The Wellers, Buhlers and Krapfs

The neat thing about looking into your family is seeing where they come from and with that, understand how marriages took place. The towns of Adelberg, Baiereck, Schlicten, and Oberberken are all within a few miles from each other and are situated in the hills. It would take no more than three hours to get from the extreme sites. These four towns are where the Wellers, Krapfs and Buhlers came from. My great great grandmother, Caroline Arnold, was born in Indiana in 1859. Her parents were John Arnold and Maria Ursula Weller, both born in Germany. Maria was born in 1838 in the small town of Adelberg in the German state of Baden-Wurttemburg. Her parents were Johann Georg Weller and Juliana Buhler. They married in Adelberg in 1824. Juliana died there in 1840 when Maria was only two. Sometime later, Johann took his family to America and died there in 1879. As such, our first stop was Adelberg to see what we could find. Since Adelberg, Baiereck, Schlicten, and Oberberken are all very small towns, they have a circuit rider priest, someone who comes in to conduct service on Sundays (sometimes select Sundays only) and only comes in once a week for two hours to service the community. Otherwise, the churches are closed. Unfortunately for all the villages, we hit the priests off days. I should also mention at this point that all of these churches are Evangelische, or Lutheran. However, in Adelberg we had a stroke of luck. As we were standing outside copying down the church's email address, website and name of priest, a woman came up on a bicycle and parked it in front of the church. She came over to us and asked who we were and what we were doing here. We explained and she asked if we would like to see the inside of the church. She was a secretary or caretaker of the church, perhaps both. She let us in and then gave us a tour, explaining the history. The church was founded in the 1500s and rebuilt in the 1700s. In the 1930's the interior of the church was slightly remodeled although the priest's pulpit, altar and loft area remained untouched. The altar was actually from the Kloster (monastery) across the way (you could easily walk to it), dating back to the 1600s. Our guide asked about the families we were looking into, and when I told her, her eyes lit up and she said those names (Weller, Buhler and Krapf) are common in the area so we were in the right place. Unfortunately, while there is a parish register of marriages, baptisms and funerals, it is old and people are rarely allowed to see it. However, she suggested we contact the priest and see if he can help. It is clear at least that my ancestors probably attended this church, so it was very cool to be able to go inside. One thing we have noticed with the cemeteries in Norway and Germany is that there are no old graves as in pre-1920. We asked our guide if Adelberg had any old graves and she suggested we go to the Kloster as there was an older cemetery there. We thanked her and first went behind the church to the cemetery. Again, no "old" graves but the name Weller did pop up a few times, undoubtedly distant cousins as the villages are VERY small. We went across to the Kloster but the oldest grave there was 1850,  nothing earlier. It was also the only one. It was interesting to tour the Kloster area as it dates back to the Middle Ages and had both a Catholic and Lutheran churches. It is no longer in use.

Adelberg's Evangelische Kirche

Inside the church that Johann Weller and Juliana Buhler were married and Maria Ursula Weller was baptized.

                Adelberg church

                Adelberg church

       Entrance to the Adelberg Kloster.

Adelberg Kloster (church is the Catholic Church).

Oberberken is tiny. Again, the church is so small that it is closed most of the time and has a circuit rider priest. The cemetery did not provide any clues either as all the graves were new. Oberberken is where Juliana Buhler was born in 1799, daughter of Johann Georg Buhler and Anna Maria Bader. So we moved onto Schlicten. Again, same situation. The church was more like a chapel, built in the 1469 and rebuilt in the 1700s, so it was around 300 years old. It had 3 pews on each side. That should give you an idea of the village size. In the 1600s, the duke of Wurttemburg took over the land that included Schlicten and turned it into a special forest reserve. Schlicten is where Johann Georg Weller's father, Leonhard Weller, was born in 1766, son of Leonhard Weller and Anna Maria Weinhardt. He moved down south to Baiereck where he married his wife, Maria Ursula Krapf.

Schlicten church, dating over 300 years.

Our next stop was Baiereck. Again, same experience with the church and cemetery. However, in the cemetery we found an over abundance of Krapfs which was very exciting. As mentioned, Johann Georg Weller's father moved to Baiereck and married Maria Ursula Krapf. Johann was born there as a result. Maria Ursula Krapf was also born in Baiereck, daughter of Caspar Krapf (born 1726) and Maria Catherine Schule. The fact that this town is minuscule and the cemetery had Krapfs in it, signals that we were indeed in the right place and these people were undoubtedly distant cousins. Many had fought in WWI and WWII and were killed. 

Memorial at the Baiereck Evangelishe Kirche to those who were killed in the two world wars. Krapfs killed in WWI: Robert Krapf, Friedrich Krapf and Adolf Krapf. Krapfs killed in WWII: Wihelm Krapf, Eugen Krapf and one Krapf was listed as missing (his name was behind the plant, can't remember what it was).