Bill&Theresa: Day 10-Rangendingen

Today's goal!

Today was about tracing history on my Mom’s side (Dieringer). From some previous research, a few things were clear. But we have to sort of work backwards. There are a LOT of Dieringers from Rangendingen (all the G’s are hard, so it is pronounced “Rang’n Ding’n”). But, the background of Rangendingen says that it is decidedly Catholic because during the Protestant Reformation, a lot of Catholics fled towns that converted to a Protestant denomination. So, it is likely that the Dieringers were from somewhere else.

In Germany, things from a place are often the name of the place plus “-er” (as in Hamburgers from Hamburg, Frankfurters from Frankfurt, etc). It stands to reason then, that the Dieringers are, well, likely from “Diering” or something like that. And there is also some other genealogy research that suggests Tieringen (D and T are phonetically close). So, we started there.

Today's Start!

A few things struck us as we arrived in Tieringen. People are only named for their place of origin after they leave. So, there probably picked up the name in their new town (those people from Tieringen…Tieringers!). The other thing that struck us researching and then reaching Tieringen is that it is a VERY small town with only ONE church. A protestant church. So, very likely there was one member of clergy, and if he followed a Protestant line, the people either followed him or left. With no other church in town, they had to leave town. Add that Rangendingen had a lot of relocated Catholics, and, well, the pieces fit. It’s speculation, but the pieces fit. It is possible that my ancestors left Tieringen after the Reformation, moved to Rangendingen with a bunch of neighbors, all of which were referred to by the locals as “Dieringers”.

The road to Tieringen.

Heading to Tieringen involved a trek up into the hilly area and back down on a very windy road. We checked out the church and the scene. It is definitely a farm town, a very small one at that. (Population 1069 roughly). We walked around the main part of town, which took about 15 minutes, and then headed out. We had to dodge tractors being put in or taken out of home garages, so it was safest to hurry!

Look Mom!!! :-)

Rangendingen was also very farm-like. Something about the place just reminded me of farms of my uncles or Grandpa. We found a parking space and headed toward the church, St. Gallus, which was first referenced in 795AD. There was a very nice woman tending to the grounds of the church area, and she was very happy to help up and explain all sorts of things. Except her English was not very good and it was hard to get most of it, but she was very nice! We went into the church and checked it out, and spent a few minutes there, wondering if any of my ancestors sat in that seat or saw that view.

I guess I don't know my German War history well enough.

We walked around the grounds and the cemetery. There was a memorial for, we’re guessing, soldiers who lost their lives in wars. All of the names in 1916 or so, and 1940s were sort of obvious. The ones in 1946 and 1947 were curious. And the ones in the 1870s, not really sure which war that was!

We walked through the cemetery and found LOTS of grave markers for Dieringers and a few other names were frequent. There were a few other people there either tending to graves or visiting loved ones. One woman sort of surprised us as she looked JUST like one of my Aunts!

St. Gallus Church in Rangendingen.

Inside St. Gallus.

Part of the cemetery. The middle marker (grey) and
the black one behind it are both Dieringers.

OK, I want to know who Prof. Dieringer is!

Professor Dieringer Strasse (street).

Schloss Haigerloch. We drove under the tower.

After a quick lunch, we headed for our night’s lodging, Schloss Haigerloch. Schloss seems to mean castle, but so does “burg”. But Burg seems more like a fortress, and Schloss is more like a compound. Anyway, a lot of old Schlosses have been converted into either swanky restaurants or hotels/resorts. This one is hotel, conference center, and swanky restaurant. But we have a nice-ish corner room (nice because it has windows on two walls)(ish because it is COLD on two walls due to windows!). Also, while some rooms are in the castle itself, ours is in the building once used by the bailiff and the stables. So, yeah, we're staying in a stable. Or jail. Not sure! We explored a little bit, then headed to Church on the other side of the river, and grabbed some food there.