Posted on Facebook on 14 July 2017.

When I left for Mihla on Sunday the Friday was still blank. In the course of the week it got filled with 3 appointments: the vicars c.q. registers of Bollstedt from 8:30 until 10:30, Bischofroda from 11:00 until 1:00 and Niederdorla from 2 until 5.

I woke up at my usual time. I knew it would be a long day again, as well as my last morning alone at the swimming pool. I decided to watch the sun climb over the hills from the middle of the pool, at 6 am. It was simply lovely: an early morning swim all by myself in water of 25° C.

I met vicar Matthias Reißland at his vicarage at 8:30. He gave me the registers of Seebach, which start in 1706, and I got straight to work. The entry going back furthest in time was the death of Anna Catharina, the widow of locksmith Hans Christoph Weißenborn, on 14-2-1715, 71 years and 9 months old. Assuming the same year of birth, Hans Christoph would have been born in 1643. His son Hans Christoph, a "Zeugmacher" - someone making fabric out of pure sheep wool -, had his probably first son Hans Christoph baptised in 1705. This son died 31-3-1706, 17 weeks and 3 days old. The Weißenborns from Seebach I encountered in the Neubürgerverzeichnis in Mühlhausen are Hans Christoph's offspring. There is also a link with the Weißenborns in Flarchheim: on 7-12-1778 Caspar Adam Weißenborn from Flarchheim was recovered dead from the Siegelbach (see map with posting # 39), near the bridge. He was buried in Seebach 2 days later.

At 11:15 I met Pastorin Voigt in the vicarage of Bischofroda. She handed me the registers and I got to work immediately. I first wanted to find the birth of Johann Valentin, the oldest known ancestor of all facebook friends who descend from Bischofroda. I succeeded: he was born on 16 December 1790. His father was Georg Heinrich the Obermüller - miller on the upper mill; Bischofroda had two mills in those days -. Here I ran into a conflict that I didn't fully oversee that morning. The solution I found that morning was as follows.

Georg Heinrich, the Obermüller, died on 6 January 1782, 50 years old. His son Johann Heinrich married Anna Christina Busch on 23 April 1782 and became Obermüller. Hence the entries in the baptism register quoting Georg Heinrich as father after 1782 are wrong: that must be Johann Heinrich. The vicar was perhaps too accustomed to Georg Heinrich who had been married three times and fathered 9 children. Besides: there can only be one Obermüller, Georg Heinrich didn't have a son Georg Heinrich and his sister's Sidonia Maria's illegitimate son Georg Heinrich Weißenborn was born 17 April 1774, and was still way too young.

This reasoning got shaky when I entered my finds and Günter's pedigree in my database. I then noticed that a Johann Christoph was born on 19 August 1797, became shoemaker, married an Anna Dorothea Brandt on 23 May 1820 (she was baptised on 31 January 1798) and died 30 Octo ber1830, and a second Johann Christoph was born 28 June 1808, became "Anspänner" - farmer with own land - and married an Anna Dorothea Brandt on 20 May 1834 (she was born on 29 October 1812). Were they really both sons of Johann Heinrich, who died on 18 January 1830, leaving behind 4 sons and 2 daughters? Or was there a second Weißenborn, possibly a Georg Heinrich, who fathered one of them, as well as Johann Valentin? I only had 2 hours and not enough overview. More study work is required.

At 1 pm I drove to Niederdorla and had lunch there. Opposite the lunch room was the civic hall, where blood could be donated that afternoon from 5 until 7:30. Helmut let me into the room with the registers and invited me, also on behalf of Doris, to their home after I would be finished. I told him I wanted to donate blood, to which he replied that in that case I didn't need to look for dinner, as enough food would be served there. So I found it to be. I got to see the civic hall of Niederdorla and a free dinner. I spent the evening with Doris and got to know quite a bit about Niederdorla, the house they had built after the Wende and their son and daughter. Helmut didn't want to miss his evening table tennis, and didn't get home before I left. Doris is a keen observer: she correctly remarked that I enjoy my research of the Weis(s)enborns as much as meeting people along the way.