The River Running
"Immigrants: we get the job done" -- Lin-Manuel Miranda, Hamilton
The Engel Family of Freinsheim
Susanna and Johann Philip Engel
All of the children born with the last name Engel in Freinsheim between 1698 and 1720 were the children of Susanna and Johann Philip (or Philips) Engel. Specifically, their children were born between 1707 and 1718 (inclusive).
Johann Philipp may also have had a couple of younger sisters or older daughters. There's a Maria Carolina Engel who married Philips Jacob Rasp on 16 Sep 1716 and an Anna Elisabetha Engel who married Johann Euler on 20 Jun 1719, both in Freinsheim. The marriage records don't include the newlyweds' fathers' names. I lean towards assuming that they're Johann Philip's younger sisters. If they're his older daughters born before 1698, then the gap in births between 1698 and 1707 has to be explained. Of course, it could be that their mother died and Johann Philip remained a widower for some years before marrying Susanna. (There is no marriage record for him and Susanna.) Or it could be that he was away for several years, perhaps fighting as a soldier.
Johann Philip and Susanna had eight children for whom I found birth records:
After 1718, there are no more children born to Susanna and Johann Philip.
Elisabetha and Johann Philip Engel
Beginning in 1721, a new couple appears in the Freinsheim birth records: Elisabetha and Johann Philip Engel. Their last child was born in 1742. There's a marriage record for Johann Philip Engel and Elisabetha Wiegandt, the daughter of Jost Wiegandt born 01 Nov 1703. However, the marriage record is dated for 23 Nov 1723. By this time "our" Johann Philip and Elisabetha already had two children.
Is this Johann Philip the same as the one who had children with Susanna? Assuming that they married no later than 1707 and that they were both at least 18 - which is a good assumption for Freinsheim - by 1740 Susanna's husband (widower?) would have been at least 53. If Susanna's and Elisabetha's husbands are the same man, then this lends support to the hypothesis that Maria Carolina Engel Rasp and Anna Elisabetha Engel Euler were his younger sisters. If they were his daughters, he would have to be at least 64 by 1740. Not impossible, but less likely.
Note also that Johann Philip and Susanna had a son named Johann Philip in 1716. This means that there was no older son of the same name born before 1698, nor would Johann Philip have had a younger brother of the same name. A cousin is certainly possible.
Here's the list of Elisabetha and Johann Philip's children:
Marriages 1729-1779
For every Freinsheim marriage made during the period 1729-1779 that involves an Engel, if that person's father is named in the marriage record then it's either Philipp Engel or Johann Philipp Engel. There are only two cases in which no father is named. One is for Eva Engel, almost certainly the daughter of Susanna and Johann Philipp christened in 1709. The other is for Johann Reichard Engel, who married Maria Barbara Schmidt 20 on Nov 1731. I have no idea where or when Johann Reichard was born.
There's also a marriage record for Susanna Catharina Engel, daughter of Philipp Engel, who married Georg Jacob Israhelt, son of Adam Israhelt, in March 1761. The couple had 11 children born in Freinsheim 1762-1781. Now "our" Johann Philipp did have a daughter named Susanna Catharina, but she was born in 1715. She would have been 66 in 1781. However, I can't find a birth record for a Susanna Catharina Engel born in the Pfalz 1731-1743. There are, however, records for Anna Catharina born 1736, Sybilla Catharina born 1740 and Susanna Margaretha born 1742.