Juliane Fett and Johann Jakob Werner

Johann Jakob Werner was born in Freinsheim on 18 Jul 1777 and christened the following day. His parents were Anna Barbara and Johannes Werner.

Juliane Fett was born in Freinsheim on 23 Dec 1784 and christened the same day. Her parents were Georg Christoph Fett, a baker, and Johanna Sophia Becker.

Johann Jakob was 15 and Juliane, eight, when the French Revolutionary Army of the Rhine invaded the Palatinate. For more than two decades, they lived with the more egalitarian and efficient systems of law and administration introduced by the French.

It isn't known exactly when Johann Jakob and Juliane married. Generally, women in 18th and early 19th century Freinsheim seem to have married between 19 and 26, suggesting 1803-1810. This coincides with the gap in Protestant marriage records in Freinsheim, July 1802-December 1815. It's definitely known that Johann Jakob and Juliane's son Jakob was born on 06 Dec 1815, not quite six months after Napoleon was defeated at Waterloo. In 1816, the portion of the Palatinate west of the Rhine was turned over to the Kingdom of Bavaria, which meant a return to an older, less egalitarian system.

I can't imagine that ordinary citizens like Johan Jakob and Juliane could have been happy about this.

The records I have from the Verbandsgemeinde Freinsheim don't mention the younger Jakob as having any siblings. On the other hand the church records available at FamilySearch.org don't include the younger Jakob's birth in December 1815, as Protestant christening records in Freinsheim didn't resume until the following month. However, the church records do include christening records for two boys born to "Jacob Werner" and "Juliane" or "Juliana." One was Georg Franz Werner christened 15 Jun 1819. The other was Georg Daniel Werner christened 07 Mar 1821. (It's worth noting here that Juliane Fett's father was named Georg Christoph.)

Johann Jacob Wernher, "Ackersmann" (farmer), was one of the three men named as guardians of Jacob Engel's minor children from his first marriage after Jacob died and was buried 07 Jan 1820.

"Jacob Werner, Ackersmann in Freinsheim," is also mentioned in a legal notice published 13 Apr 1829 and again 27 Jun 1829. Melchior Reuter, a farmer in Dackenheim, had died. His property was to be auctioned off so that it could be divided among his heirs: his daughter Philippina, a single adult who was working as a serving maid in Dackenheim; the widow and children, living in Dackenheim, of his late son Peter, a farmer; and his son Caspar, a farmer in Freinsheim. The notice includes a list of 17 properties totalling 955 florins in value. One of these properties, worth 200 florins, is a dwelling house with a garden in the village (meaning in the centre of Dackenheim rather than on the outskirts?) "besessen" by Abraham Kuhn, a merchant in Bissersheim, and Jacob Werner, a farmer in Freinsheim.

In modern German "besessen" is the past participle of besitzen, to own, possess or have. "To occupy" is a different verb, besetzen. However, if Abraham and Jacob actually held title to the property, it wouldn't have been part of Melchior's estate. The same holds true for the 16 other pieces of property - they were all "besessen" by various men. It seems to me that "besessen" is being used here to refer to property occupied by or used by a tenant. Keep in mind that the English word "tenant" comes from the present participle of the French verb tenir, to hold. A tenant holds (has use of) but does not necessarily own property.

Were Jacob and his family actually living in the house in Dackenheim? Or were Abraham and Jacob subletting it to someone else and dividing the rental income?

Going Forwards

The younger Jakob Werner married Katherina Engel in Freinsheim on 18 Jul 1837. His possible sibling Georg Daniel may or may not be the Georg Daniel Werner who married Barbara Straefler. Barbara was the daughter of Heinrich Straefler and Katherina Wiesbrod, christened on 12 Nov 1826 in Eppstein, 10 km east of Freinsheim. She and Georg Daniel had two daughters named Maria. One was christened on 26 Aug 1852 in Eppstein but died and was buried in Freinsheim on 25 Jan 1853. The second was christened in Freinsheim ten months later, on 04 Dec 1853.

The older Johann Jakob Werner died and was buried in Freinsheim on 27 Nov 1843. I don't have death or burial dates for Juliane.

And Yet Another Werner

On 25 Feb 1836, Maria Pletscher married Johannes Werner in Gönnheim, 8 km NNW of Freinsheim. The marriage record doesn't supply their parents' names but does specify that Maria is from Freidelsheim, Johannes from Freinsheim. A legal notice published 13 Feb 1839 and included in the Königlich bayerisches Amts- and Intelligenzblatt für die Pfalz mentions Johannes Werner, a farmer resident in Freinsheim, as the chief guardian of Elisabetha, Katharina and Jacob Blaul, the minor children of the late Johannes Blaul and Katharina Pletscher, innkeepers resident in Friedelsheim. Johannes Mäurer, a farmer resident in Friedelsheim, is the secondary guardian.

