The Bodigheim Connection
From research in Germany into the records at the parish in Bodigheim where the marriage record for Johann (Hanns) Georg Baumann (known in America as George Bowman) and Maria Barbara Keller was found, some VERY interesting facts have come to light!
First, the results affirm later connections between Baumanns and the Lindemuths and Kamps, the friends who traveled on the same ship, and who continued relating to each other in Pennsylvania. By inference, this continues to add credence to the belief that the George and Barbara who were married in Bodigheim are the same people who migrated to Berks County, PA, and later to Rockingham County, VA - and are, in fact, our ancestors!
But what are the facts, as uncovered by reviewing parish records in Bodigheim?
-- Johann (or Hanns) Georg Baumann, the immigrant and Bowman House builder, was born in Bodigheim on 12 SEPT 1712. He was a tailor and administrator of the parish fund. Immigrant George was the son of Johann Michael Baumann and Maria Catharina Kampp who were married in Bodigheim on 31 JAN 1708. Johann Michael was also a tailor, and his wife, Maria Catharina was a mid-wife for 14 years. The record notes she was "commonly called the old tailor's wife" presumably to distinguish her from the new tailor's wife - Maria Barbara, wife of son immigrant George. Maria Catharina was the daughter of Georg Kampp - just one of the ongoing connections between the Bowman and Kamp families. Johann Michael died in Bodigheim on 28 JAN 1746, aged 65 years, 3 weeks, and 2 days. Maria Catharina died in Bodigheim on 14 FEB 1755, aged 65 years, 9 months, and 14 days.
-- Johann Michael's parents, immigrant George's grandparents, were Johann Caspar Baumann and Elisabetha Hartmann, who were married on 16 FEB 1675. Johann Caspar was a wagon maker, initially from Waldstetten. Johann Caspar died in Bodigheim on 21 FEB 1726, aged about 76.5 years. Elisabetha died in Bodigheim on 18 MAR 1718, aged 68 years, 5 weeks, and one day.
-- Johann (or Hanns) Georg, the Bowman House builder, married Maria Barbara Keller on 27 JAN 1739. Maria Barbara was the daughter of Johann Andreas Keller and Eva Catharina Haller, known as "Eleonora". Andreas was an "alderman" and "well-mentioned" according to the record. Andreas died on 4 JAN 1752 as a widower. Eleonora was the daughter of Elias Haller, master of theology and Lutheran minister in Massenbach. She died on 11 DEC 1741. Maria Barbara was born in Bodigheim on 9 JUN 1711. Immigrant George would have been 27 when they married, Maria Barbara 28 years of age.
--Johann Georg and Maria Barbara had five children while living in Bodigheim. The first was born on October 27, 1739. At this child's baptism, "Anna Maria wife of Georg Lindemuth, and Johann Georg the unmarried son of Johann Georg Kamp, abroad, represented by his mother Anna Maria", served as sponsors. For each of the remaining children "Johann Georg Kamp and Georg LIndemuth, both local citizens" were listed as sponsors. These two gentlemen were also the sponsors at the birth of Johannes, the son born to Baumanns in Pennsylania. And, Johann Georg and Maria Barbara Baumann were sponsors for a Lindemuth child in Bodigheim, as they were for a Lindemuth child born in Pennsylvania.
-- The Baumann children born in Bodigheim were: a) Maria Anna, b. 27 OCT 1739; b) Johann Georg, b. 8 MAR 1742; c) Johann Michael, b. 7 JUL 1743, bu. 3 JUL 1746; d) Elias, b. 1 SEP 1746; and, e) Andreas, b. 17 FEB 1749 - just months before boarding ship, and when Maria Barbara was 38 years of age.
-- The record reflects that Johann Georg Baumann, tailor, was listed as one of the sponsors at the baptism of Jorg Heinrich Kamp, son born on 9 APR 1749 to Johann Georg Kamp and Anna Maria Kortner. Kamp and Kortner were listed as "unmarried" at the time. However, there is also a marriage record for Johann Georg Kamp and Anna Maria Kortner on 10 APR 1749, one day later, with the following notes: a) "Johann Georg Kamp, a frivolous guy", and "Anna Maria Kortner, a frivolous lass who had given birth to a child before, and the marriage was performed in front of the bed in her father's house".
At the time these records of the German-born children were discovered, it raised a signifcant question, namely if Baumanns(Bowmans) had four living children in 1749 when they left Bodigheim, why has there been no knowledge of these children in America? Did some of the children, already "on their own" stay behind in Pennsylvania when George and son John relocated to Virginia? Or perhaps some of the children traveled to Viriginia, but connections were lost in those early generations. It is even possible one or more of the German born children may have died on the voyage. We now have some answers to these questions. Refer to the section, German Born Children for these findings.
From research in Germany in the civil records, we have information about the Baumann's activities related to their departure from Bodigheim, as follows:
- - On 3 FEB 1749 Hanns (or Johann) Georg Baumann sold his house and "pertaining lands" to Martin Haas for 400 florins and one Half-Carolin coin.
- - A manumission tax, in the amount of 10% of one's assets, was required to immigrate legally. Hanns (or Johann) Baumann "took away 235 florins earnings from the sale of his real estate and movables and as personal items (luggage)."
- - The following English translation of a latter record indicates how Baumann paid his manumission tax. "Hanns Georg Baumann, who moved to the Pennsylvania in May of 1749, was a bonded serf to this dominion. He had ceded his claim to the estate of his father-in-law, Andreas Keller, to the dominion. After the latter one's death, Georg Keller as the new owner of the estate has deducted 1 florin 20 Kreuzer from the installment of 25 JUL 1752 and delivered this as a down payment for the manumission of Hanns Georg Baumann from bonded serfdom."
- - In addition, the record shows others who traveled on the same ship to Pennsylvania as the Baumann's sold property and paid their export tax on the following assets: Georg Lindenmuth, Jr. on 874 florins; Andreas Unangst on 730 florins; Christoph Keylbach on 2115 florins; Hanns Georg Lindenmuth, Sr. on 910 florins; Ludwig Lindenmuth on 759 florins; Georg Heinrich Unangst on 189 florins; and, Bernhard Muller on 249 florins.