The Zeisset Family in Germany
Written by
Loretta M. Hoerman
Johannes Zeisset’s father, Jakob, died at
Lautenbach when Johannes was 19 years old in 1813. Johannes married
Christina Baer in 1815 at Lautenbach. He continued to farm likely
with his brother Abraham until Abraham’s death in 1817 at 30 years of
age, and then
apparently found another rental agreement, moving to Menzingen around
1825. Johannes’ mother, Magdalena Plätscher Zeisset moved with them and
died shortly after
the move to Menzingen in February 1826. Johannes and Christina had five
children
while they were living at Lautenbach, and then had seven more children
while living in
Menzingen. The entry for the death of Johannes Zeisset states that he
was a tenant
farmer at Lautenbach, then a land owner at Kochendorf just west of
Lautenbach, and then
a tenant farmer in Menzingen. Nothing has been found in the Kochendorf
church records
regarding this Zeisset family. (Of interest in the Kochendorf church
records is the birth
of a grandchild to Georg Zeiset. George Zeiset emigrated with his
family to Lancaster
County, Pennsylvania in about 1853.) Sometime between 1851 and 1854,
Johannes and
Christina Zeisset moved with their son Jakob and his family from
Menzingen to
Sindolsheim where Johannes died in 1855.
Menzingen Water Castle (Wasserschloss) in 1910 |
On the Zeisset Family Tour to Germany in 2006, we
visited the ruins of the Wasserschloss (Water castle). It is our
current understanding that the Zeisset family farmed the grounds
belonging to the Baron who owned the castle, and lived at the farm
immediately in front of the castle.
Johannes and Christina Zeisset had four sons,
Jakob, Matthaeus, Johann and Abraham
who survived to adulthood. They had two daughters, Magdalena and
Barbara. Jakob
was the oldest son and married Johanna Epp. They became the parents of
Jakob
Friedrich Zeisset, whose life is discussed in the another chapter of
this narrative. We will
spend some time discussing the other children of Johannes and Christina
Zeisset in the
following paragraphs, and then discuss the first-born, Jakob.
The second son of Johannes and Christina was
named Matthaeus (1830-1896).
He was
born in Menzingen in December1830 and married Friederika Ribstein, also
of
Menzingen, in 1857. This couple had ten children. Only two of these
children survived
infancy, a daughter named Friederika (1860-1928) who later married
Heinrich Baer
(1847-1921), and
a son Matthaeus Zeisset (1868-1938). Of special interest regarding the
daughter, Friederika (1860-1928), is a letter from her written in 1926
to Anna Baer Bletscher who lived in Leonardville, Kansas, at that time.
This letter was discovered in December 2006 among old papers and
photographs belonging to Gladys Hoerman Llewelyn. Gladys’ husband, John
Llewelyn, was a grandson of Anna Baer Bletscher. The letter tells about
some of the history pertaining to this Baer line. Though Friederika and
Heinrich Baer never had children of their own, Friederika was a beloved
step-mother of the children of Heinrich Baer and his first wife.
Matthaeus (son of Matthaeus Zeisset and Friederika Ribstein) married
Christina Horsch
at Daisbach, Baden, Germany in 1895. This couple is the ancestral line
of Raphael
Zeisset, our cousin living in Germany today. Friederika Ribstein
Zeisset, mother of
Matthaeus (1868-1938) and Friederika, died two days after twin sons
were born in May
1869. The father, Matthaeus Zeisset (1830-1896), a widower in 1869,
married
Magdalena Funk in 1870 and this couple had five more children, with
three who survived childhood: Heinrich (1873-1903), Jakob (1878-1971)
and Barbara (1881-1976, married to Friedrich Duerrstein). Between 1869
and
1871, Matthaeus Zeisset moved with his family to Laudenberg, Germany
and then
in 1879 moved to Hohenlindenhof. Hohenlindenhof is only a short
distance from �berlingen, a town on Lake Constance (Bodensee in
German). Evidently Matthaeus’ sister, Friederika Zeisset, moved with
the family to Hohenlindenhof as she married Heinrich Baer in 1890 and
he had previously lived at Forsterhof near Überlingen.
Matthaeus Zeisset (the elder) died in
Hohenlindenhof in 1896 and his wife, Magdalena,
died in 1903.
