Mindling Family History

Schwaigern, Württemberg, around 1840, as painted by Franz Schnorr, Stuttgart. Presented in the Heimatbuch Swaigern 1994

Foreword

As my wife and I sat on the hill due west of Schwaigern, Germany, looking at the peaceful, almost serene, town and the cultivated countryside, we realized that this was a mirror image of Washington County, Ohio.  We were sitting in our rental car, eating lunch just off of highway 293, in late August, 1995.  We were parked on the edge of a farm that could as well have been in Watertown, Ohio,
as Schwaigern, Germany.  We had just left the Evangelishe Stadtkirche, the Evangelical Church, after spending two hours pouring over old church records with the church secretary, Frau Inge Buggle. We had the pleasure of looking at and copying records from the 17th and 18th centuries. The church records are as well kept as any records I have seen. The Evangelical Church of Schwaigern had decided not to turn over their records to the Staatsarchive in Karlsruhe. Instead, they decided to maintain their own records. As Frau Buggle stood on her step stool and removed the original records from the office shelves, I couldn’t help but think that perhaps these records were only copies of the originals. They were in fact the originals. The first volume starts in 1605 and continues to the 1690’s.

Every person who died in the thirty years war is painstakingly listed, as are all the births and Christenings. Frau Buggle diligently copied all of the records of Eberhard and Gottfried, and also the front of each book so we would know the reference for each entry. It had taken a discovery in the Rathaus, the city hall, to help us in our search. We had found the spelling of Mündling, instead of Mindling, for Gottfried’s departure from Schwaigern in 1847. It was this discovery that allowed Frau Buggle to successfully search the church records. The Rathaus, or city hall, official records only go back to 1874, as most of the city records were destroyed by fire in 1905.

They have organized most records which could be salvaged, and in addition, have printed a book of Schwaigern’s history. The book, Heimatbuch Schwaigern, published by the Stadtverwaltung, or city government, lists the tax, or tithe, paid by Gottfried Mündling to emigrate from Schwaigern in 1847 as 1000 Guilders. There is one other listing for Mündling in the book, the tax listing from Eberhard. The name is spelled Mendling and Mündling on the same document in several of the church records. We checked the telephone book, as did Frau Buggle, but there are no listings for Mindling, Mendling, or Mündling in the current telephone book.

The History

The Romans thought the location in the rolling hills not far from the the Neckar River was a place for another of their permanent settlements in their defense of Germania Superior. The Upper Germanic Limes, or defensive wall, along with the Rhaetian Limes or simply the "Limes", was the border between the Roman Empire and the unsubdued Germanic tribes.  The Limes extended from the North Sea at Katwijk in the Netherlands along the Rhine to Eining (close to Kelheim) on the Danube. The total length was 568 km. It included at least 60 castles and 900 watchtowers, and the village later called Suegerheim, the first Schwaigern.   While the Roman ruins just north and west of Schwaigern have only recently been excavated, the demise of the Roman legions sometime in the 5th century to the invading Franks leaves a gap in the history of the area for many years.  Stadt Schwaigern is located about nine miles due west of Heilbronn, on Bundestrasse 293, and about 45 miles southeast of famous Heidelberg, in the state of Baden-Württemberg.

Schwaigern was first established during the 8th and 9th centuries as a convent on the Bergstasse, today known as Bundestrasse 293, the road to Heilbronn from Eppingen. The convent was Klosters Lorsch, established in the year 766.  It was later expanded with the addition of Kloster Odenheim. The actual village was first formed during the 12th and 13th centuries with the formation of the royal family, die Herren von Neipperg, the Men of Neipperg, a family which still exists today.  The village was known by various names throughout medieval times, but the name Schwaigern has existed since 1331. The town charter was issued in Prague on April 1st, 1372, when Kaiser Karl IV decreed a weekly marketplace to Schwaigern. The main market place in Schwaigern today dates to 1486.

The rolling hills around Schwaigern were easily transformed into farms and vineyards. A small stream runs through the edge of town. The center of town is dominated by one hill only slightly higher than the others. This hill in turn was dominated by the church and the adjoining kloster, later a schloss, or palace. A small, peaceful town with an often turbulent past.

