As we move back in time in the records, I find more and more than people are listed in the church records by their diminutive names, not their official baptismal names. For example, Johannes Georg Haag is listed as Hanss Jerg, and even Haag is spelled in different ways. Haga and Hag being the most common.

My two friends, Tom and Chris have helped me immensely with my German families, Tom going so far as to write draft articles. Bless that man is all I can say. I could not do this without them.

Tom begins by explaining why he likes a particular German website.

Before going any further, I just have to say what a remarkable website genealogienetz.de is!  You can search for your surname of interest and hopefully find information that is perhaps not easily found in other websites. It is truly a go-to website for finding your German ancestors! Thanks to all who contribute to this website for the mutual benefit of others!  See below the beginning search page: http://meta.genealogy.net/

Tom and Chris both prefer Archion.de for obtaining German church records. Often they find the original records there. Of course, being German-language-challenged, I can’t use Archion. After locating the record, they search Ancestry so I can utilize the records. After they kindly translate for me, I can attach the records appropriately to my tree.

Below, you’ll find a family register for Hans Jerg Haag.

Born in Heiningen

Our Hanss Jerg Haag, or more properly, Johann Georg Haag, was born in Heiningen (O.A. Göppingen), Württemberg, Germany on April 22, 1682 to Michael Hag and Margarethe Bechtold.

Baptism: 22 April 1682

Child: Johann Georg

Parents: Michael Hag, occupation ? & Margaretha Bechtold(in).

Godparents: Joh(ann) Christoph Wolf? & Jacobina Traub(in)

Of course, I always wonder if the godparents are related, and how.

Tom cautions:

As you will note, the pages have degraded with time but for the most part the data can be culled, thankfully.

Because of this degradation with time, oftentimes the transcriptions are mis-transcribed.

Therefore, use the indices with caution and strive to manually search for your person of interest. He/she may easily be overlooked otherwise.

And that’s from Tom, who knows what he’s doing.

I also want to illustrate the difference that two copies of the same document can make. The above document is Hans George Haag’s marriage document from Ancestry and is the same as the one below, from Archion.de.

You can easily see why Tom and Chris both prefer Archion. The bad news is that Archion appears to be very restrictive about sharing documents since they charge by downloaded document.

Hanss Jerg Haag married Anna Hoffschneider on the Feast of the Purification, February 2, 1706, in Heiningen.

Hanss Jerg, son of Michael Haag(en), juror and baker here and Anna, daughter of Michael Hoffschneider, Sr., citizen from here.

I love the fact that through Hanss’s marriage record, we discover the occupation of his father – a baker. Hanss would become a baker too. What better way to apprentice organically while growing up than to spend time with your father.

Hanss and Anna were married on the Feast of the Purification, also known as Candlemas, a Christian Holy Day commemorating the presentation of Jesus at the Temple. In keeping with tradition, the young couple would have presented their candles at church to be blessed, then used them for the rest of the year.

Children and a DNA Candidate

Hanss and Anna had a total of 8 children, but two died as infants. Six survived to marry.

Only two children were sons, and only one son lived to have children himself.

• Johann Georg Haag, born September 13, 1718 in Heiningen; married Anna Catharina Frasch on 15 September 1744 in Heiningen. She died July 28, 1772 in Heiningen. Johann Georg married (2) Margaretha Schurr on June 29, 1773 in Heiningen. She was born December 11, 1740; and died March 22, 1806 in Heiningen. Johann Georg continued in the Haag family tradition of being a baker by profession. Johann George had 4 children, with two surviving to adulthood. His one surviving son was:
  • Johann Gottlieb Haag born May 2, 1774 and married in 1812 to Regina Barbara Linderich in Goppingen. They had 3 children, including one male who died in 1782 at 18 months of age from bloody dysentery.

Unfortunately, Hanss Y DNA line died out in this generation with no surviving males. However, if a Haag male descends from any of Johann Georg Haag’s brothers or other Haag male relatives to the current generation through all Haag male ancestors, they too would carry the Haag Y DNA signature.

I have a Y DNA testing scholarship for any male who descends through all males from a Haag male from this line. Just leave a comment or contact me. I’d love to hear from you. We can learn more about the Haag line’s past from Y DNA which provides us with a periscope view of the direct male line since the Y DNA is never mixed with any DNA from the wives.

Passing Over

Hanss lived to be an elderly man. I wonder how long he continued baking. Did he ever slow down or retire? Did his son gradually take over the business?

Death: 4 June 1762 in the evening at 7 p.m. died Hanss Jerg Haag, Sr., baker, buried on the Feast of Trinity Sunday at the age of 80 years and 6 weeks.

Hanss died on Friday evening and was buried less than 2 days later. I’m guessing that his burial was immediately following the church services on Sunday while everyone was still at church. In June, one wouldn’t want to have waited very long.

I’m actually surprised that he wasn’t buried on Saturday. Maybe they waited for his family to arrive from neighbor hamlets, or perhaps everyone was coming to church anyway. Who doesn’t love the local baker in a village of a few hundred people? Everyone knew Hanss and was likely related in one way or another, so his funeral would have involved the entire populace anyway.

Hanss official cause of death is listed as “old age.” Eighty years was an amazing life span at that time. His wife, Anna outlived him by a year and a half. She was 83 at her death.

I have this vision of a wrinkled but smiling elderly German couple sitting around the hearth, with the smell of baking bread wafting through the air, of course, discussing whatever. Simply enjoying each other’s company.

A few months earlier, they celebrated their 56^th wedding anniversary. I wonder if they were the oldest couple in the village.

St. Michael’s Church

The entrance to Michael’s Church is now as it was then, through a gate in the defensive wall surrounding the church and churchyard, which assuredly protected the graves of her parishoners.

It is through this gate that Hans’s casket would have been carried into the church before the service, then carried into the churchyard for burial. This time, the trip through the gate, inside the wall, was one way.

The original cross was hung inside this church in 1398. The carved crucifix and the octagonal baptismal font are original too – likely the exact same baptismal basin used to baptize Hanss George in front of the altar 80 years and 6 weeks earlier.

Hans probably joined his parents, grandparents and relatives, reaching back into time immemorial in the churchyard, barely visible today beside the church building.

Trinity Sunday

Given that everyone in the village would have attended Hanss’ funeral, I’m guessing the funeral was either held in conjunction with the Sunday services, or immediately after.

What was happening on the Feast of Trinity Sunday?

Trinity Sunday is the first Sunday after Pentecost and celebrates the Christian doctrine of the Trinity, meaning God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Ghost.

This fresco by Luca Rosetti da Orta, painted in 1738-1739 in the St. Gaudenzio Church at Ivrea (Torino) illustrates the concept, as does this later painting in the late 1800s, below, by Max Furst.

Bach composed several cantatas for Trinity Sunday in the early 1700s, of which four still exist. You can hear them here, here, here and here.

Just close your eyes and listen. Allow the music to transport you back to the day of Hans Jerg Haag’s funeral and the beautiful music that would have filled the church to celebrate a long life well-lived.

Perhaps after Hans’s funeral, the village gathered for a meal to celebrate his life, complete of course with fresh baked German breads.

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