It's an extraordinary and exciting hobby: genealogy.
This is where Leonhard Held discovered his passion.
Recently he even gave a Vhs course.
Allershausen
- Leonhard Held from Allershausen is on the trail of his roots, always anxious to expand his pedigree.
In his many years of intensive search for his ancestors, Held has acquired a wide range of specialist knowledge.
And he would like to pass this on: With this intention, the Allershausen municipal council has now given a Vhs course.
Research in two directions
“The goal of genealogy is to find out as many of his relatives as possible,” explains Held.
Here, the ancestral enthusiasts research in two directions: as far into the past as possible and as far into the family members by marriage as the available sources allow.
Held discovered this special hobby for himself in 2007. The occasion was a sad one: Both his father and father-in-law died that year.
“I asked both of them a lot about the past during their lifetime,” says Held.
"When that suddenly stopped working, I realized: at some point there will be nobody left to squeeze out."
Hold on to the knowledge for the descendants
So Leonhard Held saw it as his duty to at least put his own knowledge on paper for his descendants.
Little by little he began to write down the dates of birth and death as well as the spouses of his blood relatives.
"I once got my hands on a list of ancestors," recalls Held.
“My uncle on my father's side was in the Wehrmacht.” There, the armed forces had to list six generations in order to be allowed to serve as soldiers at all.
“That was of course a good basis for my research.” But the most important thing is the personal conversations that Held had with relatives.
By the way: Everything from the region is now also available in our regular Freising newsletter.
He knew from his father, for example, that his family had lived in Allershausen for almost 200 years.
"When I helped organize a historical pageant in Allershausen a few years ago, I naturally also dealt a lot with the history of Allershausen," says Held.
That, too, brought him many important steps further in his private research.
Immerse yourself in the history of your homeland
After the Thirty Years' War things were bad for the community: At the lowest point, Allershausen had just three inhabitants. "The population was then replenished by settlers from the Oberland, in the direction of Bad Tölz," says the ancestor expert. On the basis of such individual information, Leonhard Held clambered along the history of his family, entered dates of death, researched every free minute. "At a family member's funeral, I told a relative who was also interested in our roots that I had already listed 200 people with complete dates of birth and death in my pedigree," says Leonhard Held and laughs. “Then she told me that she had already identified 20,000 ancestors. After the conversation I really accelerated. "
Held also explained to the participants in his Vhs course how he came to his current level of 18,000 researched relatives.
“It is an advantage not to work with a family tree, but with a pedigree,” he says.
“With a family tree you start with the oldest person, with a pedigree with the youngest.” This is particularly important so as not to lose track and work slowly, step by step, into older generations.
A very special order
Held also dealt with specific tools in the classification system: He explained to the course participants what "Kekule numbers" are all about, how to assign them correctly to the people in the pedigree and how to proceed best: " You start with genealogical research using sources, ”says Held. Personal conversations, tombstones, death pictures, chronicles, old family photos, but also the registry and pastor's office are consulted. “When you have found information, then it goes to the recording.” There are many small details to be observed here that are important for a correct representation. "For example, female persons are always entered with their maiden name," emphasizes Held, "then you can gradually immerse yourself in the families of people in marriage."
First the data, then the visualization
Small deviations, such as different spellings of surnames, should not be regarded as errors. "Once you have recorded the data, you can start with the visualization." In order to facilitate the research and the subsequent presentation, Held recommends various aids, such as the "Genealogy Kiening" (www.genealogie-kiening.de), which deals with family research around Munich, or the Archdiocese of Munich / Freising. At the beginning it is also important to take a look at the various old German scripts: “At the beginning everything is very difficult to read, but over time you develop a routine. Even Latin words that you come across again and again can be learned relatively quickly, ”the hobby genealogist knows.And why does Leonhard Held love this hobby so much? "Because it gives you the opportunity to trace your roots."
Pascale Fuchs