The third son of Johannes Zeisset and his wife
Christina Baer, was Johann (John)
(1833-1878), born in Lautenbach. Johann Zeisset emigrated to the
United States, arriving on the 9th of August, 1854 on the SS Carolus
Magnus from Le Havre to New York City. Johann Zeisset married Jacobina
Carolina Frederika Behr of Beilstein, Germany, about 40 miles east of
Menzingen. Frederika�s ancestors had lived in Beilstein for several
generations. Frederika Behr and John Zeisset were married July 10, 1853
in St. Clair County, Illinois, according to the Illinois marriage
index. The original record has not been viewed, so there may be an
inaccuracy in the year of the marriage, since John didn�t arrive in the
United States until 1854.
The John Zeisset family is listed in the 1860
Federal census in Freeburg, St. Clair County, Illinois. Two sons,
William and Frank Ph. are listed on the census. We know that a son,
William John Zeisset, was born in Freeburg, St. Clair County, Illinois
in February 1857. William John Zeisset married Mary Hoffart in Clinton
County, Illinois and this couple had twelve children. Many Zeisset
descendants have remained in Clinton County, Illinois. The son listed
as Frank was actually Phillip Zeisset married who Caroline Koester,
moved into St. Louis and had three children. Phillip and Caroline both
died in St. Louis. The 1870 census lists John Zieser living in
Freeburg, with his wife Fredricka and their five children: Henry, John,
Phillip, George, Helena and William. George was born in 1863, but died
in 1873. No further information has been found regarding Henry and
William, but one of them was living in 1900. The 1900 census lists the
number of children born in each woman and then lists the number of
living children. The mother, Fredricka was living with her daughter in
St. Louis in 1900 and was reported to have had 7 children, with 4
living in 1900. The four surviving would have been John, Phillip, Lena
and one other. There may have been an name change.
The father, John Zeisset, died in Okawville,
Washington County, Illinois in 1878. Fredericka remarried, to Jacob
Lehr, sometime over the next two years. She survived her second husband
and then died in St. Louis, Missouri on the 16th of June, 1901. She was
living there with her daughter, Magdalena (not Helena).
Magdalena, daughter of John and Fredericka
Zeisset was born in 1865 in Freeburg and married Charles Schmitt in St.
Louis in 1884. Charles was born in Erie, Pennsylvania and moved to St.
Louis where he first worked for the railroad. He eventually became a
factory watchman. The Schmitts lived out their married life in St.
Louis where they raised six children: Mae, William, Albert, Charles,
Edna and Helen. The father, Charles, died in St. Louis in 1933, while
Magdalena lived until 1947, dying in Rockbridge, Illinois where she was
living with her older daughter and her husband. The oldest son,
William, gained some fame as a piano player in St. Louis. He changed
his name to Billy Smythe and married Edith Middleton in 1910. She was
also a musician, as was her brother Scott. They moved to Louisville,
Kentucky where Billy became a composer and music publisher. He played
and wrote ragtime and blues music, the most famous of which was
�Hesitation Blues�. Billy moved to San Antonio, Texas around 1934 where
he managed a radio station. He died in Corpus Christi, Texas in 1972.
It appears that he and his wife were likely divorced.
The fourth son of Johannes Zeisset and Christina
Baer was named Abraham, born
in
Menzingen in 1838 and married in 1868 to Magdalena Schenkel in Durlach,
Baden,
Germany. Abraham was a citizen of Durlach, which is town just outside
of the city of Karlsruhe. He lived in Karlsruhe for the duration of his
married life and worked there as a Kutscher, or coachman. Abraham and
his wife, Magdalena, had three daughters and one son, all born in
Karlsruhe, but only one of these children survived to adulthood. The
daughter, Maria, was born in 1870, married in 1894, but died when she
was only 32 years of age in Durlach. Abraham also died young, in
Karlsruhe in 1881, so that he was only 42 years old at the time of his
death. Abraham and his wife were members of the protestant church.
Abraham even departed from the naming patterns of the past and named
his son, Theodor, but he lived only one and a half years so that the
Zeisset name from this line ended with the death of Abraham in 1881.
