Press-report from 6^th August 2002 in the Rhine-Neckar-newspaper, Heidelberg,

Approximately 140 guests from three continents came at the weekend to the meeting of the Wörn family association into the Schwetzinger Nordstadthalle

From Timo Jacobs

Last weekend guests from three continents had travelled to Schwetzingen. For the Palatinate city itself nothing uncommon since a mutuality connects the approximately 140 guests: progenitor Jerg Wern the elder who was a native in Sulz am Neckar about 1480. The reason for the visit was the family reunion of the Wörn family association founded in 1998.

An informal meeting formed the start of the three-day event on Friday in the inn Frankeneck with delegations from Schwetzingen, Freiburg, Bremerhaven, Hamburg, Dithmarschen, Berlin, Stuttgart, Möglingen and Zuffenhausen. Even guests from England and the USA stop at coming to Schwetzingen.

Saturday formed the climax of the meeting in the foyer of the Nordstadthalle. At the traditional family council Meeting, that was also translated into the English, just as during varied games the "Extended Family" had the chance to get to know each other better. Certainly a particular highlight of this meeting was the firework display that gave the ceremony a notable setting. Additionally, the family association had organized an exhibition in the Karl-Wörn-Haus that represented the history of the family on 29 boards in text and pictures. Also there is a quilt depicting the forefathers of the North American delegation in the collection that is unfortunately not accessible to the public.

Volker Wörn, who has devoted his time for over 32 years to genealogy, organised this event. The trigger for it was a museum visit of his brother, Rainer, who had discovered a picture signed with the name Wörn in an exhibition. Somewhat proud to be possibly related to a well-known artist, Volker Wörn took up his genealogical research that he pursues even today with the greatest meticulousness. Unfortunately, the initial results proved to be a disappointment: the Stuttgart painter was not a relative. On this occasion however, the retired lieutenant colonel in the meantime came by coincidence upon another track that had led him one step closer to his ancestors.

Already quite early on, Wörn noticed however the difficulties that are interconnected with his research because the spelling of the name has changed in the course of the time. And thus, he can reliably prove a genealogical connection between names like Wern, Wöhrn, Wörn and Woern. The Schwetzingen researcher has succeeded in finding 14 living family branches with four sub-branches on three continents. But not every Wörn is pleased about a telephone call when he tries to pursue a new trail. So, a family branch of Wörn descent living in Basel, Switzerland did not want to know anything about it for example: " There’s nothing you can do about it, but I don’t easily get deterred", reports the pensioner confidently.

The pursuit of the Ludwigsburg forefathers, whose track came to nothing in 1890, proved especially difficult. Only four years ago light came into the darkness because Volker Wörn came across an old family Bible of Peter Jochen Wöhrn/Stuttgart whose predecessors had recorded his respective descendants in this Bible. The Ludwigsburg line had consequently come to an end. Simultaneously, this finding produced even further connections, which led to Northern Germany and even over the Atlantic to North America.

Despite this success, Wörn by no means thinks of giving up. "I will probe further in width and depth", explains the hobby genealogist with a tense gaze into the future.