Family history across the seas

Ancestry has announced the addition of Bavarian military service records for WWI.

Bavaria, Germany, WWI
Personnel Rosters, 1914-1918
Bavaria had its own military even after Germany’s unification. In this collection of rosters, look for details including rank, birth date and place, religion, occupation, parent names and more. Don’t sprechen sie deutsch? You’ll find a simple translation key to help you through the records on the main page of the collection.

I have had a brief look at them and they have a great deal of information on them. The writing style is different so that is a challenge as well but if you find a relevant name, print it off, grab a good German dictionary and persevere.
As well as searching for names I searched only by the village of Dorfprozelten where my ancestor, Georg Kunkel, came from (ie put in the village name but no surname). Only 50 names came up (it’s a small village) and many are recognisable as traditionally “of the village”. Many also carry the same surname as the emigrants who left in the 1850s so fellow descendants of Dorfprozelten emigrants may find relatives among the list. BTW I would only try this if you know you’re looking at a small village!

Sadly, Philip Joseph Kunkel (or Philip Josef Kunkel or Josef Philip Kunkel) is nowhere to be seen. Once again the name is “not of the area”. What happened to him? Did he go to North America, either USA or Canada, as rumoured.