Back in February, I mentioned that the digital archives of Bistum Regensburg (Catholic Diocese of Regensburg) were apparently going online this year, after years of waiting.

Sure enough, beginning in July, the parish books started appearing at Matricula in alphabetical order. As of this writing, we’re on the letter R, less than 5 parishes away from Roggenstein, one that I’m waiting for.

I’ve already made countless discoveries going through the A-R parishes, accounting for both my Dad’s side and Mom’s side. One discovery was the ROESCH connection on my Dad’s side – interesting because my Dad grew up on Roesch Ave. in Buffalo, and now I’ve learned we’re ROESCH descendants.

Here’s a discovery I made this summer on my Mom’s side: We’re descendants of the SIMON family. I’ve been wanting to write this up for a while, but wanted to firm up the research first. Now it’s in a good place. With Simon being a given name in my family, this was a fun one!

The connection is through my 2nd great-grandmother Mary (BAKER) GRUNDTISCH, who was born in Delphos, Ohio in 1864. And it’s through her mother Margaretha MANDL, who was born in Breitenbrunn, Bavaria in 1843 and immigrated by herself to the United States as a 17-year-old. The village of Breitenbrunn belongs to Pittersberg Parish, which lies in the Regensburg diocese.

The records took me through the generations: Margaretha’s mother was Anna SCHEIBL, born in 1808 in Pittersberg. Her mother was Anna Maria MAYER, born in 1780 in Altenricht. Altenricht is in another parish: Amberg. So then I shifted from Pittersberg records to the records of St. Martin’s at Amberg to go back even further.

Anna Maria MAYER was the daughter of Johannes MAYER and Maria Elisabeth AUGSPERGER, who married on February 24, 1778 in Amberg. Johannes was born in 1736 in Altenricht to Christoph MAYER and Margaretha SIMON.

That makes Margaretha SIMON the 3rd great-grandmother of my ancestor Mary (BAKER) Grundtisch. And my 7th great-grandmother!

She was born on June 20, 1714 in Gärmersdorf, Amberg Parish to Matthias SIMON and Helena DONHAUSER. They married on February 17, 1705 in Amberg Parish. Matthias was not native to Amberg Parish, and fortunately there was a great lead on his marriage record: Georg SIMON of Aschach was a witness.

Aschach is a parish of its own, just 6 kilometers away from Amberg. Sure enough, when I pulled up Aschach records, there were scores of SIMON family members. But just one Matthias who fit perfectly: Born on December 25, 1670 in Aschach to Johannes SIMON and Magdalena ENGELHART. He had not one brother Georg but two brothers named Georg (something I’ve learned is a thing in this part of Bavaria, the more I go through Regensburg records – sometimes children’s names would be reused 2, 3, even 4 times, even if they didn’t die when young).

Johannes SIMON and Magdalena ENGELHART married on March 1, 1666 in Aschach. And I was able to go back another generation: Johannes was born March 8, 1639 to Zacharias SIMON and Elisabeth STROEL.

Zacharias SIMON and Elisabeth STROEL – my 10th great-grandparents – married on February 29, 1628 in Aschach. Both of their fathers were named Johannes, per their marriage record.

One interesting thing about this family: Sometimes the surname is warped into SIMMER. After an exhaustive study of Aschach and Amberg parish records, it’s the same family, and the name is used interchangeably, especially in more recent records (1800s forward) – SIMMER, SIMON … SIMON, SIMMER. I’m not quite sure why, but it could have to do with the pronunciation of the name in that part of Bavaria.

I decided I wanted to find as many of the SIMON family members in Aschach as possible, and potentially tie them all together as descendants of Zacharias & Elisabeth. I learned that Zacharias had two contemporaries, Heintz and Hans, who could have been brothers, or 1st cousins, or not related at all (unlikely). Virtually all SIMON in Aschach go back to one of the three: Zacharias, Heintz or Hans. And some descend of more than one(!).

Tracing down to their 5th great-grandchildren, I found that Zacharias had 149 descendants with the SIMON surname, Heintz had 97, and Hans had 87. A total of 44 of those SIMONs go back to both Zacharias & Heintz.

Yes, in Aschach Parish, there were SIMONs marrying SIMONs. One such marriage was on February 7, 1804, Johann Georg SIMON, son of Johannes, to Maria Margaretha SIMON, daughter of Marcus. A wild thing: their son Georg Matthias SIMON had an illegitimate child with a Maria Margaretha SIMON in 1838, a son named Georg SIMON. This other Maria Margaretha SIMON (same name as his mother) was born in 1813 to Georg Michael SIMON and Anna Barbara SIMON. So this child Georg born in 1838 had all 4 of his grandparents with the SIMON surname. And yes, they were related in multiple ways. No wonder they never married and the child was born illegitimate. He passed away at just a week old.

Another interesting fact: one of my distant relatives Michael SIMON, born in 1825 in Aschach, had 15 children(!) with his wife Margaretha PAMMLER. Sadly, only 3 survived past infancy: Theresia born in 1856, Margaretha in 1861, and Barbara in 1863. He had 7 sons, and all had Georg incorporated in their names, but none survived infancy.

So there it is. SIMON is a new surname in the larger family tree. It’s one of the reasons I enjoy researching, to find those maiden names of female ancestors, and discover and learn about the new families.