Looking for my GrandMother Matilda Schmidt

[sboucher5]

Hello !

My name is Stéphanie Boucher, I'm french and I'm looking for my romanian grandmother.
I have looked in many archives both in Romania and France but I have very little information.

What I'm sure of :
Name: Matilda or (any variation) Schmidt, born 22/01/1910 in Talmaciu
Her mother was named Sara Schmidt and was deceased in 1939 (that's what is mentionned in the marriage certificate I found in Paris) no mention of a father
She was German speaking and left Romania around 1937-38 for Paris where she has followed a diplomatic familly as a nanny.

What I'm not sure of coming from my memory:
her mother died around of after WWI.
she had an older brother that might have died in a car accident before she left Romania.

I did not find her in the birth register of Talmaciu, but is there other register ?
So I do not know a lot, and looking for any type of support yo may proide.

Thank you,

Stéphanie

[Andrei Jipa]

Hello Stéphanie and welcome to the Genealogica.ro forum!

It was great to read about your family research and wish you all the best in your endeavour!

I had a quick look at the index of the birth registers from Tălmaciu and indeed the birth is missing, which is rather unusual. Where does the information re. the birth date and place come from? Could you share a bit more about it? Would it be possible that there is a typo somewhere?

In case you haven't come across these document yet, the National Archives in Bucharest have an inventory entry that might regard your grandmother:
https://descopera.arhivelenationale.ro/cota/?cid=845888
From the administration and supervision of enemy property.

It might be worth investigating it further.

[sboucher5]

Thanks a lot ! is there any way of knowing what contains this file? and what is the context?

In the meantime, I have collected few other info from my mother. Again this is pending memory recollection.

Her father, could have been a teacher at primary school who died around (1912-1916)
She couldhave had 2 brothers (one of them named Adolf ?)
The name of the family she was employed and with whom she left for France was Schrimpf: potentially Vice-consul de France (info I did not managed to confirme yet)

Concerning her date of birth I have it from the marriage certificate issued in Paris in 1939, I suppose that at that time they had to believe what she said.

Thank again for your help!

[Andrei Jipa]

Thanks a lot ! is there any way of knowing what contains this file? and what is the context?

You can find more info on the collection here:
https://descopera.arhivelenationale.ro/cota/?cid=136898

And the content of the files:
https://descopera.arhivelenationale.ro/cota/?cid=548517
with Google Translate, a relevant part:
The individual files of individuals of German, Hungarian citizenship and persons of any other citizenship residing on German or Hungarian territory or in the territories occupied by them and of citizens who have taken refuge in Germany or Hungary include minutes, inventories, records, land registry extracts, nationality certificates, civil status documents, reports, addresses relating to the inventory and evaluation of the urban and rural assets of the above-mentioned persons, the appointment of administrators for these assets, their transfer to the State's patrimony, the sale or custody of the assets taken over by CASBI.

[sboucher5]

Thank you I can see that the file is content is from 1941-1955: she was already in France at that time.
I have also managed to track the French family she was working for and apparently one of there son was born in 1933 in Bucharest. Which means my grand mother was also in Bucharest. Is there any type of census in Romania at that time ? or phone book with adresses ?
Thanks

[sboucher5]

Could someone help me to identify the adress in this document for the year 1935 November 16th in Bucharest ?
Lower right corner "LOCALITES SUCCESSIVES HABITEES"

Not knowing names of street past or present make it difficult to identify.

Thanks a lot !

[Andrei Jipa]

It says "strada Dionisie No. 31". It is currently called "Dionisie Lupu":
https://maps.app.goo.gl/RywE12EsjFfsK1QP7

[andreicucuruz]

Quite an interesting document type, roughly corresponding to the Romanian matricolă nominală militară.

For anyone who wants a quick guide as to what this kind of document can contain, this is a French military matriculation record (fiche / feuillet matricule). It was kept by the French military recruitment administration for each man liable for military service and was updated over time as his military, administrative and sometimes residential status changed.



The main sections usually found on such a form are (section numbering corresponds to the annotated image above - AI was used to generate and adapt the summary):

1. Nom et prénoms
The soldier's surname and given names. Nicknames or alternative names may sometimes appear here as well.

2. Numéro matricule et classe
The individual military registration number and the recruitment class. The class usually corresponds to the year in which the man reached military age, often around 20.

3. Informations de l'état civil
Civil-status information: date and place of birth, parents' names, occupation, residence and sometimes marital details. This is one of the most useful parts for genealogical identification.

4. Signalement
Physical description: height, hair colour, eye colour, shape of the face, nose, forehead and distinctive marks. This helped identify the person before modern identity documents became common.

5. Décision du conseil de révision
The decision of the recruitment board, which assessed whether the man was fit for military service, deferred, exempted, assigned to auxiliary service, or placed in another category.

6. Corps d'affectation
The military corps, regiments or units to which the man was assigned at different stages.

7. Détail des services et mutations diverses
A summary of the person's military career: incorporation, transfers, active service, reserve status, mobilization, demobilization, disciplinary or administrative notes, and other changes.

8. Localités successivement habitées
Successive places of residence. For genealogists, this section can be especially valuable because it may show where the person lived after active service and help identify other places to search for records.

9. Campagnes, blessures, citations, décorations, etc.
Campaigns, wounds, citations, decorations or other notable military details, when applicable.

