!!!! SOLVED !!!!

When I created this web site, I decided to put the family history page front and center.   My family has been searching for the Brungs family roots for a long time now and the trail always ended with the family arriving in America in 1854.  While we could trace all Brungs currently living in the U.S. back to this single family, we could never positively determine where in Germany they came from.  I considered the web site a possible opportunity to find someone in the world who may be able to help me solve the mystery. 

  In January of 2000, I got a very short email from someone with the following question:  "Why do you think your family came from Koenigswinter ?".  That was all that was said.  I replied to the email with an explanation that Koenigswinter was the town name passed down from generation to generation.  This resulted in another email from Ansgar Klein , an archivist in Koenigswinter, with some very interesting information.  Ansgar had documents that showed one of the family members petitioning for emigration papers in the city of Niederkassel, a town north of Koenigswinter.  The home town listed was Mondorf, a village very close to Niederkassel.  Ansgar informed me that he could email Waltraud Rexhaus, an archivist in Niederkassel and ask her if she could see if there was any record of this Brungs family in Niederkassel/Mondorf.   JACKPOT !!!!!!  Waltraud found birth certificates, marriage certificates, and death certificates for not only the family members that I inquired about but also for brothers and sisters that we never even knew about.

  We now not only know where and when my great-great grandfather was born, we know all of his siblings, know his parents names, and know his grandparents name.   We will soon have his grandparents marriage certificate dated 1775 !!!!

  I cannot begin to express the gratitude I have for both Ansgar and Waltraud.  I am truly convinced that without their help, this information would have never been found.  I am forever in their debt.  Even now, Ansgar continues to try to help me hunt down the last remaining documents.  I am still looking for Peter Joseph's marriage certificate and the birth certificates of his three sons:  John, William, and Franz Joseph.  It appears that Peter Joseph left Mondorf, got married, and had his three boys.  Where he did all this is what Ansgar is trying to track down.

  I have scanned in some of the documents that I have received from Germany.  To increase the readability of documents, I have digitally enhanced the scans.  In the coming weeks, I hope to add a diagram of the family tree showing how all of these people fit together.  Until then, I include the documents below (Click on the document to enlarge):

   Peter Joseph's Birth Certificate:  In the year 1815, April 15 at 3 o'clock in the afternoon before me, Jacob Sieger, mayor of Niederkassel, appeared the farmer, Johann Brungs, living in Mondorf and announces, that on Saturday April 13, in the morning at 5 o'clock, his wife Anna Christina Lulsdorf has born him a son who he named Peter Joseph.  Witness to this act were Johann Koenig, age 41, farmer, living in Mondorf and Peter Florin, age 53, farmer, living in Mondorf.  (Signatures by Johann Brungs, Johann Koenig, and Peter Florin)

  Hermann's (Peter's brother) Birth Certificate:  In the year 1818, November 20 at 2 o'clock in the afternoon before me, Jacob Sieger, mayor of Niederkassel, appeared the farmer Johann Brungs, living in Mondorf and announces, that on Friday November 20, in the morning at 2 o'clock, his wife Anna Christina Lulsdorf has born him a son who he name Hermann.  Witness to this act were Heinrich Klein, age 54, horsesmith, living in Mondorf and Heinrich Odendahl, age 31, basketmaker, living in Mondorf.  (Signatures by Johann Brungs, Heinrich Klein, and Heinrich Odendahl)

  Johann's (Peter's father) Death Certificate