Great-grandmother Helene Ponce

Helene Berta Frieda Ponce

  I am so excited.... I finally got a new lead on my ancestor research for my great-grandmother Helene Berta Frieda Matthes (Matthres) geborene Ponce. I know her name is super long and definitely was not helpful with the research. She was born in Falkenburg Kreis Dramburg / Pommern and died in Ohringen, Hohenlohkreis, Baden-Wuertenberg, Germany. 

  Pommern is Pommerania in English located in northern Germany part of it is Germany and part of it is Poland. - not near France. It is east of Schleswig. I always thought she was born in France. Family kept on stating that she came from Lyon, France, but not of the records matched what I heard. Falkenburg is now Poland. 

  Another thing that confused me was all those extra names and where in the world did the name Matthes come in to play? was she maybe married before? 

  A friend mentioned that maybe she was a huguenot or from the French speaking Sweden who wandered out of Sweden to Prussia? Or maybe her ancestors were soldiers of the Napoleon army who stayed in Prussia? Those are all new to me and is something to look into that as a possibility. 

  I finally received a response from a DNA match on ancestry.com. My grandfather has a second cousin that popped up under DNA matches. She stated that her fathers last name was Graffunder and I mentioned the name to my grandfather and he recognized the name instantly. I hadn't come upon that name in the past, so I decided to go back to my research and see if the name would come up. A Helene Ponce born. Graffunder came up, she was born 1876 and died July 27th, 1910 in Berlin. My immediate thought was that could be my great-grandmother. It's not 100% sure, but could be likely with the new information that I obtained. 

Documents

No. 1190

Berlin, 27 July 1910

The hospital St. Hedwig notified that

Helene Ponce née Graffunder, wife of the laborer Gustav Ponce, 40 years old, Protestant [evangelisch] religion, residing in Berlin, Rosenthaler Straße No. 40, 

born in Tempelburg, county [Kreis] Neustettin, 

daughter of the master cartwright Karl Graffunder and his wife Wilhelmine née Ratz, both deceased and lastly residing in Falkenburg county [Kreis] Dramburg,

died in the above hospital on 27 July 1910 at 6 a.m.

16 printed words crossed out.

The registrar.

Per pro

Behrens [signature]

Here is the "link"

No. 1710

Berlin, 2 July 1914

The administration of the Virchow-Hospital notified that, 

the manager/managing director [Geschäftsführer] Wilhelm Gustav Ponce, widower, 49 years old, Protestant [evangelisch] religion, residing in Berlin, Rosenthaler Straße No. 40/41, 

born in Falkenburg, county [Kreis] Dramburg,

son of the deceased and lastly in Falkenburg residing married couple: spinning master [Spinnmeister] Karl Ponce and Albertine née Stolzenberg,

died in the Virchow-Hospital on 1 July 1914 at 4:45 a.m.

Read out, approved and 16 printed words crossed out

The registrar.

Per pro

Translation of the 2 margin entries:

Recognition of paternity, civil registry office Berlin-Mitte, to R̲̲o̲̲l̲̲f̲ Willi Hans Poncé born 4 July 1931

civil registry office Berlin 9, birth record No. 1317/1931

Married

civil registry office Berlin 9, marriage record No. 281/1932

So Willy Rudolf Ernst Schramke, born 21 October 1899 in Berlin, had an illegitimate child with a woman named Poncé.

The child was born 4 July 1931 in Berlin went by the first name Rolf (is indicated by the underlining of one of several forenames).

In 1932 Willy Rudolf Ernst Schramke married in Berlin.

Above in the birth certificate of Willy Rudolf Ernst Schramke there are the two other records mentioned. I want to look into ordering them in the future - (fees apply) from Berlin. 

In Germany privacy laws apply in which times are given after which the records can go public (this means everybody can order them; before the expiration of the time one has to prove a direct line in relationship): 

marriage records after 80 years

birth records after 110 years

death records after 30 years

For the Berlin marriage record in 1932 the time has expired and the records are kept in the State archive Berlin (Landesarchiv Berlin -LAB).

A friend looked up the online name list from the LAB and found the entry for my great-grandparents. 

She must have been married before, her name is listed as 

Matthes née Ponce, Helene 

Schramke, Willy 

Their religion is given as 'Evangelisch' (Protestant) and their citizenship as Prussian.

Here is a screenshot from this list and the link, they married in August 1932:

Old German Professions

Hauesler

Click "here" for a link.


Other helpful links:
Ahnenforschung in Ost und Westpreußen
Google Maps
Ponce name meaning
Huguenots in Germany
Evangelische Kirche Buch
Ancestry Research