The Mysterious Jeremias Eichenauer

 I first came across the name, Jeremias Eichenauer while researching our Eichenauer family in the Niederthalhausen church death records. What made him unique was that he was a disconnect. All of the other Eichenauers in Tann and Niederthalhausen were related and descended from Johann George Eichenauer and Anna Katharina Schäfer who had moved to Niederthalhausen in about 1790.

But not Jeremias. He was a kind of Eichenauer Melchizedek. Well, that is not exactly true, because Melchizedek was "without father or mother, without genealogy, having neither beginning of days nor end of life" (Hebrews 7:3). Jeremias definitely had an end of life, as the records prove. But like Melchizedek, Jeremias just seemed to appear in Niederthalhausen from nowhere.

He has now sat in my Missing Persons file for several years. In fact I had quite forgotten about him until this week while compiling data on the Eichenauers from Frischborn in an attempt to find a connection with our Niederthalhausen ancestors. This is quite a different location from the subject of my last Post, which concerned the Eichenauers of Friedewald. Just saying it so you won't get the two confused.

While in the Frischborn records, I came across a Jeremias Eichenauer and the name sounded familiar. So I dug through my Missing Persons file and sure enough, the information matched.

I then discovered that his father, Johann Henrich and his grandfather, Konrad Eichenauer were born in Rudlos. This is also where our ancestor, Georg Eichenauer was born (his son being Johann George, who moved to Hof Trunsbach about 1790).

This map helps me to see what I think of as the "Cradle of Eichenauer-ization":

Now back to Jeremias Eichenauer's death record from 1853. I captured four columns in two images to make it more legible for those of you who are into reading the old German script.

The first column identifies the deceased, tells us what his occupation was and to whom he was married. The second column reveals when and where he was born.

Name: Jeremias Eichenauer

Occupation: freiherrlich Riedeselischer Forstlaufer (Forest Ranger of the Baronial family Riedesel)

Spouse: Catharina Köhler aus (from) Bessungen bei (near) Darmstadt

Birth place: Frischborn bei (near) Lauterbach

Birth Date: 16 Dezember 1801

The third column provided the date of death, and the fourth column the date of burial.

Date of death: am zwei und zwanzigsten März, Mittags 12 Uhr (on 22 March [1853], at noon)

Date of burial: am 25 März, Nachmittags 2 Uhr (on 25 March [1853] at 2 p.m.).

I have created a map which shows the 24 locations in Germany where I have found Eichenauers relevant to my research. Each is marked with a teal colored pin:

Jeremias Eichenauer's birthplace in Frischborn is one of the cluster of pins circled in red. I believe that all of the different Eichenauer families may yet be traced back to locations within that small circle. Hence "The Cradle",

The birthplace of his wife is nearly 70 miles to the south in a "suburb" of Darmstadt called Bessungen. Which begs the question, how did they ever meet? ... I'm still working on that one, but I have a theory. More on that later in this Blog Post.

On the map below, I have zoomed in so you can see the location of his birth and of his death:

And the distance between the two locations begs another question, "How did Jeremias Eichenauer end up dying in Niederthalhausen, 30 miles north of his birthplace, Frischborn?" He certainly got around.

To answer both of those questions, it has helped to learn a bit about the Riedesel family.

Baron Riedesel's "home" was in Eisenbach, just 1.5 miles west of Frischborn. In this case it is really true that his home was his castle--Schloss Eisenbach.

Here is a satellite view of the grounds:

If you want to get a closer look on Google Maps just type "Schloss Eisenbach-Lauterbach" into the search bar. And there are plenty of photos of the castle that you can view online. I am resisting copying any of them here because of copyright restrictions. I must say it is a very impressive place. On the right of the photo above you can see the castle and even some of the outer wall fortifications which are still in existence. I understand that there is a bike path that runs directly beneath these walls, so if you are up for a little pedaling, check it out sometime.

