Wednesday, December 26, 2018

Holy Roman Emperor

Perhaps it was like Alice following the rabbit down the hole in Wonderland.  I was checking information about Wilhelm Ziegler in familysearch.com when I clicked on the little [family] tree icon by his name.  The "tree" suggested by means of a "greater than" symbol to the right of his name that there was additional information about his parents.

I clicked.

Alas, there was more information, some familiar to me, some new to me.  I hastened to my own database and added the new information.  After reaping those gems of new information I clicked on the next "greater than" icon.  Now the information was all new and another encouraging icon loomed before me.  There were other such icons on the page for parents of the spouses.  I followed one than the other, usually one would dead end with no parental information and I would return to follow the other.

Just as Alic's hole got deeper, I found ancestors from centuries ago, and beyond.  The adventure continued.  After one click, an image appeared by the name of a great-great-more-grandfather.  It wasn't from a cell phone or Brownie camera; after all it was in 1150.  It was a piece of art.  I asked myself, "Do we have ancestors important enough that someone did a painting of them?"  His father also had a picture.  His name was Hermann I von Thüringen and his father's was Ludwig III von Thüringen.  Both had been country counts, a bit of royalty.  The image on the right of Hermann I is a part of a larger drawing in a booklet called Elizabeth's Psalms, or something similar to that.

Jot it down in my database, I did, and continued on.  The next ancestors were Friedrich I and then Agnes von Waiblingen.  When I came to Agnes's father I had to do more than a double take.  Agnes's father was Henry IV Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire from 1056 to 1106.  All I could say was "Wow, could this be true?"

Now I was really really interested in what might be next.  More icons leading to parents and dead ends.  Finally only one set of parents remained.  Then the final click, no more icons or names of parents.  I had reached Brunhari Hamaland who lived in Hamaland in eastern Netherlands; he was born in 725 and died in 794.  Again wow!

Now, to wake up from this dream or hallucination and determine what was real and what was not.  And how do you verify information that may be as old as 1300 years old?  It will be an interesting challenge; discrepancies are bound to appear.  Meanwhile we will relish our status with our ancestors, regardless of their behavior and share one image of Henry IV
and a summary of our ancestral tree starting with my grandsons and going through the Ziegler branch.

Dominic and Riley Saxowsky, sons of
  Marc, son of
    Denvy, son of
       Erna Ziegler, 1920- 2002, daughter of
        Wilhelm B Ziegler, 1884-1956, son of
Barbara Friedrich, 1847-1934, daughter of
  Philipp Friedrich, 1815-1862, son of
    Dorothea Fode, 1778-1833, daughter of
      Maria Catharina Scholder, 1756-?, daughter of
10    Dorothea Oeffinger, 1722-?, daughter of
Marie Reinhardt, 1681-?, daughter of
  Johann Reinhardt, 1659-1695, son of
    Johann Gregorius, 1609-1662, son of
      Ursula Chistina Keller, 1580-?, daughter of
        Margaretha Rohr, 1545-?, daughter of
Anna von Erolzheim, 1518-?, daughter of
  Anna Thumb von Neuburg, 1501-?, daughter of
    Adam Thumb von Neuburg, 1453-1503, son of
      Hans Thumb von Neuburg, 1415-1468, son of
20    Albrecht Thumb von Neuburg, 1392-1465, son of
Gräfin (Countess) Anna von Aichelburg, 1350-1405, daughter of
  Albrecht von Eichelberg (Aichelberg), 1310-1365, son of
    Graf (Count) Diepold von Aichelberg, 1265-1318, son of
      Herzogin (Duchess) Anna von Teck, 1235-1270, daughter of
Margaretha von Henneberg, 1190-1256, daughter of
  Graf Poppo VII von Henneberg, 1183-1245, son of
    Landgraf (Country count) Hermann I von Thüringen, son of
      Landgraf Ludwig von Thüringen, 1128-1172, son of
30    Landgraf Ludwig III von Thüringen, 1090-1140, son of
Graf Friedrich I von Hohenstauffen-Swaben, 1015-1105, son of
  Agnes von Waiblingen, 1074-1143, daughter of
    Henry IV Emperor of Holy Roman Empire, 1050-1106, son of
      Henry III Emperor of Holy Roman Empire, 1017-1056, son of
        Ludolph of Friesland, 1003-1038, son of
Graf von Braunscheig, Derlingau & Nordthüringgau, 960-1015, son of
  Graf Ekbert “One-Eyed” im Ambergau & Derlingau, 930-994, son of
    Graf Wichmann von Stubenskorn (of Engern), 916-944, son of
      Graf Billung IV von Stubenskorn (in Sachsen), ca900-967, son of
40   Gerberge van Hamaland, ca900-960, daughter of
Graf Meginhard IV van Hamaland, 870-938, son of
  Graf Meginhard II van Hamaland, 840,881, son of
    Wichmann Hamaland I, 802-881 (France), son of,
      Meginhard Hamaland I, 775-844, son of
        Wratchard Hamaland, 750-?, son of
Brunhari Hamaland, 725-794

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