Schwaigern and the surrounding countryside were torn by constant wars, and the records from the 1600's reflect the horrors of those wars. The entries in the Evangelical church records from the thirty years war (1618-1648), when 222 people died in 1625, and in the year 1635, when another 691 people died, are examples of the struggle to survive the times of religious and political upheaval. During the 30 years war, yet another disaster hit Schwaigern: In the 1630s, the "Black Death", the Plague struck Schwaigern, according to the official history Geschichte der Stadt Schwaigern, "hundreds of inhabitants lost their lives to the Pest." The death toll quite often included complete families. Barely twenty years passed from the end of the thirty years war before Schwaigern was again engulfed in war, this time by the Holl�ndische Krieg, the Dutch War,(1672-1679) which lasted six years. Ten years later, yet another horrible war, one considered worse than the others, the Pf�lzische Erbfolgekrieg, or The Pfalz War of Succession, also known as the War of the Grand Alliance and also as the War of the League of Augsburg, which lasted from 1688 to 1697. The area was engulfed by the French in 1688 during Louis the XIV's Rhenish Invasion. It was during this war that the not-so-distant city of Heidelberg was burned to the ground.

It was also just after this war, in 1697, that Georg Nicolaus Mündling, the first birth-recorded ancestor in the Mindling line, was born. His father, Nicolaus, was a mounted soldier, a kürassier or cavalryman, for the Graf Franz Joseph of Gronsfeld Regiment.¹ We have no recorded history of Nicolaus, other than his military unit.

During the early 1700's, witch hunting took a dark and horrible place in the annals of Schwaigern's history. One woman, Anna Maria Heinrich, was offered the appeasement of death before she was burned if she would confess to being a witch. If not, she would be burned alive. Her daughters were forced to watch as she was put to death. After decrees from the Universities of Mainz and Giessen, they were also put to death on August 3, 1716. Georg Nicolaus Mündling was nineteen years old at the time.

Wars continued to be a constant way of life not only in the rolling hills of Württemberg, but all of Europe. The Spanishe Erbfolgekrieg, the Spanish War of Succession, 1701-1714, followed by the Polnische Krieg, the Polish War of Succession, from 1733 to 1738, the �sterreichische Erbfolgekrieg, the Austrian War of Succession, 1741 to 1748, and the Siebenjahrige Krieg, the Seven Years War, from 1756 to 1763 continued the exhausting toll on the area. The book, Heimatbuch Schwaigern, states the only times the wars subsided was when the countryside was exhausted, not just with crops, but with the people to raise them. There were simply too few men left to farm, much less fight. With the constant movement of armies from all sides and countries, encampments and bivouacs, the area was constantly occupied by military forces.

It was during the Austrian War of Succession in 1743 that Eberhard Mündling was born to winegrower Georg Nicolaus Mündling and Ursula Elisabeth Münzin Kober. The Münzin family name was shortened to Münz in subsequent record of the documents. See Eberhard Mendling's family Journal for the original spelling

Above: Uniform of a Bavarian Kürassier, circa 1700

Napoleon, and yet another war, brought the end to the Holy Roman Empire in 1805. The area was under French domination for yet another time when Gottfried Mündling was born three years later, in 1808, to winegrower Eberhard Mündling and Elisabeth Dorothea Kaufman.

The confederation of kingdoms and duchies of the Holy Roman Empire were not to be reunited on religious grounds after the defeat by Napoleon's army. The Kingdom of Württemberg became a sovereign kingdom, or country, until the German unification of 1871.  Germany did not exist as a sovereign country prior to 1871, when Bismarck united over 300 separate kingdoms and fiefdoms into a new German state. Until that time each kingdom issued its own visas and passports.  The documentation and exit visas from Schwaigern stated "Schwaigern, K�nigsreich Württemberg" with the nearby town of Brackenheim listed as the issuing authority.

The peoples of the area began to emigrate to Russia, Poland, and later the United States. They were eager to emigrate to safer, better, and more tolerant places. The religious intolerance was a burden, along with war and taxes, which prompted the emigration from not only Württemberg, but all of the Germanic states. The "auswandering", or emigration, which started early in the 1700s, continued, reaching its peak the ten years between 1846, when twenty people left for America, and 1856 when eleven left. Thirty four people left Schwaigern in 1847. Over 74,000 people immigrated to the United States in 1847 from all regions of Germany. Over a quarter of them, some 27 percent, were from Württemberg or the Palatinate.

Gottfried Mündling, his wife Christina, and their children, Rosina, age ten, Johanne Heinrich, age eight, and Maria Dorothea, age three, were among the families that left Schwaigern in 1847.  Christina was five months pregnant when the family arrived in Washington County, Ohio, giving birth to Nicolaus Mindling on October 16, 1847. Not only was Nicolaus the first Mindling born in America, he was the first person born with the name spelled Mindling.

