SLIG Course: German Phase 2 - Dr. Kenneth W. Heger

 From German Girls Genealogy (Teresa Steinkamp McMillin & Debra A. Hoffman):

We are excited that registration for our course, “German Phase 2: Research the Hometown Online,” opens on May 16, 2026. With that date quickly approaching, we want to introduce you to our outstanding faculty.

Dr. Kenneth W. Heger

Kenneth W. Heger is an experienced researcher and lecturer, who has a Ph.D. in history.  He was a senior lecturer in the University of Maryland’s College of Information Studies (the iSchool), until his retirement in 2020. While at Maryland, he lectured and mentored students in the graduate school covering a wide range of topics including archival processing, archival description, and using digitization to facilitate access to records.  Dr. Heger’s duties at the iSchool included being the director of the Archives & Digital Curation specialization in the College, and the director of the digitization lab in the Digital Curation Innovation Center (DCIC).  

 

Dr. Heger was the principal investigator of the Global Journeys, Local Communities Project.  The Project focuses on the period 1860-1914 and uses cultural collections, such as correspondence files, pension files, appeals files, government reports, postcards, etc., to create dynamic datasets, essential for documenting the movement of people, especially Americans traveling abroad and America’s wounded warriors who emigrated after their military service.  Dr. Heger continues to work on the Project.  

 

Prior to joining the faculty at Maryland, Dr. Heger worked at the National Archives and Records Administration for 32 years in a variety of positions, including managing the research facility of the National Archives Building in Washington, D.C.  

 

Dr. Heger has spoken at numerous regional and national conferences; he is a regular instructor at the Genealogical Institute on Federal Records.  Dr. Heger spoke at all three conferences of the International German Genealogical Partnership (IGGP).  His articles have appeared in state and regional genealogical periodicals throughout the country.  Currently, he is president of the Mid-Atlantic Germanic Society (MAGS) and a vice president of the IGGP.

 

In German Phase 2, Ken will teach two sessions:

§  Using the Central File of the Department of State for Family Research, Part 1: Despatches from Foreign Service Posts, 1789-1906: Learn how to find death reports, facts about estate settlement, citizenship status, and other information about people among the despatches from American foreign service posts, including how to access them online.

 

§  Using the Central File of the Department of State for Family Research, Part 2: The Numerical and Minor File, 1916-1910: Learn how to use the Department of State’s early twentieth-century central files to find information on people quickly, easily, and how to use the index and how to access the files online.

 

See this link for details and registration, once available on May 16th.

German Military Record

From German Girls Genealogy (Teresa Steinkamp McMillin & Debra A. Hoffman):

When Teresa and I researched in the Haaptsstaatarchiv in Stuttgart, we found many examples of early extant military records. One such record was the “Gebühr und Zalungs Liste” for the months of September and October in 1800. It was a record of the fees and payments made to members of the Mousquetier Bataillon under General Major von Seeger.

 

The top of the page has the following column headings:

 

 

Underneath these headings are the names of soldiers with the relevant information in each column. Below are the translated column headings:

 

Captain Staff.

Nro.	Names.	Residence.	Officers’ Pay.		Wages and Small Subsistence Allowance		Meat Port.	Bread Port.	Remarks.
			fl.	kr.	fl.	kr.
11	Johann Michael Völker	Wipfra, in Sachsen	--	--	23.	55.	55.	55.	From 1./5. 7ber [September] was sick in the hospital.

fl. = Florin, kr. = Kreuzer

 

This one entry is an example of the information contained in the record. It provides the name, his residence, his pay for September and October 1800, along with the portions of meat and bread he received. It noted that he was sick in the hospital from the 1^st to the 5^th of September and his pay and portions were docked accordingly.

 

Citation: Kriegsrechnungen, 1728–1808, „Gebühr- und Zahlungsliste des Musketierbataillons Generalmajor v. Seeger,“ Bd. 65, p. 3, no. 11, Johann Michael Völker; Hauptstaatsarchiv Stuttgart, Landesarchiv Baden-Württemberg, A32, Bd. 65, http://www.landesarchiv-bw.de/plink/?f=1-930613. 

 

 

Marriage Contract

From German Girls Genealogy (Teresa Steinkamp McMillin & Debra A. Hoffman):

On a recent trip to the Generallandesarchiv in Karlsruhe, we found an example of a marriage contract. These are similar to today’s prenuptial agreements. These particular ones were under the category “Eheberedungen.”

