The Reck Family of Freinsheim

Susanna Messinger and Hans Jacob Reck

The first person named Reck for whom I have any records from Freinsheim is Hans Jacob Reck, who married Susanna Messinger there on 26 Nov 1699. However, the first record I have of a child being born to them is in 1706. I can't find any earlier birth or christening records anywhere in the Pfalz.

I found christening records for seven daughters for Susanna and Hans Jacob, one of whom died young. However, I know from records supplied by the Verbandsgemeinde Freinsheim that there was at least one more daughter, Anna Gertraud or Gertrauta. Furthermore, I found marriage records - but no birth records - in Freinsheim for two more women born in the same time period who gave their father's name as Jacob Reck or Johann Jacob Reck. (Johann and Hans are two forms of the same name.):

• Anna Maria christened 07 Apr 1706;
• Anna Gertraud or Gertrauta christened 26 Jun 1707, married Johann Jacob Werner, named after his father, 03 Feb 1733;
• Anna Christina christened in 1709;
• Maria Elisabetha christened 21 Feb 1712;
• Maria Sybilla christened 15 Jul 1714;
• Susanna Margaretha christened 20 Dec 1716, deceased by February 1718;
• Susanna Margaretha christened 20 Feb 1718;
• Anna Catharina christened 22 Aug 1723;
• Maria Margaretha born 1710 or earlier who married Georg Adam Reininger 06 Apr 1728; and
• Catharina Sybilla born 1716 or earlier who married Johann Jacob Seltzer, son of Henrich Seltzer, 24 Nov 1734.

Anna Catharina and Davidt Reck

More or less contemporaneous with Susanna and Hans Jacob was a second couple, Anna Catharina and Davidt, who had seven children:

• Susanna christened 14 Apr 1709;
• Maria Barbara christened 26 Dec 1710;
• Johann Jacob christened 15 Jul 1714. He married Anna Maria Seltzer, daughter of Nicolaus Seltzer, 12 Jun 1736;
• Anna Christina christened 12 Feb 1719;
• Johann Davidt christened 17 Dec 1724;
• Johann Wilhelm born 24 Jan 1728, christened 28 Jan 1728; and
• Jacobaea Scharlotta born 09 May 1730, christened 14 May 1730. She married Elias Wigand, son of Jost Wigand, 07 Feb 1747.

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.