Merry Christmas and happy holidays to all family history researchers with interest in Würzburg Diocese in Bavaria!

After a long wait, the Catholic diocesan archives for Bistum Würzburg began digitizing their parish books on Matricula Online earlier this month (December 2024). This makes these records accessible for the first time in the United States and around the world. Previously you had to either go to Germany or hire a professional researcher to access these records.

About 2,000 parish books are online so far, mostly for parishes that start with the letters A-G, with more to come. While I wait for Mittelstreu for my KARG family, the arrival of the A-G records finally gave me a chance to check for my SPAHN family.

Taking Down A Brickwall

A longtime brickwall, my ancestor Magdalena SPAHN was born in Bavaria in about 1807 or 1808. She immigrated to North America and married Nicolaus BECKER of Oberstork, Flieden Parish, Hessen, probably in Ohio.

For a while, I’ve had DNA clues pointing to the diocese of Würzburg. Two of my older relatives who DNA tested alongside that branch are matching SPAHN descendants of Elfershausen (a Würzburg Parish in that A-G alphabetical range). A closer look at those matches point to a Margaretha SPAHN in particular, born about 1788, who married a Michael MORPER. Her parents were Georg SPAHN and Catharina BAUER.

From the traditional records standpoint, I had a few other helpful clues:

1. The parish priest of St. John the Evangelist in Delphos, Ohio, the parish Magdalena was a part of in the U.S., compiled family groups for the parishioners in 1865. He says Magdalena was from Bessingen, Bavaria.
2. Furthermore, the family group sheet says Magdalena was 58 years old in 1865 (born about 1807).
3. Finally, she is called Magdalena HEURING on the family group sheet. On an 1840s baptism record, her maiden name is SPAHN. Keep this in mind.

Combining that with the Elfershausen DNA tip, I looked at a map and found that there was a Neubessingen and Altbessingen (New Bessingen and Old Bessingen) just a handful of kilometers away from Elfershausen.

So it was off to the races this week, now that Würzburg Diocese records are online.

From Parish to Parish, the Picture Emerged

Starting with Elfershausen, I found Margaretha SPAHN and Michael MORPER’s marriage record. They married on 1 March 1808. Sure enough, her parents were Georg SPAHN and Catharina BAUER. Her father was listed of Brebersdorf and her mother Gänheim.

That gave me two new parishes to check immediately.

I tried Gänheim first. Lots of SPAHN here. I found the marriage record for Georg SPAHN and Catharina BAUER, 19 January 1767 in Gänheim. The groom was a son of Jodocus (Jost) SPAHN and Barbara SCHNEIDER. A double wedding – their siblings married on the same day, Nicolaus SPAHN to Magdalena BAUER.

At this point, I checked the DNA matches again on Ancestry and MyHeritage for any more clues. One tree says Georg SPAHN was born in Brebersdorf. Hmm.. there’s that parish name again.

This parish of Brebersdorf had 5 key SPAHN records, and then nothing else, but these were very significant:

• Confirmation of Margaretha SPAHN in 1800, daughter of Georg SPAHN
• Death of Georg SPAHN, 8 January 1802, 55 years old
• Death of Catharina SPAHN, 31 January 1807, widow of Georg SPAHN
• Birth of Magdalena SPAHN(!), 23 February 1807, daughter of Michael SPAHN and Barbara HEURUNG
• Marriage of Margaretha SPAHN, daughter of Georg SPAHN and Catharina BAUER, to Nicolaus GÖBEL, 7 April 1807

My Magdalena, at last – I’m sure it’s her. That allowed me to add my 5th great-grandparents to the tree: Michael SPAHN and Barbara HEURUNG.

So a working theory: Georg SPAHN and Catharina BAUER moved to Brebersdorf Parish at some point around 1800, along with their son Michael, but after they passed away, the family moved to Elfershausen. That’s where the Elfershausen comes in.

