John Huebener, Evangelical Lutheran Pastor
Weigersdorf Number 81, above Niesky
DDR - 8921

5 Nov 1983

Mrs Vernon Jeske
P.O. Box 402
Miles, TX, USA 76861

Dear Mrs. Jeschke!

I extend my heartfelt thanks to you for your friendly greeting with a picture of our church portal and the green certificate. Actually, I should rather respond. But please forgive the delay. I am glad that you were able to have such a beautiful third trip to Europe. We consider it again and again so strange, how foreigners can go all over Europe, but to us DDR-Europeans almost all borders will remain closed. The working people of our country who have to cope with all of the work load for the State, are not trustworthy enough to allow them to travel freely. This mutual distrust characterizes our actual hardship under which we also suffer as Christians. But we are more likely to get over it because we win, after this short life, the everlasting glory of God. There we will be with all our loved ones, with all believers in Christ of all times and nations before the throne of the Lamb. That exit visa no one can deny us. But the atheist working class, which holds only the truly short life of this world, is prevented by the ruling atheists to satisfy their human desire to visit next of kin or to meet other peoples and cultures. How to blunt the people and become bitter! If, however, they also learn about other countries, they would realize that even where another "only cooks with water," they never would be grateful for a life at home.

… then yes we are doing relatively well. We Christians are respected. And that is not self-evident. Especially in preparation for Luther commemorative year our Marxists have learned quite yet. This is encouraging.

Now, however, your request for information about relatives of the last century: You wish to obtain information about Gertrud Junker-Teinert. This is what it states in the church book:

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1. Sterbe-Register [Death Register]-Nr.: 1850/11 Herta (1), Carl Teinert’s Gedingegärtners [hired house gardener] in Dauban, Ehefrau [wife]

gestorben [died] 28.12.1850 in Dauban an Brustbeschwerden [chest problems]

beerdigt [buried] 31.12.1850 im Alter [at the age of] von 72 Jahren, 9 Monaten, 27 Tagen.

Hinterlassene [Survivors]: der Witter [widow], 1 majorenner Sohn [sole surviving son].

2. Sterbe-Register-Nr.: 1851/13 Johann Carl +Teinert, Gedingegärtner in Dauban.

gestorben 18.09.1851 in Dauban an Entkräftung [debilitating old age]

beerdigt 21.09.1851 im Alter von 74 Jahren, 3 Monatgen, 18 Tagen,
Hinterlassen: 1 Sohn [son]

+ Der vorname “Emil” ist nirgends verzeichnet! [The first name "Emil" is nowhere recorded!]

3. Aus dem Seelen-Register [Register of Souls (Members)] Weigersdorf, Seite [page] 150:

Die oben Genannten [The above mentioned]:

Carl Teinert, geboren [born] am 01.06.1777
dessen Ehefrau [his wife]

Gertraud+geborne [née] Junker, geboren am 01.03.1778
+Warum im Sterberegister Herta statt Gertraud steht, kann ich nicht erklären; denn es muß sich um dieselbe Person handeln.
[+Why in the death register Herta is named Gertraud, I cannot explain; for it must be the same person.]

Johann Carl Teinert, Gärtner, [gardener]
geb. 13.09.1816, Aufnahme [recorded] in die altluth Kirche [old Lutheran church] 01.05.1843

dessen Ehefrau Maria geborene Schneider, geb. 06.11.1816
dazu die Kinder: [to the children:]
August geb. 19.12.1837
Johann geb. 15.05.1841
Ernst geb. 06.06.1843
Anna geb. 05.03.1846
Maria geb. 02.02.1850
Magdalena geb. 22.09.1852

Zusatzvermerk: Sind nach Amerika ausgewandert den 04.09.1854 [Additional note: They left for America on 4 Apr 1854.]

I hope to have reasonably satisfied your wishes.

In your visit, you said in the following year a visit of your group is planned. We would be thankful if you could tell us the number of the visitors and the time table. we would like to greet them as guests, also, if possible, a community event scheduled which could be recorded as history. Also, we could show films of the renovation of our church building that now inside and outside shines with brilliance. The so called Kilian Linden Tree, what you saw, must ultimately be cut down. It was totally dried up. But her fall was recorded in the picture.

We greet you heartily, dear Mrs Jeschke, and also the two other ladies, from all your local kinship and the community. God bless you!

Yours,
John Huebener, Pastor

Translated by Weldon Mersiovsky