Bals Family History
Welcome to my genealogical research website focused on the Baltz / Balz / Bals lineage
Due to Squarespace formatting, the site is best viewed on a computer in full screen. It looks horrible on a mobile device and that will probably always be the case, but who is doing serious genealogy research on a phone?
For my own research purposes, you will see that I denote individuals with a generational number. Ex. [G1], [G2], [G3], etc. It makes file organization, storage, and retrieval exponentially easier since names are often passed down successively. Jürgen is the furthest back ancestor currently on record, so he and Catharina are [G1].
The site is and probably always will be, a work in progress, which I work on in my spare time. I started it in October 2025 at age 50.
Purpose
The purpose of this site is to organize and share my genealogical research, but more importantly, collaborate with fellow researchers and/or distant relatives in a quest to assemble a vast puzzle in order to retain and pass down the family history.
Like many family historians, I started on the well-known sites like Ancestry, MyHeritage, and FamilySearch, but quickly became frustrated. Multi-tiered paywalls for documents and storage capacity, strangers editing my tree with incorrect data, and the inability to curate the information as I desire … I found it all extremely limiting.
On that note … if you find a file, ALWAYS save a local copy. NEVER assume it will always be available online.
Introduction
My name is Bryan Bales and I am a Great-Great-Grandson of Peter Ferdinand Bals, who immigrated to Nebraska, USA from Schmerlecke, Germany in 1885.
I was born and raised in Iowa and I currently reside in Massachusetts. My Father legally changed the surname from Bals to Bales in 1974/1975.
Jorgen Baltz > Tonnies Baltz > Johannes Antonius Baltz > Franziscus Henricus Baltz > Johannes Henricus Baltz > Franziskus Josephus Balz > Theodor Balz > Peter Ferdinand Balz/Bals > William Ferdinand Bals > Elmer “Bud” Fredrick Bals > Larry Bals/Bales > Bryan Bales
Current Research & Website Work
Research: I’m spinning multiple plates because when the a trail runs cold on a search or I need a brain reset, I just switch to a different one to maintain forward momentum.
Gathering information from an Aunt and Uncle related to the Fonda, IA families.
Searching the 3000+ Kirchenbuch microfilm slides/pages for applicable records.
Searching/downloading digitized documents from the Nordrhein Westfalen Archive website.
Searching for deeds and/or plat maps related to US based farming. When the trail runs cold on a search or I need a brain reset, I just switch to a different one.
Searching for an acquiring source materials [books/documents].
Website: I’m working in three initial phases to complete what I consider to be a basic and informative site, followed by two more phases.
Phase 1: Populate ‘Individuals’ pages with text, documents, and sources for the paternal line of Jürgen to myself [Completed Nov. 2025] These will continually improve as research progresses.
Phase 2: Populate the existing ‘Families’ and ‘Sites’ pages with pictures, text, and sources.
Phase 3: Create/populate ‘History’ pages.
Note: You will find/see some incomplete/in progress pages. It’s not ideal from a presentation perspective, but traffic to this site is borderline non existent and it’s helping my focus/momentum.
Phase 4: Add ‘Families’ and ‘Individual’ pages until all of my documents are posted and available for fellow researchers.
Phase 5: Continually update the site as I find/gather information.
Future Research: I have an extensive list, but my top three are:
Returning to Schmerlecke to walk the village, explore the surrounding villages, and if possible, spend more time with Franz Josef.
Finding Ferdinand’s and Henry’s passenger list documents from when they first came to America - most likely Hamberg or Bremen departure with a New Orleans arrival.
Digging into the Nebraska history regarding Ferdinand and his children - especially Bertha and Clemens.
Sources
I have a main ‘Source’ page which appears on the top navigation bar, but I’m also adding a source section to the bottom each page throughout the website.
Why are citing the sources important?
Many people before me put in the work to gather the information I’m able to share here and they deserve the credit.
It gives fellow researchers access to fact check. I’m finding mistakes in past research (names, dates, etc), so it stands to reason I’ll also make mistakes.
Even though it’s somewhat painful, my overthinking brain loves it.
Collaboration
If you have information which I’m missing on this site, I would absolutely welcome the knowledge. My only request is that you provide sources so that it can be factually verified.
Photos: Individuals and families, houses and farms, artifacts and possessions. Please include as much detail as possible [Full names of people, location names, artifact data and ownership, etc]
Documents: Ship passengers lists, immigration records, military records, marriage records, death records, etc. I’m especially interested in the immigration records of Ferdinand and Henry coming to America in the mid to late 1880s.
Information: Family stories and facts. Ex. Why did the surname change? Who brought Bertha Bals to the USA? Who came to America before Ferdinand?
Corrections: Surely I’ve made data entry mistakes, so if you catch one and want to help me get it fixed, that’s fine by me as well.
I’m currently 50 years old with no children, so I’m also looking for the younger generation historian to “take over the work.”.
Contact
Fill out the contact form below and I’ll get back to you via email.