For many years, maybe decades, my great-great grandmother Hanna Charlotte Redschlag was one of my major brick walls. Research was difficult due to various spellings of her maiden name and unclear information on where she was born. Even when I was able to clear up those problems, I could not find any records at any of my usual sources.
Eventually, I did get some clarification on where she was born — Blockwinkel, Landsberg, Brandenburg, Prussia. Further digging at Family Search revealed that this former eastern Germany town is located in what is now Poland. The Polish name of the town is Bolemin, Deszczno, Gorzów, Lubusz, Poland.
It took me awhile to learn how to use some of the Polish genealogy web sites, but I eventually found a web site that looked promising. The website Genealogisches Archiv Georg Grüneberg includes data and records for the East German district of Landsberg/Warthe. Remarkedly, I learned that the web site owner, Georg Grueneberg, also has relatives from the same town where Hanne Charlotte was born. He provided me a list of documents that were available for Hanna Charlotte Redschlag and Carl Friedrich Wilhelm Stein and other members of their families.
So far, I have only purchased a few of the many documents that he was able to identify for the Redschlag and Stein families. As time and funds permit, I will purchase more documents to expand my knowledge of this part of my ancestral family.
Georg Grüneberg did pass on one interesting piece of information about the home town of Hanne Charlotte Redschlag. He stated:
It is interesting to know that the old church had 2 doors next to each other. A door for the community Blockwinkel and a door for the community Plonitz. My Grueneberg family lived there too.
The following is a transcription and translation of the birth record shown here. Her record is the third entry shown on the image.
Transcription:
Block. Tochter. 35
d. 21ten October wurde den Wirth Joh. Wilhelm Redschlag von seiner Ehefrau Luise Friedericke geboren Schulz eine Tochter geboren, d. 26ten wurde sie getauft und Hanna Charlotte genannt. Die Pathen waren 1) Wirth Gottlieb Hanisch, 2) Jungfer Charlotte Fitzke, 3) Junggesell Wilhelm Klug, 4) Frau Christine Schulz.
Translation:
35. Blockwinkel: Daughter:
On October 21 a daughter was born to innkeeper Johann Wilhelm Redschlag by his wife Luise Friedericke, born Schulz. She was baptized on the 26th and named Hanna Charlotte. The godparents were 1) innkeeper Gottlieb Hanisch; 2) Miss Charlotte Fitzke, 3) Bachelor Wilhelm Krug, 4) Mrs. Christine Schulz.