Genealogies of families that immigrated to Sauk County, Wisconsin, from Bavaria, Germany. The collected works of Georg Ederer, Otto Horz, and Hansjörg SchneiderAuthors of the DVD: Debra A. Blau and Kenneth L. Kraemer. Year published: 2011
Ken Kraemer was instrumental in getting the DVD project started and completed; without him, there would be no DVD.
* More about the Ederer section of the DVD can be found in the folder: _02_Georg_Ederer_pedigrees
The Ederer section of the DVD consists of only a fraction (around 1/10th) of Georg Ederer's personal archive. His work included handwritten and typed pedigrees, notes, items collected from other researchers, and large scrolls of genealogy charts. The pedigrees and other material that were selected for scanning for the DVD project was up to the discretion of Georg Ederer along with Christa and Willi Senft who scanned the pages in their free time. They concentrated on family trees of immigrants to Plain. The rest of his collection was not scanned - such as many of Ederer's own personal family pedigrees as well as German families having no connections to Plain. After Georg's death in 2014, his entire collection was inherited by a relative. The DVD authors have no way of knowing whether the relative will make Georg's research available.
See Tribute to Georg Ederer who died on March 17, 2014: https://oldfranklintownshiphistoricalsociety.weebly.com/georg-ederer.html
Over the decades, many people from all areas of America (including descendants of those who did not settle in the Plain, WI, area) contacted Georg Ederer to ask for his help to find their ancestors. We, also, asked him for help. He never charged for his time and was pleased to help. We, along with the others, sent him names and dates in the hopes it would help explain the families we were researching. Georg added this "American info" to his charts after he researched in church books to find the "German info." Besides painstakingly handwriting the pedigrees (often rewritten many times, then later updated), Georg also used a typewriter and some type of large machine to make the very large scrolls. He was very proud to present his scrolls as gifts when visiting in Plain and to visitors to his home outside Waldmuenchen.
In the Ederer folder on the DVD, you will see some scans from American researchers who did not necessarily include their own name on their charts/documents/family group sheets/etc. The info was most likely sent to Georg Ederer along with their letter to him at the time they requested help to find their ancestor's names. It's possible that letters from Americans that accompanied their charts were not scanned in the scanning project; thus, we don't know where the charts originated. An example of this is file name: hetzl_andreas_descendants_01.jpg. This is the first of 3 pages of "Descendants of Andreas Hetzl" which looks like the work of researcher and author Doris Hetzel Danelski, but her name is not listed anywhere on the 3 pages. Ederer's handwritten charts for this family (see file: hetzl_liegl_1993_VER1_01.jpg) shows he found records in the parish of Ast church books. So in this case, it's not clear if Doris used research by Georg to write her story, or if Georg used data from Doris' story to write his charts. Since the data is regarding people born in Germany, we can only assume the research originated from Ederer. Look at the file hetzl_liegl_descendants_01.jpg which is a page titled "HETZL - Spielberg Nro. 19" and refers to the "Handbook Pfarrei Ast and Archives in Regensburg." We assume it was Ederer who did the research from the Ast books and the Regensburg archive. The next jpeg has a footnote explaining that Celeste Hayes visited Ederer who helped her discover ancestors. Though these stories were written by other researchers, the content can be attributed to Georg Ederer since it was he who did the research in archives.
As a guideline, if you see a story written in English, Georg Ederer did not write it since he did not normally communicate in English. There are exceptions. Once in awhile he copied English words from info sent to him (example: paulus_tombstones_wisconsin.jpg); this page is Ederer's handwriting of Paulus burial info that he transcribed from Vol. 6 of Myrtle Cushing's book, Cemetery Inscriptions of Sauk County, Wisconsin. Ederer noted at the top that he received the book from Doris Danelski.
Since American data was not found by Georg Ederer in German archives, that information is known as a "derivative source" (extracted, transcribed or otherwise derived from unknown sources). Georg had no way to double check these American sources. We would like to caution readers that errors have occurred in American research and these errors were repeated in the Ederer charts. Please double check any American sources with parish records, courthouse records, census records, etc., to be sure the information is as accurate as possible. Beyond mistakes by the researchers themselves, priests and court house workers have been known to make mistakes, and census records are also not 100% correct.
