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Note: The sesquicentennial, or 150th anniversary, of our Bohmbach family in America was in 2004.
What is a family, or surname, association?
A family, or surname, association is an organization dedicated to preserving the history of a family or a specific surname. Genealogical research is usually the initial focus, but many organizations also sponsor family reunions or conventions. They might even preserve ancestral homes or restore cemeteries. They may publish books. They can be nationwide or worldwide. They can even be kept small and local, but what would be the point? Here are some family associations you can read about on the Internet:
Why a Bohmbach Family Association?
I now have over 3,000 descendants on file for this Bohmbach family from Agathenburg. Those still living are spread from coast to coast. Many of them hardly know about their ties to Minnesota, much less to Agathenburg. It was a long, hard journey to get to this point. This work must be preserved. Many American cousins have contacted me for information, and I have been very happy to share. I assume there are many more that want to learn about their heritage, and some that would enjoy being a part of this association. There are also many more cousins with probable descendants that we have lost track of. The graves of some of our emigrant ancestors are unmarked, and other grave markers will erode over time. Who will care for these?
I'll try to give an idea of how long a quest this has been. I have been researching this family off and on since 1983, when my second son was born and I really caught the genealogy bug. Some very fine earlier work with well over 1,000 named Bohmbach descendants had been published in 1979 by the Augustine branch of the family. Their mother was a Vollmers, and their grandmother was my Gr-Gr-Grandma Anna Margaretha (Bohmbach) Vollmers (1829-1919). I finally was in a position to make some real headway on this family in 1995. I started to become familiar with German church records and found my roots in microfilmed Hedendorf and Bargstedt parish records in 1998 after a friend at the Rochester LDS Family History Center found two clues. It turns out there were eleven siblings of Anna Vollmers, not two as was documented in 1979. Nine of these people or their descendants came to Minnesota. This was when I started to ponder a family association with over 2,000 descendants on file, and a good many of them living.
In July of 1999, Mayor Peter Vollmers of Dollern, Germany wrote to me that he would be speaking to Dr. Jürgen Bohmbach of the Stadtarchiv (city archive) in Stade. Dr. Bohmbach's family had come from Agathenburg, just as ours did. My subsequent messages to Mayor Vollmers, unfortunately, went unanswered. I finally tracked down an address for Dr. Bohmbach and sent him a letter in December of 2000. I followed up with another the following June when that went unanswered. A contact that was visiting Germany in November of 2001 offered to look up Dr. Bohmbach for me. He didn't have the time once he was there, but Dr. Bohmbach coincidentally wrote to me anyway in January of 2002. He apologized for the delay and had a friend at the church archive do enough research to prove that we were indeed cousins. My own good German friend and helper, Adolf Braasch in Stemmen, offered to visit the church archive and fill in some blanks. There continue to be roadblocks, such as that nice lady at the church archive losing her job, but we expect to discover still more cousins.
What might be the scope of the Bohmbach Family Association (BFA)?
A logical statement of purpose might be:
The Bohmbach Family Association (BFA) is dedicated to preserve the family heritage of those that can trace their Bohmbach ancestry to Agathenburg, in the parish of Stade St. Wilhadi, in the old Kingdom of Hannover. Specifically, these would be the descendants of Johann Christian Bohnbarg (aka Bohnenberg or Bohmbach, born about 1722) and his wife Maria (born about 1729).
Many of these people emigrated to near Red Wing, Goodhue County, Minnesota and later spread across America. There seem to be at least three distinct, though related, emigrant lines discovered so far that came to Minnesota in the 19th century.
What might be the goals of the BFA?
How could the BFA be organized?
We would start small, but at some point we would get enough members so that incorporation makes sense. Many family associations have an executive board to oversee things. They have a president and vice-president, a secretary to handle membership and dues, a treasurer to handle the funds, a genealogist to coordinate any research, a historian to maintain the repository, and a webmaster to maintain a web presence to attract new members. It would also be most helpful to have a cousin that is a lawyer to provide needed legal and tax counsel.
How much work is this?
If you have the minimum number of the right people involved, then it shouldn't be a lot of work. One person can do it all until it gets too big, but that is not something I want to do. Like most people, I am busy enough in my life right now without this extra commitment. I have a full-time job, a young child in school, my research, and other volunteer responsibilities. Much of this will change in the future, but that's the way it is right now. Besides, I really don't know enough to feel comfortable organizing it by myself. We do need that one person, probably the president, that is really motivated to see that things get done. That's why we don't yet have a BFA. I contacted about a dozen people back in 1999-2000 that I thought would show the most interest, but there was enough hesitancy that I decided to wait on it. Like with most volunteer work, people want to help as they can but don't want to lead.
Where does that leave us?
Feel free to contact me to discuss your interest in the BFA. We can start organizing, but it won't really get going until that one motivated person agrees to take the ball and run with it. I will post that person's e-mail address on this page to be the main contact. It can grow from there as other members are found for the executive committee. If it doesn't grow, then it was simply just not meant to be.
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