I was asked this question a while ago and, being unnaturally competitive, I decided to have a look at Ancestry to see if I could impress and answer the question. As you will read, the seemingly simple question lead down an unpredictable path.
He told me his grandmother was Annie Fanny Windscheffel and that she was born in Marylebone in 1883. It is an unusual surname so it was reasonably simple to take this limited information and go back a number of generations with the help of the census, and some definitive looking Ancestry trees, to find :
He told me his grandmother was Annie Fanny Windscheffel and that she was born in Marylebone in 1883. It is an unusual surname so it was reasonably simple to take this limited information and go back a number of generations with the help of the census, and some definitive looking Ancestry trees, to find :
- his great grandfather was Charles Windscheffel (1842 - 1912)
- his 2 x great grandfather was William Daniel Windscheffel (1803 - 1852)
- his 3 x great grandfather was another William Daniel Windscheffel (1772 - 1837)
I found an old post on Roots Web from a descendant of one of Christian's brothers saying that he had traced the Windscheffels to a family of master bakers in Stargard in the Duchy of Mecklenburg-Strelitz. Using documents that survived a massive fire in the town he had established that Christian's father was Daniel Windscheffel, a master baker, and that Christian himself had achieved the grade of journeyman baker before he left for the UK (i.e. had done his apprenticeship but was not yet a Master). He hadn't been able to discover exactly when Christian left Germany but he had found a record of his marriage in Limehouse, London in 1767 to a Mary Taylor from Harpenden in Hertfordshire.
Mecklenburg-Strelitz, formerly Pomerania, is an area in northern Prussia and now part of Germany.
One of the interesting aspects of being a genealogist and social historian is to try to fit a story around known facts. Having said that the rest of this blog, I will admit, is educated speculation.
Mecklenburg-Strelitz, formerly Pomerania, is an area in northern Prussia and now part of Germany.
One of the interesting aspects of being a genealogist and social historian is to try to fit a story around known facts. Having said that the rest of this blog, I will admit, is educated speculation.
I wish I had learned more about the kings and queens of England at school but I think we were just told basic dates, almost all of which I forgot soon after.
The internet is a wonderful source of information and it tells us that when George III came to the throne in October 1760, he needed to marry in order to secure the succession. He chose Princess Sophie Charlotte, also from Mecklenburg-Strelitz.
A flotilla, consisting of five royal yachts and six ships of war, collected Princess Charlotte from northern Germany in July 1761 and she arrived in England for her marriage to George, who she had never met, a few hours later. They went on to have 15 children !
The internet is a wonderful source of information and it tells us that when George III came to the throne in October 1760, he needed to marry in order to secure the succession. He chose Princess Sophie Charlotte, also from Mecklenburg-Strelitz.
A flotilla, consisting of five royal yachts and six ships of war, collected Princess Charlotte from northern Germany in July 1761 and she arrived in England for her marriage to George, who she had never met, a few hours later. They went on to have 15 children !
There is nothing to say who accompanied her in this large flotilla of ships but it seems quite a coincidence that Christian Windscheffel arrived in London from the same part of Germany at around the same time. Would it be too far fetched to suggest that perhaps the Princess brought a local baker with her as part of her entourage ?