A PARTIAL HISTORY OF THE BLENZ FAMILY
Compiled by:
John Lunn
245 Greenwood Ave.
Holland, MI 49424
(616) 399-8835
[email protected]
While in Germany during the Spring Semester 1999,1 tried
to obtain some information about our German ancestors. I had
learned from my father that his great-grandfather, Adam Blenz,
was born in Koblenz, Germany, and had moved from Germany to
the U.S. to avoid conscription into the military. However, he ended
up serving during the American Civil War. I had spoken with
several Germans about this, and they said a likely time that he
would have migrated was around 1848. Many Germans moved
because of a failed revolution in Germany. These Germans are
often referred to as Forty-Eighters, and a number of them became
successful business people in American, and one even became a
Cabinet Member. However, none of the Germans I spoke with had
ever heard of the last name Blenz. I became suspicious that Blenz
had been taken because he came from Koblenz.
I have a computer program for genealogy and had the
opportunity to get a free search in their "Ancestral File." So, I
decided to see if they had anything on Caroline Blenz, Adam's
daughter who married Ernest Lunn. I was very surprised to receive
a great deal of information, including all of Caroline Blenz'
siblings, and many ancestors. The information had been submitted
to the Mormon Church by Margaret Louise Nelson of Rockland,
Idaho. I believe she was the daughter of Adam Blenz, Caroline's
youngest brother, although I am by no means certain of this. My
father remembers meeting his Uncle Adam. Adam Blenz (the
brother not the father) was born in Decatur in 1881 and died in
American Falls, Idaho in 1962. The information I received said it
had not been verified by the Mormons, and depended on the
information provided by Margaret Nelson. I believe she submitted
the information in the 1960s because there are dates for the
"baptisms" the Mormons do for the dead in the mid 1960s.
According to the information from the Mormons, Adam
Blenz (Caroline's father) was born in Dieburg, Germany and not
Koblenz. His father was born in Sinzig, Germany, which is
between Bonn and Koblenz. Adam's mother was from Dieburg.
While still in the U.S., I was able to find Dieburg on the map—it is
a suburb of Frankfurt. Adam Blenz married Wilhelmine Rosine L.
Siegmann in Illinois in 1856. She was born March 4, 1839 in
Reiffenhausen, Prussia. I was not able to locate Reiffenhausen on
a map while in the U.S., but in Germany, I obtained a detailed atlas
for Germany and found it. Reiffenhausen is about 15 miles south
of Gottingen, the city where we lived for seven months.
Wilhelmine's father, Johann Heinich G. Siegmann was born in
Werleshausen (about 5 miles from Reiffenhausen) on July 16,
1800. He married Caroline Elendt on January 7, 1838. Caroline
was from Blickershausen, a town I still have not been able to
locate. (My guess is that it no longer exists.) She was born Feb. 2,
1815. Sometime before 1856, the Siegmanns moved to either
Belleville or West Belleville, Illinois.
I have visited Reiffenhausen, and it is a very small village—
no more than a few hundred people. Werleshausen is bigger, a few
thousand people, and appears to be more affluent than
Reiffenhausen. I don't know anything about the histories of these
towns, although both are close to the old border between East and
West Germany. While the Siegmanns lived there, the towns were
part of the Kingdom of Hannover. (Note, the British royal family
were also kings of Hannover for many years. The royal family
dropped the Hannover title and used Windsor during the First
World War.)
On July 26, 1999, Sheryl and Shelley flew out of Frankfurt to
return to Michigan. After they left, I took the opportunity to visit
Dieburg. It took about 90 minutes to get there from the Frankfurt
airport by subway and (slow) train. My first impression of
Dieburg was not very positive. The area around the train depot
was not very pretty, and most of the buildings I saw were post-war
and rather drab. However, as I walked toward the inner city area,
my impressions improved. I followed a sign about a museum
(only open on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays), and found a nice
park area, an old city wall and an old tower. Then I made it into
the center and there was the typical pedestrian zone and a number
of old, half-timbered buildings. I grabbed a cup of coffee in the
town square and then set out to explore the town. (A few scenes
from Dieburg are on the next page, followed by pictures of the
church—St. Peter and Paul Catholic Church.)
