Talk:Alois Benjamin Saliger

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It seems to me that Absdorf, Austria, is a highly unlikely birthplace for Alois Saliger. Where did this come from?

I think it is much more likely that he was born in NE Bohemia, in an area referred to as the Adlergebirge (Eagle Mountains). This area is currently in the Czech Republic and lies right on the border with Poland. The mostly likely villages for his birthplace are either Batzdorf (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barto%C5%A1ovice_v_Orlick%C3%BDch_hor%C3%A1ch ) or Rokitnitz (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rokytnice_v_Orlick%C3%BDch_hor%C3%A1ch ).

There are several reasons for selecting these villages. First, both of his parents’ surnames (Saliger and Pohl) were very common in these villages. Secondly, I know from my research that his paternal grandparents were from this area. Thirdly, there were other families from this area living in Lewis County, WA, about the same time that the Saligers immigrated and settled there. It was fairly common to have several families from the same locale in the old country living near each other in their new country, a classic “chain migration”. MaryBoehmen (talk) 08:43, 3 February 2011 (UTC)

Birthplace: Batzdorf, Bohemia
Alois Saliger was definitely born in Batzdorf. You can see the index for his birth on page 111 of the “Alphabetischer Index über das Geburtsbuch”, which is the birth index for the town of Batzdorf for the years 1821-1948. The digitized vital records, from the collection held at The State Regional Archives in Zámrsk, Czech Republic, are here: http://www.archivzamrsk.cz/uvodnistrankacz.htm

The specific Batzdorf microfilm for Alois Saliger is here: http://195.113.185.42:8083/002-00007.zip

The birth index shows he was indeed born on June 30, 1880, in House Nr. 212. The index cross-references his detailed birth information from register book (Matriken) X, page 10. Unfortunately, the actual birth records are only online up to 1879. Fortunately the online indexes cover a longer period. MaryBoehmen (talk) 22:10, 5 February 2011 (UTC)