Groh / Wohlfromm Family of Marlenheim
Mary's great-grandmother Marie Theresa Groh (b. 8 Dec 1875, Marlenheim) descends from farming families documented in Marlenheim and neighbouring Kirchheim across five generations, back to the 1790s (source: Holley Family Tree.ged). Christy's research shows her standing behind the counter of the Groh Brothers' store after the family emigrated to Idaho (Bovill / Sherwin), and lovingly calls her "your grandmother" — though the Ancestry pedigree places her as Mary's great-grandmother (source: Holley-family.pdf; Holley Family Tree.ged).
Relationship line: Mary → Patricia Ann Todd → Marie Anne Zagelow (grandmother) → Marie Theresa Groh (great-grandmother) (source: Holley Family Tree.ged).
The documented genealogy
Generations from Marie Groh upward (source: Holley Family Tree.ged; Holley-family.pdf):
- Marie Theresa Groh (great-grandmother) — b. 8 Dec 1875, Marlenheim; m. Herman Zagelow (recorded as b. 1858 "Alsace-Lorraine," but his line is almost certainly not Alsatian — see The Zagelow Branch (genealogical puzzle)); emigrated to the US, d. 1963 in Moscow, Idaho.
- Jean / Johann Groh (great-great-grandfather) — Marie's father, b. 18 Feb 1840 in Marlenheim (67282), Bas-Rhin, farmer.
- Adèle Wohlfrom (great-great-grandmother) — Marie's mother, b. 13 January 1846. The PDF birth certificate registers her at Kirchheim; the GED lists Marlenheim — see the note below.
- Jean Groh & Adèle Wohlfrom married 20 April 1868 in the Marlenheim town hall (source: Holley-family.pdf).
- François Joseph Groh & Anne Marie Schmitt (3rd-great-grandparents) — Jean's parents, both born in Marlenheim (b. 1796 and 1797; d. 1878 and 1879) (source: Holley Family Tree.ged).
- Laurent Wohlfrom & Thérèse Bernhard (3rd-great-grandparents) — Adèle's parents; Laurent b. ~1806 and d. 1850, both in Kirchheim (67240) (source: Holley Family Tree.ged).
- Recurring family surnames in the Marlenheim/Kirchheim records: Groh, Wohlfrom(m), Schmitt, Bernhard/Bernhart (source: Holley-family.pdf).
> Birthplace discrepancy (Adèle Wohlfrom): the GED gives her birthplace as Marlenheim, but the PDF's 1846 birth certificate was registered at Kirchheim, and her father Laurent Wohlfrom was both born and died in Kirchheim. The primary document favours Kirchheim; treat the GED's "Marlenheim" as a likely transcription of the family's later domicile.
The 1875-era records are written in Kurrent, the old German-language cursive — a reminder that Alsace was under German rule for stretches of this family's history (see Mary's Family History). All Bas-Rhin parish registers, état civil and the 1819–1885 censuses are digitized free at archives67.alsace.eu; the Cercle Généalogique d'Alsace (Strasbourg) can help transcribe Kurrent and holds ~997,000 act-transcriptions searchable on Geneanet (source: mary-heritiage-alsace.md). Records under ~100 years old are requested at the relevant mairie (Marlenheim, Kirchheim or Nordheim). See Mary's Alsace Heritage Research (source summary) for the full research plan.
The family address in Marlenheim
The 1851 census places the Groh household — the family of François Joseph Groh, with his young son Jean (Marie's father, then ~11) — at house no. 210 on "Mittel Strass" — literally "Middle Street," today Rue du Milieu in Marlenheim (source: Holley-family.pdf). Christy's research notes this runs parallel to Rue du Général-de-Gaulle, just north of the parish Église Sainte-Richarde, in the oldest and densest part of the old village — a walkable spot to stand on the family's ground (source: Holley-family.pdf). For graves, note the Marlenheim cemetery was moved north of the village in 1822, so 19th-century Groh/Schmitt graves are in that northern cemetery, not the churchyard (source: mary-heritiage-alsace.md).
Visiting — what to see
Christy's research pairs the genealogy with sites in and around Marlenheim (source: Holley-family.pdf):
- Église Sainte-Richarde (Catholic parish church) and the 18th-century town hall and castle
- Renaissance residences and half-timbered houses in the old centre
- Marlenberg hill — Romanesque Chapel and Stations of the Cross, with views over the Alsatian vineyards and Strasbourg Cathedral
- Day-trip range from the family villages: Château du Haut-Koenigsbourg Castle, Château d'Isenbourg & Spa, Eguisheim, Riquewihr
Related pages
- Mary's Family History — the wider ancestry
- Mary's Alsace Heritage Research (source summary) — the heritage-travel research report (genealogy plan, food/wine, logistics)
- The Zagelow Branch (genealogical puzzle) — the separate, probably-not-Alsatian Zagelow puzzle
- Couronne d'Or (the "Golden Crown")
- Marlenheim
- Kirchheim
- Nordheim
- Steinklotz (Grand Cru, Marlenheim)
- Le Cerf (Marlenheim)
- Alsace Wine Route
