My Stange Ancestors
Edward Stange (on left) with neighbor children.
On my Stange line, my immigrant ancestors were Christian "Carl" Friedrich Gottfried Stange (I can't believe how many names the Germans gave their children) and Wilhemina Walk). Once they immigrated to America, I noticed most of the families limited their children's names to a first name and middle name. I didn't know much about my Stange ancestors, except that Carl and Wilhemina immigrated to America with their four young children, Bertha (7), Herman - my great-grandfather (5), Gustav (3), and Wilhem (9 months) from Prussia.
On a research trip with my two children (at that time they were 6 and 8) to Forest Park, IL (where the Stange's settled in America), I stumbled across the fact that Carl and Wilhemina were members of St. John's Missouri Synod Lutheran Church. I had scoured the local cemeteries for Herman's parents to no avail. The only cemetery I hadn't checked was Concordia. To be buried at Concordia you had to be a member of one of the area's Missouri Synod congregations, and as far as I knew, all my Stanges were members of one of the two Evangelical Lutheran Churches (ELCA) in Forest Park. After checking all the other cemeteries, my two children and I headed to Concordia and there they were. This led us to the church records at St. John's and that was where the trail ended. The information at St. John's did not get me any closer to where in Germany my ancestors came from.
In 2012, I joined a group of researchers with the Ancestor Seekers in Salt Lake City at the Family History Library. With the Ancestor Seekers, part of the cost included working with a professional genealogist, specializing in your area of research. I spent most of my time in the basement (where the German records are held). Using the tips I learned, I quickly located the village of the Stange family's origin - Milow, Brandenburg, Germany. I found the church records from the Milow church and found Carl's birth record, as well as other ancestors. View a map of Milow, Germany here.
On a research trip with my two children (at that time they were 6 and 8) to Forest Park, IL (where the Stange's settled in America), I stumbled across the fact that Carl and Wilhemina were members of St. John's Missouri Synod Lutheran Church. I had scoured the local cemeteries for Herman's parents to no avail. The only cemetery I hadn't checked was Concordia. To be buried at Concordia you had to be a member of one of the area's Missouri Synod congregations, and as far as I knew, all my Stanges were members of one of the two Evangelical Lutheran Churches (ELCA) in Forest Park. After checking all the other cemeteries, my two children and I headed to Concordia and there they were. This led us to the church records at St. John's and that was where the trail ended. The information at St. John's did not get me any closer to where in Germany my ancestors came from.
In 2012, I joined a group of researchers with the Ancestor Seekers in Salt Lake City at the Family History Library. With the Ancestor Seekers, part of the cost included working with a professional genealogist, specializing in your area of research. I spent most of my time in the basement (where the German records are held). Using the tips I learned, I quickly located the village of the Stange family's origin - Milow, Brandenburg, Germany. I found the church records from the Milow church and found Carl's birth record, as well as other ancestors. View a map of Milow, Germany here.