The Significance of Witnesses

Breaking down brick walls

Looking at witnesses might help you break down those brick walls.

When I was born, my godparents, Roy and Pinky Sheets, were there to witness my baptism. They weren't relatives, just friends of my parents. If someone were researching my family, they would find the Sheets listed on my baptismal record. Although they weren't related, further research would reveal that they lived close to my mom's relatives. In fact, my great aunt, Lena Reiss Haag, babysat their children. This makes me think about the significance of witnesses in genealogy, particularly in Germany during the 1700s-1800s, when they were often relatives rather than family friends.

When I first found my German ancestors' birth and marriage records, I ignored witnesses. I was so happy I found a relative that I was on to the next one. Little did I know that looking at the witnesses would help me find more family members and confirm that my research was correct. After I had exhausted my study of the family members I found, I went back and looked at the witnesses on their records.

Heye Eilert Baltjens and Johann Knipper were witnesses on my great grandfather Theodore Heines’ (born Heÿens Baltjens) 1842 marriage record to his first wife, Tecla Knipper. Who better to witness this joyful occasion than Theodore's brother Heye and Tecla’s brother Johann? I didn't know who they were then, but once I saw their names, I searched for them in the church records. Heye was a farmer from Hollenermoor, and Johann was a farmer from Neuscharrel.

Since Tecla was not my great-grandmother, I didn’t want to spend a lot of time researching her. However, as I found Theodore's siblings, I discovered that his sister, Helena, married Wichmann Neuenkamp. Helena and Wichmann’s son, Heinrich married Christina Knipper. Could this be Tecla's sister? Yes. It was all there in the St Peter and Paul Catholic Church marriage record. Witnesses of their marriage were Heinrich's brother, Eilert Neuenkamp, and Herman Knipper, Christina’s brother. I went from knowing nothing to finding Tecla’s two connections to the Heÿens Baltjens family.

But it's not just in German records. Here is the 1848 Holy Trinity marriage record of my great-grandfather Theodore Heines and his second wife and my great grandmother, Margaretha Kaiser in Cincinnati, Ohio.

I’ve been unable to find out when Margaretha immigrated, so I’ve been looking for information on their wedding witnesses. Mathias Kaiser and Maria Kaiser could possibly lead me to that answer. I wasn't sure what relationship these witnesses had with my great-grandmother, but I suspected they were related. I finally discovered that Maria was my great-grandmother's sister. Mathias is still a mystery. Through Ancestry DNA matches, I found Anthony and Lin, who were related to Mathias. However, I’m related to Lin, not Anthony.  I contacted both three years ago on Ancestry. Since then, Anthony and I have been working together to find our connection and discover why Mathias was a witness. It's taken us down different paths and many dead ends, but we're getting close to seeing our connection to each other and mine to Mathias. With Anthony’s assistance, this witness record has helped me go further up the Kaiser line.  Working with a fellow genealogist on a common goal has also been a rewarding experience.

There are still so many witnesses that I haven’t found any connection to my family, but I’m still looking. It’s important to pay attention to the witnesses. They might be dead ends, just family friends, but they might be that clue that helps break down those brick walls.