Chapter 4: Putting it all together

Researching the Sanftleben Family

None of the people we contacted in Germany or the US could provide much help regarding the home village of the Sanftleben family until research on the Kobernus family in Luetgendorf parish in Mecklenburg disclosed a link to the Sanftleben clan. A couple of years later we were contacted by Ann Spruth Crilly a descendent of Friederich’s son Carl. She provided a great deal of information on the family and their life in Oak Park during the 1950’s. Here’s a summary of what we’ve put together.

Sanftleben/Kobernuss Family Relationships

These two families were probably acquainted since the early 1830’s when they lived in adjacent parishes in Mecklenburg. Kirch Luetgendorf and Kirch Grubenhagen. The men in both families were “Tagelöhner” [workman,daylaborer] and probably worked together on one of the large estates in the area. The Sanftleben family attended the same church in Kirch Grubenhagen as the family of Sophia Peters wife of Carl Kobernuss. Sophia married Carl Kobernuss in November 1865 in Luetgendorf, and Friederich Sanftleben and Friederike Kobernuss were married in the same church 15 days later. It’s hard to believe they did not attend each other’s weddings. In addition, members of the Kobernuss family or their relations are listed as Godparents to several of the Sanftleben children. 

Where more research is needed

Here’s some things we’d check further. 

(1) The Kirch Luetgendorf and Kirch Grubenhagen parish records should really be examined more closely for mention of the Sanftleben family. For example, we don’t know for sure where Friederich’s parents were born or married, or where the Sanftleben clan lived before moving to Kirch Grubenhagen. The same can be said for Kirch Luetgendorf. Although there is an index for this latter film, it is not complete.

(2) We’re bothered by the fact that Johann Vollrath Elias Sanftleben used the name Frederich. His birth name is clearly listed as Johann Vollrath Elias Sanftleben in 1835 and all the birth records of his children clearly identify him as husband of Friederike Kobernuss and father of the six Sanftleben children. A couple of possibilities exist here. (1) He just liked Friederich better or (2) Friederike married a brother or cousin of Johann Vollrath Elias after the birth of her last child and before immigration with her children and mother.  Johann Vollrath Elias did have a younger brother named Friederich born in 1836.  We’ve encountered several cases of a wife marring brothers, or a man marrying sisters, but this is still fairly rare.

There were at least six children born to Friederich Sanftleben and Friederike Kobernuss. Five Sanftleben children were on the ship Bohemia in 1881; the other child probably died before the family immigrated. Healthy women in the 1860’s usually had children about every 18 months. Since there is a fairly large gap in the births of the children 1863-67 and 1868-72 that indicated others may have not survived or were stillborn.

Friederich Sanftleben probably had more than three siblings. As previously mentioned, he probably had cousins in Teterow and Thuerkow. A closer look at those records probably would produce a more complete family tree. We ran across a few other people named Sanftleben in both parishes but could not make a connection to Friederich. The name Sanftleben is so rare in these two parishes, that it’s almost certain all people mentioned with that name are closely related.

We’ve noted Sanftleben family that lived in Luetgendorf well after Friederich Sanftleben immigrated. For example, Wilhelm Sanftleben a nephew of Friederich, died in 1931 probably (but not for certain) in Luetgendorf Parish. As a result, It’s likely that someone has done a more complete study of the Sanftleben family in Germany. A check of the German phone book discloses 192 people named Sanftleben. The Germans have a Zip Code system similar to ours: Any address with a 17000-19000 ZIP is in the general Muertz area where these two villages are located. Germans list address backwards in this order: ZIP, County, City, Street, House No. Two listings look especially promising: A letter or telephone call might produce results. Just about everybody in Germany speaks some English. 

  • Sanftleben Norbert 17192 Waren Müritz, Teterower Str. 27
    Telephone: (0 39 91) 12 57 09
  • Sanftleben Horst 17109 Demmin, Hansestadt, Holstenstr. 10
    Telephone: (0 39 98) 22 50 80

 Some good research sources

For family members who want to check our research and do more, here’s some film numbers for the villages discussed.

Reference

Years

LDS Film

Parish register of baptisms, marriages, burials and confirmations for Kirch Lütgendorf, Mecklenburg-Schwerin, Germany.  (Also known as Hof Lütgendorf)

1753-1913

 69332

Parish register of baptisms, marriages, burials and confirmations for Kirch Grubenhagen, Mecklenburg-Schwerin, Germany.

1667-1875

69151-2

Parish register of baptisms, marriages, deaths and confirmations for Thürkow, Mecklenburg-Schwerin, Germany. Includes Levitzow.

1656-1886

69623-4  

Parish register of baptisms, marriages, burials and confirmations for Teterow, Mecklenburg-Schwerin, Germany. Teterow is a fairly large city and there are other films available for the villages around Teterow such as Buelow, Hohen Dempzin and Bristow.

1661-1885

69618-22

 The best source for determining the distribution of Sanftleben families in Mecklenburg are the transcriptions of various Mecklenburg records by Franz Schubert. The most valuable of these publications in determining where Sanftleben family members may have lived is the “Transcriptions Of Marriage Registers For Mecklenburg-Schwerin, for the years 1705-1750 and 1751-1800. The call number for this series is 943.17 B4s ser. 5 Volumes C through L.. The indexes identify when and where people with the name Sanftleben were married. Since we know where the Sanftleben family lived in 1832, these marriage records might identify where other family members were living plus other information as to who the parents were and  village of residence if different.. There are several volumes in this series which cover all parishes in Mecklenburg.. To our knowledge this series is only available in the Salt Lake City Family History Library of the Church of Latter Day Saints. However, it may be available in the Chicago Newberry Library or the excellent genealogy library in Ft. Wayne Indiana. 