I stopped by the closest church, which was a Catholic
Church, but the office wouldn't be open until later in the afternoon.
So I continued on and saw a lot of the town. I also found the
evangelistic church (Lutheran Church), and learned that when
Adam Blenz lived in Dieburg, there was no Lutheran Church in the
city. When the office of the Catholic Church opened I went there
and found that the archivist was there and she helped me find
information about Adam Blenz and his family. I learned that the
information I had received from the Mormon Church is accurate. I
also learned some specific information about his family. Blenz is
the correct name, although it may have been Plenz at one time.
The archivist noted that in a time when many people were
illiterate, different spellings often occurred, depending on who was
writing the name down. I noted that when she said Blenz, it
sounded like Plenz to me.
Scenes from Dieburg
St. Peter and Paul Church
Adam Blenz was the seventh child born to Johannes Blenz
and Anna Maria Kunckel. Johannes originally came from Sinzig,
Germany. Johannes was a butcher and they also ran a guest house
called the Gasthaus zum Engel, which was located on
Zucherstrasse (Sugar Street). The building is still standing and
contains a photography store today (see below). The building was
built in the early 1700s. Anna Maria's family originally came
from Grofiumstadt, which is about ten miles from Dieburg. Her
family owned a restaurant or pub known as the Hirsch. They were
married March 30, 1818 in Dieburg. They had a daughter, Anna
Maria Lohrum Blenz on May 3, 1819. She died in 1896. The
Lohrum in her name was the surname of her godparents. The
names of the other children were Johann, Johann Heinrich, Anna
Margaretha, Konrad, and Elisabeth. I
don't know if other children were born after Adam.
HUBNER
Blenz House in Dieburg
A poet and playwright, Nibergall, lived in the gasthaus, and
tutored the children while he was there. I have not found anything
written by him, but I have found his name in a lexicon of German
literature. He was listed as a local dramatist, originally from
Darmstadt (about 20 miles from Dieburg.)
Both of Adam's parents died in 1853—Johannes on February
2 and Anna on December 24. By this time, Adam was already in
the U.S. He and his brother, Heinrich, sailed on the John Hancock
from La Havre, France and arrived in New Orleans May 20, 1851.
Adam's profession was listed as farmer, and Heinrich's as a
"cooper"—someone who makes and repairs kettles and similar
equipment. I have found a record of a Heinrich Blenz marrying
Anna Maria Boll Sept. 20, 1851. If this is Adam's brother, he
either had known Anna in Germany, or he moved quickly once in
America. Adam married Wilhelmine Siegmann May 12, 1856 in
Belleville, St. Clair Co., Illinois. I have also found a record of an
Elisabeth Blenz marrying Jacob Zimmermann in St. Louis on Feb.
17, 1856. Adam had a sister named Elisabeth, but I haven't found
a record of her coming to the U.S.
1848 was a watershed year in much of Europe, including Germany.
There was an attempted revolution that failed. In 1848, Germany
elected its first parliament, which met in Frankfurt. There was a
great deal of interest in the revolution by the German middle class
and intellectuals, especially in the areas around Frankfurt, which
include Dieburg. This was a revolutionary time in much of
Europe, including France. The Prussians sent in Polish-speaking
troops to put the revolution down so Germans wouldn't be fighting
Germans. Adam Blenz migrated to the U.S. a few years after the
failed revolution in 1848. Whether the political situation of the
day encouraged his move, I don't know. My
guess is that he was too young to have been involved in the
politics of 1848, but perhaps the failure of the parliament and the
revolution contributed to a notion that his future was brighter
elsewhere. According to a German friend who also is a historian,
many Germans left Germany about this time and settled in the
Midwest in the U.S. Since he married Wilhelmine Siegmann in
Belleville, Illinois, I assume he migrated from Dieburg to
Belleville. The first six children were born in St. Louis. The sixth,
John, was born in St. Louis in 1869 and Elizabeth was born in
1871 in Decatur, Illinois. Caroline Blenz was the eighth child,
born Jan. 23, 1868 in Decatur.