Left: Evangelisches Stadtkirche Schwaigern, its origins dating to 1514.

Nicolaus Mündling

The earliest listing we found for a Mündling is Nicolaus, father of Georg Nicolaus Mündling. There is no birth listing, only a reference to page 1360 of the Familienblatt, the family record.  Nicolaus is listed as "Kürasier-Reiter unter Lobl. Gronsfeltischen Regt", a mounted soldier with the "Distinguished Gronsfelt Regiment". Kürassier is a German word was taken from the French word "Cuirassiers", a name given to mounted soldiers wearing an armored chest plate and armed with pistols. A handwritten reference under the corrected spelling of Gronsfeltischen is "(s. Ehebuch 1723", Marriage book 1723). The distinguished regiment is that of Graf Franz Joseph of Gronsfeld, noted as having distinguished for many battles.³

It is not known if Nicolaus was a resident of Schwaigern, or encamped nearby as part of his military duties to the Graf von Gronsfeld. The Gronsfeld Kürrasier Regiment is known to have been called the Katholisches Kreis-Regiment zu Pferd," or Catholic Region Horse Regiment^{2, 3} for five years, during the years 1672 - 1677, but again called the Gronsfeld Kürrasier Regiment during 1697. The regiment was a Schwabish mounted unit from the south in what is today the transistion between Bavarian and French Alps. The area includes the village of Mündling.  While the area was predominately Catholic, from 1542 until 1614 the populace was mainly Evangelical (Luthern). Reverting back to Catholicism in 1614, the dialect of village of Mündling is noted as both Schwabish and Bayeriche (Bavarian).

The history of Nicolaus Mündling is not known, his birthdate and birthplace are as yet unknown. The archives of the village of Mündling⁴ in Schwaben have yet to be examined.

The only information about Nicolaus is the child listed as his son,
Georg Nicolaus Mündling.

Georg Nicolaus Mündling

Georg Nicolaus Mündling does not have his birth date listed in the Familienblatt, yet the notation on his death entry on September 23, 1761, lists his age as "64/-2 mo". This would put his birthdate as November, 1697. Georg is listed as a "Weingartner", a wine grower, or vintner. He was married twice, as most of the people of the time were. His first wife was Agnes Maria Busch, geboren (nee) Hiller. Her birth date is not listed. Her father is listed as Hanss Leonhard Hiller z Brackenheim, and her deceased husband as Philipp Busch, küfer, a barrel maker. Agnes Maria and Georg Nicolas were married on February 2, 1723 in Schwaigern. Their three children were:

• Georg Wendel, born November 5, 1723, died on April 13, 1725;
• Christianus, born July 19, 1725, married Barbara Schuhmaker on July 6, 1756, and died August 3, 1772;
• Johannes, born June 25, 1727, died March 12, 1739

Agnes died on February 6, 1741, and Georg married Ursula Elisbetha Kober, geboren (nee) Münz[in] on June 6, 1741, also in Schwaigern. Ursula's birth date is not recorded. Her father was Dietrich Münz[in], and her deceased husband was Dietrich Kober. Georg and Ursula Elisabeth had four children. They were:

• Christoph Friedrich, born July 24,1742, died January 21, 1743
• Eberhard, born December 22, 1743, married twice, died March 16, 1819
• Eva Rosina, born August 1, 1747, died August 21, 1747
• Matth�us Friedrich, born December 7, 1749, died December 16, 1749

Ursula Elisabeth died October 22, 1786, age unknown. Georg Nicolaus fathered four children with Ursula while he was 53 to 59 years old! Georg Nicolaus died September 23, 1761, at the age of seventy one.

Eberhard Mündling

Eberhard Mündling was born on December 22, 1743. Eberhard has a illustration in the book, Heimatbuch Schwaigern, published by the local city government, the Stadtverwaltung, showing a tax record for the year 1751 when Eberhard was only 8 years old.  The original tax year listing is 1751, but the actual date of the modified record isn't visible. His father's name, Georg, appears at the top, but it has a line through it and Eberhard's name is written above it. The correction for Eberhard is not dated or noted, but it is assumed the original 1751 record is for his father, Georg, as Eberhard certainly was not of responsible age, and the record was simply modified to show Eberhard during a tax assessment years later. Eberhard's name is found spelled both Mendling and Mündling in the church records, but most often as Mündling. His father, Georg Nicolaus' name is found only as Mündling. Eberhard is also listed as Weingartner, or vintner, just as his father.