Magdalena and Barbara were the two daughters of
Johannes Zeisset and Christina Baer. Barbara
(1828-1884) married Jakob Schmutz at Streichenberg, a castle south of
Sinsheim. They settled in Obersteinach, very near Barbara’s older
sister Magdalena. Of
the nine children born to Barbara and Jakob Schmutz, four survived to
adulthood. The
son, John Schmutz, emigrated to Kansas in 1883. He settled in Dickinson
County, later
moving to Junction City, where he died in 1924. John Schmutz married a
widow named Sophia in 1884, shortly after his arrival in Junction City.
This couple did not have children of their own. The oldest daughter,
Christina Schmutz, married Heinrich Kaufmann and remained in Germany as
did her younger sister, Anna, who married Christian Landes. This couple
lived, at least for a short time, at Niedersteinach. The parents of
these children, Barbara Zeisset and Jakob Schmutz lived the rest of
their lives in Obersteinach. Barbara died in 1884 and her husband,
Jakob in 1885.
Magdalena
Zeisset (1819-1884) is frequently
mentioned in our history as the mother of
the Baers in Niedersteinach, some of whom came to America and the aunt
of Jakob
Friedrich Zeisset. Magdalena was born in Lautenbach in 1819 and moved
with her
parents and brother to Menzingen around 1825. She married Matthaeus
Baer of
Dammhof in 1839. They were married in Menzingen and immediately made
their home
in Niedersteinach. Matthaeus Baer was born at Dammhof, an estate only
nine miles east
of Menzingen. Niedersteinach was quite a bit farther away from
Menzingen, 63 miles
east. Magdalena Zeisset Baer’s mother, Christina Baer, was also born at
Dammhof, in
1798. She was a half first cousin of Matthaeus Baer, who would become
her son-in-law
when he married her daughter, Magdalena. Magdalena and Matthaeus lived
at
Niedersteinach the rest of their lives. This family is discussed in a separate chapter.
Map of Menzingen and Dammhof |
Jakob Zeisset was born in Lautenbach to Johannes
Zeisset and Christina Baer in 1816. He moved with them to Menzingen
around 1825. In 1837, the church record at
Menzingen tells of the birth of Jakob Friedrich Epp in 1837 to an
unmarried Johanna
Epp. Nearly a year later, the church record tells us of the adoption of
Jakob Friedrich
Epp by his father, Jakob Zeisset. This must certainly have been a
scandalous thing for a
Mennonite family in particular. Illegitimate births occurred with some
frequency, but it
is somewhat unusual to see the formal adoption of the child by the
father. The parish
pastor would usually make an additional notation marking the birth and
this pastor
simply wrote “uneheliches” or illegitimate. Sometimes the pastor would
declare the
mother “deflorata” directly translated as de-flowered and sometimes the
adjective was
not as kind. In other cases, the pastor would make the entry of the
birth upside-down in
the church record. The following year, a month before his marriage to
Johanna Epp,
Jakob Zeisset voluntarily declared that he was the father of Jakob
Friedrich, with
confirmation of his paternity by Johanna Epp. Jakob Friedrich’s last
name was thereby
changed to Zeisset on September 13, 1838. Jakob and Johanna were
married then in
Menzingen on October 16, 1838. Of note regarding the marriage is that
it is the first
“mixed marriage” encountered in the Zeisset line. Jakob was a
Mennonite, but Johanna
was a member of the evangelical church. She was born in Menzingen where
the Epp
family had lived since at least the mid 17th century, and
they had always been of the
evangelical or Lutheran church. Johanna Epp was the first-born of
Bernhard and
Catharine Grudina Epp. According to church records, Johanna’s father
was an Accisor, apparently one who collected taxes. Johanna’s death
certificate states that he was a merchant. Her mother, who was born in
Michelfeld, Baden, died when Johanna was only 9 years old, leaving her
father with 3 young children. He remarried within nine months and had
seven more children with his new wife and died in 1840, almost two
years after Johanna’s marriage to Jakob Zeisset.
Isaak Zeisset was born to Jakob and Johanna in
Menzingen in March 1839. Johannes
was born two years later in December 1841. A daughter was born in 1844
and another
son in 1846, but neither survived more than a few weeks.
