The Schaffner Family of Freinsheim

I found three sets of records relating to Schaffners in Freinsheim in the early 18th century:

• Anna Catharina Schaffner married Johann Jost Willi, the son of Johannes Willi, in Freinsheim 03 Dec 1704.
• Maria Elisabetha and Johann Valentin Schaffner had son named Johann Thomas Schaffner who was christened in Freinsheim 18 Mar 1714. I don't have any further information on this family.
• Anna Catharina Messinger, the daughter of Sebastian Messinger, and Johann Adam Schaffner married in Freinsheim 02 Nov 1718. They had seven, possibly eight children:
  • Johannes born 02 Sep 1719, christened 09 Sep 1719;
  • Maria Elisabetha born 08 Mar 1721, christened 16 Mar 1721;
  • Anna Catharina born 15 Aug 1725, christened 19 Aug 1725;
  • Veit Ludwig born 16 Nov 1727, christened 23 Nov 1727;
  • Johann Henrich born 27 Apr 1730, christened 30 Apr 1730;
  • Andreas born 11 Nov 1733, christened 15 Nov 1733; and
  • Johann Peter born 11 Mar 1737, christened 17 Mar 1737.

I don't have marriage records for any of the seven children of Anna Catharina and Johann Adam. What I do have is a marriage record for Maria Barbara Schattner, daughter of Johann Adam Schattner, who married Johann Jost Wigand, son of Jacob Wigand, in Freinsheim 14 Apr 1744. The date of the marriage suggests that Maria Barbara was born in or before 1726. That's an appropriate year for her to be the daughter of Anna Catharina and Johann Adam, but I can't find a birth record. Maria Barbara and Johann Jost had two children that I know of.

28 Years Later

28 years after Maria Barbara's marriage, the Schaffner name once again appeared in Freinsheim records. Maria Victoria Huber or Hueber and Wilhelm Schaffner had nine children born 1772-1796. I can't find birth records for either of them anywhere in the Pfalz and I can't find a marriage record, suggesting they came from somewhere other than Freinsheim. However, Freinsheim is the only place I can find birth records for their children.

Where all of Anna Catharina and Johann Adam's children had been christened as Protestants, all of Maria Victoria and Wilhelm's children were baptized as Catholics. The baptism records give their names in Latin:

• Joannes Jacobus baptized 14 Jan 1772;
• Maria Catharina baptized 28 Feb 1774;
• Franciscus Casparus baptized 05 Feb 1777. Deceased by October 1779;
• Franciscus Casparus baptized 09 Oct 1779;
• Maria Augusta baptized 10 Jan 1785;
• Maria Apollonia baptized 30 Aug 1787;
• Andreas baptized 06 Nov 1788;
• Margaretha baptized in December 1791; and
• Maria Margaretha baptized 12 Jan 1796. Does her name indicate that Margaretha born in 1991 had died?

There may have been more children born to Maria Victoria and Wilhelm. After August 1798, no Catholic baptisms were recorded in Freinsheim until September 1809. When the records resumed, it looks as though Maria Victoria and Wilhelm's children had started to have children of their own:

• Barbara and Andrea Schaffner: son Andreas baptized 22 Mar 1810;
• Barbara Haas or Hans and Franz Schaffner: son Joannes baptized 19 Jan 1812, daughter Barbara baptized 22 Aug 1815;
• Barbara Prinz and Wilhelm Schaffner: son Wilhelmus baptized 28 Jul 1813; and
• Margaretha Schaffner: daughter Elisabetha baptized 02 Jan 1816.

Andrea may or may not be Andreas born in 1788. Franz may or may not be Franciscus born in 1779. Margaretha may have been born in 1791, 1796 or neither of those years. Barbara Prinz may or may not be Wilhelm's second wife. It's hard to say.

After 1816 - the year after the Battle of Waterloo, the year in which the Congress of Vienna awarded the Palatinate to the Kingdom of Bavaria - there are no further records for Schaffners in Freinsheim. Did the family move in response to the changing political situation? Or had they never lived in Freinsheim proper at all? Did they now have access to a Catholic church closer to home?

I checked other towns around Freinsheim to see I could find the Schaffners from 1810-1816 resurfacing there, but without luck.