After completing the last surveys in Hanover, I still had 2 1/2 weeks before I had to be in Berlin for my plane flight and four train trips remaining on my Eurail Pass. I decided to spend a few days in Amsterdam and a few days in Brussels, and then on a whim I booked a trip to the town of Wittenberg in Saxony-Anhalt. Wittenberg is world-renowned as the town where Martin Luther nailed his 95 Theses to the door of the church in 1517, which sparked the Protestant Reformation.
When I arrived, I was amazed and pleased to discover that the youth hostel I had booked was in the castle that held the church where Luther had nailed his theses. In fact, I had booked the last night that this hostel was open; the very next morning I had to move to a brand new but unimpressive youth hostel that had been built adjacent.
I had chosen to come to Wittenberg because it was close to the small town of Köselitz, from which my ancestors emigrated in 1856. Six generations of the Lindemann family have lived in German communities in central Texas, but little is known about their place of origin in Germany. I had heard the name Köselitz, a very small town near the town of Coswig, about thirty miles south of Wittenberg. The Elbe runs along this area, and many German cylists come to Wittenberg for Elbe tours. It was very easy for me to rent a bicycle and obtain directions to Coswig and then on to Köselitz.
Köselitz was practically deserted and its stores and church were closed. I eventually found somebody who told me that Köselitz was drying up, and that all of the town records were held in Dessau.
In Dessau I found the large red brick church where I was told Koeselitz records were kept. A friendly pastor greeted me and helped me by finding references in ancient birth and death records and translating the old German script. I had all the information I needed in about an hour.
When I returned to the Texas, I gave the information to my grandfather Gus Lindemann. I found that my trip had interested a few people in the Texas-German community, and an article was published in the Fayetteville County Record and The Journal, the publication of the German-Texan Heritage Society.
Article from the Fayetteville County Record, August 28, 2007 (pdf)