 

Essentially, this one contains two pages and is dated 30 May 1794. It involves a widower, Joseph Anton Dottino, who was had five minor children from his first marriage. He was marrying Helena Hüger. Joseph Anton’s deceased wife and mother of his children was Franziska Braun. The children were represented in this case by their maternal grandfather, Joseph Braun. 

 

There are five sections of this document. The summary of each section follows:

 

§  First, the children were named with their ages: Theresia, 12, Franziska, 10, Katharina, 8, Maria Anna 6, and Magdalena, 2. The five children were to receive 300 florin plus a bed and the associated bedding. If any child should die, the others will received the deceased child’s share.

§  Second, the bride, Helena Hüger, is bringing her parental inheritance to the marriage. She remains entitled to that property, which was not specified.

§  Third, the house owned by the groom, which is encumbered by debt, will be shared jointly by the children from the first and second marriages.

§  Fourth, children from the pending marriage, along with the children from the first marriage and the surviving spouse, will share an equal inheritance.

§  Fifth, the marital bed will remain with the surviving spouse.[1]

This document is not related to either of our families. It was a type of document that so far we have not found for ourselves. It is fun to “adopt” other families momentarily to see their records.

 

 

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[1] Oppenau, Oberkirch Herrschaft, Bistum Straßburg, Eheberedungen, 1794–1800, pp. 3–4, no. 2, Dottino-Hüger; Generallandesarchiv Karlsruhe, 61 Nr. 14082, http://www.landesarchiv-bw.de/plink/?f=4-746258.  

 

Gen 1: Mary Jane Beal - Parentage

What are the origins of Johann Nicholas Biehl?

We continued our Biehl research project with the end goal of identifying the German origins of Johann Nicholas Biehl. I continued research on the first generation, which is Mary Jane Beal. You can find that post here.

 

Parentage of Mary Jane Beal

 

As research is accomplished on an objective, it is helpful to keep a summary of the progress towards answering that objective, especially when it is not straight forward. To that end, the following provides the evidence that supports the hypothesis that Peter and Elizabeth (Painter) Beal are the parents of Mary Jane Beal.

 

Parentage: Summary Comments

·      A 14 January 1850 court record set forth the new route for the West Fork road extension.  This source details that Peter Beal and James Henry live near each other.[1]

·      The James & Mary Henry household was enumerated adjacent to Peter & Elizabeth Beal in 1850. Madison Painter was enumerated 8 households away.[2] This was the only Peter Beal household in1850 in Arkansas.[3]

·      Further supporting the close geographical proximity of James Henry and Peter Beal is the 12 April 1853 court order that appointed James Henry as the overseer of the 4^th district of the West Fork Road “commencing at Madison Panters and terminating at the … Crawford County line, Said Henry was appointed in place of Peter Beal.”[4]

·      Madison “Panter” witnessed the 1854 deed of James & Mary Jane Henry to William Covington.[5]

·      On 2 December 1861, a quitclaim deed was executed by the siblings of John Painter, deceased, conveying their interest in John’s property to William Painter. Peter and Elizabeth Beal and Madison Painter were part of that transaction. Madison Painter was Elizabeth (Painter) Beal’s brother and Mary Jane Beal’s uncle.[6]

·      The James & Mary Henry household was enumerated adjacent to Albert Beal in 1860, who was 27 years old and born in Tennessee.[7] Peter Beal’s household in 1850 contained 18-year-old Albert Beal, born in Tennessee.[8]

 

At this point, the above evidence supports that Peter and Elizabeth (Painter) Beal are the parents of Mary Jane Beal. Next week’s post will start to focus on researching Peter Beal. Research will continue on James Henry, and all his children and updates will be provided for notable finds.

 

Next up: Begin research on Peter Beal.

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[1] Washington County, Arkansas, Court Records, 1835–1878, vol. C, 1848–1856, pp. 86–7, entry for West Fork Road, 14 January   1850; image 71 of 644, DGS no. 7,899,278, item 1, FamilySearch Library, Salt Lake City, Utah.

[2] 1850 U.S. census, Washington County, Arkansas, population schedule, West Fork Township, p. 752 (penned), dwelling 30, family 30, James Henry; digital image, Ancestry (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 30 October 2025).

[3] 1850 U.S. census, Arkansas, population schedule, search for Peter Beal; database, Ancestry (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 22 February 2026). The only result was this household, 1850 U.S. census, Washington County, Arkansas, population schedule, p. 376 (stamped), p. 751 (penned), dwelling 29, family 29, Peter Beal; digital image, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 15 January 2016).

