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Excerpts
from
Correspondence
With
Pastor Ronald
Lommel
The Lutheran
Parish,
Nieder-Gemünden,
Hesse
by Henry Fischer
Published at dvhh.org 27 Nov 2007, by Jody McKim.
As indicated,
the following
information is
contained in
some personal
correspondence I
had with Pastor
Lommel following
my visit to his
parish a number
of years ago.
At that time he
was unaware of
any emigration
from Hesse to
Hungary in the
18th century,
but my visit
piqued his
interest and he
undertook some
research into
the matter on
his own. I had
originally gone
to Elpenrod
where the
parsonage for
the parish was
located, because
at that time I
thought that I
had found the
origins of my
own branch of
the Fischer
family, but my
investigations
there and with
his help
indicated I had
to look
elsewhere.
Henry
Fischer
After a long
search and
stumbling around
in the Church
Books and the
old Family
Registers, I can
provide the
following facts
with regard to
the Hungarian
emigration.
Johannes
Fischer,
Hainbach
In the year
1724, Johannes
Fischer from
Hainbach left
for Hungary.
His first wife,
Anna Elisabeth
died a year
before. They
had five
children: Konrad
born 04.05.1711,
Johannes born
03.04.1714,
Kaspar born
18.02.1716,
Maria Elisabeth
born 02.11.1719
and Elisabeth
Katharina born
11.09.1722. In
March of 1724 he
married a second
time and his
second wife was
Anna Julianna
born in Hainbach
but living in
Nieder-Ohmen.
Johannes was
born in Hainbach
on 25.10.1689.
Burkard,
Bormann,
Elpenrod
He originally
came from
Altenburg near
Alsfeld and
married a
Christiana
Freiensehner in
Elpenrod in
1698. On
12.06.1709 a son
was born to them
and a daughter
in 1713. The
godparents were
represented by
proxies
(indicating the
family was
either unable to
live there or
just passing
through.) There
is a notation
that he left for
Varsad in Tolna
County in
Hungary in
1723.
Johann
Peter Fischer,
Elpenrod
He was born on
09.11.1674 and
married
Katharina
Schlosser of
Elpenrod who was
the daughter of
the schoolmaster
on 27.01.1701.
They had
numerous
children whose
births are
recorded in the
Church
Register. A
family
researcher who
had no knowledge
of the
emigration to
Hungary noted
that all eleven
of their
children must
have died
because there is
no record of any
of them ever
marrying.
However, in an
older Family
Register there
is the notation,
“left for
Hungary in
1724”.
Johann
Peter Christ,
Elpenrod
Here I have to
report on a
special notation
I found: In a
Family Register
there is the
following
entry: J. P.
Christ who was
born in Elpenrod
in 1703 along
with his wife
Anna Elisabeth
Carle from
Elpenrod left
for Gyönk in
Hungary in
1724. In the
Church Books in
Queckborn
(located close
to Grunberg in
Upper Hesse), it
is reported that
a son was born
to him
posthumously
(following his
death) named
George Dietrich
on 20.09.1725 in
Gyönk in Hungary
and on the 22nd
was baptized by
a Roman Catholic
priest in
Bormont*.
It is further
reported that
his pregnant
wife married a
countryman from
Upper Hesse
named Caspar
Röder in Majos,
Hungary on
20.06.1725. (He
in all
likelihood came
from Queckborn.)
Both of them
returned to
Queckborn and
George Dietrich
Christ married
in Queckborn in
1751 as well as
his step-sister
Anna Katharina
Röder.
Johann
Heinrich Jäckel,
Hainbach
He was the son
of Johann Ludwig
and Anna
Katharina Jäckel
whose maiden
name was Weiss
and came from
Hainbach; Johann
Heinrich was
born in 1714 in
Hainbach, and
married Eva
Vinkenstock from
Nieder-Gemünden,
with whom he had
a son, Johann
Valentin born
17.11.1740. It
is noted that he
and his family,
along with two
single sisters,
Anna Maria born
in 1711 and
Katharina
Elisabeth born
1728, went to
Kistormás in
Hungary. There
are no further
entries with
regard to them
in the Family
Register.
Anna
Julianna Nagel,
Nieder-Gemünden
She was the
daughter of
Mathaus and Anna
Barbara Nagel
(maiden name
Pabst) from
Nieder-Gemünden
and was born
26.01.1730. In
Hungary she
married Johann
Konrad Zarth.
With regard to
the fortunes of
her brother
Konrad, born
18.03.1734, as
well as her
parents there is
nothing
available. It
is possible that
they too…
Pastor
Lommel further
writes:
“Following our
discussion I
decided to
immerse myself
in all of the
available
information I
could find in
the area in
order to
discover if
there was any
evidence of the
emigration to
Hungary. I was
able to find two
or three
sentences about
it in various
village
histories, for
instance in
Bleidenrod and
Alsfeld. And
with regard to
some of the
family names you
shared with me,
I found
traces
of them in Ruppertenrod,
Nieder-Gemünden,
Gross-Felda as
well as others,
all in the
immediate
vicinity where I
serve and these
family names are
still familiar
to this day.
But the
population in
this area is not
conscious of any
large-scale
emigration to
Hungary. Only
the memory of
the emigration
to America 100
years ago is
still spoken
of.
The major
number one
reason for the
emigration to
Hungary was the
material poverty
of the
population.
Today we can
hardly imagine
the situation in
which people
found themselves
and as the
saying goes,
they had nothing
to lose. The
limited
agricultural
production could
only meet the
essential needs
of the people
and then there
were always crop
failures and
famine. The
inheritance
right meant that
only the oldest
son could
inherit the
family home and
property, and
the younger sons
and daughters
had to hire
themselves out
as hired hands
and maids. It
was the same
when it came to
the tradesmen,
like the tailor,
shoemaker, wagon
builder,
blacksmith,
weaver: only the
oldest son could
continue the
family trade.
There were also
shepherds and
herders. Most
farmers were
simply poor,
very poor.
It was no
wonder that when
the recruiters
and soldiers who
came into our
area to
publicize the
invitation of
the Austrian
Emperor Charles
III to settle in
far off Hungary
and be given
house and land
and freedom from
paying taxes,
it
fell on
receptive ears.
According to H. Jäkel in his Zur
Geschichte des
Kreiss Alsfeld
published in
1972, about
fifty settler
families from
the area around
Alsfeld were
involved in the
first wave of
settlers down
the Danube
during
1719-1725,
becoming the
Danube Swabians
in their new
homeland. Their
descendants can
still be
identified by
their Upper
Hessian dialect
and their
allegiance to
Lutheranism.
*This community
or a facsimile
of it is unknown
to me
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