A long dream became true on August 12, 2006. William S. “Bill” Borders and his sons William S. “Bud”, James, and Richard were visiting Jettenburg, the city where their ancestors came from.
The sheep herder, Matthias Bader and his family left Jettenburg 1752 and had been amongst the first emigrants from the Haerten area. The family settled in Pennsylvania, like many others who arrived at the same time.
Bill Borders has spent a tremendous piece of work to collect all the descendants of Matthias Bader (Border) and has documented all his research in a large book. There exist even a DNA project to verify relationships.
We met shortly before 10:00 am in front of the church in Jettenburg and visited together the service. Afterwards we had the opportunity to do a tour through the church and the bell tower. For lunch we drove to my parents in Wankheim and had
a traditional Swabian Meal called “Maultaschen” its a type of Ravioli but with meat in the middle.
After the lunch we visited the Historical Museum of Karl and Helene Bader in Jettenburg. Helene Bader personally showed us the museum and explained the show cases and the history behind them. We were accompanied by some members of the Historical Society lead by its president Ullrich Merkel as well a representative from the local newspaper Reutlinger Generalanzeiger (please see the link at the bottom of the page).
The final was a visit of the cemetery in Jettenburg. However I gave the guest a warning upfront that they can’t expect to find old tombstones.
Ruediger Kemmler
Report in the local newspaper Reutlinger Generalanzeiger was published on Aug. 16, 2006