The Joy of Genealogy: People!

As I walked out of the restroom door, preoccupied by it all, I bumped right into her.

She regrouped all 5’ 1” of herself, and straightened her blue jacket with the name “Alma Packer” on it.

As I noted the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints Family History Library logo on her jacket, she was first to speak.

Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints Family History Library, Salt Lake City, Utah

“May I help you,” she said with a smile. There was no doubt that she meant it.

I could have quickly said, “ No problem. I’m okay. I’m very sorry I bumped into you,” and walked on down the hall.

But for whatever reason—maybe it was because Alma exuded helpful motherliness—I found myself telling her all I knew about my German ancestors in Maryland, and about Johann Wolfgang Odoerfer, a German Hessian soldier I had discovered.

Finally, almost out of breath, I admitted I’d had absolutely no luck finding out where my ancestors came from in Germany, and had slipped out of a mathematics conference in Salt Lake City to come to this library to find some help.

Well, she said, seemingly four inches taller, “You have come to the right place!”

The Fateful Letter

Alma led me to the counter behind which she appeared to spend a lot of her time, and cut right to the chase.

Alma’s Desk at Family History Library

“Since you say your Hessian soldier relative Johann Wolfgang Odoerfer was in the Ansbach Regiment,” she said comfortably, “I would suggest that you write a letter to some of the main Parishes in and around Ansbach, to see if any Odoerfers still live in the area.”

With all the confidence in the world, she gave me her second big smile and proudly asserted, “And I can help you write the letter.”

And she did!

The first letter that Alma helped me write was to the Church in Oberferrieden, Germany, asking for information about Johann Wolfgang and his family and relatives.

The Serendipitous Moment

In some way, sending the letter made me feel like I had just thrown a bottle with a message in it into the sea, and might never hear from it again.

However, On April 11, 1991, I received a pleasant response to my February 20th letter from George Schmidt, representing the Oberferreiden Parish. However, he could come up with none of the information I had requested.

As the days elapsed into weeks, I had pretty much given up on receiving any information from any Odoerfer in Germany,

And then, on May 26, 1991, when I least expected it, another letter from Germany arrived in my mailbox. (Click on letter to make larger.  Click on back arrow in top menu to get back to blog post.)

Gunda’s Letter

It was one of those serendipitous moments in genealogy that drastically changes everything.

I had earlier found that Odorfer was one of the versions of my name used by my Maryland German relatives, and now I had found some real live Odorfers in Germany!

I responded to Gunda, and several months later, I received the following letter from her brother Georg, with the addendum coming almost a year later.

Letter from Georg Odorfer

Georg Addendum

A connection had been made between Odorfers in Germany and O’Daffers in the United States!

What Happened From There? 

During the years following the initial exchange of letters, an amazing amount of interaction took place among the Odorfers and O’Daffers.

From 1992 on, the following Odorfers visited the O’Daffers in the U.S:

Georg, Renate (Georg’s wife), Gunda, Georg2 (her husband), Astrid (Gunda and Georg2’s daughter), Jutta (Georg and Renate’s daughter), Reinhard (Jutta’s husband), Bastian and Julia (Jutta’s children), Iris (Georg and Renate’s daughter), Martin (Iris’s husband), Clara and Zoe (Iris and Martin’s children), and Enni (Iris and Martin’s dog).

From 1993 on, the following O’Daffers visited the Odorfers in Germany:

Jane (my sister), Arkie (Jane’s husband), me, Harriet, and Herm and Evelyn Harding (Harriet and my friends).

Here are some examples of the many memories from these visits.

Me jokingly telling Georg in 1992 to not to return to the U.S, until he had researched two more generations of Johann Wolfgang Odoerfer’s family, and him doing it in two months.

Georg and I.

George calling in 1993 and asking me to search motor home magazines for a motor home for him to buy to drive to South America and Alaska.

Jane and Arkie trying to figure out why the barn was so close to the house on their visit to Georg2 and Gunda’s beautiful homeplace in 1993.

Elke, Bastian, Georg2, Gunda (Jutta taking the photo?).

Gunda catching a miracle fish in 47 seconds at Lake Bloomington in 1993 when she and her husband Georg2 stopped by with Georg and Renate, who later drove to Alaska in the motor home.

Georg’s friend Helmut telling us, on our visit to Germany in 1994 that black was the symbol for conservatives in Germany, and that Georg was so black that if you put him in a totally dark room he would leave a shadow.

Helmut, and Harriet, right after his “dark room shadow” remark.

Me (using a plywood fish for a paddle) and Astrid (in full habit) beating Axel and Reinhard two out of three ping pong games on our visit to Germany in 1994.

Phares, Astrid, Axel, and Martin playing ping pong

Herm and Evelyn talking politics with Axel and Martin in 1994, with Axel illustrating just how far right Georg really was.

Herm, Evelyn, Martin, Axel talking politics.

Jutta’s children, Julia and Bastian, excitedly eating up the sights and sounds of downtown Chicago when they visited my daughter Sara and her husband Richard and son Wes in Evanston in 2003.

During her visit in 2002, Astrid doffing her habit, diving in Lake Bloomington in her swimsuit, and swimming what seemed like half way across the lake before I could holler at her and tell her that the rules prohibited swimming across the lake.  She was a super tuber, too.

Astrid tubing on Lake Bloomington.

Fun at Lake Bloomington when Jutta, Reinhard, and family visited in 2007.

Jutta and Julia basking in the sun on the dock.

Reinhard at Lake Bloomington. Is that Bastian in the water? or is it Lisa?  Find the dog in the picture.  If anyone knows its name, please let me know!

Enni, (Iris and Martin’s dog), after coming here with family in Martin’s job move in 2015, gaining full credibility at the Family Christmas Party by being a model dog all day. (A great basket sitter!)

Clara, Zoe, Enni, Martin, and Iris Lutz.

Enjoying the holidays with Renate when she visited Iris and Martin in 2016.

My daughter Sue, Clara, Iris, Renate, and my daughter Sara.

A Genealogy Summary 

After I met the German Odorfers, I continued to search for the genealogical connection between the two families.

And Georg put in countless hours tracing the families in Germany. He carried Johann Wolfgang’s line back to Heinrich Ohdorfer in 1560, to only be stopped by the report of a great fire that destroyed records earlier than that.

Annie, a relative of Georg had also helped with the research, as did Lutz Reinwald, another relative of Georg.

When we visited Georg in 1994, Lutz Reinwald had bought a large chart of his branch of Odorfers, which intersected with Georg’s branch. After studying these charts and my chart, we felt we were very close to connecting my branch to these branches.

Sadly, Georg Odorfer died in 2009, and while we thought we had established a connection, because of time consuming family events in the preceding 10-15 years, we had not yet totally documented it.

The Bottom Line

Note that the title of this post is “The Joy of Genealogy:  People!” and not “The Joy of Genealogy: Relatives!”

Sure, we have not yet figured out exactly how the Phares O’Daffer/Georg Odorfer families are related.

But does it really make any difference?

It’s pretty clear that there are things in genealogy that are much more important than simply making a documented connection between people with similar family names.

Through involvement in genealogy, I discovered some wonderful friends in Germany — the family and relatives of Georg Odorfer.

When I first met Georg’s adult children, I said to myself “Jutta, Iris, and Axel are really with it. I think they would get along great with our kids.” And this is certainly proving to be so.

This friendship has produced countless hours of interaction and fun, and yes, even mutual support, with a very fine group of people.

Who could ask for anything more?