Aufhausen is a small village within the city of Geislingen an der Steige. My next step was to try and find a local genealogy group that could point me in the right direction for places to research during my visit. Back in October, I was able to locate the website for the "Working Group for Genealogy and Family Research Geislingen/Steige", the equivalent of our local genealogy society. The website had contact information for the Association Chairperson, Willi-Martin Jäger.
Again using my trusty Google Translate, I sent off an email to Mr. Jäger. I told him that I was interested in coming to Germany to research Leonhard's family, and asked for recommendations for what and where I should research. I received a nice email from him, which included information on Leonhard's parents and siblings that he obtained from the local family register book. He mentioned that he also had Braun ancestors and pondered if we could be related.
Meantime I took a short research trip to the Mormon Family History Library in Salt Lake City, and found several more generations of Braun ancestors. Turns out Leonhard's maternal great-grandmother, Anna Staudenmaier, lived in the town of Gussenstadt, which happens to be the same town that Mr.Jäger resides. So when I got home, I emailed him to give him this new information.
The next day, I received an email from him, excitedly saying that we are RELATED! He sent me his direct ancestral line, and my direct ancestral line, and it turns out that he is also a Staudenmaier descendant!
Incidentally, during my research online several months ago, I had come across a website that Willi-Martin had created about ten years ago documenting his ancestry. I went back to that website after we discovered this, and sure enough, I found my newly discovered ancestors in his family tree!
We have determined that we are 7th cousins, once removed, and are now Facebook Friends, as well!
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