Eberhard, at the age of twenty six, married Susanna Catherina Rüde, age thirty, on May 1, 1770 in Schwaigern. Susanna Catharina was born February 3, 1740. They had four children. They were:

• Catharina Elisabeth, born December 29, 1772, died October 9, 1790
• Philipp Eberhard, born January 21, 1777, died February 22, 1777
• Matth�us, born March 19, 1785, died in Schwaigern October 28, 1835
• Johann Georg, born January 13, 1788, died January 16, 1788

Susanna died on January 22, 1804 at the age of sixty four. Eberhard then wed Elisabetha Dorothea Kaufman on August 12, 1804, in Schwaigern. Eberhard was sixty and Elisabetha was twenty eight, born on June 26, 1776. They also had four children. They were:

• Eberhard, born January 13, 1806, died May 3, 1809
• Gottfried, born May 10, 1808, died 1854 in Washington County, Ohio
• Johanna Catharina, April 30, 1810, no death listed
• Elisabetha, born December 14, 1811, died September 1, 1830

Elisabetha Dorothea's parents were Balthofar Kaufman and Sabina Zollerin. Elisabetha died October 9, 1830, at the age of fifty four. Eberhard fathered an amazing number of four children with his second wife while he was between the ages sixty two and sixty seven years old! The second child born to Elisabetha, Gottfried, who later emigrated to the United States, was born when his father was sixty four years old. We verified all the dates and names found in the records with the Evangelical Church office and they are proven to be correct. Eberhard died on March 16, 1819, at the age of seventy five.

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Gottfried Mündling

Gottfried was born in Schwaigern on May 10, 1808⁵. He is also listed as Weingartner, a vintner, and also was married twice. His first wife was Wilhemina Carolina Frank, daughter of Gottlieb Frank and Maria Elisabeth Neuinger, born November 20, 1806. They were married on April 1st, 1834, in Schwaigern. She tragically died three months after the wedding on July 2, 1834, of "Nervose Schleimm Fieber", or typhoid slime fever⁶.  

Gottfried, age twenty six, married Christina S�tzler, age twenty two, on January 24, 1835. Christina was born on February 12, 1813, also in Schwaigern. Christina's father is listed as "Jos.." S�tzler, p.571, and her mother as Ana Maria Kober.

Gottfried and Christina had seven children before leaving Schwaigern in 1847. They were:

• Firstborn, name undecipherable, born and died on February 5, 1836
• Rosina, born March 14, 1837, (married John Remmele)
• Johanne Heinrich, born November 13, 1838, (married Mary Henry)
• Elisabeth, born and died on February 25, 1840
• Albrecht, born May 30, 1841, died July 12, 1841
• Maria Dorothea, born March 6, 1844, (married Frederick Tresch)
• Gottfried, born February 4, 1846, died August 20, 1846 in Schwaigern.

According to Charles T. Mindling, Gottfried and Christina left Schwaigern in March, 1847, with Rosina (Rosa), Johanne Heinrich (Henry), and Maria Dorothea (Mary).⁷

The Immigrants

An itinerary published by general agent "Washington Finlay," in Schwaigern in 1849, advertised the journey from nearby Heilbronn, on the Neckar River, to Mainz, then to K�ln (Cologne) by "Dampfboote", or steamboat. From K�ln, on the Rhein, it was overland by train through Paris to Havre, France. The trip to New York was advertised as "safe" and "comfortable" and lasting a duration of thirty to thirty five days. The route is most probably the same one taken in March, 1847, by Gottfried Mündling and his family as it is known they sailed from Havre [Le Havre], France.

According to family stories, it was believed they sailed aboard a ship called the "Goldene Dame"⁷, a sailing ship, and spent fifty three days at sea.   However, New York immigration records for Garden Castle, the immigrant arrival center in New York, show that:

• G. Mendling, a farmer, age 39,
• Christine, age 35, and children
• Rosine, Female, age 8,
• H., Male, age 7, and
• Dorothea, Female, age 2,

arrived at Castle Garden, on the Battery in New York City, on May 3, 1847 aboard the packet sailing ship "Duchesse D'Orleans"⁸ from Havre, France.

