I just received some information on someone believed to be a distant relation .?

Question

His name was Pastor Stephan Spitzbarth born 04/02/1715 in Olvenstadt( Magdenburg) I think this is GermanyHe was founder and Pastor from 1741-1758 of the Kolk church in Wuppertal-Elberfeld, Again I think this is in Germany . Then pastor in Magdeburg at St jacobs church from 1758-1770. He died there 03/11/1770 The next family member I have was my great grandfather Gustav Adolf Spitzbart born 1821 in Halberstadt,Germany no one in between I'd like to find out how Stephan was related. I've met some really nice people who have helped me before, so I thought I'd try again. I apoligize if this question looks familiar I asked it beore and it ended under religon, I meant for it to go to Geneology thanks

Answer 1

Judy, I think it is very difficult to expect that Stephan is automatically going to be related to your Gustav.  He MAY BE, but you have a large gap there.  I did a quick check at www.familysearch.org, and find many persons in Germany with this name.. and while I did not verify them.. the most solid would be those which are based in extracted church records.  

Assuming Gustav is your immigrant from Germany to the US, the first thing is to be sure and scour any records here for a place of origin, and perhaps, OTHER FAMILY MEMBERS, who may be found possibly in census records.

I would say that the approach has to be, to find solid evidence on Gustav, to prove his parentage. The info at familysearch MAY be of use, to identify possible locations. You may find that there are different towns named.. but are those towns still geographically close?

I personally would avoid attempts to "work" Stephan, to come 'down', since the possibiltity is that he isn't the ancestral line.  On the other hand.. verify the information you received and review it.  DOES IT CLAIM that Gustav is a descendant? or is it saying that this is "possible", based only on last name?  

You could spend a lot of energy on Stephan, to find his kids/ grandkids, instead of focused energy on Gustav and his immediate parents.  In other words.. you have a more direct and narrow search, when you don't skip from Gustav to Stephan.