My Dear Hasselbacher Cousins.
A Happy New Year to all of you. (I no longer know whether to celebrate or bemoan the passage of another year.) I feel I own you an apology for not having added more Hasselbacher family material to the site these past few months; not even records and stories I already have. Fortunately a couple of you have taken up some of the slack and allowed me to post information of yours, an opportunity I heartily encourage.
In truth, I have still been busy in my new found advocation of tracing family roots. I was giving some equal time to the family of my mother. Indeed, the fruits of that effort are available to you elsewhere on this site. (Look at the link on the home page: “Peter’s Other Family”) To the extent this work helped me learn more about deciphering old church records, discovering new lines of investigation, and the role of serendipity in such efforts, you may find the story of interest.
I had almost given up hope of finding out more about the Eckers (and Insels). Their comings to America were my “brick walls.” I like to think however that the skills I had developed learning about the Hasselbachers carried over to my other family. For the Eckers at least, I found out where in Germany they came from, This presented me my first occasion to use the extensive microfilmed records accumulated by the Church of Latter-Day Saints which took me back into the 17th century once again. In the comfort and hospitality of their Family History Center, I was able to do in three months here in Louisville what it took me three years and three trips to Germany to do with the Hasselbachers. I also learned how to begin to use some of the hard-copy American archives such as the National Archives, and the Library of Congress in Washington, and the New York City Archives. (There is only so much you can do on the internet!) I am now in hopes that my expanded experiences will now cary over to a renewed and refreshed Hasselbacher effort.
For the time being, I will continue to add original documents to the site. I am still trying to learn the best format to use. Take a look at what I have done with my Eckers and tell me what you think. If you can point me to other formats folks have used to present such old records, please do so.
Best regards for a rewarding 2008 for all the Hasselbachers, and for all the rest of us. We are all related!
Peter
Jan 1, 2008