The Freiherr (Baron) owned a number of properties, and if you will recall, the Riedesel family owned Hof Trunsbach near Niederthalhausen, where our common ancestor Johann George Eichenauer served as General Manager from about 1790 until his death in 1822. That position was held by him or one of his male descendants for nearly one hundred years.

In case you missed it you can check out my blog post The Book Has Arrived where I posted a photo of Hof Trunsbach and briefly described it's significance to our family.

As I explored Jeremias Eichenauer's life (and believe me, tracking down a Forest Ranger isn't easy) I discovered the following facts:

17 July 1842--Jeremias Eichenauer and Catharina Köhler were married in Frischborn

But before they were married, their first son, Johann Georg, was born in Bessungen on 7 February 1839. (No that is not a typo. Georg really was born 3 years before his parents were married). What you should note is that apparently Jeremias had spent some time in Bessungen and this is probably where he and Catharina Köhler met. Her father, Adam Köhler was a "Dragoner in den Gard Regiment Chevaux" when his daughter was born in February of 1812 in Bessungen. This was an elite regiment of mounted horsemen under Napoleon. Napoleon was pretty much ousted from Germany by the end of 1813. Later, when Catharine married in 1842, her father's occupation was Schuhmacher (shoe maker) in Bessungen.

Bessungen originally was a separate city near to Darmstadt, but by 1888, had become surrounded by and incorporated into the free city of Darmstadt. This seems likely to be important to our understanding of what had brought Jeremias Eichenauer to the Darmstadt area.

First, it should be understood that the senior member of the Riedesel family was automatically a member of the First Chamber of the Estates of the Grand Duchy of Hesse. The Grand Duchy was a governmental body divided into three provinces, one being Starkenburg with its capital at Darmstadt. So, it was necessary for Baron Riedesel to travel the 70 miles to take part in the sessions.

I was hoping to learn Jeremias' occupation at the time of his first son's birth in Bessungen to see if there was a clue to what brought him to the big city, but sadly, the writing is so small on his baptismal record that I cannot make it out.

However, when sons, Adam (b. 1843) and Heinrich (b. 1847) were born, the family was living in Lauterbach (which if you refer back to the first map on this blog post, you will see that it is just north of Frischborn) and more importantly within spitting distance of the castle. And on both of their baptismal records, their father is reported to be a Kutscher (coachman).

Here is what I am thinking. Baron Riedesel often had to travel between Schloß Eisenbach and Darmstadt on government business. A man of his standing would no doubt travel in a comfortable coach rather than on foot or horseback. So, maybe, just maybe, Jeremias Eichenauer was one of his coachman, taking him back and forth between Eisenbach and Darmstadt. And what would a coachman do to kill time, days on end, while waiting for his employer to finish his business and return home? Wander around town, stop in a coffee shop, meet a nice girl. Could happen.

So, Johann Georg is born in 1839 in Bessungen bei Darmstadt. His parents return to his father's hometown of Frischborn and are married there in 1842.

Sons Adam and Heinrich were born in the neighboring village of Lauterbach in1843 and 1847 respectively.

Then something seemingly strange happens. A baptismal record appears for a son, William, born in 1851. The baptism is recorded in the Frischborn church book, but it says that William was born and baptized in Niederthalhausen. Hey! That's OUR hometown.

When I looked in the Niederthalhausen church records, sure enough, there it was:

This one I will spare you, and just translate and summarize:

On 4 June [1851] at 4 a.m. Wilhelm Eichenauer was born to Jeremias Eichenauer, the "Forest Ranger" of Baron Riedesel of the Grand Duchy of Hessen, and his wife Catharina neé Köhler, born in Beßungen near Darmstadt in House #10 in Niederthalhausen. The child was baptized in the same year on the 22nd of June in Niederthalhausen.

So, sometime between the births of their third and fourth children, Jeremias was moved from being a coachman for the Riedesel Family to being a guardian of the Riedesel Forests which, it seems, required them to move to the rural town of Niederthalhausen.

Here, Jeremias would have met our whole Eichenauer clan. Was he aware of their existence before being transferred there or was it a complete surprise? Did they suspect that they were related or did they have knowledge of a clear relationship?

