lodzkie, Poland)
  2. Marcin Wurfel m. (1811 in Elzbietow, Lodzkie, Poland) Ewa Kupsch
  3. Jan Gottfryd Wurfel (b. in Chrzastowo, Posen, Prussia) m. (1813 in Elzbietow, Lodzkie, Poland) Anna Steckler
  4. Jan Daniel Wurfel (b. abt 1807; d. 06 Feb 1871 in Rokin, Lutsk, Volhynia, Russia) m. (1824 in Kobiele Wielke, Lodzkie, Poland) Maria Krystyna Puch (b. abt 1804 in Prussia; d. 20 Jun 1868 in Rokyni, Lutsk, Volhynia, Russia)
  5. Gotlib Wurfel (b. in Chrzastowo, Posen, Prussia; d. 15 May 1848 in Elzbietow, Lodzkie, Poland) m. (1825 in Danielow, Lodzkie, Poland) Marianna Weier

Note: Incomplete list of children, or list of known children only.

Descendants of Krystyan Wurfel and Anna Dorota Muller (Generation 2)

Krystyan Wurfel (b. abt 1782 in Chrzastowo, Posen, Prussia; d. 10 Aug 1853 in Elzbietow, Lodzkie, Poland) m. Anna Dorota Muller (b. abt 1787 in Chrzastowo, Posen, Prussia; d. 12 Jan 1860 in Elzbietow, Lodzkie, Poland)

  1. Jerzy (Wojciech) Fryderyk Wurfel (b. 29 Mar 1810 in Konradow, Lodzkie, Poland; d. 10 Apr 1862 in Florentynow, Lodzkie, Poland) m. (18 Nov 1828 in Radomsko, Radomsko, Lodzkie, Poland) Julianna Wilhelmina Hansch (b. abt 1810 in Konradow, Lodzkie, Poland; d. 26 Jun 1847 in Florentynow, Lodzkie, Poland) m. Krystyna Baum
  2. Anna Rozalia Wurfel (b. 1812 in Elzbietow, Lodzkie, Poland) m. Jan Lemchen (b. abt 1804; d. 14 Dec 1849 in Florentynow, Lodzkie, Poland) m. (07 Feb 1853 in Dziepolc, Lodzkie, Poland) Krystyan Friedrich
  3. Joanna Karolina Wurfel (also Anna Karolina Wurfel) (b. 1814 in Elzbietow, Lodzkie, Poland; d. 26 Jan 1881 in Amelin, Lodzkie, Poland) m. (1831 in Radomsko (parish), Lodzkie, Poland) Samuel Kliche m. (27 Feb 1859 in Amelin, Lodzkie, Poland) Krysztof Klektau
  4. Krystyan Wurfel (b. 1817 in Elzbietow, Lodzkie, Poland)
  5. Wilhelm Wurfel (b. 1818 in Elzbietow, Lodzkie, Poland)
  6. Andrzej Wurfel (b. 1819 in Elzbietow, Lodzkie, Poland; d. 13 Nov 1879 in Lazy, Lodzkie, Poland) m. (15 Jul 1838 in Belchatow, Lodzkie, Poland) Anna Dorota Hoffman
  7. Gotfryd Wurfel (b. 1822 in Elzbietow, Lodzkie, Poland) m. (08 Oct 1854 in Dziepolc, Lodzkie, Poland) Anna Rozyna Kurzawa (b. 1838 in Poland)
  8. Ludwik Wurfel (b. 1824 in Elzbietow, Lodzkie, Poland)
  9. Samuel Wurfel (b. 30 Mar 1826 in Elzbietow, Lodzkie, Poland)
  10. Fryderyk Wurfel
  11. Anna Dorota Wurfel (b. 29 Apr 1828 in Elzbietow, Lodzkie, England; d. 05 May 1875 in Teodorow, Lodzkie, Poland) m. August Reschke
  12. Daniel Wurfel (d. 10 Aug 1847 in Elzbietow, Lodzkie, Poland)
  13. Julianna Wurfel (d. 24 Nov 1848 in Elzbietow, Lodzkie, Poland)

Descendants of Jerzy Wurfel (General 3)

Jerzy (Wojciech) Fryderyk Wurfel (b. 29 Mar 1810 in Konradow, Lodzkie, Poland; d. 10 Apr 1862 in Florentynow, Lodzkie, Poland) m. (18 Nov 1828 in Radomsko, Radomsko, Lodzkie, Poland) Julianna Wilhelmina Hansch (b. abt 1810 in Konradow, Lodzkie, Poland; d. 26 Jun 1847 in Florentynow, Lodzkie, Poland)

