Follow-up: Joseph Freibis

Joseph Freibis was my 3rd-great-grandfather. He also represented a brick wall in my research. When I first wrote about him, I did not know his birth date or place, his parents' names, or where he married his wife Pauline (Abraham).

I knew that Joseph had not been baptized in Góra (his wife's home parish) nor in Puck (the parish where his children were baptized), but I did not know what parish he was from. In my initial research, I had learned that there were Freibis records in Luzino, Rozłazino, and Żarnowiec Catholic parishes and in Bolszewo Lutheran parish. Thus I resolved to manually search microfilm of all parishes in the area in hopes of finding him.

Happily my strategy paid off. I found Joseph's baptism in the Bolszewo (Bohlschau) Lutheran parish. He was born on 18 November 1826 in Robakowo to parents Johann Freibis, a Lutheran, and Francisca Słowy, a Catholic. Interestingly, his two elder brothers had been baptized in Catholic parishes, while each of his younger brothers' baptisms were recorded twice — in both a Catholic AND a Lutheran parish.

Excerpt - Joseph Freyboes (Freibis) baptism, 1826 Bolszewo parish

Once I had found Joseph's parents, naturally I wanted to go back further. Luck was again with me. Joseph's father, Johann Gottlieb, was also baptized in Bolszewo, in 1797. His parents were Carl Gottlieb Freibis and Constantia Ronke. Joseph's mother, Francisca, was baptized in Luzino (Lusin) in 1797. Her parents were Anton Słowy (or Słowik) and Catharina Milke.

At this point I realized I had run out of luck on the Freibis line again — or so I thought. The Bolszewo parish records began in 1774 and I could not find Carl Gottlieb Freibis' baptism. But when I re-examined my older notes, I found something interesting: there was a Freibis family in the early records of Luzino Catholic parish. Hoping they would match my family, I looked through those records again.

52 Ancestors #1: Joseph Freibis

Starting this week, we will introduce you to one ancestor each week as part of the 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks Challenge. I will begin today with one of our mystery ancestors, Joseph Freibis.

Finding Joseph Freibis

Joseph Freibis was my 3rd-great-grandfather (see pedigree chart). We learned his name easily enough from the death certificate of his daughter, my 2nd-great-grandmother, Maryanna (Freibis) Pionke.

Maryanna (Freibis) Pionke death certificate

However, his name was the only easy-to-find thing about Joseph Freibis. I don't have a record of Joseph's marriage to Pauline Abraham, and I can't find Joseph's birth nor his parents' names. I don't even know if he was baptized Catholic or if he converted.

Following a trail from his children's marriage records at St. Stanislaus Kostka Church (Chicago), to the indexes on the Pomeranian Genealogical Association website, and finally to the LDS Family History Library microfilms, I found Joseph Freibis' death record in the Puck parish.

excerpt - Joseph Freibös death record, Puck parish

I may have only the one record, but fortunately it is a very informative record. Here is what it tells us:

1. Name: Joseph Freibös.
2. Age at death: 36, meaning he was born about 1826.
3. Place of death: Polchau (now Połchowo).
4. Date of death: 7 November 1862.
5. Survived by: wife Pauline née Abraham and children Johann, 10, Francisca, 7, Marianna, 4, Joseph, 1.
6. Occupation: cloth weaver.
7. Cause of death: emaciation.

I was especially interested to learn that he had a trade, as opposed to being a general laborer. His cause of death also caught my eye - I wonder what illness he had been suffering to have become emaciated. And I was quite happy to see that the names and ages of the surviving family matched my records exactly.

But after basking in the glow of the wonderful depth of information contained in this one record, I was back to the frustration of a dead end search. Where was he born? Not in Puck. Not in Góra where his wife Pauline was born. And after some research I discovered that the marriage records for the relevant years in Góra (and most neighboring parishes) are lost.