Did you notice that I made the House Number bold? There is a reason for that. This house belonged Johann Heinrich Eichenauer, grandson of our common ancestor and Conductor of Hof Trunsbach, Johann George Eichenauer. Nine of his children were born in that house between 1826 and 1845. Their daughter, Anna Martha Christina died there in January of 1847. Then the family packed up and emigrated to Butler County, Pennsylvania in August, and their 12th child was born there in December of that same year.

So, that was 1847. The same year that Jeremias Eichenauer's son Heinrich was born (10 May) in Lauterbach. I have no clues as to the exact date when Jeremias moved to Niederthalhausen, but they could have moved into Haus 10 as early as September of 1847, and it was certainly no later than June of 1851.

Less than two years later, when Jeremias was 46 years old, he died in Niederthalhausen on 22 March 1853, leaving behind his wife and four sons, Johann Georg, age 14; Adam, almost 10; Heinrich, almost 6; and Wilhelm, age 21 months.

Among my records I found that Jacob Heinrich Eckhardt took possession of Haus 10 shortly after Jeremias' death. The birth of his son, Johann Adam took place there in June of 1854, two other children were born there in 1858 and 1860, and Jacob Eckhardt's mother died there in 1857. And just to show my thoroughness, 8 of his grandchildren were born in that house between 1876 and 1888.

From this it is clear that Jeremias' wife, Catharina, left Niederthalhausen soon after his death and returned with her boys to her hometown of Bessungen. Her oldest son, Johann Georg, died there in 1858 at the age of 19, Adam married there in 1871 and  at least two of his children were born there.

Catharina died on 7 June 1878 at the home of her son Heinrich, at Weinbergstraße 19, Bessungen.

The fate of Heinrich and William are yet to be discovered, if and when the records of Bessungen for the years after 1875 have been made available. But I checked the Darmstadt phone directory and found listings for three Eichenauers with landlines. So it appears that the Jeremias Eichenauer line may still exist.

At least some of the mystery surrounding Jeremias Eichenauer has been removed and I feel happy that he is no longer part of the Missing Persons file. I am still hopeful that more may  be revealed. You just never know what the spade will turn up next you keep digging.

Reporting from Geosynchronous orbit above Hessen-Darmstadt,

Stephen Roediger

Eichenauers of Friedewald--Are They Related?

 As you may remember, the Eichenauers of central western Ohio lived in Tann and Niederthalhausen, Hersfeld-Rotenburg, Hesse, Germany before emigrating to the US in the second half of the 19th century.

The background of this Blog post can be found in an earlier one, which you can read about here: Reaching for the Topmost Branches - The Eichenauers

Just to recap, I have traced their migration backwards in time from Tann to Hof Trunsbach to Grebenau to Angersbach and Rudlos where the first Eichenauer that I have been able to trace was born during the last quarter of the 1600s. Here is a map of the path that they took, courtesy of Google Maps:

The lack of church records has forced me to abandon my search for preceding generations of Eichenauers from the Rudlos area. However, in the process of exploring other branches in the family tree, I have begun to encounter Eichenauers from a village called Friedewald. It appears on the map above west of Bad Hersfeld. And I have taken the liberty of creating another map which shows the distance between Tann and Friedewald:

As you can see, Tann and Friedewald are less than 10 miles apart.

And I have hoped by thoroughly checking the Tann and Niederthalhausen records (where our Eichenauer clan was situated) and the Friedewald records (where this newly discovered enclave had made their home) that I would discover a link between the two communities of Eichenauers.

But the two villages seemed to be unaware of each others presence. So, I set the Friedewald Eichenauers aside and concentrated on other matters.

Then, earlier this year, I swerved back into the Friedewald Eichenauers when I was researching a man named Johannes Heyer, born in Tann in 1792. Johannes' mother's mother's mother's mother was Eva Rödiger, born in Tann in 1681 to my 6th great-grandparents, Jost Rödiger and Anna Margaretha Schlein.

