Rohrbachs FOUND

Holy Cannoli! I finally started looking into the 1870 census lead, that I've had for about a year. Don't know why I was so skeptical. I looked up the "alleged brothers" of my 2nd great grandmother, and found someone ELSE who's been researching them through Ancestry. Hoping the contact link was still fresh I sent them a message and waited... only a couple days, thank goodness! He confirmed we are indeed related if my grandmother married a Winkler and moved to California.

So this morning I was talking to the guy, because he gave me his phone number instead of email (the ancestry site was giving him trouble) and he not only knows what village or town Caroline's father came from, but he's got documentation and has personally been there more than once. "If you could ever imagine a town in Germany you'd like to be from, that would be it." he said. He also has baptismal records in Latin, going back into the 1600's....

Needless to say, I'm floored.

Caroline's father, Philip, was a piano forte maker. Henry Winkler probably worked for him. It will be interesting to see how these little bits do or don't unravel. He said Philip's will said something about trying to track down Caroline. And the mother was not Martha... We talked about the family graves in Brooklyn, and other uncles... Well... I don't want to give a bunch of misinformation in my rush of excitement, it will be coming to me in bits and pieces, but it will come. I am so full of gratitude that I was led to this cousin, and that I could provide his missing links as well. No accidents...