Wurmlingen, Wurttemburg, Germany

[bolts99]

It's been a while since I have posted on here. I am trying to locate more information about my 4x's great grandfather Nicholas Protrey. His last name could be spelt several different ways. Portia, portra, and portry. But here is the kicker, he was born on November 9 1795 in Wurmlingen, Rottenberg, Baden-Wurttemburg, Germany. His mother's name is Katharina Merk, per his birth record. His birth record states his last name as Merk instead of Portrey, no father is listed since his mom can't remember the guy who got her pregnant. The marriage record to his wife Walburga Scheuble, in June 22 1830, states his father's last name as mentioned of Portrey and he was a frenchman of what his mother remembers. What I am trying to find out is more information on his mother. All I can assume right now is that she was born in the same village as her son, but the way her last name is spelled could be Meck, Merk, Mech, Merh.

Any suggestions on where to look next. There is no family book done up for that village as of yet to look for more information on her family.

[HughC]

It's called Württemberg.  By "last name" you presumably mean surname.
Sorry I can't help with your query.

[Karen McDonald]

Hi,

I was just about to write what Hugh wrote, but he beat me to it. 

You have to be a wee bit careful with spellings, otherwise the search engines won't find what you are looking for.

As Hugh mentioned, it is Württemberg (with an Umlaut). If your computer won't let you type an Umlaut, then type "ue" instead of "ü" (Wuerttemberg).

Also, I think the town should be Rottenburg, not Rottenberg.
(In case you are not familiar with German town names, there is a big difference between -burg and -berg. A Burg is a castle and a Berg is a mountain.) 
And there are indeed towns with the same first part of the name but with -burg or -berg on the end which have nothing to do with each other and are a long way apart, e.g. Rothenburg and Rothenberg.

Also, do you have other documentation in which Katharina's surname is written differently? You say it could be written as Meck, Merk, Mech, Merh (whereby at least Merh is highly unlikely as a German name). What do you have that supports this?

Anyway, I didn't want to give you a German lesson  , but just wanted to point out that it is important to make sure the spelling is correct. 

I am a little bit confused about your information. You say that Nicholas' mum didn't know who got her pregnant, and you also state that his mum vaguely remembers the father being a Frenchman. Where do you have this info from? Any additional info you have might help us to help you find out more about Nicholas.

Thanks,
Karen 

[bolts99]

Here is the wedding entry. 

[bolts99]

Here is his birth record from 1795

[bolts99]

I am sorry for the mispellings but when I type of information it auto corrects items and I can't get the information switched back.

[Karen McDonald]

Hi bolts,

Thanks for the images. I am at work at the mo, so just a quick reply for now. And maybe the experts will give you better answers later. 

Firstly, I can't see Portrey/Protrey (you used both spellings) in the docs. To me it looks like Portre in the wedding entry, possibly with an accent over the "e".

Secondly, his name is actually written Nicholaus.

Also in the wedding entry, the mother's surname looks as though it ends with a "t" as opposed to a "k". It could be it was just misheard, though.

Another point is that it looks as though there is something after the father's surname: It looks to me as though he had used a different surname (previously). But I can't make out the name (I think it starts with a "G" and ends in "oß") or what is written between the two words (I wondered whether it was nee but it doesn't look quite right).

And finally (for now  ), in the birth record (which states that he was illegitimate) the mother's name looks as though it is split over 2 lines. It looks more like Merkin or something along those lines.

I'll try and get back to this again later, but hopefully some of the more knowledgeable folk on here will take a look in the meantime.

[Zefiro]

I think his father is Fortri, not Portri. French variants of this name are Fortrie, Fortrye.

Wedding
Nikolaus Fortri
father: Fortri ein franzos (Fortri, a frenchman)
mother: Katarina Merk
&
Walburg Scheuble
father: Nikolaus Scheuble
Katarina Kecht..

Birth
Nikolaus: uneheliches Söhnlein des N.N. (illegitimate little son of an unknown man). Father supposedly a Frenchman (Vater vorgeblich ein Franzos)

Mother: Katharina Merk (it's written Merkin, but sometimes they added -in to the surname of the wifes, a fact you'd better know when searching for German (or Austrian) ancestors!)

[Karen McDonald]

Mother: Katharina Merk (it's written Merkin, but sometimes they added -in to the surname of the wifes, a fact you'd better know when searching for German (or Austrian) ancestors!)

Thank goodness we have Zefiro to sort things out! 
I feel rather embarrassed about my feeble attempt...

But...I have learned something! I didn't know that about -in on the end of surnames!

Thanks very much!
Karen