Part 2: Ancestral Kinzigtal

Thanks to those dear souls who let it be known that they want more, more, more of these reports! If you're not one of them, let me know and I will remove you from the distribution, with no ill will whatsoever.


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Day Two: Altenhaßlau, Eidengesäß, Langenselbold -- and a Moravian detour

This was a full and busy and complicated day, so bear with me through some background that I hope you will find useful. Permit me to introduce you to Laurel Miller, a distant (about 6th?) cousin who recently published a Leinbach history and who spent the last number of months in Germany tracking down and verifying a lot of information on the European origins of the clan Leinbach that I had only been able to conjecture about. Not only did she tool her little car all over Hessen, camera, old German script-reading and photocopying skills at the ready, but she made a stunning number of personal contacts with people in all our ancestral villages.

As a result, we were greeted at almost every stop by local folks who welcomed and entertained us like long-lost royalty returned. Besides that, it almost seemed like the ancestors were wafting along with us, because even at places where Laurel had not made a contact, people came forward and enriched our visit.

Because it was not possible to take the trip in strict chronological parallel to the wanderings of our ancestors, I have made an appendix (see below) of the actual sequence of places in their lives, so you can follow where we are in relation to their paths. We visited the places in this order: 4, 5, 2, 8, 3/6, 7, 1, 1b, 1a.

4. Altenhaßlau. Practically attached to Gelnhausen, separated only by a most inconsequential-looking stream called the River Kinzig, is this village that is now part of the Gemeinde of Linsengericht. Here's another boring but necessary detail: back in the 1960s the Federal Republic of Germany reformed its local government boundaries. The most-familiar comparison for some of you might be to the consolidation of school districts in rural parts of the U.S., so that towns and villages that once had their own high schools (and basketball teams!) now had to share them with neighboring, once-rival villages. The most rural of the new German jurisdictions were called "Gemeinden," or communities, while more-urban ones were called "Städte," or cities (singular "Stadt").

If you want to find the villages on a road atlas of Germany, unless you have one with a detailed index (almost impossible to obtain in this country) you need to know what Gemeinde or Stadt it is now part of.

Heiko guided our lavender-colored bus across the bridge (the bus was almost longer than the whole bridge), and soon we found ourselves outside the church at Altenhaßlau. There we were met by a member of the local historical society, and with the help of some of our more fluent German-speakers, mainly our tour guide Paul von Marko and cousin Don Lineback, we received a good sense of the village at the time Henrich taught school there and Johannes played the organ there.

The chancel of the church is romanesque, with very thick walls indeed (our guide explained that the church served as a fortified shelter for the villagers in times of attack), and was certainly in existence when our ancestors were there. The nave is a later addition. The school, where Henrich held forth, was across the street, and while the present superstructure is fairly recent, it was built on the original foundations, which remain very visible.

I'm trying to remember whether this is one of the two churches we visited in which I got to play the organ. I know Hochstadt was one of them, and I'd like to think that this was the first, because that would mean I got to play the organ in both the churches where my ancestor was the organist! Of course both instruments themselves are 19th-century, but still it was quite a sensation for me (and the cousins all kindly expressed their appreciation).

We were taken into a vault, which was part of the tunnel system by which the villagers could come at need, and which has also been used for various purposes over the centuries -- just now it was being prepared for a local celebration involving spirituous beverages, and one of the preparers turned out to be the owner of a bookstore just above, occupying what had been the "mayor's" house, called the "Alte Rathaus" -- something like a village hall. The present building was erected in 1699, or exactly during the time our ancestors were living and working right there.

I left Altenhaßlau reluctantly; it felt like there was so much more to be learned there. It was too bad that this trip got planned for the month of August, when all of Germany goes on holiday, so the retired pastor who had been so helpful to Laurel on her first visit -- actually helping her to photocopy the pages of the Church Book! -- was not there to greet us as well, and I would have liked to thank him.

But we had a lunch date to meet, and one more stop before getting there, so it was on to 5. Eidengesäß, where Adam Gleiß, church elder, had a daughter named Anna Elisabeth who married Johannes Leimbach and became the mother of us all (she is buried in the Moravian "Gottesacker," or God's Field, at Nazareth, PA). This village is also now part of the Gemeinde of Linsengericht and only a kilometer or two from Altenhaßlau itself. I remember very little of this quick stop -- a tiny church up a tiny side street from a typically picturesque main street, and that's about it. We were hungry, and needed to make a quick run to 2. Langenselbold, where we were to eat in the oldest building in town -- the Gasthaus Zum Goldenen Engel.

