250 or 251 years? Machts nichts...Happy Anniversary Reinwald!

July 14… just another hot day in Arizona, but what a day for a milestone. In 2016, I thought July 14 was the 250^th anniversary of the settling of Reinwald.  Since I was traveling at the time, I didn’t have the chance to check my books, so I checked a few websites.  I was somewhat disappointed when I checked online records, it indicated that that the village was settled in 1767. So, I postponed my 250^th celebration for a year, wrote a short 249^th anniversary blog at http://valuemeals.blogspot.com/2016/07/happy-249th-anniversary-reinwald.html, and looked forward to 2017.

This year, I knew I was ready for the big milestone. As I prepared for the 250th anniversary and reviewed information again.  I grabbed my copy of “Einwanderung in das Wolgagebiet 1764-1767 Band 4” and turned to page 29 to check my dates.  And, there it was…Reinwald was settled in 1766. To say the least, I was perplexed.

Checking both sources again, I knew there was one person who could help me solve my dilemma.  I reached out to Brent Mai.

Brent replied immediately that he would investigate. After a few hours, he responded with this message.

“Okay, Anna – you’re the first one who has noticed this discrepancy—and I thank you for discovering it. I made the first gazetteer based off the appendix to the Beratz book, and that is where 1767 seems to appear first.  I, of course, repeated this in the 1798 Census gazetteer and one at the front of the “marriage book” Dona & I did. Even Sallet has 1767.  So, the error has been repeated many times. I’ve made the correct to the VGI site at Fairfield and included an explanation so that others will note that an error has been made.”

Brent and I agreed, although July 14, is truly the 251^st anniversary of Reinwald, we should celebrate 250 years anyway, since we thought last year was 249!

Be sure to check out the full explanation at https://vgi.fairfield.edu/ where Brent has provided us with so many details about Reinwald, families and  German Origins, too. The site has much to offer.

I hope you choose to celebrate the July 14 milestone, whether it is the 250^th or the 251st,  machts nichts. What does matter is that, despite years of trying to break through brickwalls in our research, we now have many paths available for building our family trees and sharing our history.  And, most of all, it is day for being grateful to the original 231 individuals, our ancestors, who settled in Reinwald on July 14, 1766. Remembering them is what matters the most.