One of the greatest athletes to ever come out of Buffalo, New York is 17-time All Star, Hall of Famer & World Series Champion (1957) Warren Spahn. His storied career in Major League Baseball lasted more than 20 years. In addition to his longevity, he is well known for his fastball and pickoff move as a lefty.

With Spahn being a German name, and having about half German ancestry with Buffalo roots myself, I was very curious to look into his family tree to see if there were any links to my family. And sure enough, I found a connection, a direct relationship in fact! We are blood related, distantly – 7th cousins, 1 time removed.

Our relationship is through his paternal grandmother, Christina ‘Tina’ Ball, who was born in Black Creek, Canada (today known as Fort Erie), in 1858. Her parents were immigrants from Alsace, who settled first in Buffalo, moved to Canada for some time, and then went back to Buffalo. I also have Alsace roots, and I know I’ve seen the surname Ball while researching my family.

After some digging, I found numerous connections. Warren’s great-grandparents Frank Ball & Christina (Wolfstirn) Ball were buried at Ss. Peter & Paul Catholic Cemetery in Williamsville, the same cemetery my great-grandparents Howard Grundtisch & Frances (Beaser) Grundtisch are buried at. And it’s through Frank & Frances that we’re related. The Balls & Beasers would have attended Ss. Peter & Paul Church at the same time in the mid-to-late 1800s.

Frank’s Alsace-born father François-Martin Ball and Frances’ Alsace-born grandmother Barbe (Übelhör) Beaser were born less than 5 kilometers apart (Ingolsheim & Bremmelbach). And they were 3rd cousins – that becomes a much closer relationship, as their great-grandmothers were sisters. In fact, Barbe’s great-grandmother Marie-Barbe Bielmann was the godmother of François-Martin’s grandmother Marie-Barbe Petri. Follow all that? The younger Marie-Barbe was the elder’s niece, a daughter of her sister Madeleine-Marguerite Bielmann who married Caspar Petri.

The Petris and Bielmanns lived in a small village called Bremmelbach, and that’s exactly where my 3rd great-grandmother Barbe (Übelhör) Beaser was born in in May 1838. So there was bound to be a connection with all the proximity and there is. All of this is soundly sourced, it’s a sure thing, with records both stateside and a thorough evaluation of digitized church records from Alsace, which I rechecked to confirm the link.

Here is exacly how I’m related to Warren Spahn –

Common ancestors: Jean-Michel Bielmann & Marie-Madeleine Altebrand
My 7th great-grandparents, Warren’s 6th great-grandparents

Talk about a small world.. Alsace families were indeed close knit and many of them joined in a larger chain migration from the France/Germany border to Western New York. So it’s not shocking to find a link once I saw Warren’s grandmother had Alsace roots, but interesting nonetheless!