GENEAL-FORUM

Can anyone in this forum provide me with information regarding descendants of my great grandfather and great grandmother, Xaver Steffen von Kriens (geb. 24 Jul 1838) and Katharine Steffen-Sidler von Adligenswil (geb. 27 Jun 1839)?

------------- Übersetzung --------------
Gesucht werden Angaben zu Nachkommen des Xaver Steffen in Kriens (*24.07.1838) und seiner Ehefrau Katharine Sidler (*27.06.1839).

Hello entlebuch45,

first of all: welcome to the forum!

Now for the topic title: according to the baptismal record (Aufnahme 416) Xaver Steffen's parents were just living in Kriens. The father Balthasar Steffen was citizen of Entlebuch (which consequently also applied to his son), the mother Anna Maria Spengler was originally citizen of Horw; they had married on 02 Mar 1835.

In this forum we discuss single families (defined by surname and place of citizenship) only in each specific thread. Accordingly I have renamed your post. As a consequence all discussions on Steffen von Entlebuch should take place here.

Now for your question: you are looking for descendants. Obviously you have data on at least one line ... leading to yourself . Are you looking for information on all descendants - or are you trying to get in touch with living descendants?

For all descendants: the first step would be to search the church records available online. Alternatively you could ask the Civil Registry Office in charge for "Familienscheine", compiling entire families (parents and children, if known grandparents with limited data) - there are fees to be paid, however, and this will not bring you to living relatives. Depending how privacy legislation is interpreted in the different cantons, you will not get any information on persons born after about 1900.

For contact to living relatives: you will not get any information from official sources. You could check the phone directory for Steffen in Kriens - which will also give you people with Steffen as given name, and with such a fairly common surname people may not be related to you at all. You may have to hope that someone researching this family reads your post and knows about connections to people living today.

Hi

The parish records of all places of the Canton Lucerne are available online until 1875.
But you can only access this parish records if you have an account at familysearch.

https://query-staatsarchiv.lu.ch/archiv ... ID=1230956

There are also the records of the insurance for buildings of the Canton Lucerne available online until the 1920ies.

https://staatsarchiv.lu.ch/schaufenster ... nzregister
https://query-staatsarchiv.lu.ch/archiv ... ?ID=236441

Regards
Svenja

Thank you Wolf and Svenja. Your prompt replies to my enquiry are most appreciated, and I especially appreciate your having changed the title of my post to make it more appropriate for this forum, and for identifying my great great Steffen grandparents.
I am a Swiss and Australian citizen who has visited on several occasions, but not resided permanently in, Switzerland. My official Place of Origin is Entlebuch as advised to me by my father who immigrated to Australia in 1922 as a 14 year old boy with his mother, stepfather, 13 year old brother and a cousin.
In the hope of eliciting further helpful replies I include here below details from in the information which I currently possess about my Swiss forebears, most of which was found by my second cousin who resides in Ermensee. With the exception of my maternal grandmother (Mathilde Haas), step grandfather (Anton Stocker), my father (Theodor Werner Steffen) and his brother (Xaver Ernst Steffen) about which of course much is known, it would be my preference to learn more about all other Steffen individuals included here and details of their descendents up to the present day.

Hello entlebuch45

There's a book called "Die Familien Steffen aus dem Entlebuch. Familiengeschichtliche Studie und Gedenkschrift zur Jahrhundertfeier des Bürgerrechtes 1757-1957" from 1957.

I have a digital version of the book. Sadly there's no information about the families you're looking for. But if you're interested in the ancestors further back it might be helpful.

There's also a family tree of the family Steffen in the book. Sadly it ends with Balthasar Jakob Steffen (* 1811 in Kriens, † 1872) and Maria Anna Spengler, the parents of your great grandfather Xaver Steffen. There are none of his descendants listed. But you can trace the line of Balthasar Jakob Steffen back up to his great great grandfather Oswald Steffen.

Kind regards

Olivier

Thank you Wolf and Felber.