The Havre Line originally consisted of 4 sailing ships: the "Albany," "Gallia," "Carolus Magnus," and the ship Gottfried and his family sailed on, the "Duchesse d' Orleans." The above painting, from Heimatbuch Schwaigern, depicts conditions for emigrants aboard one of the unnamed four ships of the Havre Line.

Also listed on the same May 3, 1847, manifest is Christina's sister, Elisabeth. Her name is also misspelled: instead of S�tzler, it is listed as:

• Elizt Sitzler, Farmer, Female, age 37

and the Leibrand Family,

• Ma. Leibrand, a farmer, age 47,
• Johann Leibrand, a farmer, age 37
• Christine Leibrand, child, Female, age 9
• Johann Leibrand, child, Male, age 8
• Christine Leibrand, child, Female, age 2

According to the Heimatbuch Schwaigern,⁹ accompanying Gottfried Mündling and his family on the journey were Christina's two sisters, Elisabeth S�tzler, single, who paid 600 guilders to settle all debts and taxes, and Hannah S�tzler Leibbrand and her family.

• [Hannah's husband's name is not stated in the Heimatbuch Schwaigern. There are two Leibbrands listed as departing at the same time: Farmer Matth�us Leibbrand, [who appears on the immigration record at Castle Garden], paid 5000 guilders to leave Schwaigern, farmer Gottfried Leibbrand paid 3000 guilders.]

They all arrived in Washington County, Ohio, in June, 1847.  Gottfried was thirty nine and Christina was thirty four years old.
The children born in Washington County, Ohio, after the family's arrival were:

• Nicolaus Mindling, born October 16, 1847, married Elizabeth Peters, died October 18, 1934, in Ohio
• Hiram Mindling, born November 14, 1849, married Jenny Hess, died December 19, 1936 in Ohio
• Jacob Mindling , born February 5, 1852, married Anna Maria Peters, died April 30, 1931 in Washington County, Ohio
• Albert Mindling, died 1853 in Washington County, Ohio. Believed to be the infant that died at birth shortly after Gottfried's death.

The Name Change

Gottfried Mündling's name was changed to Godfried Mindling on his arrival in America in 1847. Not only was his given name anglicized from Gottfried to Godfried, (Gott is German for God), but his last name was altered also, from Mündling to Mindling. Gottfried, however, continued using Gottfried as his given name as his 1850 petition for U.S. citizenship is listed and signed as Gottfried.
 

There are references to both Mündling and Mendling in the old documents, especially Eberhard's, where the name is predominately spelled Mendling. However, the name on most documents for all other family members is usually found spelled Mündling. Both spellings have even been found on the same document!

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The German language contains 5 vowels not found in English:�, �, �, �, and the ü found in Mündling. When translating German to English, it was a common practice to change to unique German character "ü" to a closely sounding combination of "ue" in English.  One example of the confusion over the vowel sounds that seem odd in English is illustrated by the confusion over Elizabeth S�tzler, where her last name is interpreted in English in the immigration records as Sitzler. The translated Württemberg Emmigration Index translates Mündling to Muendling, a common practice when encountering any umlaut vowel in German.  The last German record, the emigration tax in Schwaigern [Brackenheim] in 1847 of Gottfried's tax of 1000 guilders, is listed as Mündling.  

The name change, however, is to the letter "i," not to "ue". One thought is as there is no umlaut in English, and the letter "I" more closely sounds like the original German pronunciation than the letter "E", the name became Mindling.  That isn't phonetically correct, however, as the original German pronunciation is "ue", not "i" or "e".

There is another thought that appears to be more correct, especially when researching the name Miller, as the name in German was Müller and suffered the same Americanization as Mindling. When the German name Mündling or Müller is written longhand, they appear to have two letter "i's, side by side, as in Miindling or in Miiller. The German umlaut "u" is written exactly as two lower case "i"s. The answer appears to be the Immigration officers simply struck off the extra letter "i"!

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Welcome to America

Gottfried lived and farmed in Washington Couty, Ohio, for seven years before dying at the age of 45. According to one story, Gottfried severed an artery chopping firewood on New Year's Eve, 1854 (December 31, 1853), and bled to death [Letter, Charles T. Mindling, 1955]. However, another account has him cutting himself on New Year's Eve [working on grape vines] and dying several weeks later of blood poisoning [Letter, Tony Mindling, 1986]. The latter is probably true as his death occurred several weeks after the New Years accident, on January 26, 1854, at the age of forty five.

