Branches from the forest

When one starts a genealogy blog, you have no idea who may read it or what family knowledge they have of this really big tree.  There is so much to tell and one can only take it slow.  I am married to Mark.  His parents are James E Goossens and RoseMary Berres.   For now, I'm going to follow the Berres trail, starting with his great-great-great(ggg) grandfather, John Friederich Berres.  John Berres was born in Kennfus, Germany, on September 18, 1796.  He was the youngest of 7 children born to Nicholas and Anna Margaretha (Sausen) Berres.  His brothers and sisters have names that have been carried forth down the Berres line, as was the tradition then.

Johan Frederich Berres b. 18 Feb 1779

Anna Maria Berres b. 09 Apr 1781

Maria Eva Berres b. 11 May 1783

Mathias Berres b. 24 Jun 1786

Anna Berres b. 22 Feb 1789

Johan Nicholas Berres b. 28 Jul 1791

John (Joannes) Friederich Berres b. 18 Sep 1796

When you search on FamilySearch.org you can find the listings of all of these children from German records.  When Fr. Peregrin was working on his list, he had friends and cousins over in Germany who would research church records for him.  How easy it is now to look from the armchair.

Fr. Peregrin wrote "They lived in the village of Kennfus on Dorf Street, house number 6, in West Germany.  Their farm was located about 8 miles west of Cochem, which is on the Moselle river. 

Cochem

The Berres family had their farm near Kennfus, which is a small farm village with farms all around, which is the custom to this day in Germany and most of Europe.

Bad Bertich 1900

The area where the Berres families lived is called the Rheinland and north of the Moselle river it is known as the Eifel. The rugged, hilly landscape in this part of Germany was formed by volcanic eruptions in the distant past, and in these fertile valleys between the hills is where the people have their farms.

They have their house and barn in the same building...

Kennfus now has about 25 houses, and a hotel, church, cemetery, and post office.  For their shopping they go to Bad Bertrich, which is about 2 miles to the southeast. 

Bad Bertich is a noted Mineral Bath Spa and has many stores, also hotels, where people can live while they are taking treatments in the warm spring waters, also have church and cemeteries; many of our ancestors are buried at Kennfus and Bad Bertich."