On October 17, 1792 Georg Adam Völker was born in the German state of Bavaria.  At the turn of the century there were several Germanic independent states including Bavaria which was caught in the middle of the Napoleonic Wars, the period of 1792 - 1815 was a period of nearly continuous warfare throughout much of Europe.  French armies had overrun and occupied much of Bavaria in 1795 but subsequent battles with the Austrians had turned it back over to their control, Bavaria was now a contested battleground in the war between Austria and France.  In the war of 1805 Bavarians fought along side the French against the Austrians.

Anyone who has used the internet to help with genealogy research, and it is by far the best way to approach this endeavor in my opinion, has bumped into advertisements for and has probably viewed the free content available on ancestry.com.  Invariably, they are intrigued as nearly any surname imaginable returns many, often hundreds or thousands, of results.  Ah, but here's the catch; you can view a small sample of data for free but if you really want to see what is behind curtain number 2 you have to fork over your credit card number.  You can buy a one-month U.S.

Performing genealogy research can be one of the most joyous and frustrating endeavors you can undertake.  Anyone who has spent much time at all can empathize with the frustration of repeated dead-ends and the subsequent joy at finding a small piece of data that unlocks the door to a whole new room full of information.  Most often, these puzzle pieces are bits of data that get unearthed but sometimes they take other forms.  In my own research I was very fortunate to have discovered that a set of physical documents from my earliest known paternal ancestor that immigrated to the U.S.