  1. Ludwik Wurfel (b. 1830 in Radomsko (parish), Lodzkie, Poland) – date to be confirmed
  2. Rozyna Wurfel (b. 30 Nov 1831 in Florentynow, Lodzkie, Poland; d. 18 Oct 1889 in Przybyszow, Lodzkie, Poland) m. Christoph Kirsch (b. 07 Mar 1828 in Florentynow, Lodzkie, Poland)
  3. Dorota Wurfel (b. 15 Dec 1833 in Florentynow, Lodzkie, Poland; d. 27 Mar 1898 in Jackow, Lodzkie, Poland) m. (19 Feb in Dziepolc, Lodzkie, Poland) Daniel Kammchen (b. 1827 in Teodorow, Lodzkie, Poland; d. 28 Jun 1907 in Jackow, Lodzkie, Poland)
  4. Andrzej Wurfel (b. 1839 in Florentynow, Lodzkie, Poland; d. 10 Feb 1857 in Florentynow, Lodzkie, Poland)
  5. Anna Karolina Wurfel (b. 07 Sep 1836 in Florentynow, Lodzkie, Poland; d. abt 1883 in Lutsk, Volhynia, Russia) m. (02 Oct 1859 in Dziepolc, Lodzkie, Poland) Samuel Kirsch (b. 10 Oct 1835 in Florentynow, Lodzkie, Poland; d. aft 1905)
  6. Wilhelmina Wurfel (b. 03 Jan 1842 in Florentynow, Lodzkie, Poland) m. (11 Jul 1869 in Dziepolc, Lodzkie, Poland) Marcin Nickel m. (28 Nov 1875 in Dziepolc, Lodzkie, Poland) Daniel Jerke
  7. Jan Wurfel (b. 21 Jun 1847 in Florentynow, Lodzkie, Poland; d. 21 Jun 1847 in Florentynow, Lodzkie, Poland)
  8. Chrystyna Wurfel (b. 21 Jun 1847 in Florentynow, Lodzkie, Poland; d. 21 Jun 1847 in Florentynow, Lodzkie, Poland)

m. (abt 1848) Krystyna Baum

  1. Julianna Wurfel (b. 09 Aug 1849 in Florentynow, Lodzkie, Poland; d. 27 May 1924 in Babczow, Lodzkie, Poland)
  2. Adam Wurfel (b. 1851 in Florentynow, Lodzkie, Poland; d. 11 Feb 1852 in Florentynow, Lodzkie, Poland)
  3. Anna Elzbieta Wurfel (b. 05 Apr 1853 in Florentynow, Lodzkie, Poland)
  4. Krystyna Wurfel (b. 14 Apr 1855 in Florentynow, Lodzkie, Poland; d. 16 Jun 1859 in Florentynow, Lodzkie, Poland)
  5. Jan Wurfel (b. 08 Apr 1857 in Florentynow, Lodzkie, Poland)
  6. Edward Wurfel (b. 17 May 1859 in Florentynow, Lodzkie, Poland)
  7. Eva Rozyna Wurfel (b. 21 Apr 1861 in Florentynow, Lodzkie, Poland; 23 Apr 1861 in Florentynow, Lodzkie, Poland)
  8. Gottfryd Wurfel (b. 21 May 1861 in Florentynow, Lodzkie, Poland; d. 31 Oct 1862 in Florentynow, Lodzkie, Poland)
  9. Ludwika Wurfel (d. 08 Feb 1852 in Florentynow, Lodzkie, Poland)
  10. Krystyna Wurfel (d. 14 Mar 1927 in Feliksow, Lodzkie, Poland)

[1] “[Krystyan Wurfel and Marianna Weier marriage record, 1825]” from “Poland, Częstochowa Roman Catholic Church Books, 1226-1950,” Archiwum Archidiecezji Częstochowskiej (Czestochowa Archdiocese Archives, Czestochowa), digitized by FamilySearch, accessed 14 Feb 2022 through FamilySearch

[2] “Chrzonstowo” from Meyers Gazetteer, date unknown, accessed 21 Feb 2022 through https://www.meyersgaz.org/place/10296052

[3] Eduard Kneifel, “Geschichte der Evangelisch=Augsburgischen Kirsche in Polen,” from Homepage of Dr. theol. Eduard Kneifel, 1964, accessed 23 Oct 2020 through http://www.eduardkneifel.eu/data/Geschichte_der_Evangelisch-Augsburgischen_Kirche_in_Polen.pdf; Society for German Genealogy in Eastern Europe, “Radomsko Parish History,” from Society for German Genealogy in Eastern Europe, 01 Aug 2009 [last updated], accessed 23 Oct 2020 through https://www.sggee.org/research/parishes/parish_histories/PiotrkowDiocese/RadomskoParish/RadomskoHistory.html

[4] Note: February 1, 1809, marriage in Radomsko is recorded, but the original source is unknown; no original record has yet been found