Photoessay #2924 - Fourth Cousins Lost

I dangled the family tree problem in front of my brother Charlie and he bit.  Together, we worked on the problem of Maier (Morris) Baumann's family relationship with Hanna Baumann.  Were they related?

After the dust had cleared, he and I determined that our mother, Claire Baumann Ginsburgh, was fourth cousins with Hanna Baumann.

They shared the same great great great grandparents, Loeb Baumann and Kela Dreyfus.

I don't have dates on them but born around 1750.

Charl and I did this by brute force using two large family trees we found on Ancestry.  The Feibelman Family and the Schmeiheim family tree.  They're both large 1200 names and overlap but have different people.  It doesn't look like they derived from each other.  Schmeiheim is the village where Morris Baumann was from.  In Baden in southwest Germany very near the French border.  Think Black Forest.

Fortunate for us, the line is all patrilineal with the same last name.  No idea why we lucked out on that.  The names (Maier, Isaac, Wolf) repeat endlessly.

We used the pedigree view, looking at each one's direct ancestors.

One for Hanna Baumann (1934-1939)
Another for Morris Baumann (1857-1937)

Searching for a common ancestor. Which we found.

For Hanna:

1.     Hanna Baumann (1934-1939)

2.     Karl Baumann (1891-1939)

3.     Abraham Baumann (1867 -?)

4.     Kallmann Baumann (1822-1880)

5.     Wolf Baumann (1779-1833)

6.     Loeb Baumann unknown

 

For Morris (going back to my mother's generation)

a

1.     Claire Baumann (1924-2010)

2.     Irwin Samuel Baumann (1891-1973)

3.     Morris Baumann (1857-1937)

4.     Isaak Baumann (1802-1874)

5.     Maier Baumann  (1770 1848)     

6.     Loeb Baumann unknown 

Loeb Baumann also showed as Lob Baumann and as Loeb Maier Baumann.

If you match the generations, they match quite well. Hanna was the same generation as my mother.  Their birthdates are only 10 years apart.  Their fathers were born the exact same year.  Hanna died at the age of 5 with her mother and father allegedly shot by the Nazis..  Claire lived safely and affluently in America and died at age 85.

They shared the same great great great grandfather, thus they are fourth cousins. One cousin in America, the other lost.  And her descendants lost.

Are these family trees correct?  With citation?  We don't know.  But it makes sense.

For me, this is the first link to a family member killed by the Nazi Holocaust.

Picture of Schmeiheim Jewish cemetery.  I can feel it calling.