[4] Washington County, Arkansas, Court Records, 1835–1878, vol. C, 1848–1856, p. 390, appointment of overseer, 12 April 1853; image 218 of 644, DGS no. 7899278, item 1, FamilySearch Library, Salt Lake City, Utah.

[5] Washington County, Arkansas, Deeds, Liber I: 521, deed, James Henry et ux to William Covington, 15 January 1855; digital images, FamilySearch(https://www.familysearch.org : accessed 2025), image 289 of 635, DGS no. 8,197,821, item 1; FamilySearch Library, Salt Lake City.

[6] Washington County, Arkansas, Deeds, Liber R: 159–60, quitclaim deed, Sidney Painter et al to William Painter, 24 January 1868; images 319-20 of 540, DGS no. 8,582,402, item 2, FamilySearch Library, Salt Lake City, Utah.

[7] 1860 U.S. census, Benton County, Arkansas, population schedule, Beatie township, Maysville post office, p. 78 (penned), dwelling 491, family 489, James Henry; digital image, Ancestry (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 20 October 2025).

[8] 1850 U.S. census, Washington County, Arkansas, population schedule, p. 376 (stamped), p. 751 (penned), dwelling 29, family 29, Peter Beal; digital image, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 15 January 2016); citing NARA microfilm publication M432, roll 286.

Military Recruitment and Payments

From German Girls Genealogy (Teresa Steinkamp McMillin & Debra A. Hoffman):

 

On a recent trip to the Haupstaatsarchiv in Stuttgart, we found some interesting military-related documents. One of them was a volume of payments made to military personnel in 1804. At the front of the book were Assentscheine [recruitment certificates]. 

 

Assentschein

 

An Assentschein was created for each person who entered the military. It contains some great information about the person. The samples we reviewed have the name and birth place of the soldier, his height, age, marital status, religion, and occupation.[1]

 

Height was measured in Fuß [feet], Zoll [inches], and Strich [parts of an inch]. A Strich is 1/12 of an inch and is a measurement no longer used. Matheus Lindenmeier was recruited 3 March 1804 into the Chur Prinz Batallion. 

 

The full translation follows:

 

Nro. 212                                                                                                                                                              Inf.

  9

fol.

Recruitment Certificate                          32t

 

Neu-Würtembergische Lande.                                             Oberamt   Giengen.

                                                                                                                                                                                    

 

Recruit                Matheus Lindenmeier                                                                      born in

Giengen                                 height    5.  feet,  9. inches, 1. Strich [1/12 of an inch]

18   years old, unmarried Status, Lutheran.  Reli-

gion, by Profession a beer brewer, admitted by Joh.

                                                                        Georg Reute von Giengen.

                  Is fit for military service

 

                                                      T.   tenZ Regl. Chirurg.

                                                                        Nick dte[?]

 

The same is provisioned  ___________ until 3. Merz. and is enlisted for

6  years with a surety of, 50. florin, und 450 fl. Enlistment bonus

into the Bataill. Chur Prinz.    

 

Payment Register 

 

The second half of this document contains a register of payments made to the military personnel for the months of March and April 1804. Presumably the payments were in Florin and Kreuzer, though it does not say. The military personnel were listed in order of rank, with the Gemeine [privates] last.[2]

 

 

Here is a translation of Matheus’s entry.

 

Nro.	Name and Birth place	Wages, Salary and small monthly allowance				Bread portions		Additions and Departures and other observations
		Pro März		Pro April		Pro März	Pro April
109	Private Matheus Lindenmeyer Giengen	2	42	3		27	30

 

Matheus didn’t get paid for the full month of March, since he didn’t get recruited until the third. Those privates who had been present for the full month of March were paid 3 Florin. They apparently did not factor in how many days were in the month, as the payment was the same for March and April.

 

It is interesting to see what the privates were paid versus other personnel. For example, a cadet was paid 8 Florin per month. A Hauptmann [captain] was paid 75 Florin.

 

 

 

 

 

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[1] “Bataillon Chur Printz Zahlungsliste pro Martio et Aprile 1804, » nr. 1014, fol. 644, Assentschein no. 212, Matheus Lindenmeier ; Haupstaastarchiv Stuttgart, A32-Bd 63. 

[2] “Bataillon Chur Printz Zahlungsliste pro Martio et Aprile 1804, » nr. 1014, fol. 644, Zahlungsliste, p. 33, no. 109, Matheus Lindenmeier ; Haupstaastarchiv Stuttgart, A32-Bd 63.