Faithful Departed

Finding Ancestors who Fought for Napoleon (Guide)

On April 19, 2024

I was recently reading the memoirs of my wife’s late grandmother, and noticed a line that mentioned an ancestor who had fought with Napoleon’s army. Intrigued, I decided to go looking for him, and found a tremendous resource for anyone whose ancestors fought in the French army during the Napoleonic wars, which took place between 1792 and 1814.

Geneanet’s “Napoleon’s Soldiers” is a collection of muster rolls from the period. Considering it’s all in French, I’ve produced a guide to understanding what the columns say, and some clues as to what the handwritten notes within contain.

Heil Marriage Records from St. Goar, Flieden, Fulda, Hesse (1724-1754)

By Will Eifert

On April 12, 2024

In Heil, Records

If you’re a descendent of the Heil family, or of somebody who married into the Heil family in the Fulda district, these marriage records might help in your research. All of these records can be found in the church books of St. Goar in Flieden. In these books you’ll also find further baptisms, marriages, and deaths not mentioned in this post.

Die Indianer in Nord-Amerika by Francis Pierz

Father Pierz & The 4 Sorcerers

By Will Eifert

On April 8, 2024

In Research

From magical bags to escape tricks, Native American sorcerers played a role in the daily lives of tribes in North America, a role that would come into direct conflict with Christian missionaries arriving with European settlers. One of these “black robes” was Fr. Francis Xavier Pierz, a Slovenian-born priest who arrived in the 1830s.

If your German ancestors moved to Minnesota during the mid-1800s, Fr. Pierz may have played a part. He wrote articles in German-language newspapers urging immigrants to settle in Minnesota, which he viewed as one of the best new territories in Die Vereinigten Staaten. He also wrote a book, Die Indianer in Nord-Amerika, to both describe the Native Americans and the land in Minnesota.

The French Occupation & Retreat Along the Höllental in 1796

By Will Eifert

On March 7, 2024

In Research

In a previous article, I provided a selected translation from a book by Fr. Ferdinand Giessler about the French invasion of Baden in 1796. Now, we have another account of those events from the Zeitschrift der Gesellschaft für Beförderung der Geschichtes-, Altertums- und Volkskunde von Freiburg, or the Journal of the Society for the Promotion of the History, Antiquity and Folklore of Freiburg, published in 1925.

Fr. Ferdinand Giessler Describes the 1796 Invasion of Baden

By Will Eifert

On February 22, 2024

In Research

On June 24, 1796, French troops under General Moreau crossed the Rhine at Kehl as part of a three-pronged invasion of the Holy Roman Empire. This came on the heels of an alliance formed by several European powers with the aim of defeating the newly created French Republic. This war is known today as The War of the First Coalition, and it would be the first of several.

Following the first Battle of Kehl, part of Moreau’s army, the southern wing of a larger campaign along the Rhine began a march through “the Höllental,” which translates to Hell’s Valley.

I recently translated passages from Wilhelmiten Kloster Oberried, a history written in 1911 by Fr. Ferdinand Giessler, a priest in Riegel, Germany. The work covers this history of the Wilhelmine monks in Oberried, but the passages I’ve translated highlight the French Invasion, and the subsequent dissolution of monasteries during secularization.

New Photos of Jacob Eifert’s Family

By Will Eifert

On December 9, 2022

In Eifert

About a month ago, I received an email from somebody who had stumbled upon this website when she searched on Google for “Jacob Eifert.” She’d seen the name on the back of an old photograph she’d found when cleaning out the storage locker of a recently departed family member.

Research Update: Theodore Schroder & Mary Park

By Will Eifert

On December 1, 2022

In Research

I’ve decided to start keeping weekly notes here on my progress in researching family history. Selfishly, forcing myself to let people know what’s going on will help me stay engaged in the research.

In addition, if people find this post using search, I may get some more hints that will keep me from getting stalled!

So without further ado, here’s what I’ve learned this week.

Victor Eifert & General Sherman’s March to the Sea

By Will Eifert

On September 11, 2022

In Eifert

As is so often the case with ancestors, I don’t have letters or other artifacts to confirm Victor Eifert’s exact location at various times. However, I think there is enough circumstantial evidence to confirm that Victor did join the Union forces after the siege of Atlanta. With this and information from other sources, I hope to paint a picture of what his life may have been like during this time.

Joseph Eifert

By Will Eifert

On March 23, 2020

In Eifert, People

Joseph Eifert was the son of Michael Eifert, a German immigrant. He was born in Knox County, Ohio and died in Mercer County, Ohio. He married Sophia Weis and was the father of eight children.

Sylvester Victor Eifert

By Will Eifert

On February 18, 2020

In Eifert, People

The son of Joseph Eifert and Sophia Weis Eifert, Sylvester Victor Eifert was born in St. Joseph, Ohio. He was a long-time organist at St. Aloysius Catholic Church in Covington, Kentucky.