I haven't had time to translate it yet, but this 1839 entry from the Evangelical church in Aurich, Ostfriesland, Germany indicates that Ameling Jansen Sartorius died on 28 January 1839. Married in Aurich in 1833, Ameling left behind his wife Meta Margareta Janssen and three children.
Reading through the unindexed church records is time consuming. Meta was not originally from Aurich and baptismal records for her children indicate that her family was from an outlying village. Do I continue to look for Meta in the records at Aurich (perhaps for a second marriage?). Do I look for Meta in the records where her family was living? Did the young widow with three small children return "home" or stay? Searching unindexed records of this type takes time and I want to maximize the chance I find Meta quickly.
Meta's son Hinrich is my ancestor. This pretty much invalidates the story that Hinrich's parents came to America, living and dying near Peoria, Illinois.
Unless of course Hinrich's mother married again and someone confused his father with his step-fathe.
Stay tuned.