10. Passages dans la réserve et l'armée territoriale
This section records the person's later movement from active service into the reserve, territorial army or related military categories.

11. Époque
A section indicating the periods or dates when the man was expected to pass into different stages of military obligation, such as the reserve, territorial army or reserve of the territorial army.

12. Degré d'instruction
Level of education, usually given as a number. It can indicate whether the person could read, write, had primary schooling, or had a higher level of education.

[sboucher5]

Thank a lot everybody this is very helpful

[abmunteanu]

You've hit the genealogical brick wall very early in your research. This is the problem with the orally transmitted information, it could be wrong, voluntarily or not. And you also encountered one of the shortcomings of classical genealogy, the lack of documents.

Can you break the brick wall and advance in your research? Of course, but you must use the methods of genetic genealogy and find the closest autosomal matches that can help with your research.

In conclusion, you must buy the DNA tests offered by Ancestry, MyHeritage, 23andMe and FamilyTreeDNA for your parent who is the child of Matilda Schmidt. You can also buy them for yourself.

I know that commercial DNA testing is prohibited in France, but I also know that you can buy any DNA test if you really want.

https://genealogie-genetique.com/comment-recevoir-un-test-adn-en-france/

DNA testing is currently the best way for you to find your ancestors who lived in Rumania.

P.S.
Marcel Schrimpf lived between 1931-1935 at 35 C.A. Rosetti Street in Bucharest. At that address is a beautiful house built by Sava Șomănescu (real surname Moldoveanu), a big landowner, born in Tîrgu-Jiu, Gorj County. The house was later bought by Gheorghe G. Mironescu, who was Rumania's Foreign Minister between 1928-1930. So there is the link with the family of diplomats that you spoke about. Today that house is still used by diplomats, those of the Embassy of Vietnam.

https://www.verticalonline.ro/fratii-sava-ioan-somanescu-memoria-orasului-targu

https://bucuresteanul.ro/casa-somanescu/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gheorghe_Mironescu

[Andrei Jipa]

Thank a lot everybody this is very helpful

Welcome Stéphanie, and I have to say the story you are piecing together is truly fascinating!
The connection to the Schrimpf family and the addresses in Bucharest in the 30s are excellent anchors.

I think there are still several promising avenues worth exploring before drawing conclusions about documentary brick walls:

1. There were general censuses in Romania in 1930 and 1941. Forms for specific people or addresses can be requested through an online procedure, as described by @andreicucuruz here:
https://genealogica.ro/blog/articol/recensamintele-generale-ale-populatiei-din-1930-1941-si-1948
While it seems that according to your information, Marcel Schrimpf was not in Bucharest in those years, I think it's still worth requesting copies for the households where he lived. It may be that Matilde Schmidt was with one of those households in Bucharest, while Marcel Schrimpf was in Istanbul.
If you have problems figuring out how to proceed with this lead, let us know.

2. I assumed that "Talmaciu" in the marriage certificate refers to "Tălmaciu" in Sibiu County. However, it is possible that the birth/baptism was recorded in one of the villages of the Tălmaciu commune with similar names: Colonia Tălmaciu or Tălmăcel.
From Tălmaciu, only the state records are digitised. But in Transylvania in those years, parallel records were held by the local parishes and there is a chance that these are still kept at the county archives in Sibiu (although 1910 doesn't show up in the online inventory). Nevertheless, it doesn't cost anything to request a copy of the baptism record through an email to the County archives. If you want to follow up on this, we can also guide you with the next steps.

3. Additionally, there were (at least) two other places called "Talmaciu" in 1910:
- Tâlmaciu (Tolletelep in Hungarian) that merged with Șugag in 1913, county Alba
- Tălmaci (Pusztatalmács in Hungarian) in county Arad.

4. One issue to keep in mind with Transylvanian state registers from 1895-1918 is that names were "translated" to Hungarian in a systematic and more or less strictly controlled process. I wrote about this process here. This means that while searching state registers from Transylvania it is quite likely that the names you are looking for were not the actual names used in daily life and in subsequent documents. "Matilda" would have been "Matild" probably, but "Schmidt" was very likely something else, most probably "Kovács", but some other translation might have also been used.

5. The file from the Enemy Property Administration in the national archives could still refer to your grandmother, even if she was already in France in the 40s. I could imagine that she might have still owned property in Romania, even if she was living in Paris. So I think it would be worth requesting a copy of the file. Chances are the National Archives will send you some copies if there are not too many pages, and we will be happy to help translate.

In conclusion, you must buy the DNA tests offered by Ancestry, MyHeritage, 23andMe and FamilyTreeDNA for your parent who is the child of Matilda Schmidt. You can also buy them for yourself.

Regarding the suggestion that you must buy DNA tests: I respectfully but firmly disagree. Genetic genealogy is generally a very useful complementary tool, but it is by no means the only path forward at this point, when promising documentary leads remain unexplored. Please be aware that commercial DNA testing is subject to legal restrictions in France, and we would never encourage anyone to act outside the law.

I know these new threads may seem daunting, and I hope you don't feel discouraged! There is still a great deal that archive research can uncover and every step brings you closer to Matilda. The research shared by @abmunteanu about the building is a great example of biographical details that classical documentary research can uncover, beyond a strict genealogical lineage.

 We are happy to support along the way!