On the DVD you may find several different versions of family trees created by Georg Ederer. Please read and study them all.
To be sure the information found on the DVD is accurate, we encourage you to order a copy of the original document (baptism, marriage, death record) from the Bischöfliches Zentralarchiv at St. Petersweg 11-13, in Regensburg, Germany, zip 93047. Have the documents transcribed and translated to English. Of course, there will be a fee for ordering copies and transcriptions/translations. Using the data from Georg Ederer's pedigrees and from charts from Americans, the hard work is already done, which makes ordering original documents easy.
Press release in October 2011:
NEW GENEALOGY RESOURCE AVAILABLE FOR SAUK COUNTY FAMILIES
Announced by the Old Franklin Township Historical Society in Plain, Wisconsin
The Old Franklin Township Historical Society (OFTHS) of Plain announced a new genealogy resource available on DVD, entitled, "Genealogies of Families that Immigrated to Sauk County, Wisconsin from Bavaria, Germany: the collected works of Georg Ederer, Otto Horz, and Hansjoerg Schneider." The works contain information about the ancestors and early settlers of many Plain and Spring Green area families who emigrated from villages in and around the county of Waldmuenchen in Bavaria, Germany.
Gene Hausner, Village President of Spring Green, and President of OFTHS, said, "OFTHS is proud to be part of this important project. It will mean a lot to families in Sauk County and elsewhere. Hopefully, it will also bring family history and other local history projects into our schools. We are grateful to the many people who contributed to creating this important community resource."
The DVD, containing a large collection of genealogy material, marks the culmination of several years of work by a team of people in the United States and Germany.
The centerpiece of the DVD collection are family pedigrees created by Georg Ederer from Waldmuenchen. These pedigrees, also known as family trees, typically cover an entire Bavarian family line, including people born in America. Ederer, who researches in parish archives in Bavaria, Germany, and in the Czech Republic, has been working on family pedigrees for over thirty years. Ederer's work has been indexed and contains over 18,000 entries. The work of scanning these pedigrees was done by Waldmünchen residents, Willi and Christa Senft.
Also included is the 1939 doctoral dissertation by Otto Horz at the University of Marburg in Germany. Horz' dissertation on the subject of emigration contains over 300 pages and includes a listing of over 400 individuals which shows the emigrant's name, home town in Germany, and the date and reason for emigration. Horz' work has been indexed and includes over 3,800 entries.
Another collection on the DVD is the emigration works of Hansjoerg Schneider, a local historian from Waldmuenchen, Bavaria. Included is an emigration booklet written in 1992, a 98-page research essay which expands on the work of Otto Horz, and a six-page essay about emigrants written in 2010.
A miscellaneous section on the DVD includes indexes of cemetery grave markers of the Plain area (including Spring Green and Loreto), and indexes of Joseph Nachreiner's funeral ledgers covering the years 1903 through 1931. These indexes were created by Gary Haas of Milwaukee, Wisconsin. A translation of statistics of residents from villages in and around the county of Waldmuenchen in the year 1867 was created by Georg Blau of Hoechstaedt-Donau, Bavaria, Germany.
The idea to produce the DVD came from Ken Kraemer, a native of Plain and a professor in the business school at the University of California in Irvine, California.
Debbie Blau, a Wisconsin native with ancestral roots in the Plain/Spring Green area, organized the files on the DVD, indexed the Ederer pedigrees, and along with Ken, wrote the introduction booklet. The booklet describes in detail how the project began and includes information on how to use the DVD.
The cost of production was paid for by a grant from the Sauk County UW Extension Arts and Culture Committee, and donations from Kraemer Brothers, LLC, Norine F. Kraemer, and Gary Haas. A San Diego company produced the DVDs.
