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Dear Richard, I read your message today about the Frey's in Manchester who had Carl, Lizzie and Bertha Volkert staying/visiting with them.

I am a distant relative of the Volkert's... in that Carl (real name Leonhard Michael Volkert born in Brehmen on 20 Oct 1868, Lizzie (Emma Luisa born in Lichtel u. Mergentheim on 4 Mar 1876) and Bertha (Bertha Elisabetha b in Brehmen 1 Jan 1871) are all children of Johann Georg Michael Volkert (b 21 Mar 842 in Althausen near Bad Mergentheim) and Katharina Luisa Riegler (b 3 Jul 1844 in Brehmen).

(The Germans from the area are often known by their middle names, and swap first & middle name order.  Carl had 3 different names that he went by according to his death records.  The 1939 UK register has Carl with Leonard's correct date of birth.  Lizzy's is out by 2 or 3 years.

I descend from the elder brother of Katharina Luisa Riegler, his name was Andreas.  (Andreas' birth was illegitimate, but Katharina's father Phillip Georg Riegler swore an oath to the church, when Andreas was an adult, that he was also Andreas' father).

You'll know that the Frey's were pork butchers.  There was also a Herman Volkert in the area who was a pork butcher that was a few years younger.  Unfortunately the Ancestry birth records in Mergentheim don't appear to be available to view after 1876 and I think Herman was born in 1877 or 1878.  I have a DNA link to a woman with the surname Collins who descends from Herman.

Was it Sandbach that the Frey's came from (I haven't got my record open).  I couldn't really figure out where that was.  But I thought that there must be some connection to Mrs Frey, for all those Volkert kids to be staying with them... unless it was more distant to Carl/Leonard's wife Marie Stier.

The village of Brehmen is north of Schweigern, south of Nassig.  I have scans of original records from the Evangelic Church in Adelsheim-Boxberg stating that the above births were in Brehmen whereas Ancestry scans say they were in Mergentheim.  From what I can work out, Mergentheim was the central area (i.e. the big town with a castle and square & surrounding area) that held an official copy of birth records & from whom permission to marry was required, whereas Adelsheim-Boxberg was a bit closer & maintained its own records too.

I couldn't find Mrs Frey's maiden name.

Again, still no proof, but the names of these (kids of Elizabeth Reece) are the same as many of the children of John.

Dear Jessie4me,

I too am interested in John & Joseph Dempsey brothers born in Liverpool.
Both brothers travelled to NZ about 1863 and were saddle makers in the South Island.
John married Agnes Broadhurst in Aston Juxta Birmingham on 8 Dec 1862.
I'm descended from them.
I did research on NZ histories about 15 years back & have only restarted looking today.  A distant relative from the South Island informed me back then that John & Joseph's fathers name was Tenis (very similar to Terris) but I could never find a document that explained why as all the ones I had from NZ said John, carpenter, of Lancashire. Please let me know if you think we are looking for the same ancestors and want to combine efforts-Cheers