St. Peter und Paul

We traveled from the homestead toward the center of the village. I wanted to see if there was a local cemetery. Maybe my ancestors were buried there. Cemeteries are where professional genealogists get solid information. So I pretended I was a professional genealogist. I looked around to see if anyone could help us and I found a postal worker on her rounds along a side street. What better person to talk to then a postal worker! They know everything and everybody! The German word for cemetery is "friedhof". So, in my best broken German, I asked, "Wo ist die freidhof? (Where is the cemetery?)" She could tell right away that I was an American. In her best broken English she answered, "You want to see dead people?" Why, yes, I do. She obliged to tell me where to find the cemetery.

German cemeteries are not as useful for genealogical purposes as those in the US. Normally gravesites are leased for 20-25 years, after which they may be renewed or usually revert to the cemetery owner (church or town) and are reused. Some gravesites are sold to a family and used for generations, but even then the site is reused within the family. Gravesites are maintained by the families. Sometimes cemeteries are converted to parks, but retain their cemeterial nature. Well, I can tell you that there were certainly alot of Hillenbrands buried in this cemetery. But all were newer graves. Unfortunately, I couldn't find any old burial plots to help in the family tree. But it was nice to see that the cemetery was well cared and tended.

We then went to the Church of St. Peter and Paul. Built in 1779, this is the only church in town. So no doubt our ancestors were baptised, married and went to funerals within it's walls. It is small on the inside, with a beautiful organ in the rear choir balcony. The organ was probably made by the famous Oestreich family from Oberbimbach, which is two villages north of Hosenfeld. The pulpit rises from the right hand side of the Church and is adorned in green marble. The rest of the Church was rather plain. The clergy was no where to be found, so we were unable to extract church records.

In the next installment - After a tour of the Church grounds, we decided that it would be best to go to the Rathaus (Town Hall) to see if there were any civic records available to examine.