Felber, I did discover the book you refer to some time ago but had difficulty with its contents due to not having the necessary language skills. Thank you for pointing out the Balthasar and Maria Anna inclusion. I will be sure to work back from there when I have the time.

I will try to concentrate on the church records as well as I am able to interpret them in the short term. Also, is the Civil Registry Office you referred to Wolf in Entlebuch or Lucerne?

I now have an account at familysearch.

entlebuch45 hat geschrieben: Do 22. Jul 2021, 05:12Also, is the Civil Registry Office you referred to, Wolf, in Entlebuch or Lucerne?

It will be the Regional Office in Wolhusen.

Have attached here an updated Family Tree which includes changes resulting from forum suggestions especially in relation to archive and church records and assistance from the Civil Registry Officer in Wolhusen.

Here are the parts of the family tree in "Die Familien Steffen aus dem Entlebuch. Familiengeschichtliche Studie und Gedenkschrift zur Jahrhundertfeier des Bürgerrechtes 1757-1957" from 1957 regarding your family. Your line goes through Johann Jakob Steffen (* 1712 Schüpfheim, † 1787 Kriens) and Anna Maria Gertrud Limacher on the first image. Their eight children are on the second image.


Kind regards

Olivier

Thank you so much Olivier for providing this comprehensive back story to my family's lineage from the book you had referred to in an earlier post. I'm sure i could not have elicited this information myself. Now if I can only trace some
more recent descendants, and especially any from the late 1800s and early 1900s. Again, my sincere appreciation for your efforts.

You're welcome!

The descendants of those families aren't listed in the book. You have to find them in church and civil records.

Kind regards

Olivier

The attached Steffen family tree has been updated to include my reading of relevant parts of the handwritten earlier ancestry information contained in the attachment to Felder’s post of the 10th of September.
I have also added details of my immediate family (siblings-all living) and myself, and my cousins who are the children of my father’s brother Xaver Ernst Steffen.
Consistent with earlier requests, any information regarding any of the family members listed, and especially about descendants of those now highlighted by ##, would be of particular interest to me.
In the meantime I am, as was suggested here, endeavouring to make direct contact with Steffen individuals found in and around Entlebuch, including in such places as Schüpfheim, Escholzmatt and Flühli.

Have also added a German version of this post for completeness. Apologies in advance for the use of a
translation application but my German is not so good.

Der angehängte Steffen-Stammbaum wurde aktualisiert, um meine Lektüre relevanter Teile der handschriftlichen Informationen zu früheren Vorfahren, die im Anhang zu Felders Post vom 10. September enthalten sind, aufzunehmen.
Ich habe auch Angaben zu meiner unmittelbaren Familie (alle lebenden Geschwister) und zu mir selbst sowie zu meinen Cousinen hinzugefügt, die die Kinder des Bruders meines Vaters, Xaver Ernst Steffen, sind.
In Übereinstimmung mit früheren Anfragen wären für mich alle Informationen zu einem der aufgeführten Familienmitglieder und insbesondere zu den Nachkommen der jetzt mit ## markierten Personen von besonderem Interesse.
Inzwischen bemühe ich mich, wie hier angedeutet, um den direkten Kontakt zu Steffen-Personen in und um Entlebuch, unter anderem in Schüpfheim, Escholzmatt und Flühli.

Der Vollständigkeit halber habe ich auch eine deutsche Version dieses Beitrags hinzugefügt. Entschuldigung im Voraus für die Verwendung einer Übersetzungsanwendung, aber mein Deutsch ist nicht so gut.

For Wolf,
Regarding my last post.
How do I include an attachment so that it appears on the page without people having to click on the pdf link?
Many thanks in anticipation of your reply.
Entlebuch45

entlebuch45 hat geschrieben: So 7. Nov 2021, 01:41How do I include an attachment so that it appears on the page without people having to click on the pdf link?

It needs to be an image file (.jpg) - then a thumbnail image will be displayed (for a large graph like yours), still needs to be clicked on to see it full size - but gives an impression of the content immediately (see your previous post).

I would recommend, however, to exclude the last generation (people still alive).