To learn more about the DVD and how to use it for your genealogy research, help is available at the Plain History Genealogy Group (PHGG) meetings held at the Kraemer Library in Plain. The meetings, led by Gary Haas, are open to the public, and are held every other month on the second Saturday from 9:30 am to noon. More information about genealogy meetings can be found at Gary's PHGG website: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/0B2fpkb2DGhQ7R1poUUF5VUl6SEE [UPDATE: PHGG meetings are online from 10 am-noon and no longer meet at the library in Plain.]
The Old Franklin Township Historical Society is handling the distribution, marketing, and sales of the DVD. For more information you can visit the OFTHS website http://www.townoffranklinhistoricalsociety.com [new site 5/1/2017 http://oldfranklintownshiphistoricalsociety.weebly.com/merchandise.html] or contact them by email at plainofths@gmail.com. The DVDs are now available for sale through the Old Franklin Township Historical Society and the Kraemer Library and Community Center in Plain, Wisconsin. The cost is $20, which includes shipping and handling. Profits from DVD sales will go the Old Franklin Township Historical Society (OFTHS) for historical preservation and enhancement of family history projects. To order, please contact the OFTHS at P.O. Box 218, Plain, Wisconsin 53577.
DVD announcements in newspapers
Home News (Spring Green, Wisconsin), September 7, 2011, page 14
Home News (Spring Green, Wisconsin), October 5, 2011, page 8
Reedsburg Times Press (Reedsburg, Wisconsin), October 15, 2011
Baraboo News Republic (Baraboo, Wisconsin), October 17, 2011
Sauk Prairie Eagle (Wisconsin), October 19, 2011
Reedsburg Independent (Reedsburg, Wisconsin), October 27, 2011
Richland Observer (Richland Center, Wisconsin), October 27, 2011
Home News (Spring Green, Wisconsin), November 2, 2011, page 9, page 14
Bayerwald Echo (Cham, Bavaria, Germany), December 1, 2011, page 35
Chamer Zeitung (Cham, Bavaria, Germany), December 1, 2011, page 38
Bayerwald Echo (Cham, Bavaria, Germany), December 3, 2011, page 37
Bayerwald Echo (Cham, Bavaria, Germany), December 5, 2011, page 36
Bayerwald Echo (Cham, Bavaria, Germany), December 7, 2011, page 34
Bayerwald Echo (Cham, Bavaria, Germany), December 10, 2011, page 38
Voice of the River Valley (Lone Rock, Wisconsin), December 2011, page 10
Bayerwald Echo (Cham, Bavaria, Germany), December 21, 2011, page 32
Home News (Spring Green, Wisconsin), January 11, 2012, page 11
Home News (Spring Green, Wisconsin), February 1, 2012, page 6
Home News (Spring Green, Wisconsin), March 28, 2012, page 9
Home News (Spring Green, Wisconsin), April 4, 2012, page 6
Home News (Spring Green, Wisconsin), April 11, 2012, page 9, page 10
Home News (Spring Green, Wisconsin), April 18, 2012, page 8
Home News (Spring Green, Wisconsin), April 25, 2012, page 10
Chamer Zeitung (Cham, Bavaria, Germany), October 17, 2012, page 15 and 35 - official presentation of the DVD to the city of Waldmuenchen
Bayerwald Echo (Cham, Bavaria, Germany), October 19, 2012, page 33 - official presentation of the DVD to the city of Waldmuenchen
Home News (Spring Green, Wisconsin), April 30, 2014, page 10 (Tribute to Georg Ederer who died on March 17, 2014)
Bayerwald Echo (Cham, Bavaria, Germany), August 31, 2014. Online (ENGLISH translation is here)
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Radio interviews
WRCO AM 1450 & FM 100.9 (Richland Center, Wisconsin), December 13, 2011.
Ron Fruit of The Morning Show interviewed Eugene Hausner and Mary Jayne Liegel about the DVD. The 40-minute interview was available for downloading from the WRCO website.
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DVD announced in newsletters
PHGG (Plain History Genealogy Group, Plain, Wisconsin), August 2011 issue, page 1.
PHGG (Plain History Genealogy Group, Plain, Wisconsin), October 2011 issue, page 1.