Langenselbold is not the well-preserved picture postcard that our earlier destinations are. I know that it was the site of an American military base after World War II, and I presume that meant it was a German base during the war and therefore subject to bombing. The old church where our Henrich got married and where most of his children were baptized was destroyed, and its replacement was built in 1956 on the site of the old cemetery. The parish offices are in a modern building next to the vacant site of the old church (I *think* I have that right), and in its tower is one of the original bells.

Zum Goldenen Engel opened its doors to 47 hungry Americans, who immediately besieged a single waitress with their drink orders (we had been required to select from 3 entree choices in advance). She spoke no English, which created some problems, because she somehow got the idea that my German is good. The few words I know *sound* good, because I say them in good stage German from my singer's training, but my perception of meaning is pretty bad. When one of our group tried to obtain just plain water, *without* "gas" and without exotic minerals and all, she came to me for help. I tried and tried to convey "ohne gas" and "just plain tap water" and all that, but still she ended up bringing a bottle of seltzer water.

In more tourist-oriented areas Europeans are beginning to learn that crazy Americans do indeed expect to drink that stuff that comes out of taps, but the word hasn't yet made it to most of the villages. I don't know whether it was a European who managed to persuade Americans that it's a good idea to spend $1.25 for a bottle of what they used to get for nothing, even without asking, upon sitting at a restaurant table.

Anyway, a festive if chaotic time was had by all, and members of the group began to learn to know each other too, in a way that was not possible sitting in rows on a bus. We were soon joined by a marvelous woman -- I believe her name is Frau Lerch; in any case she is related to the Barbara Lerch whom our ancestor Henrich found and married in Langenselbold. Her historic knowledge is rich, and she loves her town.

Local legend emphasizes the famous "Bachtanz." I don't have all the details quite clear, but it's something that originated in the Middle Ages, somehow as an expression of the town's independence from some lord who wanted them to be more submissive. Couples danced through the brook that flows through the middle of town -- a custom that died out maybe a century ago, but has just recently been revived. As the heat began building, some of us looked longingly at the brook as we crossed it.

After lunch we went to the parish office, where the Kirchenbuch from the time Henrich lived there was brought out. It was opened to the page where Henrich and Barbara's marriage was recorded, and everyone crowded around to photograph it. I did so as well, although I was wishing I could be given some time with the book so I could verify other data from it. Maybe I can go back and do that.

We said goodbye to Frau Lerch and her friend who opened the Kirchenbuch for us, and drove off to 8. Herrnhaag. At the top of a hill near Büdingen sits Ronneburg Castle, an imposing edifice indeed, visible from miles around. This was leased by Count Zinzendorf to serve as a refuge for his persecuted followers, and they built a typical Moravian community in the valley below. Not until 18 years after Johannes Leimbach and his family departed for America did they become Moravian, and this site had no connection to them before they left. However, as noted in the appendix, his daughter Maria Barbara spent several years in Europe with her first husband Frederick Martin, and they buried their infant daughter here at Herrnhaag.

Only three buildings are left of the 20 or so that once comprised this thriving communal enterprise; at various times over the years the others were plundered for building material by the people around. The Moravian Church was finally persuaded to acquire the site, and a brave little community now struggles to restore the buildings that are left and to make good use of them for the social purposes Moravians have become famous for.
It was while we were exploring Herrnhaag that I learned exactly who it was who had missed the plane and had to take a later flight, to be picked up to join the group by our tour guide. The older of the two women ascertained that I was indeed who I am, and began talking about her mother Emma. Suddenly I heard her: she was talking about my Aunt Emma DeFreese, and this was my first cousin Malinda! I had thought I was the only descendant of the Mennonite line to be on this tour, and I hugged her with joy.

