The River Running

"Immigrants: we get the job done" -- Lin-Manuel Miranda, Hamilton

 

The Werner Family of Freinsheim

Anna Christine and Hans Jakob Werner

Hans or Johann Jakob Werner was born in or around 1671 in the Pfalz, possibly in Freinsheim. The record I received from the Verbandsgemeinde Freinsheim says that he was a "Gerichtsverw." Gerichts means a court of law. Gerichtsverw. is probably an abbreviation for Gerichtsverwandter, meaning a juror or a member of a local law court.

On November 12, 1698, 14 months after the end of the Nine Years' War, Hans Jakob married Anna Christine, who'd been born in or around 1675. The marriage took place in the "evangelisch" church in Freinsheim. ("Evangelisch" here doesn't mean evangelical in the North American sense. It's a more general synonym for Protestant.)

I've been able to find 37 individuals with the last name Werner born in Freinsheim 1700-1853. Of these 32 individuals are or appear to be descendants of Hans Jakob and Anna Christine. (Click here to read more about the other five.)

The couple had ten children, all born in Freinsheim. Their four youngest children died when quite young. Note that the children's birth years span the War of the Spanish Succession:

Hans Jakob died in Freinsheim on 03 Apr 1732. Anna Christine survived him by eight years. She died and was buried in Freinsheim on 25 Feb 1740.

Anna Gertraud Reck and Johann Jakob Werner

Johann Jakob Werner married Anna Gertraud Reck in Freinsheim on 03 Feb 1733. Anna was the daughter of Hans Jakob Reck and Susanna Messinger, christened in Freinsheim on 26 Jun 1707. They had seven children, all born in Freinsheim. Four died young:

Anna Gertraud died and was buried in Freinsheim on 24 May 1764. Her husband Johann Jakob died and was buried in Freinsheim on 28 Aug 1778.

Anna Barbara and Johannes Werner

Johannes Werner married Anna Barbara some time before 1774. I don't know her last name or where she was born, only that she was born some time before 1754. They had seven children, at least six of whom were born in Freinsheim. Three died relatively young, one five days after birth, one (I think) at the age of eight and one at 15:

I don't have death or burial dates for either Johannes or Anna Barbara.

In 1792, some months before the birth of Johannes and Anna Barbara's youngest daughter, the French Revolutionary Army of the Rhine invaded. That changed things in the Palatinate and in Freinsheim.

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.

 
Home

Comments and Questions

Directories List

In memory of Janet A Werner, 1931-2015