As noted above, Adam's father was a butcher in Dieburg, and
according to my father and mother, the family operated a butcher
shop in Decatur, so apparently Adam followed in his father's trade.
(There are a number of Blenz1 listed in the 1900 Census for
Decatur, and most of the males list their occupation as butcher. I
have not been able to determine yet how these tie in with Adam.)
Adam and Wilhelmine had twelve children who survived into
adulthood. Adam was the youngest—born June 27, 1881 and died
July 12, 1962 in Idaho. According to the information from the
Mormons, Adam Blenz died and was buried in Wilbur,
Washington in 1915. In 1893, Adam filed for disability as a
veteran of the Civil War. He served in the 2nd Missouri Infantry
(Rifle Battalion) from St. Louis County. (The other details I
cannot read on the form.) His widow filed for death benefits on
April 20, 1915. According to Bob Blenz, Adam and five sons
moved to Washington and homesteaded in Wilbur, Washington.1
The five sons were George, Henry, John Adam and Gus (August).
Caroline Blenz was born Dec. 16, 1873 in Decatur, and
married Ernest Harry Lunn on March 7, 1892. I found a record on
the website of the Mormons that recorded their marriage in
Spokane, Washington. I found the entry in the 1900 Census for
Ernest and Caroline. The oldest son, George, was born in
Washington, but Edgar and Vera in Illinois. Ernest was born in
England in June 1868, but emigrated to the U.S. when he was 3
years old. I do not know his parents' names or where in England
he was born. I have found a two dates for Caroline marrying
Alexander Armo(u)r,~one in 1924 and the other in 1914. I also
have conflicting information as to when William Armo(u)r was
born.
The 1890 Census has Adam located in Spokane, Washington.
I thought it might be interesting to know something of
Dieburg's history, since one part of our German ancestors spent so
many years there. In the chart attached, the specific information is
provided. The oldest date I have is 1608—Caspar Wuertz was
born May 18, 1608 in Dieburg. His father's name was Wendolin
and his mother's name was Margarethe—I don't know her maiden
name. I also don't know when they were married. Caspar married
Anna Margaretha and had a son—Anton, born Jan. 19, 1642.
Anton married Eva Theis on Jan. 12, 1666 in Dieburg, and they
had Andreas on Oct. 20, 1669. Andreas married Maria Margaretha
Wagner on Oct 15, 1692. Maria's parents (Johann Adam and
Anna Catharina) were from Dieburg too. Andrea and Maria had
Christine Elisabeth on Feb. 19, 1696, who married Elias Kunckel
on Feb. 5, 1720. Elias' maternal grandfather was Johannes
Antrich, who was born July 10, 1633. Elias and Christine had
Johannes Kunckel on April 5, 1723. He married Margaret Sarm on
Nov. 22, 1745 and they had Heinrich Kunckel on Oct. 30, 1752.
He married Juliane Euler on May 31, 1784 and they had Anna
Maria Kunckel on Aug. 27, 1789. Anna Maria was Adam Blenz'
mother.
Dieburg is an old town—going back to Roman days. On
page 11 is a photo of an archaeological find in Dieburg. The relief
shows religious scenes from Roman days and is about 2000 years
old. It shows scenes from the legends of the Roman gods. The
artifact is made out of sandstone.
When a German town ends in -burg, it usually means that a
castle had been there. Such is the case with Dieburg The original
castle dates back about 800 years, but was destroyed in the middle
ages. Reichsfreiherr Franz Josef von Albini build the current
buildings around 200 years ago, and it is referred to as the Albini
castle. Albini led troops from the region against Napoleon. There
is a picture of the castle on page 12. The wall dates from about
1200 too.
Caspar Wuertz lived through tumultuous times in Dieburg, as
well as in all of Germany and Europe—The Thirty Years' War
(1618-1648). The Reformation and Counter-Reformation in the
previous century had generated battles and wars, with the Peace of
Augsburg (1555) bringing an end to strife for awhile. The
solution of the Peace of Augsburg was that the faith of the ruler
would be the faith of the people. At the time, Germany was not a
nation, but a collection of hundreds of small dukedoms that were
also part of the Holy Roman Empire, controlled by the Hapsburgs
in Vienna. If a local prince was Lutheran then the official religion
of his area of control was Lutheran. A Catholic in the area would
need to either convert to Lutheranism or migrate to a Catholic area.
