19 September 2021: 220 years since the baptism of our many times great-grandmother Catharina Söngen (nee Klumm) in Eltville, Germany

Eltville, Germany

Catharina is my paternal 3rd great-grandmother.  She was baptised in the Catholic Church in Eltville on the Rhine River on 19 September 1801.  Her parents were Adam Klumm and Catharina Stein.  She had at least two sisters - Anna Maria (b1806) and Barbara (b 1818).  

Catharina married Phillip Söngen (sometimes recorded as Songer).  They had at least three children - Margaretha (known as Margaret, my 2nd great-grandmother) was born on 16 June 1830 followed by Phillip and Catharina.  

Catharina died on 6 June 1887 in Winkel only a few kilometres from Eltville.  Her husband had died many years earlier in 1848.  Margaret married Anton Gersbach early in 1855 and set our for the long voyage to Australia a few weeks later.  Margaret and Anton arrived here in September 1855 just 2 months before the birth of their first child and Catharina's first grandchild, Phillip.   They went on to have 10 children.  Two died as infants.  

Catharina's other two children didn't marry and continued to live in the Eltville area.  Son Phillip Söngen died 7 years before his mother and daughter Catharina Söngen died 10 years after her mother.

I can imagine the letters arriving at my 2nd great-grandparents' home on the Macleay many months later.  These were certainly important events for the Australian family, as each death is recorded in my great-grandfather's bible even though he'd never met his grandparents, aunt or uncle and couldn't speak or read German. 

It was those precious entries in the bible that allowed me to find the names of Catharina's parents - Adam Klumm and Catharina Stein, my 4th great-grandparents.  You don't have to read German because ancestry.com.au translates the key features for indexing purposes!

While I don't have any photos of Cathatina, here's one of Margaret and Anton Gersbach taken when she was in her mid 70s.  The second picture was taken on the same day probably in front of their home at Aldavilla with their oldest son, Phillip, his wife and 12 children prior to their move to the Murrumbidgee Irrigation Area.  While I can't identify all those in the photo, it's likely some of Margaret and Anton's younger children are also in the photo.   One of my Gersbach 3rd cousins has these and other photos HERE.

I'm always searching for family that migrated from the Eltville region to Australia in the 1850s.  A number of DNA matches at AncestryDNA led me to the discovery that Catharina's nephew, Louis Ludwig Bender, arrived in Australia shortly after his first cousin, Margaret Gersbach (nee Söngen).  

You can see two of my DNA matches below - Janice and Ella.  Both have been important in proving my genetic link on the Klumm/Stein line through my 2nd great-grandmother, Margaret.  

Using my DNA matches with Janice and Ella, I've been able to pinpoint a segment of my DNA that I've inherited from Catharina which is there living on in me 220 years after her birth on the Rhine!  With more research and more precious DNA matches, I'll find more!

Spending time on the Rhine around Eltville in 2019 was very special.   I've always felt close to my German family but my interest in family history with the addition of DNA research makes me think much more about leaving loved family and homeland to come to an unknown land on the other side of the world to make a new life!   

So it's a happy 220th birthday Catharina!  Margaret and Anton made a good life for us in Australia....