Did I just find the family in Dörlesberg and Bronnbach, Baden?
The forebears for the Stumpf families in the Zrenzanin/Großbetschkerek region of Vojvodina were Jakob and Melchior. I explored what was known about those two men in Jakob and Melchior: What is Known on the Banat Side and explored where their descendants went in Jakob and Melchor: Their Descendants.
An Oktoberfest Miracle
Over the years, I’ve randomly tried searching genealogy databases for a Jakob and Melchior Stumpf who were (probably) brothers, Catholic, born around 1739 and 1742 and I wasn’t coming up with any decent leads. Sure, there were a smattering of Stumpfs in varous places in southwest Germany and Alsace, including Jakobs and Melchiors, but not connected to each other ...until a Geneanet offer came across my radar last October: free full member search functionality for German research! This let me perform some very refined searches there, and I must say Geneanet's premium search tools were really good. I played around a bit and found a Jakob born around 1745 who was married in Bronnbach in Baden.
Since the Geneanet data was from the FamilySearch index, I jumped over to FamilySeach, found this marriage record, and found indexed entries for a Joannes Jacobus Stumpf born 12 October 1739 in nearby Dörlesberg . I then found his brother, Joannes Mechior Stumpf born 4 April 1745 also in Dörlesberg!
✨Jackpot!✨
But let me verify this. Jakob and Melchior appear in the Banat out of a fog. I don't want to be over-eager and connect them to the wrong people on the other side!
I jumped over to Verein für Computergenealogie's website to see if they had any online family books in the area of Bronnbach or Dörlesberg. They have an online family book for nearby Reicholzheim with Stumpf entries. It’s not a complete family listing, but these Stumpfs seem to be in Bronnbach for a time, and it includes a Jacob, who married there and matches the original finding, as well as younger siblings born in Bronnbach all with their parents' names.
Pulling all the Stumpf events from Bronnbach and Dörlesberg listed in the FamilySearch index, I assembled a spreadsheet and visited the local Family History Center to view and download the restricted-access digitized microfilm images, since they weren't accessible from home.
Family Groups
I have constructed the following family groups of the newly discovered Jakob and Melchior’s family with their parents and siblings and Jakob’s family with his wife and children. I mostly used the Latinized names as found on the church records. Since the baptism date is what was recorded, I used ~ to indicate baptism versus * for the birthdate. Baptism was probably the same day or within a few days of birth. Other abbreviations are Ꝏ for marriage and † for death. I’m also using the German abbreviation of Sv. for “Son of” and Tv. for “Daughter of.” It just fits better in the formatting than in English, or maybe that’s just what I’m used to now.Analysis
After my reasonably exhaustive research and discovery, this is my attempt at determining if these are the same Jakob and Melchior. See Jakob and Melchior: What's Known From the Banat side for more details of this info.
| Banat Side Knowledge or Assumptions | Dörlesberg & Bronnbach Knowledge | Analysis |
|---|---|---|
| Jakob probably born around 1739 or maybe 1745 | Joannes Jacobus born 12 October 1739 | ✅Match |
| Melchior born around 1742 | Joannes Melchior born 4 April 1745 | ✔Pretty close. |
| Origins are stated as “Pfalz” “Schwaben” and “Reich” a term meaning the Holy Roman Empire. All are very broad regions. | Both born in Dörlesberg, Wertheim, Baden | Dörlesberg would have been in the Holy Roman Empire and very near Pflaz. ✔Close enough. |
| Jakob and Melchior are Catholic | Jakob and Melchior are Catholic | ✅Match |
| Jakob is listed with wife Katharina in the Gakova family book, but everywhere else with wife Anna (before he marries Sabine in 1772) | Jakob married Catharina Ament/Amend in 1760. He had a child with her in 1760. He later had a daughter, Margaretha in 1762, whose mother is Anna Maria. A death of first wife Catharina, nor a marriage to Maria Anna was not found in the Dörlesberg or Bronnbach records. | ✔This mostly fits, especially that both wives' names appear and match |
| Jakob has daughter Margaretha born about 1762 | Margaretha is born in 1762 to Jakob and Anna Maria | ✅Match |
| There is an Eva Elisabeth Stumpf listed in the Gakova family book with estimated birth of 1754 | Jakob and Melchior have a sister Eva Elisabeth born 21 Mar 1756 | ✅Name is a match and birthdates are close enough! |
| Arrive in Banat by 1764 | Their parents died in 1760 and 1761. No mention of Jakob or Melchior in Dörlesberg church books after 1762. | ✅This lines up |
Conclusion: This has to be them!! ...especially due to some of the details that match, such as Jakob's daughter Margaretha, their sister Eve Elisabeth being with them in Gakova. And, there isn't any conflicting information.
Sources:
Katholische Kirche Bronnbach (A. Wertheim) (Bronnbach, Baden). Kirchenbuch, 1641-1900. Digitized Microfilm. Family History Library, Salt Lake City, Utah, familysearch.org : 2022. Index available at https://www.familysearch.org/search/catalog/294152, but images must be viewed at a Family History Center or the Family History Library.
Katholische Kirche Dörlesberg (A. Wertheim) (Dörlesberg, Baden). Kirchenbuch, 1674-1922. Digitized Microfilm. Family History Library, Salt Lake City, Utah, familysearch.org : 2022. Index available at https://www.familysearch.org/search/catalog/293098, but images must be viewed at a Family History Center or the Family History Library.
Masters, Michael. "Ortsfamilienbuch Reicholzheim." Online family book. Verein für Computergenealogie e.V. (CompGen). Genealogy.net. https://www.online-ofb.de/reicholzheim/: 2021.