Documenting the Vassel family in Calvados, Basse-Normandie, France

I am documenting, person by person, all our ancestors that have been added to www.familysearch.org in their FamilyTree. Is it a huge job, but being very worthwhile. In the future people will know what I found - and what I missed. As new records become available, we will be able to make our Tree more and more accurate.

I have been working from five sources documenting the Vassel line that was granted a coat of arms in 1598.

I found at the Family History Library in Salt Lake City, Utah a book that documents the nobility of Normandy, France and the Vassel family is in this book.

Working in the 1500s and early 1600s is not easy genealogy research and we are very grateful that Klaus Vassel went to the Archives in the city of Caen, Calvados, Basse-Normandie, France and found a research paper done in 1924 by Réne Dubourg tracing the Vassel family from the late 1400s into the mid-1700s.

I was amazed to find a microfilm copy of the Dubourg document at the Family History Library which I copied and have in printed book format. It has been a great help to see what Uncle Klaus was working from as he wrote four books about the Vassel ancestors in France.

These are the books I have from Uncle Klaus Vassel:

1. Vassel, Klaus, Die Vassel aus Neuilly-le Malherbe: Department Calvados der Normandie - eine Bestandaufnahme, (Aachen : K. Vassel, c1972) FHL 929.273 Va447v.

2. Klaus Vassel, Die Vassel aus Neuilly-le-Malherbe Departement Calvados der Normandie/ Frankreich - Eine Bestandsaugnahme, (Aachen: Klaus Vassel, 1986) 2nd edition.

3. Klaus Vassel, Les Seigneurs Vassel - Übersetzung -, Die Vassel Lehnsherren von Neuilly-le-Malherbe von René Dubourg, Caen. Übersetzung aus dem Annuaire des cinq Départements de la Normandie (Band 1924 S185 ff). (Aachen, Germany: Klaus Vassel, 1985). This is Uncle Klaus's translation from French into German of the Dubourg manuscript with comments.

4. Vassel, Klaus, Vassel family: Ahnenliste Vassel (Jens, Eick, Jörn), (Aachen, Germany : K. Vassel, c1974) FHL 929.273 Va447vk. Text in German. This is Uncle Klaus's direct-line tracing of the Vassel and his wife's Scheuch lines back as far as he could find them.

Here is the microfilm reference to the Dubourg book at the Family History Library:

Dubourg, René, Quelques Pages d'Histoire Locale: Les Vassel Seigneurs de Neuilly-le-Malherbe, Estrait de l'Annuaire de l'Association Normande (Année 1924) Congrès de Vernon (1923) (Caen, France: A. Mouville, Ozanne et Ct., 1924) FHL INTL Film 661894 Item 1. Printed copy in the possession of Mary E. V. Hill.

In addition, I have a copy of the Vassel entry in the book Messire Guy Chamillart, Recherche de la Noblesse Faite en ordre du Roi (Louis XIV) en 1666 et Années Suivantes, (Caen: Henri Delesques Imprimeur-Librairy, 1887). 

This source has been especially helpful. I am working back and forth between French and German and wow!!! That is a job!!! But Dubourg and Klaus both admit they were not sure about the wives of Nicolas de Vassel II (4), son of Nicolas de Vassel I (1) versus the Nicolas de Vassel (3), son of Pierre de Vassel who was the son of Nicolas de Vassel I. The book with the Vassel noble record has helped me to straighten these two families out. 

Marie de l'Isle was tied to the wrong Nicolas de Vassel (4) on p. 78 and 83 of Klaus's book Die Vassel aus Neuilly-le-Malherbe, 2nd ed. and in the first edition of Die Vassel aus Neuilly-le-Malherbe, pgs. 40 and 43. According to Recherche de la Noblesse Faite en ordre du Roi (Louis XIV) en 1666 et Années Suivantes, p. 741, Marie de L'Isle was the wife of the Nicolas de Vassel (3), son of Pierre de Vassel who was the son of Nicolas de Vassel I (1) who was knighted and received the Vassel coat of arms in 1598.

The reference numbers for the four Nicolas de Vassel men (1) (2) (3) and (4) are those that Uncle Klaus Vassel used in his books. 

Best wishes to you!

Mary Erety Vassel Hill

THANKYOU!

For your donations to the Vassel Family Organization Fund

Because of the kindness of your donations to the Vassel Family Organization Genealogy Fund, you have also been donating, behind the scene, to the mission of Bruno and Cari Vassel in Germany. Your donations have been sufficient so that I have not had to ask for any additional money from Bruno and Cari this past year. Thank you so very much!

The family history effort continues to move forward. I have scanned and attached many family pictures on www.familysearch.org on the Vassel, Elmer, Edwards, Kessinger, Hill and Davies family lines. You can log in for free, and see the pictures in Memories as well as under each person that has photos attached. Such fun!

I marvel at the genealogy records that are becoming more and more on the Internet. A really great discovery was the church records of the town of Gröben just south of Berlin, Germany which has provided information back into the 1500s on our 4^th – 7^th great grandparents and their families. Ordinances for 116 people from this town and surrounding villages have been turned into the temple. Another link gave me information about 232 descendants of our Vassel line that went to Turkey during the French Revolution. These names have also been processed through the temple system.

I have worked with Bruno and Cari to identify the correct Kessinger family line ln Karlsruhe, Germany and we are pleased to nail that down. I am also working through the information Bruno, Cari and I found on our 7 week research trip in 2013.

I just keep praying the Lord will give me a few more years of health and wisdom to keep this great work moving forward! It has been fun to communicate with Elizabeth Smithson and Cayr about helping with the research work. My sister Elisabeth Vassel Anderson and I really enjoy Skyping and working together on the hundreds of names in the two Greiner books we have from Germany. Bruno and Cari were able to attend a couple of Greiner family reunions in Germany this year, and in the process met family members who gave us new information on the Greiner families who moved to Brussels, Belgium and Hungary. I also found Vassel families in Slovakia from records that have been indexed and are online in www.familysearch.org.

I have been sorting hundreds of letters and photos in preparation for writing the Bruno Vassel – Mary Elmer book with will be a companion book to the Vassel-Kipke of Brazil book Vera kindly encouraged me to write with her help. Onward and upward.

Thank you so much for keeping the bank account with sufficient funds so that I can cover the various costs associated with genealogy research!

MERRY CHRISTMAS