A second notice was published 04 Jul 1840. This time the deceased was Elisabeth Lichti, the wife of Bartholomäus Messing, a farmer resident in Friedelsheim. Maria Pletscher and Johannes Werner are described jointly as the chief guardians of the three minor children of Johannes Blaul and Katharina Pletscher. (Johannes Blaul was apparently a cooper as well as an innkeeper.) Johannes Mäurer of Friedelsheim is again described as the secondary guardian. And there's a third party: Elisabetha Pletscher and her husband Friedrich Bissinger, resident in Ungstein, where Friedrich is a "wine innkeeper" (Weinwirth).

What's going on here? One thing to be aware is that Pletscher and Lichti are both Mennonite names. Friedelsheim was the home of a Mennonite congregation which was closely associated with the congregation in Erpolzheim and also included members from Gönnheim. Mennonite records of christenings, marriages and burials were kept separately from the Evangelische records. ("Evangelische" seems to include both Reformed and Lutheran.) Since I don't have access to the Mennonite records, usually the only time I can catch glimpses of Mennonites is when they marry outside their own faith. For example, I have no way to trace the connection - although I would assume there is one - between Maria Pletscher and Catharina Orth's mother-in-law in Erpolzheim, Christina Pletscher.

On 23 Feb 1823 in Gönnheim, Katharina "Blatscher," daughter of Jakob "Blatscher," married Johannes Blaul, son of Anna Margaretha Klater and Johann Adam Blaul. They had three children born 1823, 1825 and 1826. "Johannes Blaul" was a common name in Gönnheim. Katharina's husband may or may not be the Johannes Blaul who died and was buried in Gönnheim 26 Mar 1833. However, Katharina was definitely the Katharina Pletscher, wife of Johannes Blaul and daughter of Elisabetha "Luhty" and Jakob Pletscher, who died and was buried in Gönnheim 17 Oct 1838. Thus by 13 Feb 1839, Katharina and Johannes' three minor children were under guardianship.

Note the apparent discrepancy between Katharina's father's name, Jakob Pletscher, and the name of Elisabeth Lichti's husband in the 04 Jul 1840 legal notice, Bartholomäus Messing. I think this indicates a second marriage. On 04 Jul 1819 Elisabetha, widow of Jakob "Blatscharman," married Bartholomäus Messing, son of Lorenz Messing, in Gönnheim. I can't find a burial record for her - was she buried in a Mennonite service? - but his burial record dated 05 Apr 1843 gives his wife's name as Elisabetha Pletscher.

So Katharina appears to be the daughter of Elisabetha Lichti and Elisabetha's first husband, Jakob Pletscher. Because they're Mennonites, there are no records until first Elisabetha in 1819, then Katharina in 1823 marry non-Mennonites. (Of course, the infamous record gap might play a role here as well.) Elisabetha Pletscher appears to be Katharina's sister, but I can't find any records for her or her husband Friedrich Bissinger at all. Perhaps both of them were Mennonites?

Maria Pletscher, Johannes Werner's wife, is closely related to Katharina and Elisabetha but she's not their sister. She's not included in the legal notice about Elisabetha Lichti's heirs in her own right, but only as the guardian of Katharina's children. From their marriage dates - 1823 for Katharina vs 1836 for Maria - I would guess that Maria was Katharina's age or younger. She might be Katharina's cousin on their fathers' side. However, given the large family sizes of the time, it's also possible that Maria was Katharina's paternal aunt, Jakob Pletscher's much younger sister.

What does this tell us about Johannes, a farmer resident in Freinsheim? Not much. Given that he married in 1836, it's certainly plausible that he was born during the records gap and that he may (or may not) have been the son of Juliane Fett and Johann Jakob Werner.

Potatoes

Johannes Werner of Freinsheim is also mentioned in an 1847 document. The potato blight of the 1840s that's perhaps best known for causing famine in Ireland also affected most of northern Europe. Germany suffered poor harvests in 1845 and 1846 not only of potatoes but also of wheat and rye. In the Pfalz, the government responded by selling shares to fund no-interest loans to needy communities so that these communities might purchase seed potatoes. When the communities repaid the loans, the shareholders got their money back.

To give you some idea of the timing, most of the loans were due back in March 1847 and 1848. One exception was the Homberg Land Commissariat, where most of the loans were due back in December 1847 and 1848. In the Bergzabern Land Commissariat, some loans were due back in March 1847 and 1848, but most were due back either 11 Nov 1847 or 11 Nov 1848.

On 19 Nov 1847 the government published the results of the share subscriptions in the Königlich bayerisches Amts- and Intelligenzblatt für die Pfalz. An impressive 30,200 florins had been raised and paid out in loans. The Neustadt Land Commissiariat, which included Freinsheim, had raised 3,820 florins and had not required loans for any of its communities. In Freinsheim, 12 men had contributed 10 florins each. One of these men was Johannes Werner, land owner.

I don't have any further information about Maria Pletscher and Johannes Werner.

Note: Most of the information I have on the Werner, Engel and Sohn families in Freinsheim from the late 17th to the mid 19th centuries came to me in 2004 courtesy of Siegfried Barth, archivist with the Verbandsgemeinde Freinsheim (Freinsheim Community Association). Where possible I've supplemented it with church records available at FamilySearch.org. Many thanks to Herr Barth and also to my late granduncle Robert Werner, who made the first contact and then recruited my help because he and Herr Barth had no languages in common.