Daniel Zeisset was born November 27, 1848, eleven
years younger than his oldest brother, Jakob Friedrich. He was a
baptismal sponsor for Louise Zeisset Swart, Lizzie Zeisset Weller and
Jake Zeisset, children of Jakob Friedrich. According to the baptismal
records of these three children, Daniel was possibly living at
Menzingen from 1870-1873. He was a farmer, never married and later died
in Eichenau where he was living with his older brother, Isaak and his
family. The Izaak Zeisset family had only recently moved to Eichenau,
renting the farm there from Lichtmess (February 2nd) 1876. Daniel died
on the 13th of November 1876, just 2 weeks before his 28th birthday. He
died of tuberculosis and was buried at Lensiedel where the Zeisset
family attended church. A note in the Lensiedel church book tells of
the specific wishes of the deceased for his burial to include a message
and prayer from a Mennonite Elder at the graveside, after the service
at the church led by the local Pastor von Jan. He is listed as a
Mennonite, so presumably wanted the Elder in addition to the
evangelical pastor. [insert Photo of Lensiedel cemetery]
One more child, the only daughter if Jakob and
Johanna Epp Zeisset, Magdalena was born in
Hohenstadt, Germany in 1854. Records from Menzingen indicate that Jakob
Zeisset rented an estate at Menzingen from Candlemas 1833 to Candlemas
1851. Candlemas, also called Lichtmess, is a religious observation
which occurs on February 2, forty days after the birth of Jesus,
recognizing the ritual purification of Mary and the presentation of
Jesus in the Temple of Jerusalem. There is an old German proverb “The
badger peeps out of his hole on Candlemas Day, and when he finds snow
walks abroad; but if he sees the sun shining, he draws back into his
hole.” In America, this day is recognized more commonly as Groundhog
Day. Jakob Zeisset then rented the one estate at Menzingen for fourteen
years, from 1833 to 1851. We assume that he left in 1851 for Hohenstadt
or Sindolsheim.
Magdalena Zeisset, daughter of Jakob and Johanna Epp
Zeisset was born in 1854 at the Helmstheimer Hof according to several
different records. The Wuerttemberg State Archives at Wertheim have the
records pertaining to the Helmstheimer Hof, and describe the sale of a
portion of that baronial property in 1855. The Pächters (tenants) of
the Helmstheimer Hof are listed, but there are no Zeissets among the
tenants. The Hofmann family who currently lives at the Helmstheimer hof
(in 2008) also had no knowledge of the Zeissets living at the estate.
It was suggested that perhaps the Zeissets were employed there as
workers by the tenants at that time. The Helmstheimer Hof, owned by the
Barons of Löwenstein-Wertheim-Rosenberg, was a sizable estate and among
the buildings in 1854, were the house, barns, stalls, blacksmith shop,
distillery and a pub, the Wirtshaus zum Golden Pflug. [INSERT PHOTO OF
1854 HOF PLAN] The Zeisset family was probably living on this estate
for at least a short period of time. When the family moved from
Sindolsheim to Kreuzfeld, the records at the Neuenstein Archive
indicate that the family lived at the Schlossgut Sindolsheim. This is a
large, long building just at the bottom of the street which leads to
the church. After a devastating fire in 1801, the “castle” was rebuilt
and stands today with four different living quarters, so that four
families can occupy the building. [INSERT PHOTO OF SINDOLSHEIMER
SCHLOSS].
Map of Sindolsheim, Hohenstadt, Helmstein,
Bödigheim, and Adelsheim |
Jakob’s parents, Johannes and Christina Baer Zeisset
moved with the family to
Sindolsheim. The death of Johannes Zeisset is recorded on April 30,
1855 at
Sindolsheim, and he was buried there. Jakob, the son of Johannes
Zeisset, died only six
years after his father, also at Sindolsheim where he too was buried.
The records at the Neuenstein Archive give further information that
after the death of her husband, Johanna Zeisset and her five children
moved to Rosenberg where the records state that she purchased a house.
The family lived at Rosenberg until February 1864. The widow of
Johannes Zeisset, Christina Baer Zeisset, went to live with her
daughter, Magdalena Zeisset Baer as previously discussed,
and died at Niedersteinach in 1866.
