HISTORICAL BACKGROUND
Contributor: Kenneth S. Paulsen
The Rothenhauser family immigrated to Nova Scotia in 1751. The exact reasons that the family left Klein-Heubach may never be known. However, a combination of factors may have been considered when they decided to leave. It may have been a combination of economic, political and religious reasons that prompted the Johann Philipp Friedrich Rothenhauser family to leave the Main Valley.
The town of Klein-Heubach sits on the south side of a bend in the River Main. Rising behind the town are the hills of the Odenwald. The agricultural potential of the town is limited by the narrowness of the valley. Across the river from Klein-Heubach is Gross-Heubach which historically lay in the territory of the Archbishopric of Mainz and which has also been associated with the Catholic branch of the house of Lowenstein-Wertheim. The location of the town with its limited agricultural land may have been contributing factors in the decision to leave. The Crown was offering potential immigrants grants of free land if they settled in Nova Scotia. German land-holding practices probably made the offer of free land in America seem very attractive.
The Rothenhauser family left Klein-Heubach at the height of colonial-era German immigration to North America. They left during the period between the War of the Austrian Succession (1740--1748) and the Seven Years War (1756-1763). The Austrian War had an impact upon Germany as did most wars of the 17th and 18th centuries. The Austrian War involved all the great powers of Western and Central Europe and the battles as usual were fought on German soil. The war itself probably had no direct impact on Klein-Heubach, but the town lay on an important trade and military route.
The town of Klein-Heubach was a seat of the Princes of Lowen- stein-Wertheim. Klein-Heubach lay in the Protestant territories of the principality. The House of Lowenstein-Wertheim was split into Protestant (senior) and Catholic (junior) branches. The House of Lowenstein-Wertheim ruled Klein-Heubach for several centuries. The town was an enclave of the principality. It was surrounded by the Catholic Archbishopric of Mainz to the north, south and east and by the Protestant Grafschaft Erbach in the Odenwald to the west. The Principality maintained its autonomy until 1803 when it was absorbed into the Grand Duchy of Baden when Napoleon consolidated the German States and eliminated the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation. The town of Klein-Heubach again changed hands in 1815 following the Treaty of Vienna when it was transferred to the jurisdiction of the greatly expanded Kingdom of Bavaria. Klein-Heubach has remained under the jurisdiction of Bavaria since that time.
The town of Klein-Heubach had strong connections
with the neighbouring Grafschaft Erbach. There was considerable
interaction between the earldom and the town. Many people
from Klein-Heubach
had family connections with the earldom as seen in
the following genealogy of the Rothenhauser and Zink families.
The Rothenhauser (and Zink) family were part of a great movement of German Protestants to colonial America in the middle of the eighteenth century. There was a flood of German immigrants to Pennsylvania, New York and neighbouring Mid-Atlantic colonies at this time. The British government saw this as an opportunity to recruit people for settlement in Nova Scotia.
The result of the settlement policy was the
establishment of Lunenburg in 1753. The Rothenhauser family
was among the settlers who found themselves at Lunenburg in June
1753.