Hi Vera,
I am beginning to think perhaps my Berwind/Baerwind family may have been Catholic. My great-grandfather, Johann Christoph Berwind was born in 1866 in Gleissenberg. He was the oldest son of Georg Leonard Berwind and Margarethe Huber (or Hubert). I know nothing about his parents other than their names and the names and birthdates of all their children. Johann Christoph Berwind followed typical German naming patterns with his children. If Georg Leonard Berwind also followed the traditional naming patterns, his father could be named Johann Christoph and his mother may be named Barbara Katharine or some combination of those names. I know that the patterns were not followed all the time, but right now it is the only clue I have.
Johann Christoph Berwind's youngest brother, Johann Paul Berwind b. 1883, listed his birthplace as "Gleissenberg, Unterfranken." I have found that Unterfranken was predominantly Catholic, so perhaps that is why I am not finding them in the records.
Johann Christoph Berwind married Wilhelmina Margarethe Schuelein in New York in 1897. I have the Schuelein family fairly well documented, thanks to the images on this website. They lived in Neustadt a.d. Aisch and were Lutheran, so documenting the information my uncle brought back from Germany for the Schuelein family has been relatively easy, although I did find some spelling errors in the information he copied. My goal has been to try to document the information he brought back from Germany by finding original records.
I assumed the Berwind family must also be Lutheran, since my great-grandparents went to the Lutheran church after their marriage and all the children were baptized Lutheran in NY. I have never seen the name Berwind spelled Baerwind or with the umlaut--that's interesting. Schuelein has always been spelled with the umlaut in all the records I have, but Berwind was not. I always check alternate spellings, but it's very interesting to know that you think that may be the correct spelling.
As I said previously, I have found Berwind listings in Ingolstadt, but that has been it. The information I have about my family does not match up with that family at all, but it is such a rare name that it is likely they are relatives of some sort.
I have done a lot of genealogy research in the U.S. but I am just learning about the records in Germany. The biggest stumbling block has been trying to understand the geography and organization system for the records. I did take German in school, so I can roughly translate and read most of the records, which helps.
Thanks again for all your help. I am always open to suggestions and will probably have to hire a researcher in Germany to look into the Catholic records for me.
Thanks so much!
Suzanne