Today we drove from Bad Kreuznach to Schönaich and on the way, we drove through the Rhine valley where my Yungck ancestors lived, although in Germany the name was spelled, “Jungck.”

Most of the family lived in a village named Münchweiler an der Alsenz. The “an der Alsenz” part means “on the Alsenz River.” the village is very old. We first went to the church, built in 1724.

We found a Jungck here, but he wasn’t talking.

Then we walked through the village square, past a very old building. You can tell by the construction.

We stopped at a little market to get something to drink and I asked the man at the register if he knew if any Jungcks still lived in the area. He said he didn’t know any, but his parents might, so he went in the back and brought out his mother and I talked with her. She said that she was not born in Münchweiler, but her husband was, so she went and got him. He knew a woman whose maiden name was Jungck, so they all huddled around the phone book and found her address. This entire conversation was in German, with me doing my best. But we got stumped trying to discuss how to find the woman’s house, so the young man said, in perfect English, “she lives across the street from house number 17.” then he pulled out a map of the village and showed me. This whole time, he was letting me suffer through with my broken German and he spoke perfect English!

Anyway, we drove to the house and I knocked on the door and the woman’s husband answered. I explained that I was looking for his wife and that we were related. Just then, his wife came home and I turned and explained the same to her. She looked at me with no facial expression, said nothing and just looked at me as if to say, “and what are you selling?” Then, nodded, went inside and said, “auf wiedersehen.” Good bye. Oh, well.