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Subject: [GOODNIGHT-L] Correspondence with Veda Goodnight Jones re: Gutknecht family in Germany
Date: Sun, 19 Mar 2000 03:36:21 EST

I'm not sure where Veda GOODNIGHT JONES, author of the book William Moore
Goodnight of Johnson County, Missouri, 1875 - 1951" found the information
about Hans Michael GOODNIGHT being from Hohenecken, Pfalz (Palatinate),
Germany. At the moment I can't find that exact piece of correspondence.
However, following are excerpts from some of our correspondence prior to that
time. Note that in my Sept. 12, 1984, letter I mentioned finding a card
saying that Hans Michael was from the Pfalz (Palatinate). Everything else up
to that point was pointing towards Hans Michael being from the
Baden-Wurttemberg area. The referenced source is E. E. KASPER of Ottawa,
Kansas.

>From Veda to me, July 5, 1984: "It would be so nice if I could see you while
we are in Germany ... I do not know the name of the Air Force Base to which
my grandson, Lt. James Michael Yeisley was assigned in January, but it is
near Bitburg. ... I will fly to Houston on the 20th of this month to join
Mike's parents and sister and we will leave for Germany on the 22nd. ...
will have a couple of days (August 2 & 3) with Mike in the area ..."

>From Veda to me, August 17, 1984: "What a delight it was to meet you and
your lovely family. I never did get in touch with Mr. Wollmershauser--time
flew by so fast, but I have written him again since I got home."

>From Veda to my first cousin, once removed, Garey CEARLOCK, Aug. 23, 1984:
"I had written to a German researcher about the Wuttenburg 1744 census which
his sister is putting into a computer, but time went so fast that I was not
able to get in touch with him by phone. He says that the work will be
completed he hopes by 1986. ... I do appreciate the contact with your
cousin, Sue Tilleman and her family. It was one of the high-lights of my
trip."

>From me to Veda, Sept. 12, 1984: "Herr Wollmershauser of Ostelsheim told you
he believes the Gutknechts may have come from the Dukedom of Wurttemberg.
What little information I have been able to find so far seems to agree with
what he says. ... I was able to visit the Hemiatstelle Pfalz, which is
located at #6 Benzinoring in Kaiserslautern, shortly after I visited with
you. I only had a short time to spend there, so I was only able to research
the names Gutknecht and Gerlach (Carlock/Cearlock) in depth at that time.
However, I do plan to return sometime to do more indepth research. I did
find many cards for the Landis line, but Christopher was not one of them.
There are so many Landis cards that it will take me a long time to study them
all.

The man at the library, Herr Roland Paul, speaks English and was very helpful
to me. First, the name Gutknecht is pronounced as follows: goot-k-nect.
Herr Paul was immediately familiar with the name and told me that he thought
Gutknecht was a Swiss name. He looked in his imigrant file and came up with
the following card:

Gutknecht, Hans Henrich

from: Switzerland
to: Eppingen, Sincheim

with: Barbara Fritsch

'mit 6 Kindern vor 1670 zugezogen' -- I don't know the meaning of the
word zugezogen, but the first part means 'with 6 children before 1670'.

source: 'Schriften Nr. 18;'

He also Xeroxed some pages for me from the following source. He said that
the small letter a meant that it was an old name, which is what we are
interested in.

Familiennamenbuch der Schweiz -- means Family Name Book of Switzerland
Band - Volume II
Polygraphischer Verlag AG Zurich
Editions Polygraphiques S. A. Zurich
1969

Page 398:

Gutknecht
BE Langnau im Emmental 1953 *
BS Basel 1860 D - 1932 (Kerzers) - 1938 F
FR Agrisil a + Gempanach a + Kerzers a + Ried bei Kerzers a
GE Carouge GE 1960 (Kerzers)
+ Collex-Bossy 1959 (Kerzers)
+ Geneve 1925 (Oberried FR)
+ Jussy 1961 (Ried bei Kerzers)
+ Lancy 1956 (Ried bei Kerzers)
+ Thonex 1915 (Ried bei Kerzers)
GR Arvigo 1955 *
LU Luzern 1951 (Winterthur)
NE Buttes 1891 (Agriswil) + Colombier NE 1924 (Kerzers) + Dombresson
1892 (Ried bei Kerzers) + Le Locle 1990 (Oberried FR) + Neuchatel 1893 (Ried
bei Kerzers)