 Jakob Zeisset family in Sindolsheim c
1859-1860. Back row: Johannes, Jakob Friedrich, Isaak. Front row:
Daniel, Jakob, Magdalena, Johanna. |
A photograph exists of the Zeisset family in
Sindolsheim. Looking at the photograph, the
age of the daughter Magdalena is the easiest to guess. She looks to be
about 5 years of
age and not too happy about having to sit still for the photograph. If
she is 5 in this
picture, being born in 1854, the year of the photograph is 1859-1860.
Her brother Daniel
would then have been 10 or 11 years old. The placement of the hands is
interesting. Father Jakob is holding his hat with his right hand, with
his left hand in his lap. Mother
Johanna has her hands folded together. Daniel’s left hand is on his
father’s shoulder,
while Magdalena’s left hand is on her mother’s shoulder. In the back
row, Johannes has
his left hand on Jakob Friedrich’s shoulder and he in turn has his left
hand on Isaak’s
shoulder. Isaak has his left hand on his mother’s shoulder. Certainly,
Johannes, Jakob
and Isaak do not appear to be dressed in Mennonite fashion. While there
was no
regulation regarding dress in the Mennonite society of southern
Germany, simplicity was
emphasized. The three sons appear to be almost flamboyant with their
striped vests,
which one might imagine are brightly colored, and their pocket watches
and chains.
Isaak Zeisset was the first of the Zeisset sons to marry. He married a
non-Mennonite
woman, Bertha Hettinger, from nearby Eberstadt, where they were married
in 1863. They lived for a time at Sindolsheim as their first daughter,
Emma, was born there in
1863. Isaak and Bertha then moved to Kreuzfeld in February 1864 where
their next two children were born
in 1865 and 1866. Then the couple moved with their three children to
the Rosshof estate
near Bödigheim, only 4 miles from Eberstadt, Bertha’s birthplace. They
rented this estate for a period of ten years.
Eichenau |
Isaak Zeisset moved his family to Eichenau where he
rented a farm there from Lichtmess (February) 1876. Eichenau is a
hamlet 17 miles nearly straight south of Kreuzfeld where Isaak’s older
brother, Jakob Friedrich had been living with his family since 1864.
Certainly these brothers were close friends and likely consulted each
other regarding farm management as well. All of the information
regarding the rental of the property at Eichenau is held at the State
Archive in Neuenstein. The contract for the rental covers the period
from Lichtmess 1876 to Lichtmess 1888 and is between the Prince Hugo of
Hohenlohe and Isak Zeisset of Rosshof. There are letters of reference
from Isaak’s previous landlord. INSERT COVER PAGE OF THE CONTRACT Of
note is the responsibility of the tenant to obtain fire and hail
insurance. Other documents concerning the Eichenau estate describe the
property. The house is 16.62 meters long and 11.60 meters wide, or 54
1/2 feet by 38 feet. The ground level and second floor were made from
stone and the third floor was of fachwerk, or half-timbered, with a
gable roof covered with tile. The doors were made from oak. The farm
was about 225 acres. The primary crop appeared to be fruit, with 163
apple trees, 86 pear trees, 194 plum trees and 20 cherry trees.
While living at Eichenau, the Zeisset family
attended church at Lendsiedel, about a mile away. The church records
list Bertha Zeisset, the wife of Isaak, as communing there in April
1876. She was evangelical or Lutheran, while Isaak was still considered
to be a Mennonite. Isaak and his family lived at Eichenau until
February 1888 when their church membership was transferred to
Winterhausen. Darstadt is primarily a Catholic town and lies in the
Franconian area of Bavaria. The church records for the family were
transferred to the evangelical church at near-by Winterhausen. Isaak
Zeisset moved his family to Darstadt which is just south of the large
city of Würzburg in Bavaria. Darstadt is nearly 60 miles directly north
of Eichenau. Stories of this move, occurring in the winter time, were
passed on from George Weller who was working for the Zeisset family at
that time. George Weller later married Elisabeth Zeisset, Isaak’s niece
and daughter of Jakob Friedrich Zeisset. Elisabeth Zeisset and her
brother, Jacob, would have been living with the Isaak Zeisset family
when they moved from Eichenau to Darstadt.
