For the last few years, Michelle and I have been mostly focused on researching the Wolff family because there’s so many complicated elements to them. And so many mysteries. So the Konzen have been a bit neglected.
Sometimes during research I run across some information that I can’t believe I/we missed before. (But, I can also see why we missed a thing or two because looking through microfilms at the Family History Center was a lot more difficult than it is to look through the digitalized parish records today.)
In Fall 2022, I was looking through the LuxRoots website and decided to look at Theodore Konzen & Catharine Schuler while I was there. I noticed they had a child listed for the couple that I didn’t have in my family tree. You might think I could just make a note of it and look into it later. Instead, I dropped whatever else I was on LuxRoots for and went hunting for Anna Catharina Konzen.
I found Anna Catharina’s birth record on 13 Dec 1778 in Lellig. Then I found her marriage to Johann Hellers on 7 Feb 1804 in Lellig, and I found their kids. And all kinds of things started to make sense. When we originally looked through parish records for Theodore Konzen & Catharine Schuler’s marriage and children’s births it was on a microfilm reader at a Family History Center. If you have never used a microfilm reader, you’ve definitely missed out, but they aren’t the clearest thing to read on and scanning images from them doesn’t produce the best images either. In fact, I believe we originally thought that our ancestor Peter was the only child that lived to adulthood from the couple. Then we found that his siblings Elizabeth & Wilhelm lived and had families.
At some point, I think we started wondering if any other siblings survived to adulthood and looked through the parish records more for any additional deaths. Then we started following bread combs. Who is this Theodore Buchholz who was the witness at Peter’s marriage? And who is this Anna Kunzen living in Niderenval that was a godparent to Elizabeth Konzen Michel’s daughter Anna Maria? And who is this Johan Hellers in Catharine Schuler Konzen’s death record?
However, when we were in the thick of things I guess I thought “oh I’ll just put this stuff in my family tree later” and that never happened. I’ve turned into a person who does not remember any appointment if it’s not on her phone calendar. And I recently realized I’ve also become the kind of person who does not remember any genealogical find unless I have written about it (that might even be questionable) or entered it into my family tree.
I was sending Michelle all these crazy emails while I was looking up Anna Catharina Konzen Hellers stuff (probably in the middle of the night), then I had a sense of deja vu and went to look at Michelle’s family tree. And Michelle had Anna Catharina on her tree already! And some other Konzen siblings’ details that I hadn’t entered or remembered. I was spiraling. Why wouldn’t Michelle have told me about this? Of course she would have. So why didn’t I remember it? I looked in my emails and I found an email from Michelle in 2021 with a parish record attached entitled “Another Sibling?” I’d only noticed the Schulers on the page and completely missed the Konzen!
There’s nothing like realizing that you’ve been chasing your own tail and finding things that you’d really found before. Michelle and I recently built out the family trees for the Konzen siblings further and it reminded me that I hadn’t updated the Konzen info on the blog to match any of this. So here we go.
Theodore Konzen was born 29 Jan 1756 in Herborn, Luxembourg, and he died 29 Jan 1839 in Lellig, Luxembourg. He married Catherine Schuler on 28 Jan 1778 in Trier, Germany. Catherine was born 15 Mar 1756 in Lellig, Luxembourg, and she died 19 Aug 1830 in Lellig, Luxembourg.
- Anna Catharina Konzen was born 13 Dec 1778 in Lellig, Luxembourg, and she died 19 Jul 1869 in Lellig, Luxembourg. She married Johann Hellers.
- Anna Maria Konzen was born 2 Apr 1781 in Lellig, Luxembourg, and she died 19 Jan 1865 in Gelsdorf, Germany. She married Theodore Buchholz. Theodore died 7 Sep 1839 in Gelsdorf, Germany.
- Joannes Wilhelm Konzen was born 17 Mar 1783 in Lellig, Luxembourg, and he died 3 Sep 1783 in Lellig, Luxembourg.
- Peter Konzen was born 15 Nov 1784 in Manternach, Luxembourg, and he died 23 Apr 1786 in Lellig, Luxembourg.
- Elizabeth Konzen was born 21 Jan 1787 in Lellig, Luxembourg, and she died 26 Mar 1878 in Trierweiler, Germany. She married Matthias Michels. Mathias was born abt 1787 in Sirzenich, Germany, and he died 9 Aug 1863 in Trierweiler, Germany.
- Peter Konzen was born 28 Apr 1789 in Lellig, Luxembourg, and he died abt 1863 in Dubuque, Iowa, USA. He married Maria Theresia Wolff in 1815 in Kruchten, Germany. Maria Theresia was born 20 Feb 1789 in Burg-Reuland, Liege, Belgium, and she died in 1871 in Dubuque, Iowa, USA.
- Anna Konzen was born 17 Mar 1791 in Lellig, Luxembourg, and she died 16 Oct 1866 in Ernzen, Germany. She married Peter Weber. Peter was born 19 May 1785 in Dockendorf, Germany, and he died 19 Mar 1843 in Preischeid, Germany.
- Joannes Konzen was born 14 Jan 1794 in Lellig, Luxembourg, and he died 7 Jul 1796 in Lellig, Luxembourg.
- Marie Konzen was born 8 Jul 1795 in Lellig, Luxembourg, and she died 8 Jul 1795 in Lellig, Luxembourg.
- Wilhelm Konzen was born 23 Apr 1797 in Lellig, Luxembourg, and he died 26 Dec 1872 in Heinerscheid, Luxembourg. He married Catharina Hoffman, then Barbara Schumacher, and then Maria Margaretha Kieffer.
Konzen Genealogy 