Place Name where my 4th Great Grandmother originated

by Carol Lee
(Lubbock, TX, USA)

My 4th great-grandmother was "Dorothea Catherine" - Maiden name unknown. (1753-1845).

Her place of birth was said to be "Freshwelder, Alsace, Germany."

She settled in Easton, Northampton, Pennsylvania, and was married to Daniel Reichard (and all variant spellings of surname).

My guess is she came to the US around 1771, but I don't know if she was married when she arrived (likely in Philadelphia) or not. I've been trying to determine the location of this town or village; I know the history and boundaries have changed many times, but I would like to learn the approximate area she was from, even though that village may be long gone.

Thank you,
Carol Lee

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Your Alsace Ancestors Village Name
by: Suzele

Hi Carol,

I'd say she was technically born in Alsace France if she was born in 1753.

Freschwelder - those hand-written documents are hard to read.

Especially if they were church documents - and in 1753, they probably were church records.

It's easy to transcribe those records incorrectly.

It could definitely be Froeschwiller.

I've been there and done Alsace Ancestry Adventure tours in that area.

Other people left for the US from there.

The good news is if the records still exist and were digitized, you won't have hundreds of them to look through.

The bad news is people used the same first and middle names a lot.

So it'll be a fun adventure for you ;-)

The records will likely be Protestant - Lutheran records.

They could be in French or German - but at least they won't be in Latin like the Catholic records often are.

So curious to hear what you find out!

Wishing you lots of luck with your Ancestry research,
Suzele

Alsace Ancestry Adventure tours
https://www.getalsaced.com/tradition-culture-alsace-tour.html

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