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How to Use the Index

Structure

The index to marriages is in Appendix B, and is formatted into four columns. The first column contains the names of partners (male and female) in a family marriage. The married couple are listed twice in the list, once with the man’s name first, and once with the woman’s name first. The second column contains the year (sometimes known and sometimes estimated) of the marriage. The third column contains the sequence number of the marriage. The fourth column contains sequence number(s) that help you locate the parents of the partner in that marriage who is descended from Peter Witry (seq. 001,) our first known ancestor. The sequence numbers show where the marriage appears in the full family tree in Appendix A. Note that the marriage might not be shown in Appendix A as a separate topic. If it is not, then look for the topic headed by the sequence number in the fourth column

As an example, consider marriage 323.01 - Firmin Rob and Marie Machus. There is no topic heading in Appendix A for that marriage, because it is the second marriage of Firmin Rob. The marriage number in column 4 is 002. That sequence number is the marriage of the parents of Firmen Rob, and it is the bold sequence number at the top of the paragraph in Appendix A that contains Rob Firmin’s parents. In that paragraph you will find that the sequence number of Firmin Rob’s first marriage is 323. Go to the paragraph with the topic heading 323, and you will find both marriages.

Now consider another case, that of marriage 015.21, Barbara-Marie Wagner and Edward Farrall. The sequence number in column 4 is 015.19.50. The parents of Marie Wagner are sequence number 015.20, but, since theirs is a second marriage, it is found in Appendix A in the paragraph with the heading 015.19.50, the sequence number of the first marriage of Barbara-Marie Wagner’s mother. The purpose of this indirect reference is to aid you in finding parents of a person by simply looking in the paragraph headed by the sequence number in column 4.

Why is there a need for indirect references? There are two reasons. The bold-faced heading above the “paragraph” for each family grouping is that of a couple with children. If you look up in Appendix B a couple who have no children, there is no corresponding paragraph in Appendix A headed with the sequence number of their marriage. The record of their marriage appears in the paragraph headed by the sequence number of the marriage of the parents of the one who descended from the original Peter Witry. Another reason could be that the first named parent in the paragraph was married more than once. All of the marriages are listed under the sequence number of the earliest marriage.

Finding a marriage

Hopefully you know the names of both parties in any marriage that is of interest to you. If so, look up either the name of the husband or the wife in the first column. The names are listed in alphabetical order, by last name, and then by given names. The last name for a woman is her maiden name. If you don’t know the wife’s maiden name, then look up the name of the husband.

If you find that there are several couples with similar names, look at both names and at the date of marriage in column 2 to find the couple you seek. Then note the sequence number of the marriage, shown in the third column. Usually, but not always, it is just that simple.

Complications

Nothing is ever as simple as it seems. There can be complications, especially as you look for a marriage from the early days.

The spelling of the names varies. The first two columns contain the names as they appear in the family tree in Appendix A. The name is written as the person wrote it, if the person could write. This was not a common skill in the early days. If the person could not write, or if I didn’t find a document with his or her signature, I recorded the name as written on an official document. If I had no documents, I recorded the name as it was provided by someone else in the family. So, a man’s given name might be John, Johann, Johannes, or Jean, depending on the source of the information. Last names can vary too, since there were no rules for spelling in the old days. For example, Haas, Huss and Hassen are variations of the same name, as are Hoffman and Hoffmann; and Wittry, Witry, and Vitry.

Sometimes I don’t have a spouse’s family name or given name, or either name. Sometimes a person was known by a second name. An example of both is our oldest known ancestor, Peter. He probably didn’t have a family name, since his son Peter was known by the name of the estate, Thies, where he lived and worked. Presumably the original Peter had a wife, since he had a son, but there is no record of his wife’s name. The first records in the table all begin with <Unnamed>. Note the one that reads <Unnamed> and Witry, Peter. Toward the end of the list you will find the corresponding record of Witry, Peter & <Unnamed>

Interpreting the sequence number

The sequence number in the third column tells you where to find the desired marriage in Appendix A. All of the marriages in Appendix A are organized by sequence number. The original sequence number has been retained from the first book on the family. For all marriages that didn’t have an original sequence number, I have developed a new number. To keep these numbers sequential in listings of the family tree, I have added suffixes as necessary. For example, there are several marriages between sequence numbers 261 and 262. I gave them the numbers 261.01 and 261.02. Then later I recorded two new marriages that appear between 262.02 and 262.03. So, I gave them the numbers 262.02.01 and 262.02.02. This might become awkward in time, but it allows a given marriage to always be known by the same sequence number in newsletters and in possible future books.

Multiple descent

Some people are descended from two different lines of the family tree. This is the case for my grandparents, John Wittry and Barbara (née Wittry) Wittry. Their marriage is sequence number 182.

So how do you deal with this multiple ancestry? First of all, note that in such cases the fourth column contains two sequence numbers for the parents of the couple listed in the first column. Look up the marriage of John Wittry and Barbara Wittry. You will see two sequence numbers in column 4. One (167) is sequence number of the marriage of John’s parents. The other (271) is the sequence number of Barbara’s parents.

Try it

Yes, that is all complicated and confusing. But it works, and it is the best way I know to enable you to find families that you are interested in. So look up some families that you know well. You will find it to be easy. You will soon forget these instructions and will be able to navigate through the family tree at will. Have fun!