Finally, after a wonderful repast of good German cakes and coffee in the great hall/chapel of the main building, we all got back on the bus and Heiko drove us with dispatch to -- WalMart! There we raided ATMs and obtained necessities, and finally checked in at the Hotel Columbus -- a brand-new, in fact not quite finished American-style highway "hotel" in a not very picturesque setting. And no air conditioning, or at least not on the top floor (we learned too late that the second floor had been almost too cold). And no open restaurant -- closed for the August holiday of the staff! So some folks got on the bus and were driven to a restaurant in Seligenstadt, the adjacent town. Jay and I stayed behind to sleep and then to raid the local Shell station which has, we were told, a pretty good mini-mart. When we went out, it was closed. Bummer.

Tomorrow, breakfast at last, and the villages where Henrich and Johannes lived out their final days (on earth, in Henrich's case, and in Germany, in Johannes's case).

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Appendix: where the Leimbachs lived in Germany

Henrich Leimbach was born in 1648 (the last year of the 30-Years' War) in what is now Gerterode-Ludwigsau. He was almost certainly baptized in the "mother" church of the valley, Beenhausen, but our first record of him does not appear until his confirmation in 1661, which appears to have been in Gerterode (Laurel learned that Beenhausen was always the "Taufkirche," or baptismal church, for the whole parish).

1. Gerterode-Ludwigsau
a. Beenhausen
b. Ludwigseck Castle

Only on Laurel's recent discovery of the microfilmed Beenhausen church book have we been able to confirm that Henrich's father was named Abraham. In that record, she also found that Henrich had something like 8 siblings, all baptized and named as children of Abraham. (Minor point of interest: the name Abraham is extremely rare in the church records of the whole district between Kassel and Fulda where our ancestor came from -- I have found only one other among lists of hundreds of names of Hessian men.)

At some point, Henrich set out to seek his fortune, and the next time he appears in a document it is to record his marriage. He married Barbara Lerch in Langenselbold, in 1672, and it is the record of that marriage that allowed us to find his birthplace. He had 5 children in Langenselbold, the last in 1685. Then he appears, just once, in 1689, in Hochstadt, as father of a 6th child, a son Andreas. Whenever Henrich's occupation is named in the Langenselbold churchbook he is called a linen-weaver -- but in Hochstadt he has become "Schuldiener," or school teacher (the terms "Schuldiener" and "Schulmeister" are basically interchangeable, and in various places he and his son are later called both, from time to time).

2. Langenselbold (between Gelnhausen and Hanau on the River Kinzig)

3. Hochstadt-Maintal (between Frankfurt and Hanau on the River Main)
Henrich's tenure as schoolteacher in Hochstadt appears to have been brief, because by 1691 he appears in Altenhaßlau, just across the Kinzig from Gelnhausen, where another child of his is baptized (this sibling of our immigrant ancestor was unknown to us until recent weeks). He is there at least through 1701, when his son Andreas, baptized in Hochstadt, is buried at the age of 12. Further, his oldest son Johannes (our immigrant ancestor, born 1674 in Langenselbold) was married there in 1700, to the daughter of the church elder from nearby Eidengesäß -- and Henrich had apparently managed to secure the position of church organist for his son, for Johannes is so designated in the marriage record.

4. Altenhaßlau-Linsengericht

5. Eidengesäß-Linsengericht
Shortly after Andreas's death in 1701, Johannes appears to have gained his father's old position of schoolteacher back in Hochstadt (now part of Stadt Maintal), and there his 5 children who survived to come to Pennsylvania with him were all baptized. At the same time, his father Henrich appears as schoolteacher in Oberdorfelden, only about 4 or 5 kilometers across the fields from Hochstadt -- an easy Sunday walk for Germans, then and now.

6. Hochstadt-Maintal (again)

7. Oberdorfelden-Schöneck
Henrich's burial is recorded in the Oberdorfelden records in 1716, at the age of 67, and that was for a long time the only hint we had of the year in which he might have been born, until Laurel recently found his 1661 confirmation.

In 1723 Johannes and Anna Elisabeth took their five children to Pennsylvania, where they quickly settled in the Oley valley just east of what is now Reading. There, by 1741, they became Moravians under the influence of Count Zinzendorf himself. Their daughter Maria Barbara married two prominent Moravian clergymen in succession, and outlived them both. During her first marriage, to Moravian missionary Frederick Martin, they made a visit to Europe and placed their daughter in the children's home at

8. Herrnhaag, near the Ronneburg castle, where she died of smallpox at the age of 1 and a half years.

[composed on Fri, 15 Aug 2003 11:16:00 -0400]