Page 399:

VD Avenches 1956 (Kerzers) + Chatequ-d-Oex 1956 (Ried bei Kerzers) +
Lausanne 1956 (Ried bei Kerzers) + Payerne 1956 (Kerzers) + La Tour-de-Peilz
1956 (Ried bei Kerzers) + Yverdon 1956 (Ried bei Kerzers)
ZH Adlikon 1877 (Dagerlen) + Bassersdorf 1958 (Thalheim an der Thur) +
Dagerlen a + Elgg 1919 (Winterthur) + Neftenbach a + Ossingen a + Thalheim an
der thur b + Wetzikon ZH 1900 (Neftenbach) + Winterthur 1879 (Neftenbach) -
1937 (Thalheim an der Thur) + Zurich 1875, 1898 (Dagerlen) - 1912 D - 1920
(Neftenbach) - 1932 (Ried bei Kerzers) - 1937 (Thalheim an der Thur) - 1950
(Neftenbach) - 1951 (Ried bei Kerzers) - 1955 (Dagerlen, Neftenbach)

I have no idea what all that means, but someday maybe one of us will figure
it out.

In regard to the imigrant card, I found Eppingen on the map. Both Eppingen
and Sinsheim are located in the state of Baden-Wurttemberg, in the area
between Heidelberg and Stuttgart. ... Although I have not yet been able to
locate Ostelsheim on the map, my guess is that it is near Stuttgart because
Herr Wollmershauser gave his street address as Stuttgarter Str. 133. That
probably means that he lives on the street in Ostelsheim that goes to
Stuttgart.

... The card said 'Kreis Sinsheim'. I think that means that Sinsheim is the
equivalent of our county seat. The German system comes from medieval days
when the castle that controlled Eppingen would have been located in Sinsheim.

Finally, I found an emigrant card for Hans Michael Gutknecht. It doesn't
have much information that you do not already have. However, it does say
that he came from the Pfalz. That is the state that I live in. The Germans
call it the Rheinland-Pfalz, but the Americans know it as the
Rheinland-Palatinate.

Gutknecht, Hans Michael

from: Pfalz
to: 'n.g. USA'
......1708 Germany
'Phil.4.10.1752(Schiff 'Recovery')'

source: QAF-Gutknecht(E.E.Kasper,Ottawa, Kans.);

Herr Paul was very interested in the fact that I had more information on Hans
Michael, so I Xeroxed a few pages from both your book and Elsie Spry Davis's
book so that he can completre his card on Hans Michael and start cards on
Christian and George (Gerick). ..."

>From Veda (who lived in Salt Lake City, Utah) to me, Jan. 7, 1985: "... I
have just returned from a month's visit with my son in Chicago. ...
Yesterday, I went to the library and found a copy of FAMILIEN-NAMENBUCH DER
SCHWEIG with the information you sent. I checked the microfiche cards and
found christenings, marriages, death records for Eppigen in Baden for years
1707 through 1862. I pulled the film but could find no Gutknechts. The nice
lady at the desk asked me to let her check. The old German was very
difficult to read and I thought I might have missed it, but she found none
either. I told her they were members of the German Reformed Church (at least
Christian was) then she suggested that I check under 'Reformierte' listings
which I will do later. ... I asked about the meaning of the word
'Zugegogen'. It means 'to move into.'

When you look for Landis/Landes, check for Christian as well as
Christopher--I've seen it written both ways. (See p. 204 of our GOODNIGHT
book.) If he is the Christian Landes that came to America on the 'Harle' in
1726 (20 years old) then he was born about 1706. ...

Ruth, the lady at the library was born in the very area where you now are ...
She also suggested that I check other towns in Baden but that would take
forever as difficult as the old German script is to read. ..."

[Veda also attached a copy of the "SLC Microfiche Index" for the records of
the "Evangelische Kirche Eppingen (Kr. Heidelberg)", which means the
Protestant Church of Eppingen (Kreis Heidelberg).

>From Veda to me, Jan. 31, 1985: "... I may write Friedrich Wollmershauer
later in the year to see how the 1744 list of Oaths of Allegiance for
Wuttemberg is coming along. He said it should be finished by '86. ..."

Sue Tilleman
Live Oak, TX (suburban San Antonio)

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