Christina was in the final stages of pregnancy during the month of Gottfried's accident and subsequent illness, and gave birth to a child eleven hours after Gottfried's death. The child, thought to be the infant Albert, apparently died at birth. Christina was left a widow at the age of forty with six children, ranging from seventeen year old Rosine to Jacob, who was not quite two years old.

In the 1880 census, Gottfried's widow,

• Christina, age 67, is listed as living on a farm with her son,
• Hiram Mindling, a farmer, age 30, and his wife
• Jenny, age 21.

The same census, for Watertown township, also lists

• Henry Mindling, age 42, is also as a farmer. His wife,
• Mary A, is listed as housekeeper, suffering on the day of the enumeration from Cholera. She is listed as 34 years old, with their children;
• Mary B , age 17,
• David, age 15,
• Phillip, age 11,
• Christina A, age 8, and
• Frederick, age 6.
  

• Nicholas Mindling as a farmer, age 33, with his wife,
• Elizabeth, age 30, with their children;
• Jacob, age 7,
• Henry, age 6,
• Margareth, age 4, and
• Charles, age one month.

• Jacob Mindling, age 28, is listed on a farm with his wife,
• Anna M, age 27, with their children,
• Rosa D, age 3, and
• Anna C, nineteen days old.

Christina died in Washington County, Ohio, on June 11, 1905.

The Mindling Family in Ohio

Web Page under Construction - Link may possibly be added sometime in the future

The Nicolaus Mindling Log House, now part of the Oliver Tucker Museum, Beverly, Ohio. The Log house was deconstructed, each piece carefully numbered and its location painstakingly documented. The pieces were carefully moved and meticulously restored by Phillip L. Crane and volunteer junior high school and high school students, working with the Lower Muskingum Historical Society. The time consuming project began in June, 1974 and was finished in time for the 1976 bi-centennial celebration.

Addendum

• The German Pioneers,   Address by Bernard Peters,  The Marietta, Ohio, Centennial Celebration, 1888

Footnotes

1: From: Geschichtliches über die Hohenzollern-Kürassiere

Das Schw�bische Kreis-Kürassier-Regiment hatte in seiner 140-j�hrigen Geschichte mehrere Namen, die es von anderen Waffengattungen und Regimentern innerhalb der Reichsarmee und des Schw�bischen Kreises unterschieden. In alten Chroniken taucht es 1664 einfach unter dem Namen "Kreisreiterei" auf und wurde damals, wie in seiner folgenden Geschichte, nach seinem Inhaber "Graf Maximilian Franz zu Fürstenberg" genannt.

2: The term Kreis (circle) is today loosely translated as "County." During earlier times a kreis was more closely related to pfarr, or parrish.

3: From: Geschichtliches über die Hohenzollern-Kürassiere

Im Friedensfall boten Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen 6 Reiter, die übrigen zollerischen Grafschaften Hechingen und Haigerloch weitere l1 Reiter zur Kreisreiterei, die von l672 - 1677 den offizie1len Namen "Katholisches Kreis-Regiment zu Pferd" trug. In Kriegszeiten immer nur sehr z�gerlich aufgestellt, wurde das schw�bische Kontingent nach Friedensschlüssen stets eiligst wieder abgedankt. So kam das in Ulm eingeschiffte schw�bische Kontingent zu sp�t, um zum Entsatz Wiens am 12. September 1683 wirksam eingreifen zu k�nnen. Aber das Regiment Gronsfeld taucht im Laufe bis 1683 bis 1699 immer wieder an ma�geblicher Stelle in den "Ordres de Bataille" auf Unter Graf Joseph Franz von Gronsfeld ( l683 - 1699), der das nunmehr. "Kreis-Kürassier-Rgt. (kath.)" genannte Regiment w�hrend des Türkenkrieges inne hatte, erlebte es seine erfolgreichste und schwerste Zeit: •14. August 1686 Schlacht bei Ofen (als "Buda" heute ein Teil der Stadt Budapest), • l2. August 1687 Schlacht am Berge Harsany (Mohacs), • l1. August 1688 bis 9. September 1688 Belagerung und Einnahme von Belgrad, unter Feldherr Prinz Eugen von Savoyen, • 19. August 169l Schlacht bei Szlankament, in der die Armee des Markgrafen Wilhelm Ludwig von Baden ("Türkenlouis") W�hrend der Jahre 1691 bis 1704 hatte Graf Johann Friedrich Schenk von Stauffenberg das Kreis-Kürassier-Regiment inne. 1693 bis 1703 wurde das 1691 geschaffene Kreis-Dragoner-Regiment (mixtiert) dem Grafen Franz Anton von Hohenzol1ern-Sigmaringen übergeben. In dieser Zeit wurden die Kontingente der zollerischen Grafschaften Hechingen, Haigerloch und Sigmaringen diesem gemischt- konfessionellen Dragoner-Regiment zugeordnet. Nach Beendigung des Spanischen Erbfolgekrieges (1701 - 1714) ging das Kreis-Kürassier-Regiment von Graf Johann Friedrich Schenk von Stauffenberg auf Graf Eustach Maria Fugger über und das zollerische Kontingent wieder zurück zu diesem "rein" katholischen Regiment.

