Henry Edward Bruckner Birth Town
H. Edward's birth place is listed on his marriage record as Olt Aets. No such place name is known to have existed in Prussia in 1857 when H. Edward was born. That place name was probably written by a non-German speaking court clerk the way the clerk heard it. "Olt" is not a correct beginning for a town name but "Alt" (means old) is a common prefix for a town name. The "Aets" is not a known portion of a 1857 Prussian town name but there was a town named Alt Öls which was also known as Alt Oels. That town was in the Görlitz district which also included Girbigsdorf which was the birth town of John Gottfried Bruckner. Alt Öls is the most likely birth place of H. Edward.
After WWII the German area to the east of Görlitz was given to Poland. Alt Öls is now called Stara Oleszna and is in Poland NE of Görlitz which is on the current border of Germany and Poland. Alt Öls is about 42 miles from Girbigsdorf. The family story is that John Gottfried Bruckner wrote to his German home town pastor for a wife which resulted in Anna and her son H. Edward going to Wisconsin in 1864. Alt Öls is close enough to Girbigsdorf that the pastor could have located Anna there. It is not know if Anna was born in the same place but would have lived there when H. Edward was born.
One family story document says that Anna came from Gerbitz, Germany which is about 200 miles west of Görlitz. She may have been born there and moved to the Alt Öls before H. Edward was born.
Below it is a current map that shows the location of Girbigsdorf in Germany and Stara Oleszna (Alt Öls) in Poland.
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