Isaak and Bertha Hettinger Zeisset had eight
children. The first born, Emma, died when she was only 5 years old
while the family was still living at Rosshof. Elise Zeisset Zäther was
born in 1865 at Kreuzfeld and died in 1943 in Ludwigsburg. Heinrich
Zeisset was born also in Kreuzfeld in 1866 and died in 1917 in Basel,
Switzerland. Friedrich Jakob Zeisset was born in 1868 and died in 1942
in Ludwigsburg. He was a teacher and in 1896 married Anna Greiss in
Schrozberg. This couple moved to the village of Bartenstein in 1897,
near Schrozberg, where he continued to teach. They had two sons, Walter
(1898-1978) and Adolf (1906-1962). Both sons died in Berlin. A
daughter, Hedwig, was born in 1900, married Hans Schleeh and died in
Ludwigsburg in 1980. The third son was named Ludwig and he was born in
1869 at the Rosshof. Very little is known about Ludwig. He did have two
children, Rudolf and Else. The fourth son, Daniel, was born in 1870 at
the Rosshof and died in Stetten in 1912 with no known children. The
fifth son, Karl Gustav Zeisset, was born at Eichenau in 1880. He had
two sponsors at his baptism in Lendsiedel: his uncle Gottfred Lauer of
Sindolsheim (married to Bertha Hettinger Zeisset’s sister, Elise) and
his uncle Jakob Friedrich Zeisset who was living at Kreuzfeld. He lived
in Rottenbauer, just south of ü and then lived briefly in ü in
1902-1903. He was an administrator with the railroad. Karl died in 1952
in Munich. Nothing more is known regarding Karl at this writing. The
youngest son was Karl Ludwig Wilhelm, born in December 1884 in
Eichenau, named after his mother’s brother. Gottfred Lauer of
Sindolsheim was also a Baptismal sponsor, along with Wilhelm’s uncle
Johannes Zeisset, now living at Niedersteinach. (It is possible that
Bettie and her brother Henry Zeisset attended this baptism as they were
living with the Johannes Zeisset family at this time.) Wilhelm Zeisset
lived in or around Stuttgart from 1923 to 1948, was an engineer,
married to Ida and had at least one daughter who was named Irene.
Wilhelm died in Pforzheim-Dillstein in 1959. His daughter, Irene had
communication with the Kansas Zeissets in the 1960s. She was married to
Adolf Bähr and had a son and daughter in the town of Oberkirch. Details
are still being discovered regarding the Isaak family after the first
reunion between the descendants of the Jakob Friedrich Zeisset family
and the descendants of the Isaak Zeisset family.
Isaak and Bertha Zeisset lived at Darstadt, presumably
at the Schlosshof, or castle there. It is a large property on the west
end of town, near the church. [insert PHOTO OF DARSTADT] Prior to the
Zeissets, a Mennonite family lived at the Schlosshof in Darstadt named
Muselmann. The property was and is still owned by the Freiherr (Baron)
von Zobel. Isaak Zeisset died at Darstadt on the 14th of June in 1897
from liver and heart disease at the age of 58 years. Just four months
later, Bertha died in Darstadt of stomach cancer in October. Both
Bertha and Isaak were buried in Darstadt.
Johannes
Zeisset was the third son of Jakob
and Johanna. He was born in Menzingen in
1841. His father Jakob died in 1861, his brother Isaak married in 1863
and his oldest brother, Jakob
Friedrich married in 1864. In 1864, the widow Johanna Zeisset moved
with her sons Jakob
Friedrich and Isaak to Kreuzfeld. Johannes was only 22 years old at
that time and it is assumed
that he moved with the entire family to Kreuzfeld. At some point before
1869, Johannes moved
to Wiegelshof which was a farm just 2 miles east of Feuchtwangen. In
February 1869, he married
his cousin Elisabetha Baer of Niedersteinach. They lived either at
Wiegelshof or at Meierhof
which was the neighboring farm. Wiegelshof was reportedly at the
village of Oberahorn in Bavaria, while the Meierhof was at the village
of Unterahorn. The Meierhof farm exists today, but records indicate
that it was moved from Unterahorn to a new location just north of
Unterahorn in 1881. The records do indicate that Johannes Zeisset was
the Gutsbesitzer (landowner) in 1871, but that he sold the property on
the 21st of August in 1875. Johannes had an auction a year later.
