GENEAL-FORUM

My grandmother was Elisabeth Olck, born in 1885. She married my grandfather, Peter Marx, on 6 Dec 1908 in Cologne, Germany. Any question about her past or her family was always answered with: "That is none of your business." Since the Archives for the City of Cologne collapsed into the subway excavations a couple of years ago, none of the normal records are available until some time in the future.

When I lived with my grandparents in Koeln-Koenigsforst in the 1950s there used to come a very elegant lady once a year to visit my grandmother. She would come in a chauffeur-driven Duesenberg, all dressed in black, including a black veil covering her face. She would be formal until meeting my grandmother, and then it was like old friends or like sisters. I always thought that from a distance they looked identical. My grandfather said once that the Lady was Madame duPont du Namur, and that was all he knew.

Any ideas how to find out more about my grandmother?

Guten Tag,

since you mention in your query an exact date and place of marriage it seems that you got it from the marriage record.
The marriage records of the Civil Registry Offices usually give information on
1) date and place of birth [in the very early days only age and place of birth]
2) occupation
3) residence
4) confession [Protestant, Catholic, Jewish, etc.]
5) marital status
6) names and occupation of the parents
So the record should give some information on your grandmother's origin.

Do you know if your grandparents were Lutheran or Catholic? Could be important for a search in the church registers.

I checked some of the directories which are online and found

several persons whose name is Peter MARX with different occupations, e.g. in 1915

http://www.wiki-de.genealogy.net/w/inde ... u&page=529

Do you know how your grandfather earned his living?

No OLCK or OLK entries in directories of 1844, 1846, 1868, 1869, 1872, 1915. So it is likely that your grandmother and her parents were not from Köln.

Do you know when and where your grandmother died? If so the original death record should show her date and place of birth as well as some information on her parents.

I checked some of the directories which are online and found

several persons whose name is Peter MARX with different occupations, e.g. in 1915

http://www.wiki-de.genealogy.net/w/inde ... u&page=529

Do you know how your grandfather earned his living?

No OLCK or OLK entries in directories of 1844, 1846, 1868, 1869, 1872, 1915. So it is likely that your grandmother and her parents were not from Köln.

Do you know when and where your grandmother died? If so the original death record should show her date and place of birth as well as some information on her parents.

I checked some of the directories which are online and found

several persons whose name is Peter MARX with different occupations, e.g. in 1915 wiki-de.genealogy.net/w/index.php?title=Datei:Koeln-AB-1915.djvu&page=529

Do you know how your grandfather earned his living?

No OLCK or OLK entries in directories of 1844, 1846, 1868, 1869, 1872, 1915. So it is likely that your grandmother and her parents were not from Köln.

Do you know when and where your grandmother died? If so the original death record should show her date and place of birth as well as some information on her parents.

Search possibility :

http://historischesarchivkoeln.de/de/lesesaal/archiv