There were so many princes and principalities, that in some cases,
the Catholic might only have to move to a village 10 miles away.
Dieburg was a Catholic area.
!2
Roman artifact found in Dieburg.
Albini Castle
City Wall
Heichsfreihetr Franz Josef von Albini
Reichsfreiherr Franz Josef von Albini
In the early part of the 17th century, the emperor of the Holy
Roman Empire wanted to reestablish Catholicism in Protestant
lands, and began to energetically push this policy. In 1608 a
number of Protestant princes formed the Union of Evangelical
Estates, or Protestant Union, for mutual protection. A rival
Catholic League was formed the next year. The Protestants were
not united, but were divided into Lutherans and Calvinists.
Bohemia, with Prague at its center, was basically Protestant, yet
the Emperor appointed a Catholic to the throne in Bohemia. On
May 23, 1618, a group of Protestants entered the castle, climbed to
the rooms where two of the governors were, and threw them out of
the window, along with a secretary. All three fell fifty feet, but
landed in a heap of filth (dung) and escaped uninjured. This is
known as the "defenestration", and kicked off the war. (Fenster is
German for window).
The war began as a religious war, but ended as a European
war fought for mostly nonreligious reasons. Eventually, Denmark,
Sweden and France entered into the fighting, and the end resulted
in formal recognition of Switzerland and the Netherlands as
sovereign states. The Catholic French king entered on the side of
the Protestants in order to counter the power of the Catholic
Hapsburgs. Denmark entered to aid their fellow Lutherans, but
also to capture territory in northwest Germany. King Gustav of
Sweden wanted to help the Lutherans, but also extend hegemony
in the Baltic regions. Gustav was killed in a battle in 1632, even
though his troops won. The early years of the war saw numerous
Catholic victories, but ultimately the Hapsburgers lost considerable
land, power and influence.
Two important generals for the Catholics were Tilly and
Wallenstein. Schiller wrote a play about the latter. Wallenstein
was dismissed by the Emperor a couple of times for fear that he
was getting too powerful, only to be recalled because of losses by
the Catholic forces. He finally tried to initiate a peace on his own
and was assassinated. Tilly also had many successes. For tourists
to Germany, Tilly is probably best known as the general who
threatened to raze Rothenburg-ob-der-Tauber after defeating it,
only to recant when someone gave him a glass of some local wine.
He then said he would spare the town if someone could drink in a
single draught a 6-pint tankard of the same wine. A former mayor
did so, and supposedly fell into a stupor and slept for two days,
only to recover in good shape. References to this deed are seen
today in numerous places in Rothenburg. Tilly did strip
Rothenburg of all of its wealth, and left it in terrible economic
shape though.
The War ended with the Peace of Westphalia, which
reinstated the rights of all religious groups in German-speaking
Europe. By the end of the war, approximately one-third of the
population in German-speaking Europe was lost, and many regions
suffered in economic terms for many years. The war and its peace
also delayed German unification for a couple of centuries.
While in Dieburg, I picked up a couple of books with
historical information about the Thiry Years' War in the Dieburg
region. For several hundred years, Dieburg was part of the
Electorate of Mainz. Most of what follows come from an article
written by Valentin Karst, "Die Kurmainzer Amtsstadt Dieburg im
Dreissigjahrigen Kriege."
At the beginning of the Thirty Years' War, Dieburg was a
prosperous town of 400 families, or about 2600 people. The
people engaged in crafts and trade activities. The community
included a walled city and a suburb region outside the walls. Their
weekly market on Saturday was well attended, and brought visitors
from Darmstadt and further. In 1619 the Elector sent some troops
to Dieburg for the protection of the city. The residents of Dieburg
soon felt that they were being treated as the enemy. The soldiers
robbed people, and the locals resented that they had to quarter the
soldiers in their homes. The soldiers would strike people, insult
the women, and damage property. In 1620, the soldiers were sent
away. The inhabitants had to pay more in taxes in support of the
armies raised to fight the Protestants. Two years later, Protestant
troops were in the area, demanding Dieburg's surrender. The
Dieburgers felt they were well armed and defended their city,
hoping that Tilly would soon arrive to save them. The suburbs
were destroyed but the city was not captured. The winter of 16211622 was very severe, and famine resulted in the entire area.
