Document group to my great great grandfather

[Curt Steinbach]

Had to bring this up again since I found a couple of photos of him. The one under glass is a copy and that is my grandmother holding his hand. I figure this must be around WWI judging by her age. The other is him taking it easy with his wife.

Holger

[Don D.]

Nice to put a face to this grouping. I encourage to to flesh out the details of his life and post it here: Individual Soldier's History Archive Forum

[Curt Steinbach]

Nice to put a face to this grouping. I encourage to to flesh out the details of his life and post it here: Individual Soldier's History Archive Forum

Thanks Don, I'm always trying to fill in the gaps but details are pretty sketchy in our family back then. Some paper odds and ends but nothing concrete. If I ever manage to put a good history together I will gladly post there.

Holger

[Don D.]

Perhaps a good place to start would be to see if there is a Regimental History that covers the time he was in it.
Best of luck and looking forward to seeing more.

[MauserKar98k]

Extremely nice! I love seeing postings that deal with actual family members.

Me too. These kind of things make me jealous; my Prussian ancestors left in 1860. I'd love to find out if any of my relatives were in the Prussian service; it's too bad a lot of the records are gone.


So Feldwebel Müller was in Infantrie Regiment Nr. 61 (8th Pommeranian) at the Battle of Königgrätz in 1866 and was with Infantrie Regiment Nr. 76 (Hamburg, 2nd Hanseatic) during the Franco-Prussian War?

At Königgrätz, IR61 was part of the Prussian 1st Army, 2nd Army Corps, 4th Division, 2nd (8th) Brigade and was one of the units that captured the town of Sadowa.

From Wikipedia:

"King Wilhelm I of Prussia ordered the First Army across the river to support Fransecky. Sadowa was captured, but a fierce battle ensued in a nearby forest. The Austrian artillery held off the Prussians by firing into the smoke of the Prussian advance. The Prussians were slowed, and although the river was easy to wade, transporting artillery across it was extremely difficult. The Prussian attack was halted as the advancing Prussian 8th and 4th Divisions were cut down by the Austrian artillery as soon as they emerged from the smoke. However, the Austrian leader, Benedek, refused to call for a cavalry charge which later commentators have written might have won the battle. Reserve units were deployed at noon, but the outcome of the battle was still uncertain and Prussian commanders anxiously waited for the crown prince."

Positions of the 4th Division at Königgrätz (Sorry, not the best maps.)
http://www.battlefieldanomalies.com/...attlefield.gif
http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_KezhQ6waZT...h/Sadowa22.jpg

Soldat Müller must have stayed at home in Germany in uniform during the Franco-Prussian war; that is the only way that he could have been eligible for a steel Franco-Prussian War medal on a combatant ribbon.

I hope this info was of some help.

[Curt Steinbach]

I hope this info was of some help.[/QUOTE]



Absolutely, thanks very much. Still learning a lot about how to track down information on units and people etc. Will take this as a good starting point. I actually plan on sitting down with my parents and put together a start to the family tree and then see what kind of geneology websites there are in Germany or maybe even visit a company that specializes in that sort of research when I visit Germany later this year.


Thanks to everyone for their kind words and encouragement.

Holger

[Curt Steinbach]

another oicture - 1870 EKII??

Well I found another photo which was not at all where I expected to find it. In amongst all those great whiskers it looks like he was also awarded an EKII and I have to think with the other documents it would be an 1870 EKII. Sure wish I had that document and medal! I will do my damndest to research his history.

[streptile]

What a terrific photo you have there, and a great story!

Yes, I'd think that would have to be an 1870 EK2.

I have my great-great-grandfather's brother's 1870 EK2 (my great-great-granduncle), which I show HERE. While I don't have the document, and I haven't updated that thread in a while, I do now know who earned that cross, when, and how he is related to me.

[Curt Steinbach]

It's been a long time since I started this thread but my father had contacted some long lost relatives and they had some more photos. A couple are not great quality but I thought I would post them anyway. Not much luck in finding out more specifics about his service but nonetheless I am happy to have these pictures.

Curt