I couldn’t (and still can’t) find a marriage record for Michael SPAHN and Barbara HEURUNG. Brebersdorf is about 10 kilometers from Neubessingen and Altbessingen. (Neubessingen Parish is part of Altbessingen Parish, so I was able to check both places – again no marriage for Michael and Barbara, but…) There are references to Georg SPAHN and Catharina BAUER in that parish too – their daughter Anna Maria SPAHN married in Johann Georg MOERES in 1800 in Grauaschach, a branch of Altbessingen Parish, and then Christoph SCHMITTROTH in 1803 in the same branch. She had 3 children born in Grauaschach, Altbessingen Parish from 1801 to 1810.

And I did find this marriage record back in Elfershausen: Michael SPAHN, son of Georg SPAHN and Catharina BAUER, to Barbara HAUN, nee BRAND, widow of Andreas HAUN, 28 February 1809. They had two sons, Georg Joseph and Jacob SPAHN.

So is that my Michael? Did he live near Bessingen (Altbessingen/Neubessingen), have Magdalena in 1807, move to Elfershausen after his mother passed away (also in 1807), and marry in 1809? Since no marriage record has been found for Michael SPAHN and Barbara HEURUNG, did they marry at all? Or maybe they intended to, but didn’t? They disappear from the Brebersdorf Parish records, so they didn’t stay, though Barbara’s baptism record is found there in 1786. Her father was from Grauaschach, Altbessingen Parish, and her mother a native of Brebersdorf Parish.

More questions, yes. But the DNA helped find the right family. And now it makes sense why the Delphos, Ohio priest may have listed Magdalena SPAHN’s maiden name as HEURING – that was her mother’s maiden name. Now a further evaluation of the Würzburg diocese records should put the rest of the puzzle pieces into place.

UPDATE: A flurry of new discoveries confirmed all of the above, plus the following, in chronological order:

• Magdalena’s mother Barbara HEURUNG married Georg DÖLL of Neubessigen in July 1809 in Neubessingen branch of Altbessingen Parish. Barbara is called the single mother of a 26-month old child (fitting Magdalena perfectly) and Georg acknowledges her into the family, legally becoming the father of the child (despite not biologically). Barbara is also called “of Brebersdorf” which confirms her identity.
• Magdalena DÖLL, listed as a daughter of Georg DÖLL and Barbara HEURUNG, was confirmed in 1816 in Neubessingen branch of Altbessingen Parish. This is my Magdalena (born SPAHN).
• Georg DÖLL (Magdalena’s step-father) passed away in 1829 at the age of 64 years old.
• Magdalena HEURUNG, called a natural-born daughter of Barbara HEURUNG, widow of a DÖLL, married Sebastian TEUBERT in 1832 in Neubessingen branch of Altbessingen Parish.
• Sebastian and Magdalena had a daughter Cunigunda TEUBERT in 1833 who passed away in 1834 at 10 months old.
• Sebastian and Magdalena had a daughter Anna TEUBERT in Neubessingen in 1835.
• Barbara (nee HEURUNG) DÖLL, mother of Magdalena, passed away in 1836 in Neubessingen.
• Sebastian TEUBERT, Magdalena, his wife, age 30, and daughter Anna, age 2, immigrated to North America in 1838, with the destination of Ohio, per an immigration list.
• Magdalena DOLL married Nicolaus BECKER on 21 April 1839 in Lucas County, Ohio (northwest Ohio), per Ohio marriage records. It’s interesting she is listed as DOLL, but her first husband likely passed away shortly after they arrived.
• Nicolaus BECKER’s will in 1851 lists a Maria DIBERT (variation of TEUBERT) in between his son John (child from his first marriage) and son Joseph (eldest child with Magdalena and my ancestor). She is called Mary BAKER, age 14, of Ohio, on the 1850 U.S. Census. This is likely Anna, daughter of Sebastian and Magdalena, who could have went by the name Mary or preferred it as she got older.

It all fits together.. and interestingly, I learned that my Magdalena had an uncle Georg SPAHN (her father’s brother) who lived in Neubessingen while she did from at least 1821 to 1830. She also had an aunt Eva (nee SPAHN) WERNER DRESCHER who lived in Neubessingen. It seems like the family maintained ties with these SPAHN relatives, as Magdalena’s half-brother Georg Joseph DÖLL (son of Georg DÖLL and Barbara HEURUNG) born in 1820 in Neubessingen had his godfather listed as Georg Joseph WERNER, son of Georg WERNER and Eva SPAHN.