My German ancestry can be traced back to a town named Bahlingen in the southwest corner of Germany, in the region known as the Black Forest, or Schwarzwald, about 12 miles north of the city of Freiburg. The full name of this town of about 4000 people is Bahlingen am Kaiserstuhl, meaning that the town lies at the foot of a volcanic formation named the Kaiserstuhl (the Emperor's Chair).

When my Adler ancestors emigrated from Bahlingen, Germany was not a country but a confederation of independent states. Bahlingen was in the state of Baden, a monarchy ruled by Grand Duke Leopold. 

The surname Adler is German for "eagle." The eagle has been a popular symbol for centuries. It was used on standards that were carried into battle by Roman legions, and later as the symbol of the Holy Roman Empire. It is on the coats of arms and flags of many countries today, including Germany. The eagle was also the symbol of Saint John.

Perhaps in medieval Bahlingen there was a house with an eagle painted over the door, and the family living in that house came to be known as the Adler family.

Martin Adler 1778-1848

My great great great grandfather Martin Adler came from Bahlingen. He comes from a line of Adlers in Bahlingen that appears to go back at least six generations. Martin was born on September 12, 1778, and baptized the following day in the Protestant Church. On January 30, 1816, at the age of 37, he married Anne Marie Fohr. They had three boys: George in 1816, John in 1818, and Leonard in 1826.

In 1832 the entire family emigrated to America--arriving in Boston. Martin was 54, Anne Marie 43, George Martin 16, John 14, and Leonard 6. In Boston, Martin pursued his trade as a blacksmith. Four years after their arrival, Anne Marie gave birth to another son, William, at the age of 47, and then died of consumption five years later. When Martin died in 1848 he left his estate to be used for the care of William, then 12 years old; the three older sons received just a symbolic shilling each, according to Martin's will.

Like their father, Martin's sons all took up skilled trades: George as a nailmaker, John as a cabinet maker, Leonard as a shoemaker who eventually opened a shoe store in Hyde Park, and later William as a cigar maker. Perhaps George and John learned their trades in Bahlingen.

John Adler 1818-1894

John Adler, my great great grandfather, was born in Bahlingen on November 22, 1818, and emigrated with his family to Boston in 1832 at the age of 14. In 1848 at age 30, he married Elizabeth Leonard, also the child of a German immigrant and blacksmith. (However, Elizabeth was born in Switzerland and her mother was Swiss.)