Zillier or Zillyer Genealogy in Halberstadt region

[FlyingMole]

I am a descendant of Carl Zillier who emigrated from the Halberstadt area to the US around 1848. His father was Andreas Zillier, and his father was Johann David Zillier, sometimes spelled Zilliger or Zillyer. Does anyone on this board know of the ancestry of the Zillier, Zilliger or Zillyer family earlier than Johann David? I believe he was Lutheran rather than Catholic if that is any help. Also, what resources are there for tracing his ancestry?

[Gastonian]

Hello:

Welcome to our forum! Just so you know, it is considered polite here to say hello, please, and thank you. It would also be helpful to provide some information in German, as not everyone here is able to read English.

You will note that the parents Andreas Zillier and Julia nee Franke were buried in Calvary Catholic Cemetery in Sheboygan (see https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/...ndreas_zillier) and thus indeed were Catholic rather than Lutheran.

At familysearch.org their marriage record of 11 Jan 1824 is linked (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:6Z9Q-R5XC). The transcription at familysearch states that the marriage took place in Adersleben; unfortunately, as is the case with many familysearch records, this is an incorrect localization, and the marriage actually took place in Badersleben (about 10 miles northwest of Halberstadt). You can see a scan of the actual marriage entry here: https://data.matricula-online.eu/en/...ul/04-04/?pg=6 (third entry from top). That this is the correct couple is shown by the fact that the age given for Julia Franke (25 years, 13 days) calculates to a birth on 29 Dec 1798, very close to the 28 Dec 1798 given on her gravemarker; the age given for Andreas (25 years, 10 months, 20 days) calculates to a birth around 21 Feb 1798, two months off from the 21 Apr 1798 given on his gravemarker.

Church books for Badersleben and surrounding parishes are available for free and without registration at Matricula, the online repository for German Catholic churchbooks. These are, however, not digitally indexed, so you cannot do a simple search for a family name like you can at familysearch.org or ancestry.com. But if you can read German and are diligent and persistent, you should with luck be able to trace the ancestry of this couple in the church books back to the mid-1600s by using the information in the marriage entries to look for baptismal entries, and then looking for the marriage entries of the parents listed in the baptismal entries.

Regards

--Carl-Henry

[Gastonian]

Hallo allerseits:

Gesucht werden hier die Vorfahren des Carl Zillier, geboren am 18.04.1838 in Halberstadt, der 1849 mit seiner Familie nach Wisconsin in Amerika auswanderte. Seine Eltern waren Andreas Zillier (*21.04.1798 laut Grabstein) und Julia geb. Franke (*28.12.1798 laut Grabstein). Die Eltern wurden auf einem katholischen Friedhof begraben. Deren Heirat war am 11.01.1824 in Badersleben, etwa 15 km NW von Halberstadt (https://data.matricula-online.eu/en/...ul/04-04/?pg=6).

Hat jemand hier schon die Vorfahren Zillier/Franke erforscht?

VG

--Carl-Henry

[Gastonian]

Hello:

But if you can read German and are diligent and persistent, you should with luck be able to trace the ancestry of this couple in the church books back to the mid-1600s by using the information in the marriage entries to look for baptismal entries, and then looking for the marriage entries of the parents listed in the baptismal entries.

As it turns out, Julia Franke was indeed baptised as a Catholic, but Andreas Zillier (who according to his marriage entry was from Dardesheim, about 2.5 miles west of Badersleben) was baptised Lutheran. The Lutheran churchbooks for this area are available at archion.de, which is a pay site (19.99 Euros for one month's access) operated by the Protestant Church of Germany. For your information, I am attaching the baptismal entry for Heinrich Andreas Zillier, born 21 April 1798 (so the age at marriage was miscalculated in the Badersleben marriage entry).

Regards

--Carl-Henry