The Beringers of Niederwalluf

I was looking at death records for the Beringers in the parish of Rauenthal, in the Rhine region of Germany (LDS microfilm 1272117) the other day. Another eureka moment. For some reason, even though I have gone through death records before, it had not occurred to me that parents would be listed, and therefore I could potentially get back a further generation. But there it all was. And not only parents but the fathers' occupations, and where they lived.

My recent research on the Beringers led to the confirmation that Lorenz Beringer and his wife Maria Eva (generally known as Eva) née Rudolph were the grandparents of my great great grandfather Valtin Beringer. Lorenz Beringer was born in Niederwalluf on 19 June 1769. Lorenz was a miller at the Lochmühle (watermill) in Rauenthal. Lorenz and Eva had some children in Mainz (I don't know why they were in Mainz) and then lived in Rauenthal. Lorenz died in Rauenthal on 14 November 1819, aged 50. The death record shows his parents were Caspar Joseph Beringer and Maria Josepha (unknown maiden name, or maybe Josepha is the maiden name...) of Niederwalluf. I think it does say what Caspar's occupation was, but I can't make out the handwriting.

Eva Beringer died in Schlangenbad on 20 April 1849. She was born on 20 March 1778 in Schierstein to Adam Rudolph and Susanna (unknown maiden name) of Schierstein. Adam was a book binder. There is something written in the Notes column of Maria Eva's death record, but I cannot yet make out what it says, apart from something about her daughter Dorothea Schmitt. I'm going to have to go back and look at that record again to see if I can decipher what it says.

I was quite interested in the Niederwalluf connection with the Beringers. Norbert Michel has done a lot of work on Niederwalluf as shown on his excellent website Rheingau Genealogie (in German). He refers to members of the Beringer family a number of times, and I had always thought there was a good chance that I was related to those Beringers. I now know that at least some of them were my relatives. The Beringers in Niederwalluf were also millers, just like the Beringers from Rauenthal. I have ordered the parish records of Niederwalluf now, so that I can work out the relationships amongst the Beringers Herr Michel mentions.

I've drawn a map below of some of the important places in the Rhine region, to give you an understanding of where everything is and how close it all is. Please note that Wiesbaden and Mainz are large places, and the dots on the maps for them signify the middle point of them, though they themselves occupy a larger area (for instance Schierstein is now part of Wiesbaden). Georgenborn, though not mentioned in this post, is where the Bredels came from - Valtin Beringer's wives, Barbara and Elisabethe Bredel (sisters) were from Georgenborn.

Parish maps and Thomas Huxley

In an attempt to try to solve the issue of Thomas Huxley and Tom Uglys Point/Bridge, I've been looking at old parish maps. I can easily find the land Thomas Huxley Snr (of purported Tom Uglys Point fame) and Thomas Huxley Jnr owned at Lower Portland Head. I helpfully had a description of the location of the land in letters to and from the Colonial Secretary which I read through the other day at the State Records Centre in Kingswood. The land was described as being right at the junction of the Colo and Hawkesbury Rivers, and this is exactly where I found it. Interestingly, right beside these two plots of land is a parcel of land of 70 acres which was owned by one Thomas Jones. "Thomas Jones" was one of Thomas Huxley's aliases... maybe it was also his, although it could have been a completely different person who just happened to be named Thomas Jones. Below is my hand drawn map based on the parish maps.

Over on the other side of Sydney there are no maps of Tom Uglys Point which show land owned by any of Thomas Huxley's aliases. The land the point is on was owned by a Robert Townson, so it doesn't sound like the point was named after him either. It is possible that the available maps do not cover times when Huxley owned land there, or it is possible the whole story is a furphy!

Incidentally, the way I found these maps was through the NSW Department of Lands. First I looked up the parish name using the name search on the Geographical Names Board website - in the case of Lower Portland Head it was "Hawkesbury". Then I looked at the Hawkesbury parish maps using the Parish Map Preservation Project webpage until I found one which had the junction of the Colo and Hawkesbury Rivers, and there was the name Huxley - Bingo!