forefamilies: Germany

Tuesday, April 14, 2015

Part 4: Herxheim bei Landau

John Christian Burgess's grandmother (father's mother), Anna Margaretha Starck and her family came from Herxheim which is 85 miles south of Frankfurt. Herxheim was a agricultural area and is still wine producing. Herxheim was known for making linen cloth and later for making cigars. A museum handout states that "nearly every house had a loom." There was a large linen weaving mill in Herxheim. In the late 1800s tobacco replaced flax as the main industry in the town
When John Christian Burgess joined the North Providence militia he lists his occupation as a weaver. This may be a direct result of his grandmother coming from Herxheim.

Herxheim Coat of Arms

Part four of Reed Slack's ancestral journey:

Reed:
I drove straight to Herxheim (the “x” makes an “s” sound). It was a beautiful drive all along the way. South of Frankfurt, the land is gently rolling and very fertile. Herxheim is much larger than the other villages in the mountains and is a town proper.

The farmland around the town is just beautiful, and they have vineyards. I tried to take a few pictures from the car, but they didn’t turn out very well.

The day was drawing to a close as I got into town, but I stopped at the main church. It was closed as well, but I took several pictures.

I began walking further up the street from the church and came across the Herxheim Museum. It is a complex with 3 or 4 buildings, with the original building (a flax/linen mill I think) to the front and newer ones behind. It was really interesting. The first exhibits addressed German history, including the Nazis. I was impressed that they addressed it directly, at least from what I could gather, but I was much more interested in history of Herxheim.

All the exhibits were in German, but I did get one page in English explaining the museum. I took a picture of it to include. Herxheim was known for making linen cloth and for making cigars. Both are a testament to the fertile farm lands surrounding the town.

They also had numerous exhibits of more ancient inhabitants of the area, with pottery and skeletal remains on display. If I understood correctly, the skeletal remains were found in the area, perhaps even where the museum is located if I guessed correctly from the exhibits. The two young women who were staffing the museum spoke no English, which is too bad. I would have loved to know more of the details of the history.

Artifacts from stone age settlement excavated near Herxheim:

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Reed:

So, that pretty much covers my visits today. It was a wonderful feeling to make it back home to where the Borges/Burgess line originated. Fischbach did not take much to imagine as it was back then, but the other places are just so beautiful as well. I have always liked being in Frankfurt, even before [he learned] that the Borges’ came from the area, but I feel a much deeper connection and appreciation after today. --- I feel a little guilty being able to come visit the Borges’ home when I did none of the work to find them. I am very grateful for the work that --- others have done on the line, and I am especially grateful to have been able to visit the family villages today.

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Thank you Reed for sharing with us. Click below to see his visits to the other villages:

Fischbach
Barstadt
Ramshied
Herxheim

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Links:
http://www.kulturgut-service.de/download/herxheim_handouts_en.pdf
http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herxheim_bei_Landau/Pfalz
www.museum-herxheim.de
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herxheim_(archaeological_site)

Monday, April 13, 2015

Part 1: Fischbach (Bad Schwalbach) Germany - Burgess Ancestral Home

According to professional research (see the 2001 Journal of the Johannes Schwalm Historical Association) our Hessian ancestor is from Fischbach bad Schwalbach, Hesse, Germany.
Johann Christian Borges was born on March 6, 1754 in Fischbach bad Schwalbach, Germany - 14 miles northwest of Wiesbaden and 40 miles from Frankfurt. In 1971 Fischbach became a borough of the city of Bad Schwalbach. Christian's mother, Catharina Magdalene Prebers was from Ramschied, a village to the north and his father, Johannes Borges was from Fischbach. Both villages were a part of the parish of Bärstadt. His grandmother's family (father's mother) was from Herxheim. Johann Christian Borges was a member of the Hessian military which came to fight against the colonists in the Revolutionary War. Christian deserted while serving in Rhode Island and changed his name to the English sounding John Christian (sometimes Christopher) Burgess. He married and settled in New York state.

In early 2015 our second cousin, Reed Slack arranged a 24 hour layover in Frankfurt, Germany during his return trip to Nigeria. He was able to visit Fischbach, Ramschied, Bärstadt and Herxheim all important to our Burgess ancestors.
He has kindly shared his thoughts and photos which I will post in four separate blogs.

Fischbach crest

Part one of Reed's ancestral journey:

Reed:
I was able to visit Fischbach, Barstadt, Ramschied (which are all kind of one valley over from each other, with Fischbach in the middle), and Herxheim bei Landau (150 km south of Frankfurt and where the Starcks come from). All were incredibly beautiful, but Herxheim is very different than the others..

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Well, where to begin. I guess let’s do the logistics first. Fischbach is an easy 30 minute drive from the Frankfurt Airport. I had printed Google maps before I traveled, but the navigation system really proved essential. Driving in Germany is relatively straightforward, though I did read up online a little, particularly to familiarize myself with the road signs. It took no time before I felt completely comfortable--the autobahn has its own formal/informal rules that are a must to read up on, but easy to manage nonetheless.

The Taunus mountains aren’t really mountains in the sense of Pine Valley/Rocky Mountains, but they are more than mere hills. The mountains are cut with deep, narrow valleys, with the town nestled on the valley floor alongside streams and expanding up the hillside. The hill tops remain heavily forested, but much of the land has been cleared for farms/pastures. The trees are a mix of evergreen and deciduous, with the deciduous more prevalent. It absolutely reminded me of upstate New York, so Christian would have felt quite at home there.

Panoramic view of Fischbach (three photos stitched together)

Fischbach is a very small village, especially the older parts down along the stream. The streets are exceedingly narrow, with barely room for 2 cars to pass. It was Saturday today, and many of the people were outside their homes, walking and talking with neighbors. I spoke with a few people, but unfortunately, their English was no better than my German, which is to say zero. I did show them the fan chart for Christian that I had printed, so they understood why I was visiting the town.

The “fishing stream” for which the town is named is quite small, though it was running high due to overnight rains. It is about the same size as the [small] stream in Pine Valley that runs behind ------'s cabin

There is a small cafe in Fischbach. I stopped in while walking down through town, but they weren’t open yet for lunch. I drove back the last thing before leaving the area and heading back to Frankfurt, and they were closed again because the power had gone out due to a heavy wind and rain. I had been looking forward to eating in Fischbach, but it didn’t happen.