The village of Aufhausen has a population of 950 inhabitants. They will be celebrating their 1150th anniversary in 2010. Yep, that's not a typo, folks. There are buildings in the old town that are over 600 years old, including Leonhard's church!
I learned from the parish register that Leonhard's family was Evangelische (protestant). So I found the website for the Evangelische church in Aufhausen and sent off an email to the Reverend at the address listed on the website.
Rev. Reich-Bochtler wrote me back and told me to contact the city archive and the local genealogy research group to get information on researching my ancestors. She then took a peak in the church books and found Leonhard's family, and sent me some information about his family!
I asked her if she had any parishoners that were involved in family history that might be able to accompany me to the archives to help with translations. One of the ladies in the church, Mrs. Löffler, heard about my venture, and offered her services! Mrs. Löffler is in her 80's, worked as a Secretary in Malaysia for 30 years, and apparently speaks fluent English and according to the Reverend, she is "simply the best. Very polite and has many connections".
So my luck continues! I have companionship not only in Stuttgart, but now the assistance of Aufhausen's finest, to keep me out of trouble during my adventure.
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