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Translated by Cristina Mohr, June 1988


Second Newsletter April 1940

Our Ancestors
Our name cannot be found
in the book of world history.
It does not appear in any epic song
and in no festive poem.
Our ancestors did not shine
in their famous deeds
in science and politics,
[nor were they (CM)] well known artists or soldiers.

But wherever they were put,
in great as in little things,
they faithfully fulfilled their duty
and did not pretend to be something more.
With loyalty and dignity
they modestly pursued their ways.
Youngsters, act like they did,
be proud of our ancestors!

E. Kreeb

Our second newsletter is published at a time when we all our thoughts and concerns are with war. But however deep and vivid our fears for the fateful fight of our people may be, we should not forget about our family--the family ties must not loosen and the genealogical research does not have to stop.

This research has once again been limited, not only because of financial reasons. On the one hand, we needed most of our little money to pay off the remaining mortgage. On the other hand, due to the fusions of a large number of parishes many priests have to work harder than ever. Therefore, at the moment the desired completion of our genealogical tree seems impossible. And even the news about last years changes within the family will probably show many gaps since we had to rely on pieces of information that were more of less accidentally reached us. However incomplete they may be, they will still be of interest to some people because this war forbade the scheduling of a family get together which originally had been planned for this year.

Financial Report

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I. Income    
Sum carried over from last year: RM. 14.79  
One Family Book Sold: RM 15.00  
Membership contributions 1939 RM 135.00  
     
Total of incomes:   RM 1,283.10
     
II. Expenses    
     
Mortgage payments including interest that had to be paid RM 105.85  
Copies: RM 15.20  
Postage, bank fees, etc: RM 7.28  

 

   
Total of expenses:   RM 128.33
    =========

Credit:

 

RM 36.46

    =========

 

Like the previous newsletter, this one is going to inform about a newly discovered branch of our family tree. However, this time we have to make some kinds of reservations. We are only presenting an assumption, however one with a high degree of probability.

We are talking about Hannss Conrad Heberlin, born in Weinsberg on November 25, 1647 (Family Book p.45), who up to now was considered a missing person. Since he neither married nor died in Weinsberg, he must have left the city and the assumption is at hand that he moved to Switzerland. He had connections to Switzerland because his sister-in-law´s second husband was from there. His sister-in-law was called Maria Magdalena Heberlin, she was the daughter of Hans Jerg Jacob, glazier by profession, and the widow of Conrad's brother Hannss Jacob. The name of her second husband was Johannes Feer, bricklayer and stone cutter by profession, and legitimate son of Hans Feeren, who lived in a place called Berg, near Zurich.

There is a village with this name close to a river called Toess, a tributary of the Thur. About 25 km away lies Zell upon Toess where from 1699 to 1710 the existence of a "Rebmann Johann Konrad Haeberlin', has been certified ["Rebmann" probably is the archaic expression for a vintager (CM)]. This man later on lived in Schaffhausen.

It is highly likely that the man from Weinsberg was a vintager. The Christian names of the two men are the same. Not even the time factor creates serious problems. Therefore, it is not fantastic to assume that our Weinsberg family member Hannss Conrad moved to the wine growing Thurgau area where his sister-in-law`s second husband came from. If this assumption is correct he has to be considered the progenitor of the Tuttlinger line of our big Altona-Othmarschener

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Haeberlin family clan. When I told one of the descendants of this line, Dr. med [medicine (CFH)] Haeberlin from Blaubeuren, about my assumption, he asked the best know Swiss genealogical researcher, Prof. Dr. Leisi from Frauenfeld, to investigate the matter more in depth. But in spite of a number of inquiries, the latter has not answered yet. Therefore, we simply have to wait for quieter times. However, even if the identity of the two namesakes cannot be proved the probability remains that we have discovered a missing family member and that the Weinsberg branch had an off spring in the 17th century which is still blossoming.

Besides, it should be of some interest to us that presumably before Hannss Conrad moved to the afore mentioned village called Berg, to which the Weinsberg people had some kind of connections, there lived a Hans Ulrich Haeberlin. On May 9, 1630 he died as "old country judge from Unter-muren and governor of Buerg". He also became a progenitor of a well respected family line which gave Switzerland some of its leading men. However, at the same time the name Hannss Ulrich appears twice in our family tree (p.45, III,14 and III,12,1). The elder one of the two was born on April 4, 1624. His name can neither be found in any parish register. Therefore, he also must have left. But because of the time factor we cannot identify him with the above mentioned judge, the similarity of their Christian names might be a coincidence. But if we presumptuously want to include this Swiss man, whose origin remains unknown, into our Weinsberg family clan, we have to presuppose that both men--the one from Switzerland as well as the one from Weinsberg-were named after a relative who lived in Weinsberg before parish records were kept. However, if we did this we would start fantasizing. We know for sure that the name 'Haeberlin' (Heberling, Haeberli) often occurs in the northern part of Switzerland, especially in the Thurgau area. It can already be found in documents in which date back to the 14th century. And probably the Christian names 'Ulrich', in remembrance of the religious reformer Zwingli, was popular among evangelical families in Switzerland.

In 1939 two new members joined our clan. Therefore, we now count 36 members, still a comparatively small number in relation to our large family.

Once again we have to urgently ask your to send us information about changes within the family as soon as possible. It is always a lot of work to gather all information.

If you still have to pay your membership contributions we ask you to send them as soon as possible to us; "The Weinsberg Haeberlen Family", Staedtische Girokasse Stuttgart, account #34 337

Treasurer   Chairman
Johanna Häberlen   AugustHäberlen
Stuttgarte-W   Tübingen
Senefelderstr,95   Neckarhalde 55



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