[Insert MAP of MEIERHOF/UNTERAHORN/FEUCHTWANGEN ]
While living there, Johannes and Elisabetha
had three children: Jakob Friedrich (1869-after 1904), Magdalena (born
1873) and Johanna who was born in 1875,
but lived only 2 years. The family then lived at Eichenau from 1876 to
1877, presumably living
with Johannes’ brother Isaak who was living there since February 1876.
Johannes and Elisabetha
next moved their family to Erlach, a village at the northern end of
Schwäbisch Hall. Johannes and
Elisabetha had one son, Heinrich born in 1879, while they were living
in Erlach. In 1882, the Zeisset family moved
to Niedersteinach. This was the home of Johannes Zeisset’s wife,
Elisabetha Baer. Elisabetha’s
mother was Magdalena Zeisset Baer Buehler and her second husband, Jakob
Buehler had died in
November 1881. Presumably Johannes and Elisabetha moved their family to
Niedersteinach to
manage the farm.
Map of Schwabisch Hall, Erlach, and
Niedersteinach |
Several Zeisset descendants in Kansas have a
painting of the home at Niedersteinach. These watercolor paintings were
made by Karl Wörner, later the son-in-law of Johannes and Elisabetha
Zeisset married to their daughter Lena (Magdalena). Karl Wörner was an
architect and artist and
the paintings were reportedly sent to the Zeissets in Kansas in
exchange for some money during WWI. The title on the painting says that
Johannes Zeisset was a Pächter at Niedersteinach from 1882-1893.
Painting of Niedersteinach |
Johannes and Elisabetha took in a nephew and
niece, Henry and Bettie, after their father
Jakob Friedrich Zeisset died in 1884. Bettie lived here until she left
for America with her
sister Bertha in 1885. Henry lived here until he left for America in
1893. Apparently,
Johannes and Elisabetha also left Niedersteinach in that same year. At
this writing in 2008, we don’t know where Johannes and Elisabetha
Zeisset lived after 1893 until they made their final home in the city
of Würzburg in 1895. The city archive in ü has information sheets on
each resident of Würzburg. The information provided for Johannes
Zeisset says that he and Elisabetha moved to Würzburg on the first of
October in 1895. Johannes is listed in the address book, which states
the name, occupation and home residence for each person. Johannes was
listed first in 1896 as a Privatmann, which means simply a private
citizen living at Heidingsfelderstrasse 13. At that time he had a
Molkereigeschäft, or dairy business at the address Huttenstrasse 10.
From 1896 to 1901, Johannes and Elisabetha also lived at Huttenstrasse
10. Here they ran a business which sold butter, bread, honey, milk,
eggs and cheese. In March 1901, Johannes moved to the neighboring
street at Wölffelstrasse 4 and lived there until his death on the 4th
of November 1902. His wife, Elisabetha, died on the 21st of May in 1899
in Würzburg. [Insert PHOTO OF HUTTENSTRASSE and map]
The children of Johannes and Elisabetha also lived for a time in
Würzburg. The older son, Jakob Friedrich Zeisset, likely named after
his uncle, was born at the Wiegelshof in 1869 and lived with the family
at Niedersteinach, then Würzburg where he was a factory worker and for
a time worked for the city train. In 1903, he moved to Ludwigshafen am
Rhein, returned briefly to Würzburg in October 1903, then moved to
Schweinfurt in March of 1904. At this writing, nothing more is known
about Jakob, except that he was not yet married in 1904.
Lena
Zeisset Wörner
Lena Zeisset was the daughter of Johannes and
Elisabetha
who was married to the architect Karl Wörner. They lived in Karlsruhe
and had at least
one daughter, Hilde. Letters and photos were received from this family
through 1951,
and possibly later. A few photos have survived, but contact with the
family was lost.. A search at the Evangelical Church Archive in
Karlsruhe failed to reveal the deaths of Lena and her husband, Karl
W�rner.
Lena died sometime after 1951. [insert PHOTOS of Lena and Hilde]
The youngest child of Johannes and Elisabetha
Zeisset, Heinrich, was born in 1879 and lived in Würzburg in 1901, but
nothing more is known about him.