OFTHS (Old Franklin Township Historical Society, Plain, Wisconsin), December 2011 issue, page 1.
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DVD donated to historical societies and libraries
Sauk County Historical Society (Baraboo, Wisconsin)
Wisconsin Historical Society (Madison, Wisconsin). The DVD is non-circulating and can only be viewed at the library. Or, you can request the library to find material on the DVD, they will print the material and mail/email information to you for a fee. Call number F587 S2 B52 2011.
Staatsarchiv Amberg, Archivstr. 3, 92224 Amberg
Bistumsarchiv der Diözese Regensburg, Bischöfliches Zentralarchiv, St. Petersweg 11-13, 93047 Regensburg
Deutsche Nationalbibliothek in Frankfurt , Adickesallee 1, 60322 Frankfurt am Main
Deutsche Nationalbibliothek, Deutscher Platz 1, 04103 Leipzig
Deutsche Zentralstelle für Genealogie in Leipzig, Schongauer Straße 1, 04328 Leipzig
Bayerische Staatsbibliothek München, Ludwigstr. 16, 80539 München
Universitätsbibliothek Regensburg, 93042 Regensburg
Bayerischer Landesverein für Familienkunde e.V. in Augsburg (86660 Tapfheim-Donaumünster)
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (FamilySearch.org) Can be seen using a computer at the Family History Library in Salt Lake City.
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Sales events and demos in Waldmuenchen, Bavaria, Germany
November 29, 2011, the DVD was presented at a meeting with the mayor of Waldmuenchen, Markus Ackermann, and the Waldmuenchen tourist office manager, Tanja Lampl. Demonstrating the DVD were Georg Ederer (author of the pedigrees), and Christa and Willi Senft.
December 3, 2011, DVDs were offered for sale at the Waldmuenchen Christmas Market.
December 12, 2011, a demonstration of the DVD was given by the Senfts to approximately 40 interested people. The meeting was held in the Mehrgenerationenhaus at 7 pm in Waldmuenchen.
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DVD training in Plain, Wisconsin
April 28, 2012, 10 am to noon, at the Kraemer Library & Community Center. Sponsored by the Old Franklin Township Historical Society
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DVD announced in genealogy publications, books, or websites
June 2012: Bayerischer Landesverein für Familienkunde e. V.; Niederbayern, Oberbayern, Oberpfalz, Schwaben
Informationsblatt, Band 6, Nr. 10, Juni 2012, pages 368 and 369.
Bayerischer Landesverein für Familienkunde e. V. website, ca 2012: http://www.blf-online.de/dvd-auswanderer-waldmuenchen-oberpfalz-usa
Auswanderungen aus dem Waldmünchner Bezirksamt. Issue 76 of Familienkundliche Beiträge, Gesellschaft für Familienforschung in der Oberpfalz e.V., 2018. Reprint of the 1992 original booklet by Hansjörg Schneider. Republished in 2018 by Elfriede T. Dirschedl who added additional pages and two pages of memorials for Hansjoerg Schneider. See page 70 which has information about the Ederer/Horz/Schneider DVD.
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Suggestion for how to source the DVD
Footnote: Debra A. Blau and Kenneth L. Kraemer, Genealogies of families that immigrated to Sauk County, Wisconsin, from Bavaria, Germany: The collected works of Georg Ederer, Otto Horz, and Hansjörg Schneider, DVD (Plain, Wis. (P.O. Box 218, Plain 53577): Old Franklin Township Historical Society, 2011).
Short Footnote: Genealogies of families that immigrated to Sauk County, Wisconsin, from Bavaria, Germany, The collected works of Georg Ederer, Otto Horz, and Hansjörg Schneider.
Bibliography: Debra A. Blau and Kenneth L. Kraemer. Genealogies of families that immigrated to Sauk County, Wisconsin, from Bavaria, Germany: The collected works of Georg Ederer, Otto Horz, and Hansjörg Schneider. DVD. Plain, Wis. (P.O. Box 218, Plain 53577): Old Franklin Township Historical Society, 2011.
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Site updated 16 Jan 2025