For those of you who are into relationships like I am, that makes him my 4th cousin 3 times (generations) removed. If you don't get it, don't fret. It ain't exactly germane to today's topic. Just bear in mind that he is related and so has a place in my family tree.

But there are many people who are in my tree who are not related. For instance, Johannes' wife, Anna Maria Seelig is not related, but she is in my tree because she is his wife. And of course, Anna Maria Seelig's parents are not related, but they are in my tree because they are the parents of the person who married my 4th cousin 3X removed.

But wait a moment!-- Anna Maria Seelig was the daughter of Nicolaus Seelig and Anna Maria EICHENAUR who was born in Friedewald in 1763!

That means that all of the Eichenauers of Friedewald could now be added to my tree, though apparently unrelated to my Eichenauers.

So, this I have been doing, working backwards in time, looking for an Eichenauer who had some identifiable connection to Tann, Niederthalhausen, Grebenau, Angersbach or Rudlos.

This led me finally to Andreas Eichenauer, the great-grandfather of Anna Maria Eichenauer. And as often happens when one reaches the oldest extant church records, facts begin fade as the records begin.

What I know, is that Andreas Eichenauer of Friedewald had at least seven children born to his wife, only known by her given name, Anna Maria. They were born between 1690 and 1704.

There is no marriage record for Andreas and Anna Maria, either because the marriage records don't begin until 1690 (as is the case) or because they were married elsewhere.

And I cannot know for sure that they didn't have other children before the church records began. But, because Anna Marie's burial took place on 21 April 1753 in Friedewald at the age of 84 years, 7 months and 2 weeks, I can figure her date of birth to be about 7 September 1668 and this means she would have been 21 years old when the oldest known child was born. So she couldn't have had too many children before 1690.

And what I have been able to learn about Andreas is even more sketchy. According to his wife's death record, she was widowed, so I know he died before 21 April 1753. His son, Johann Melchior Eichenauer was married on 28 May 1723, and his marriage record states that his father, Andreas Eichenauer was a deceased Zimmermann (carpenter) from Friedewald, so it appears that he died prior to that date. However, I have not been able to find his death record, so I must be content to know that he died sometime between the conception of his last child in about June of 1703 and May of 1723.

In spite of the sketchy details, what stands out starkly about these records, is that there is nary a hint of another Eichenauer of his generation. There are no Eichenauer birth records between 1690 and 1725 except those attributed he Andreas and Anna Maria. And beginning in 1725 the only Eichenauer births recorded are those of his grandchildren.

And there are no marriage records of any other Eichenauers between 1690 and 1730 except that of his own children.

What I am driving at is this: It would appear that either Andreas was the only child of previous generations of Eichenauers in Friedewald who lived to a marriageable age, or he came to Friedewald from elsewhere, married and settled down.

And the latter begs the question, where could he have come from?

Until today, I wouldn't have had a clue. But as I was reviewing the baptismal record of Andreas and Anna Marie's sixth child, Johann Conrad, born in 1701, I noticed that his Gevatter (baptismal sponsor) was Andreas' Stiefbruder (step-brother), Conrad Broll from Schlitz. So, I got out my good friend Google Maps and looked up Schlitz:

What I discovered is that Schlitz, the residence of Andreas' step-brother, is in fact just 10 miles from the "cradle" of the Tann/Niederthalhausen Eichenauers that Ohio Roedigers and Eichenauers know to be their ancestors. This is very tantalizing, but the proof of a connection between any Eichenauers of Schlitz and Eichenauers of Rudlos may be very hard to prove without Church records from the 1600s in Rudlos. Those either don't exist or haven't been released yet.

The good news is that Schlitz has records that stretch back to about 1610. The bad news is that they are extremely difficult to read. The results of a perusal of the Schlitz records will require many bleary-eyed hours looking for any records pertaining to either Andreas Eichenauer or his step-brother, Conrad Broll.

But I think a subsequent Blog post will have to address the results of that endeavor.

Until then,

Stephen Roediger (reporting from geosynchronous orbit above Hessen, Deutschland)