Bavaria, or Bayern, is the largest state in Germany based on total land area, and it currently boasts the 2nd largest population of any German state, after North Rhine-Westphalia. Its capital is Münich, well known for its Oktoberfest festival every year.

Located in southeast Germany, Bavaria shares borders with Austria, the Czech Republic & Switzerland. Neighboring German states are Baden-Württemberg, Hessen, Thuringia & Saxony. The Danube and Main rivers flow through Bavaria; the Bavarian Alps define the border with Austria, and the Bavarian Forest & Bohemian Forest form borders as well. Bavaria is divided into a number of administrative districts: Oberpfalz, Oberbayern, Niederbayern, Oberfranken, Mittelfranken, Unterfranken & Schwaben.

Parishes of origin for my family from Bavaria include:

My immigrant ancestors from Bavaria, sorted by year of arrival:

• Magdalena (SPAHN) BECKER, native of Brebersdorf Parish
  • Immigrated in 1838, age 31
    
    
• Matthias KARG, his wife Eva (JOHANNES) KARG and her mother Maria Magdalena JOHANNES, natives of Mittelstreu Parish
  • Immigrated in 1847, approximate ages 25, 21 & 43
    
    
• Tobias HILBURGER & his wife Anna (MESSER) HILBURGER, natives of Roggenstein Parish
  • Immigrated in 1853, ages 33 & 29
    
    
• Margaretha MANDL, native of Pittersberg Parish
  • Immigrated in 1860, approximate age 17
    

The administrative districts were mentioned earlier, and my ancestors came from Unterfranken & Oberpfalz. Let me go through my immigrant ancestors from Bavaria one-by-one.

Magdalena (SPAHN) BECKER was born in Bavaria, per census & church records in the U.S. With the help of DNA analysis, I finally found her origin in Brebersdorf Parish and her parents’ names along with that: Michael SPAHN and Barbara HEURUNG. She married her husband Nicolaus BECKER in Ohio, as he was from a good distance away in Hessen.

Matthias KARG departed Hamburg, Germany as a young man in his mid-20s with Eva JOHANNES & her mother Magdalena JOHANNES. All 3 were born in the village of Mittelstreu, which lies in Unterfranken. They came over on a ship called the Sir Isaac Newton, arriving in New York City on Sept. 9, 1847. Just one week later, they were in Buffalo, and Matthias and Eva officially married on Sept. 16, 1847 at St. Louis RC Church. Shortly after arrival, Magdalena also married, to a man named Johannes SCHMIDT. Back in Mittelstreu, records tell us that Eva was born illegitimately and her father is unknown; that is why she went by her mother’s surname of Johannes. Magdalena herself was a daughter of Johannes JOHANNES (can’t make it up!) and Magdalena SCHREINER. Matthias’ parents were Wilhelm KARG and Margaretha HERBIG. Matthias and Eva had 14 children in Buffalo, but only 5 survived to adulthood, including by 3rd great-grandmother Mary Ann (Karg) HILBURGER. There were other Kargs in Buffalo from Mittelstreu who are certainly related but the exact relationship is not known at the time of this writing.

Tobias HILBURGER and Anna MESSER were both from a village called Kaimling in Oberpfalz. They left Hamburg, Germany aboard a ship appropriately called Anna, and they arrived in New York on July 14, 1853. The Catholic Archive of Regensburg, the diocese Kaimling would have belonged to, performed a search for their marriage but did not find it, so they may have married just after arriving in America, either in New York City or Buffalo, or somewhere in between. They did have an illegitimate daughter together, Barbara MESSER, born Apr. 4, 1852 in Kaimling, and baby Barbara is aboard the ship with them on the way to America. They had 6 more children in Buffalo, NY, where they settled, with 3 sons living to adulthood, including my ancestor John HILBURGER. Tobias was the son of Johann Joseph HILBURGER and Anna Maria WALDHIER, and Anna was the daughter of Johann Adam MESSER and Maria Anna ZOLLITSCH. The HILBURGERs & MESSERs were farmers, and members of the ZOLLITSCH branch were millers. The HILBURGER family originated in Schirmitz, where my direct line had lived since at least the 1630s.

Margaretha MANDL was born in a village called Breitenbrunn in Oberpfalz, a daughter of Georg Sebastian MANDL & Anna SCHEIBL. There are multiple Breitenbrunns in Europe, where her immigration record said she was from, but DNA evidence along with research from the Archive of Regensburg confirmed which one was hers. She immigrated alone as a 17-year-old in 1860, settling in Delphos, Ohio. She married Joseph BAKER on Sept. 5, 1861 in Delphos. Her brothers Joseph & Johann Nicolaus MANDL also made the trip to America in 1868, where they reunited with their sister in Delphos. (Her brothers immigrating also helped confirm we had the correct Breitenbrunn & Mandl family.) Margaretha & her husband Joseph BAKER had 13 children, with 11 of 13 surviving to adulthood.

I am a descendant of the following families from Bavaria:

I have ancestry in Bavaria through both my father’s side and mother’s side.