The Wine Grower, the Burgermeister and the Ducal Gamekeeper...

So, a wine grower, Burgermeister and ducal gamekeeper walk into bar....ok,ok, this isn't the start of a joke. I will spare all of you my horrible sense of humor. So, as I mentioned before, you can see how your ancestors met and married by looking at geography. Today we went to two groupings of villages. The first grouping is located in the Neckar valley along the Neckar River. These towns are Bessigheim, Hessigheim and Gemmrigheim. They are literally only about a mile or two apart. This area is known for one thing, wine. The hills are so steep that little else can grow but grapes. In fact, these towns are located on the Wurttemburger wienstrasse (the Wurttemburger wine road). The second grouping is located further away, about a 30-45 minute drive, not far from Heidelberg. These two towns are Daisbach and Niedenstein. All five are important for the Hengerer family. Catharine Hangar/Hengerer was born in America in 1837. She is my great great great grandmother. Her parents were Frederick Hangar and Margaret Cook/Koch, also born in America. Frederick's parents were Martin Hangar and Elizabeth Fulwider. Martin's parents were Johann Frederick Hengerer and Eva Margareta Mayer, both born in Germany. We will start with Johann's father, Johann Melchior Hengerer, in Hessigheim. To simplify things we will call him Melchior. So Melchior was born in Hessigheim in 1700, the son of Hans Cunrad Hengerer and Eva Catharina. Hans was a wine grower, which is clearly the only livelihood  option in this area. Hans' parents were Conrad Hengerer and Anna Catharina Schweyckher/Schweiker. Conrad, born around 1638, was the son of Michael Hengerer and Anna Zeitboss. Now, Anna's father, Conrad Zeitboss, served as Hessigheim's Burgermeister in the 1600s. So, armed with this information we headed to Hessigheim. The church dates at least from 1600s since there are plaques that date back to 1608. We saw Hengerer names on the WWI memorial as well as a woman who had been born a Hengerer. As we had seen before, no grave stones older than the mid 1900s. Yet, the Hengerer names confirmed we were in the right spot. So, we headed over to the Rathaus to see if we could get any information on the Burgermeister in our ancestry. We spoke to two ladies who gave us the name of a man who knows about the county history including burgermeisters as well as the name of the priest. Neither were available by phone, so we will try email. The Rathaus was built in 1685 so while it may not have been there when my ancestor was Burgermeister, the later generations would have seen it.

All the hills are covered with grape vines for wine.

Hessigheim Evangelische Kirche.

WWI memorial with Hengerer names.

Plaque on church from 1608.

The Hessigheim Rathaus, 1685.

Our next stop was Gemmrigheim. This town had a wall, which was unique because it meant it was granted special status back in the day by the duke of Wurttemburg. The church dates back to the early 1500s but was replaced in the 1700s. However, the Church tower is the oldest structure in town dating back to the 900s. The church is interesting because it has a Memorial type chapel to the WWI and WWII fallen. It is a definite place of reverence. Gemmrigheim was home to the Schweyckhers, who if you remember, married into the Hengerer family...Anna Catharina Schweyckher having married Conrad Hengerer in Gemmrigheim before moving to Hessigheim. There were lots of Schweikers on the memorial and in the cemetery. Fun fact, Gemmrigheim is twinned with Trigono, Greece!

Gemmrigheim town wall and gate.

Gemmrigheim church, note the tower which dates back to the 900s.

WWI and WWII memorial to the fallen.

Bessigheim is also a walled city and sits at the intersection of the Enz and Neckar Rivers. Here, the the father of Anna Catharina Schweyckher, Balthas Schweyckher, was born in 1624, as well as her grandparents Hans Schweyckher (born 1586) and Margareta. 

Bessigheim and the Enz River.

Inside the Evangelische Kirche in Bessigheim. It was consecrated in 1383 and has been Protestant since 1556.

The town wall and tower. The tower dates back to the 1200s.

Our final two stops for the Hengerer family are Daisbach and Niedenstein. As I mentioned before, they are further for the three Neckar valley towns. Daisbach and Niedenstein are located in the Kraichgau area which is forested and overflowing with castles. Somehow the Hengerers had connections because Johann Melchior Hengerer aka Melchior (remember him?) was able to secure the post of ducal gamekeeper, forester and hunter, meaning he worked for the duke of Wurttemburg caring for his forests. This also meant that young Melchior had to move to the Kraichgau area. So sometime in his early 20s, say around 21 or 22, Melchior made his way to Daisbach where he met and married Maria Elisabetha Majer in 1724. What is interesting about Daisbach is that it has the ruins of a castle, built in 1732/33 and the. Left to ruins when Carl Eberhard Von Ravensburg i.e Melchior's employerer, died suddenly. We visited the ruins and I have no doubt that because of Melchior's gamekeeper duties, he was there. 

Daisbach castle ruins.

Daisbach church, current one dates to 1937, but pieces of it date to the 1600s.

So, the last stop is Niedenstein. This is where Melchior's wife was born as well as some of their children, including my ancestor Johann Frederick Hengerer. We went to the church which dates back to the 1400s although the current building is 1700s-1800s. The tower does date back to the 1400s. We saw quite a few Mayers /Majers in the cemetery so once again we are on the right track. Niedenstein also has a castle which dates back to the 1200s but is now privately owned so we were unable to actually walk up to it (but the camera zoom is awesome!). Since the castle also belonged to Melchior's employerer, Melchior would have spent a good deal of time up there. In 1740, Melchior took his family to America, eventually settling in Virginia. His son, Johann Frederick Hengerer served in the Revolutionary War in the Augusta Co., Virginia militia.

Niedenstein Evagelische Church

Tower gate to the Niedenstein castle.

Niedenstein castle (thanks to zoom!)

While we found what we had "hoped", we now have uncovered more questions that need to be answered, but such is the journey of genealogy! One door often leads to another and another, the who knows what you'll find! 

Cheers!

Elizabeth