Another just as valuable resource is the Schubert transcription of the 1819 Mecklenburg Census. This is the Index to surnames in the 1819 census of Mecklenburg-Schwerin. Indexes are at back of each volume. Once you determine the village where these people lived you can order the actual census film. This census identifies where people lived in 1819, the family composition at the time, and where they were born. This microfische can be ordered through any LDS family History Library. This reference is Census 1819 Mecklenburg/Schwerin  LDS Fische 6001784-8.

Our review of the 1819 Census index indicates that in 1819, people named Sanftleben lived in only 13 parishes in Mecklenburg. Most of them close to Kirch Grubenhagen. Here’s the list of parishes and villages where Sanftleben families lived in 1819. 

Parish

Village

County

ZIP

Map

Barkow

Kritzow

Altentreptow

17091

Ob26

Boizenburg (Elbe)

Boizenburg (Elbe)      

Hagenow

19258

Le28

Buelow-Bristow

Bristow

Teterow

17166

Nd26

Buetzow

Buetzow  &      Kurzen-Trechow

Bützow

18246

Mf26

Grabow

Amt Grabow

Röbel

17209

Nd28

Guestrow

Guestrow 

Güstrow

18273

Nb26

Jabel

Cramon & Hagenow

Waren

17194

Ne27

Kirch Grubenhagen

Gross Luckow

Waren

17194

Ne27

Luessow

Luessow

Güstrow

18276

Nb26

Rostock

Rostock

Rostock

18055

Na24

Serrahn

Wilser Huette

Güstrow

18292

Nb26

Sietow

Lebbin

Röbel

17209

Nd28

Warnkenhagen

Gottin

Teterow

17168

Nd26

Note: These are our best guesses as to where these villages are located. Several of these village names are used more than once in Germany. We used the map coordinates and ZIP codes as an aid

This list tells us many things: 

(1) The Sanftleben names are concentrated pretty much in the Grubenhagen-Luetgendorf area in Map coordinate Na-Nd and 24-28. That is a relatively small area of Mecklenburg. There are three villages such as Rostock and Röbel and Buetzow that are outside the immediate Grubenhagen-Luetgendorf area, but they are still fairly close to Kirch Grubenhagen. For example, Rostock is about 25 Kilometers to the north,  Röbel  15 Km to the south, and Buetzow 20 Km east of Grubenhagen-Luetgendorf as the crow flies.

(2) Until we take a look at the actual 1819 census it is difficult to determine exactly how many people named Sanftleben lived in these villages, but it probably is not many. Thus we could conclude that many of them are related and it might be possible to link some directly to the Grubenhagen-Luetgendorf Sanftleben family.

(3) The records we’ve looked at in the parish records indicate the first Sanftleben birth took place in these villages in 1832. The 1819 census indicates they were living in Gross Luckow , Kirch Grubenhagen in 1819.  Gross Lukow is only about 1.5 KM from Peenhaeuser so the people listed in the 1819 census are probably Friederich’s parents. In addition, it’s possible we overlooked mention of these people in our review of the records. 

Franz Schubert also has published a number of other valuable publications that give the names of citizens in various cities for different purposes. A search on the name “Franz Schubert” in the LDS Family History Catalog will provide detailed information on these sources and their availability. A look in the phone book under Church of Latter Day Saints, Family History Library will give the phone number and address of your closest LDS library. The library catalog can also be accessed on the Internet at the LDS site: http://www.familysearch.org 

Other suggestions for further research.
It’s clear some data on the Sanftleben family in Oak Park is missing. For example, The death dates or burial location for Friederich and Friederike are unknown. It seems possible that they are buried in Concordia Cemetery in Forest Park; a call or visit to the cemetery would confirm that. Also, there is limited information on the children of Friederich and Friederike. We believe they are: Sophia Sanftleben and her husband Fred Schmidt, Dorothea Sanftleben and Paul Gaedt,  Luise Sanftleben and John Uteritz and John Sanftleben and his wife Minnie (Maiden name unknown).

Summary & Conclusions

The Sanftleben family that lived in Alt-Gaarz, Kirch Luetgendorf parish, and Peenhaeuser, Kirch Grubenhagen Mecklenburg immigrated to the US in 1881. 

Genealogy research is an open-ended process. Unfortunately, much information has been lost over the decades. Our goal is to continue to search for the missing pieces and document what we know. We continue to discover new data and meet new cousins. We’ve provided historical and background data that might appear at first to be unnecessary. However, as far as we know, there has been no significant research on the Sanftleben families in Germany or the US and the more we know about their history and times the more accurate their story will be. Current and future generations will then have a baseline to use in expanding the database and identifying errors. 

We’ve made some errors and chased many fruitless clues along the way and the information in this narrative might help others avoid some common pitfalls. This is only one chapter in a much larger story. There is a lot more to discover and we encourage everyone to make a contribution, however small, to the overall story. 

We know there are probably still some errors and omissions in this genealogy. Additional data and corrections are always welcome..

George Kobernus
gkobernus

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