I always knew my grandmother Henrietta was born and raised in Milwaukee, WI and that she was of German heritage. What I didn't know was that her father was born in Germany and immigrated with his parents in 1856. In all the censuses the family faithfully said that they came from Hesse-Nassau. That helped me find the immigrant records from Hesse-Nassau and that gave me the date and village that Georg and Catherina Burbach left with their 2 sons, John and Hermann. It was from the village of Villmar.
The church records from Villmar revealed that Georg Burbach (born in Oberselters) married Catharina Caspari in Villmar and they had three sons born there. Adam (b 1849 - d 1854 Villmar), Hermann (b 1852 Villmar - d 1896 Milwaukee, WI), John (b 1854 Villmar - d ? Milwaukee), George (b & d 1857 Milwaukee, WI), Helena (b 1868 Milwaukee, WI), and William (b 1870 Milwaukee, WI).
Exploring the Oberselters church records shows that the prolific Burbach family (George was one of 11 children) were farmers and remained in the village for over 100 years before they began to emmigrate. At this point I can go back to 1756 when Johan Jacob Burbach married Helena Mueller in Oberselters. On the marriage record Johan Jacob said he was born in Oberselters in 1713/1723. Guess I'll keep looking for him - it's an unsolved mystery.
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