The Engel Family of Dackenheim

After the records gap during the French Republic years, the records for the Engels of Dackenheim and the Engels of Freinsheim become mixed together. In order to sort them out, I found it necessary to dig a bit into the Engels of Dackenheim.

The oldest record I have for an Engel in Dackenheim comes from 1715. Achilles Engel married Maria Magdalena Pistorius 21 Jan 1715 in a Catholic ceremony. This couple may have been the parents of Johannes Hermanus Engell, the son of M. Magdalenae and Achillis Engell who was christened in Weisenheim am Sand 14 Feb 1729. The record doesn't specify a religion, but "Hermanus" and "Magdalenae" sound to me as if it was written in Latin, which mean Catholic. Joannes Achilles Engel, born in 1678, died and was buried in Weisenheim am Sand 27 Feb 1750.

The next record I have is a Protestant birth record from 1718. The parents were Anna Maria and Johann Jacob Engel.

Anna Maria and Johann Jacob Engel

From 1718 to 1732, Anna Maria and Johann Jacob Engel were apparently the only parents having children christened (or, in one case, baptized) under the name Engel in Dackenheim. There's one record that refers to Susanna Maria and Jacob Engel, but this may be a miswrite.

Here are the children:

• Anna Clara christened 24 Aug 1718;
• Johann Jacob christened 04 Jul 1720;
• An unnamed infant christened in 1724;
• Anna Elisabetha christened 15 Dec 1726. Her mother's name is given as Susanna Maria; and
• Maria Amalia baptized as a Catholic 05 Mar 1732.

It's possible that Anna Maria and Johann Jacob Engel had two daughters born before 1718 who were either christened someplace else than Dackenheim or whose christening records have been lost. Clara Catharina Engel, daughter of Johann Jacob Engel, married Johann Adam Sidel, son of Johann Conrad Sidel, in Dackenheim 27 Aug 1736. They may or may not be the parents of Anna Henrietta "Seddel," born 29 Jul 1738 in Großbockenheim (now part of Bockenheim an der Weinstraße, 11 km north of Dackenheim). Eleonora Catharina Engel, daughter of Johann Jacob Engel, married Johann Christian Lutz, son of Abraham Lutz, in Dackenheim 15 Sep 1739. Christian may or may not be the son of Louise and Abraham Lutz christened 11 Feb 1714 in Kaiserslautern, although this is 39 km WSW of Dackenheim.

There's a burial record for Anna Maria Engelin (the feminine form of Engel), wife of Hanß Jacob Engel, who was buried as a Protestant in Dackenheim 13 Mar 1732, eight days after Maria Amalia was baptized as a Catholic.

There's also a death record for a Johann Jacob Engel, son of Hanß Jacob Engel, who was born 1728 and died in Dackenheim 06 Apr 1832, 24 days after Anna Maria (possibly his mother?) was buried. Is "1728" a miswrite - or a misread, on the part of the transcriptionist - for 1720?

Anna Clara Oberliesin and Johann Jacob Engel

Not quite two years after Anna Maria died, a man named Johann Jacob Engel married Anna Clara Oberliesen in Dackenheim on 11 Jan 1734. He may or may not be Anna Maria's widower.

Because -in can be a feminine ending, I'm not sure whether Anna Clara's father's last name was Oberlies or Oberliesin.

Anna Clara and Johann Jacob were the only parents having children christened under the name Engel in Dackenheim from 1733 to 1749, possibly longer. They had seven, possibly eight children, of whom one died one and one died at 18 years of age:

• Johanna Catharina christened 22 Jan 1736. Died and was buried in Dackenheim 11 Jun 1738 under the name Johannetta Catharina;
• Johannes Reichert christened 11 Apr 1737;
• Catharina Leonora christened 26 Oct 1738;
• Maria Juliana christened 27 Dec 1740;
• Johann Martin christened 30 Sep 1742;
• Christian Hartmann christened 12 Oct 1744;
• Johann Philipp christened 23 Mar 1747. Died and was buried in Dackenheim 06 Feb 1765; and
• Catharina Magdalena christened 30 Mar 1750. Her mother's name is given as Catharina in her christening record.

Catharina Magdalena is the child I'm uncertain about. I don't have any records for Anna Clara's death or Johann Jacob's remarriage. Was "Catharina" a miswrite for Clara? Or was Catharina Magdalena the child of a completely different couple?

A man named Johann Jacob Engel died and was buried in Dackenheim 28 Mar 1754. This may or may not be Anna Clara's (or Catharina's) husband.

Going Forwards

After Catharina Magdalena's birth in 1750, there were no children christened in Dackenheim under the name Engel until 1764, the year that Anna Clara and Johann Jacob's son Johannes Reichert married. From 1764 until the beginning of the records gap in 1793, all of the Engel children in Dackenheim were born to one of three men: Johannes Reichert, Johann Martin or Christian Hartmann. Thus, all of the Engels associated with Dackenheim after the records gap ended are likely to be descendants of one of these three men. The use of the first name Martin appears to be particular to the Dackenheim Engels. I haven't found it among the Freinsheim Engels prior to the appearance of Dackenheimers in the Freinsheim records after the records gap ended in Freinsheim in 1816.

Maria Juliana born 1740 married Johannes Breidtenstein in Dackenheim 20 Apr 1763. They had ten children christened in Dackenheim 1765-1781. Maria Juliana may have died after her last child was born, as a man named Johannes Breidtenstein married Anna Sabina Göbelin in Dackenheim 15 Jan 1782.

Johannes Reichert born 1737 married Maria Catharina Lonnerd, daughter of Valentin Lonnerd, in Dackenheim 10 Jan 1764.

Johann Martin born 1742 married Catharina Margaretha Wagner, daughter of Adam Wagner, in Dackenheim 10 Jan 1769.

Christian Hartmann born 1744 married Maria Catharina Muschel, daughter of Jacob Muschel, in Dackenheim 18 Apr 1769.

Catharina Magdalena born 1750 married Johannes Weber in Dackenheim 19 Nov 1782. As far as I know they only had one daughter, Anna Maria, who was christened in Dackenheim 20 Jan 1783 and died in Weisenheim am Sand 27 Feb 1806.

I have no further information on Catharina Leonora born 1738.