Monday, December 18, 2006

Success in Springfield

I went to the Lincoln Library in Springfield, Illinois, and came away with a clue that may someday allow me to cross off the FUCHS family on my "Where did they come from?" list.

Adam FUCHS' obituary states he was from Markersreuth, Bavaria, which is in northern Bavaria and not far from the Czech border. It's great that a town name was specified, but I've got two problems with this info. First, in Adam's daughter's obituary it states she was from Nürnberg, which is 123 km southwest of Markersreuth. It's possible that Adam migrated to the big city at some point, but I feel a little uneasy with the discrepancy; I haven't found much migration within Germany in my German research, especially with those that farmed. The other issue is that the Family History Library has no church records available for Markersreuth. (I've thought about writing to the church in Markersreuth, but I'm still waiting for previous letters to Germany to even be acknowledged.)

I also found a few other obituaries and mentions of those that had moved away and died out of state. There were also several instances of not being able to look for an obit because film doesn't exist. Oh, well.

The Lincoln Library is a very nice facility and I look forward to going back; it's a lot easier to find obituaries there than running all over the state looking for microfilm. Parking at the library was better than at the nearby State Archives, and the staff was helpful.

While in Springfield I passed on the Lincoln Museum, but did go on a tour of Frank Lloyd Wright's Dana-Thomas House. I liked some aspects of the house, but overall I don't see what all the fuss is about. Especially bothersome was the interior scale, which isn't suited for someone 6'3".

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