In peace, Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen offered 6 riders, the remaining Zollerian counties of Hechingen and Haigerloch another l1 riders to the circus rider, who bore the official name "Catholic Circle Regiment on horseback" from 1672-1677. In times of war, always set up very hesitant, the Swabian contingent was always abruptly abdicated after peace agreements. Thus the Swabian contingent embarked in Ulm arrived too late to be able to intervene effectively to relieve Vienna on September 12, 1683.
But the Regiment Gronsfeld emerges in the course until 1683 to 1699 again and again in authoritative position in the "Ordres de Bataille" under Count Joseph Franz von Gronsfeld (l683 - 1699), who now. "Kreis-K�rassier-Rgt. (Kath.)" Regiment during the Turkish war, it had its most successful and hardest time: • 14. August 1686 Battle of Ofen (as "Buda" today a part of the city of Budapest), • l2. August 1687 Battle of Mount Harsany (Mohacs), • l1. August 1688 to September 9, 1688 siege and capture of Belgrade, under general Prince Eugene of Savoy, • August 19, 169l Battle of Szlankament, in which the army of Margrave Wilhelm Ludwig of Baden ("T�rkenlouis") During the years 1691-1704 Count Johann Friedrich Schenk von Stauffenberg held the Kreis-K�rassier-Regiment.
1693-1703 was created in 1691 Circle Dragoon Regiment (mixtiert) the Count Franz Anton von Hohenzollern -Sigmaringen passed. During this time, the contingents of the Zollerischen counties Hechingen, Haigerloch and Sigmaringen this mixed confessional Dragoon Regiment were assigned. After the end of the War of Spanish Succession (1701-1714), the Kreis-K�rassier-Regiment passed from Count Johann Friedrich Schenk von Stauffenberg to Count Eustach Maria Fugger and the zollerische contingent back to this "pure" Catholic regiment.

3.1: The village of Mündling, near the town of Harburg, has not yet been fully researched. Religious differences and administration between the two areas (Mündling and Swaigern) may be a critical factor that has not yet been resolved. A common name between the references is Kloster Lorch, another facet yet to be researched. One can only assume the Mindling origins are somehow connected with the village of Mündling, but exactly how is not yet known.

4: "The municipality (Mündling) possesses its own coat of arms since 1959: In red a narrow golden bar, considers with a freely floating, double-armed silver cross with foot bars. The bar comes of the coat of arms of the old local aristocracy, the cross against it of the monastery holy cross in Donauw�rth."

5: Schwaigern Tauf-Register (Baptism) vom 1.Jan.1808 bis 31.Dez.1834: (Original hand written records!): Evangelische Kirchengemeinde, Frau Inge Buggle (1995) Schloss Strasse 9, Schwaigern, Germany, 74193

6: I found there are no exact translations of the illness "Nervose Schleimm Fieber."  However, a dark slime around the gums and teeth were a sign of typhoid fever in old medical journals, such as Typhoid Fever and Its Homeopathic Treatment, C.F. Panelli, 1878.  The Family History Center reference material lists "Nervenfieber" as typhoid fever.  We have similar problems with English such as the disease "consumption." Today consumption is called pulmonary tuberculosis.

