2012 March 22 - Down the Rabbit Hole

Aldo Francis Coons
Grandfather (Mother's Father)

Trupbach, Germany

I’ve missed a couple of days of blogging.  However I have a very good explanation; I’ve fallen down the rabbit hole just like Alice.  I’ve been on Ancestry.com finding new family members.  One of the most interesting things that I’ve discovered on my mother’s father’s side of the family (Coons) is that when I get to a certain time in history, no matter which branch I follow, they all end up in the same general area of Prussia (now Germany).  I'm now working on my ninth great grandfather Johannes Kuntze born in 1640 in Siegen-Wittgenstein, Nordrhein-Westfalen, Prussia and his wife, Elsa Elizabeth Schuster born in 1612.   
Ella found this information online (follow the link for more information)
From Trupbach To The USA, by Dieter Ohrendorf with English Translation by Rudolph Schneider. CD Rom Genealogies of the immigrant families of Trupbach, Germany. Many of the First Colony families from Siegen were related to the Heimbachs. Ohrendorf gives the history of these families and the town of Trupbach. Families include Heimbach, Rector, Fishback, Holtzclaw, Utterback, Young, and Nay.

The reason this is interesting to me is; I find, Heimbach, Fishbach, Holtzclaw and Utterbach in my linage. 
I still have one branch from one of my grandfather’s grandmothers that I need to follow.  However, it appears that one leads into England and Wales. Eventually, I'll start going further down my mother's mother's line.

I've reached the expected roadblock on tracing my father's father (grandma and he were not married).  However, I've also not been able to get past my father's stepfather, Robert D. Williams, either.  Records show that he had parents (duh) but I can't find their names or birthdates anywhere.

More to come on this later.