Map of Kreuzfeld and Schrozberg |
Magdalena
Zeisset is the little girl in the family
picture from Sindolsheim. She likely
lived with her widowed mother in Schrozberg, only 2 miles from
Kreuzfeld, as evidenced
by church records and an autograph book owned by Louise Zeisset Swart,
the daughter of
Jakob Friedrich Zeisset. Magdalena was born in Hohenstadt in 1854,
probably left the
Zeisset home at Sindolsheim with her mother in 1864 and moved with her
older
brothers to the area near Kreuzfeld. In 1873, Magdalena was married in
Schrozberg to a
man from Schrozberg, Johann Belzner. He was a stone cutter and was not
a Mennonite. Their only daughter, Luise, was born in Schrozberg the
following year in 1874 and was
baptized as an infant at Schrozberg. Johann Belzner died in Schrozberg
in 1876. Magdalena remarried in 1881 to Georg Sonder, again in
Schrozberg. He was a
locksmith. On August 26, 1887 the record keeping was transferred to the
hamlet of
Fasanenmühle by Waldenburg, about 10 miles northwest of Schwäbisch
Hall. The
Waldenburg church records note the divorce of Magdalena from Georg
Sonder as
recorded in Schwäbisch Hall in November 1889. Magdalena married her
third husband,
Johann Andreas Franz, on April 24, 1890 at Waldenburg. On July 15,
1896, the membership of
Magdalena Zeisset and her husband Johann Andreas Franz were transferred
to Würzburg where
they lived the rest of their lives.
The information from the resident sheet and the
address book at the Würzburg city archive tells that Andreas Franz and
his wife, Magdalena, arrived in Würzburg to live on the 10th of August
in 1896, having moved from Fasanenmühle. They lived at several
different homes until finally settling at Huttenstrasse 10, where
Magdalena’s brother Johannes Zeisset had lived and had his business for
several years. Andreas Franz started out with a dairy business, such as
the one run by Johannes Zeisset, but in 1902 was also selling spices
and by 1904 was handling general groceries. Andreas and Magdalena lived
at Huttenstrasse 10 until their deaths. Andreas died on the 4th of May
in 1931 and Magdalena (Lena) died on the 29th of March in 1932. [Insert
DEATH NOTICE FROM NEWSPAPER]
A letter from Magdalena Zeisset Franz written in
December 1923 to her niece Louise Zeisset Swart exists yet today.
Magdalena’s daughter, Luise Belzner, was married
at Fasanenmühle
in 1894 to Christof Schmidt. The Schmidts had six children, with four
daughters and a
son surviving. Luise died at Fasanenmühle in September 1904, shortly
after the birth and
death of her sixth child. Christof Schmidt remarried in 1907 and had
four more children. He died in Fasanenmühle in 1948.
These are the facts known about the mother of our
Zeisset family: Johanna Luise Epp was born in Menzingen in 1817 and
belonged to the evangelical or Lutheran church in Menzingen. The church
which stands today in Menzingen, was built in 1846-1848, so Johanna
would have been baptized and married in the previous church. She
married Jakob Zeisset in 1838. She and Jakob were the parents of Jakob
Friedrich Zeisset (father of the six immigrant orphans), Isaak Zeisset,
Johannes Zeisset, Daniel Zeisset and Magdalena Zeisset. This Zeisset
family lived at Menzingen until 1851, when they moved to Sindolsheim
where Jakob Zeisset died in 1861. Johanna continued to live for a time
at Sindolsheim, moved briefly to nearby Rosenberg before moving with
her sons to the Hofgut Kreuzfeld in 1864, where Jakob Friedrich was the
tenant. Johanna likely lived in Schrozberg, the largest town near
Kreuzfeld, for some time.
At the Zeisset reunion in Weisweil in August 2006,
we learned that Johanna Epp Zeisset died at Fasanenmühle on the 27th of
January in 1889. Presumably Johanna was living there with her daughter,
Magdalena Sonder, and her granddaughter Luise Schmidt, at the time of
her death. Today a house stands at Fasanenmühle across the stream from
the location of the former house (and presumably the location of a
mill, since Fasanenmühle means pheasant mill).
In the next chapter we discuss what is known about
the eldest of these siblings, Jakob
Friedrich Zeisset, and his wife Margaretha Müller, parents of the six
siblings
who emigrated to Kansas.
Continue to Chapter 3