Many villages nearby had been destroyed by Protestant troops,
many using mercenaries. (Mercenaries were used by all sides.
Polish soldiers were fighting in the Dieburg area. Serbs also were
used in many areas.) Troops, whether Protestant or Catholic,
would often take many of the food stores, leaving the people with
little or nothing.
In the 1630s, Swedish troops controlled much of the region.
The Swedes plundered the city, several mills were destroyed along
with parts of the walls, and the suburbs burned. They also took all
the cattle. Trying to get all the valuables the people had, the
soldiers tortured people. But not only the Swedish troops did this,
so did the Catholic troops when they were in the region. (The
book, Simplizissmus, by Grimmelshausen is a fictional account of
the war through the eyes of a boy and then young man who lived
through much of it. It is written in a manner similar to Voltaire's
Candide. He describes some of the tortures used by Serbian
mercenaries, and it agrees with the description in the narrative I
read about Dieburg.) There was famine again in the summer of
1635. About 600 people died in the Dieburg region from the
famine. Poor food conditions lasted until 1638. Often, much of
the land was not farmed because there were not enough healthy
workers to do the work. In 1644 the Swedes appeared again, along
with French troops.2 This is described as the worst time of the
entire war for Dieburg. The towns were plundered again. A battle
was fought in the region, and again the Catholic soldiers behaved
just as the French and Swedes had—plundering the people.
At the end of the war, the local churches were almost in
ruins, as were the schools. There were only about 500 residents in
the city, down from 2600 30 years earlier. Dieburg would not have
2600 residents again until the early 1800s. The prosperous town
was turned into a poor village loaded with debt. The above is an
inadequate description of the suffering our ancestors from this
region endured during one of the worst periods of European
:
Note that Caspar Wurtz' first son was born in 1642.
history. Unfortunately, the tragedy of the war was not all that
people had to endure.
From 1596 until 1630 there were periodic witch hunts in
Dieburg. The first two women charged, a mother and daughter,
were found to be not guilty. Those charged were imprisoned in a
tower that came to be known as the Witches Tower (Hexenturm).
A picture is on page 18. They refused to confess even though they
were tortured. I bought a book while in Dieburg on the witch
hunts and trials.3 It details the care taken to learn the facts, with
numerous letters between the local officials and the Elector. They
also took testimony from many people, although the testimony
would not be the sort we would accept today. In 1597 accusations
were made against a widow, and she was found guilty and burned.
The same fate awaited several others at the end of the 16th century,
and then it died away for a few years. There were a few cases in
1603-1604, and a few more in 1612-1613. But from 1627-1630,
3
Heinz and Margarethe Emslander, Hexenprozesse in Dieburg (Dieburg: Dieburg Verlag, 1996).
Margaarethe Emslander works for the Catholic Church and found the entries in the church records of Adam
Blenz and the others that I have. She was very helpful.
numerous cases were presented. Towards the end, the guilty were
not burned alive but beheaded, and then their bodies were burned.
All total, more than 100 people, mostly women, were executed as
witches. There is one reference to someone with one of our
ancestor's last name-Wuertz. A Hans Wuertz was executed. He
was 30 and married to a woman named Margaretha and had four
children. But I do not know if he was related the Wuertz' in our
family tree. What is particularly shocking about the witch trials, is
that they were going on during the Thirty Years War. With all the
suffering caused by the war, the people added to it with the witch
trials and executions. I find it difficult to imagine what it would
have been like to live through this time period.
At the end of the Thirty Years War, Dieburg was only a shell
of what it had been, and it took centuries to recover. I wish I knew
more about the involvement in the revolution of 1848 that people
in Dieburg had, or what exactly motivated Adam and several
siblings to move to America. As noted above, they were part of a
large migration of Germans to America at that time period.
Witches Tower