After breakfast, I showed Elisabeth and Guy the family information that I had, including Fr. Albert Manternach’s story of the family history. They did a phonebook and Internet search for anyone named Manternach in the area. There aren’t many, but possibly someone will know someone who shares some of our family history.
Today the weather was beautiful and my plan was to visit the small villages of Beaufort, Medernach, the Larochette cemetery and Meysembourg chateau. The GPS did a fine job of directing me across the winding roads of the countryside. (It looks so much like Iowa and Wisconsin here!) I left after lunch.
At Beaufort the Chateau of Torture greets one at the edge of town. Since it was such a lovely day, I decided to visit. This structure was begun in the late twelfth century; at some time in its history it gained a jail and hall of torture, but it also had a history of glory until the end of the seventeenth century.Beaufort castle/
After this visit, I drove to the church, but it was not open and there was no cemetery near by. So I set the GPS to take me to Medernach.
The church of Medernach was not hard to find. It was open. It was very plain on the outside, but inside they had retained a beautiful baroque-style altar and organ. Here I found a statue of St. Donatus. Outside there were garden plots with a few old headstones collected from the cemetery. Along the wall of the yard there were other headstones, but I did not see another cemetery in town.Pictures of Medernach church
Next I set the GPS to find a Manternach in town. It was quite close to the church. Elisabeth had tried calling them this morning without an answer. The house was relatively new. I could hear a child’s voice emanating from inside. I rang the bell. A young woman with a friendly face answered the door. After greeting one another with “moyen”, I asked if she spoke any English. She said yes. I told her my story. She acknowledged that her friend George was not at home, but that his father René was interested in genealogy. She gave me his phone number, so that’s a call to make tomorrow.
From Medernach, I returned to Larochette. The cemetery is near the edge of town. I was able to park across from it. This was good because there was a open air market for clothes going on in the middle of town and I did not want to get caught in traffic. The visit to the cemetery was worthwhile: I found two Manternach gravesites, one of which was of the time period near the end of the 19th century. So there must be someone who continues to take care of them. My other observation is that the names on the tombstones are very familiar. I am remembering so many people that I knew in Bellevue and St. Donatus and other places, too, of course. Then I walked toward the center of town where all the people were milling about. There were skirts, jeans, tops and shoes everywhere. It didn’t seem that a lot of people were buying even though the prices were good.Larochette cemetery
From here I made my way to the Meysembourg chateau. This was not as productive. I visited because Elisabeth has told the story of the house. A man built the gigantic house for his wife. Many poor farmers lived in the area. The man gave them loans with high interest rates that they could not pay back, so many immigrated to the United States. The house is now for sale, but it does not have a successful history despite the beautiful valley it sits in. I could not get close to the house, and the GPS wanted me to turn into a field, but I did not.Meysembourg photos
I found the local church with its little graveyard, but that did not yield any family connections. So I headed back to Larochette, through Heffingen and back to the B&B, quite tired after the trekking and relaxed by the warm sun.
That’s all that the day offered. Tomorrow is another adventure, possibly to the towns of Manternach and Echternach. Off to bed for a good night’s rest, Dear Reader. Sleep well.
No comments:
Post a Comment