7: "In 1847 Gottfried and Christina, and their children Rosine, Heinrich, and Maria Dorothea sailed for America on the "Goldene Dame", probably from a French port. They were accompanied by Christina's two sisters, Elizabeth Satzler and Hannah Satzler Leibrand with her husband and family. The voyage took 53 days. As they neared New York harbor a storm blew the ship back to sea for another ten days. During this time a shipmate took advantage of their seasickness to steal their savings. As a result they had to change their plans for purchasing land in northern Ohio and settle in the less fertile southern part of the state."  "This information is from Charles Mindling's letter. He credits cousins Lizzie and Oscar with details. Information on the ship crossing was obtained from Emma Mindling Meyers and from a letter written by Henry Mindling to Charles' grandmother, Osie." From research by Tony Mindling, Cool, CA, 1997

• No official record has yet been uncovered of any ship called the "Goldene Dame." or "Golden Dame."  The "Goldene Dame." does not appear in the New York Port nor in Baltimore Port Listings during 1847, nor any other year. There are to date no ship's registry, for any country, for the "Goldene Dame." It is entirley possible the "Golden Dame" was a nickname, possibly derisive, for the actual name of the ship.
• UPDATE: Aug 11, 2009; The ship's name has proven to be "Duchesse D' Orleans," classified as a Sail Packet, with a tonnage of 799 tons, built at New York in 1838. Arrived Castle Garden, New York from Havre, France, May 3, 1847. [See Note 8] The "Duchesse D'Orleans," known for having the first launch, or small, auxiliary boat, capable of carrying the ship's 1700 pound anchor in case of accidental grounding, and infamous for having run down and sunk the Brig James Dennison on June 19, 1839, was built at New York in 1838. Listed with a tonnage of 799 tons, she was one of four regularly scheduled square-rigged sailing vessels plying between Havre and New York for William Whitlock, Jr and his Havre sailing company.
• New York Passenger List, May, 1847 (FHL = Family History Center Microfilm Number, NARA = National Archives and Records Administration)

  FHL #	NARA #	Dates on Microfilm
  0002312	M237-66	Apr. 8--May 20, 1847

8: Castle Garden, New York’s First Immigration Center, Historical Archives, The Battery, NARA On Line Records Search: Aug 11, 2009

9: Heimatbuch Schwaigern page 532, Stadtverwaltung Schwaigern 1994,

Document Images

1: Familieblatt (Family Journal) pages 1360, 1556: Evangelische Kirchengemeinde, Frau Inge Buggle (1995) Schloss Strasse 9, Schwaigern, Germany, 74193

2: Heimatbuch Schwaigern page 168, Stadtverwaltung Schwaigern, 1994

3: Heimatbuch Schwaigern page 351, Stadtverwaltung Schwaigern, 1994

4: Schwaigern Familien-Register Band 1, Band 2 (Original hand written records!): Evangelische Kirchengemeinde, Frau Inge Buggle (1995) Schloss Strasse 9, Schwaigern, Germany, 74193

5: Wuerttemberg Emigration Index, Vol. One, Compiled by Trudy Schenk and Ruth Froelke, Salt Lake City, UT, Ancestry, Inc., 1986., (1995, Broward County Library, FL)

About the Author

I was stationed in Germany for over five years with the US Air Force, serving two tours from 1962 to 1969.  During my first tour, I met and married llse Rehling. llse was born and raised in Bitburg, Germany. It was Ilse, thirty one years later, during August 1995, who met with the people, translated the German documents, and properly handled all of the professional courtesies needed to help find the records we were searching for.  Translating German to English is at times very difficult, but deciphering old, handwritten Gothic text which hasn't been taught in German schools since 1945, is a time consuming, complicated chore! To make matters worse, Ilse did it all while hobbling around on crutches, having a broken foot in a cast during the entire trip!

We started in Koblenz, Germany, at the Bundesarchives, the Federal Archives of Germany. It was llse who arranged for us to meet with Herr Wolf Buchmann, one of the directors, and his secretary, Frau Schlucher.  We had the opportunity to search the indexes of records on file at the Archives, but they have little information about family matters. It was Herr Buchmann that suggested we start with the Rathaus and evangelische stadtkirche in Schwaigern.  I started looking into the family history while doing research in 1994 for my mother’s family, the Stubblefields, and found a list compiled by Charles Mindling in 1955, and a letter from an great uncle, John Mindling, listing Schwaigern as the origins of the Mindling family.

I began putting a family history together for our daughter, Monica. A major source of information was sent to me by my aunt, Ruth Sparks, of Denver, Colorado. She had a copy of the work done by Tony Mindling, John Mindling’s grandson, written in 1986. It was Tony's work that prompted my wife and I to visit the archives in Koblenz after we had been invited to Trier, Germany, for the wedding of Ilse's cousin in August of 1995.

We had been on a German vacation two years before in 1993 and had made a point of visiting Heidelberg. We did not know at that time how close we were to the town of the Mindling family origins.~ GM