ANDY'S FAMILY - RIESS / RAUSCH BRANCH

This page contains brief family summaries for one of Andy's
ancestral branches, the Riess, Rausch, Jahn, Meichner, and
related families from Kreis (County) Wunsiedel, Bavaria,
Germany (near Czech border).

It should be noted that these Family Summaries pages are not a
complete listing of ancestors or of their siblings or of descendants.
They were intended to help you determine if you want to look at
the Detailed Genealogies or Ancestors pages of this website.

Contents of this Page:
 

Surname List:  Bauriedel, Baurnfeind, Benker, Gebhardt,
Geier, Gewinner, Huth, Jahn, Künzel, Lippert, Martin,
Meichner, Meyer, Nurnberger, Rausch, Riedel, Riess,
Schemling, Scherzer, Schricker, Seidel, Siegler, Sommerer,
Thoma, Wagner, Walther, Wohlfeil, Wegner, Wunderlich.

Ancestral Villages in Bavaria: Arzberg, Asch (now ‘As’ in
Czech Republic), Bergnersreuth, Dietersgrün, Fischern,
Grafenreuth, Habnith, Hauenreuth, Hebanz, Heidelheim,
Höchstädt, Kärten (Austria), Lauterbach, Leuthenforst, Neuenreuth, Ottenlohe,
Raitherbach, Röthenbach, Rügersgrün, Schirnding, Spielberg,
Thierstein, Thiersheim, Unter Woltersgrün.

Map of Ancestral Villages

Links to Other Pages on this Web Site:

Navigation Page (website contents)
Family Summaries - Andy's:
     Wegner/Zenke/Romig
     Sommerfeldt/Kroll/Fenske
     Eiting/Vos/Döink/Micke/Rolf
     Kellerman/Welter/Butzen/Van Melis
Family Summaries - Mary's:
     Mollon/Marshall
     Lockery/Gardner
     Gehrmann/Krechovek
     Zarnoth/Prey
     Haensgen/Koenigs/Mauer/Thelen
Detailed Genealogies:   Andy's  Mary's
     (contains many photos)
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Riess / Rausch / Jahn / Meichner:

Introduction: After the death of his first wife (Anna Wilhelmina Sommerfeldt), my grandfather Herman Wegner (born 1850) (see separate page) was married in 1883 to Sabina Magdalena (Lena) RIESS, who was born in Helenville, Jefferson County, Wisconsin in 1862.  Lena was previously married to Johann Gottlieb WOHLFEIL, with whom she had a daughter, Alma [SCHMELING]. Johann Gottlieb committed suicide.  Herman and Lena had six children: Elsa (died at age 12), Ewald [WAGNER], Alvin [HUTH], my dad Oscar [married Marie EITING – see separate page], Gertrude [HUTH], and Martin [yep, another HUTH]. The NAMES in CAP’s in [SQUARE BRACKETS] are the surnames of their spouses. Where do I start in the telling of Lena’s ancestors?  I cannot do justice to their story in this limited format.  What follows is but a scant -- and somewhat ‘dry’-- outline.  The reader is referred to the Detailed Genealogies pages of this website, for a more complete (but still distinctly dry) account.  We intend to publish a book within the next year (or so) that will hopefully give a little more of the flavor of their lives.

Children of Herman Wegner & Lena Riess. L to R: Gertrude, Alvin, Ewald, Martin, & Oscar.

We traced Lena’s various ancestors to twenty three small villages all located within an eight mile radius in Kreis Wunsiedel (pronounced “Vun ZEE del) in far northeastern Bavaria.  See list above and Click Here for map.  Over the last few centuries, Bavaria was, among other things, an independent Kingdom, a part of the German Confederation, and is now a province in Germany.  One of Lena’s (and our) family lines leads across the border into what was then Bohemia.  We have not yet ventured there, but perhaps a reader will see an opportunity for an interesting search in what is now the Czech Republic.  Another lines comes from Kärnten, Austria to Kreis Wunsiedel in the mid-1600’s.

Lena’s parents were Johann RIESS born 1834 in Grafenreuth, Bavaria, and Elisabeth RAUSCH born 1840 a few miles away in Thierstein.  Elisabeth emigrated to Wisconsin with her parents in 1847, and Johann, also with his parents, in 1852.  Both families settled in Jefferson County.  Johann’s parents were Georg Wolfgang RIESS born 1811, and Anna Margaretha JAHN born 1815, both in Grafenreuth.  Elisabeth’s parents were Johann Georg RAUSCH born 1800 in Thierstein, and Magdalena MEICHNER born 1806 in Schirnding.

Each of these four Bavarian lines (Riess, Rausch, Jahn, and Meichner) is discussed briefly below; but, first a word about the village of Grafenreuth -- since so many of our ancestors came from there.

It is late afternoon the last day of August 2000.  We approach Grafenreuth from the north having just driven thru Thiersheim, the larger market town a couple miles away.  We creep along thru a thunderstorm, the dark hanging clouds hide the tops of the Fichtelgebirge hills, and we are assaulted by pelting rain and a few sharp close strikes of lightning.  The narrow tree-lined road leads south-southwest, winds around a couple bends, and drops toward a small village nestled in a valley just ahead.  The sign says ‘Wampen’ -- with a left arrow indicating ‘Grafenreuth’.  We follow the arrow, onto an even smaller but still well-paved road.  The map says we should be there, but there is no hint of a town.  The road climbs a rounded hill, open farm fields all around except for a small woods to the left at the very crest of the hill.  A lane leads toward the trees, the hint of a park or something there -- a something we would later discover had historical significance.

The road bends right, and sharply downward.  There, halfway down the hill not more that 300 feet ahead, are the red and black tiled roofs of Grafenreuth!  Here is where the Riess’s and many other of our ancestral families were ‘geboren’ and where they ‘wohnt’ (lived), a tight cluster of a few dozen hillside homes, some with adjoining barns filled with tan cattle.  The road snakes south thru the tiny village, with narrow lanes branching laterally between the homes and farm buildings.  Except for along the south side, a small, bricked road circles the village.  Beyond this clearly defined perimeter is open land.  The farm fields have been consolidated somewhat now, but an 1800’s map shows small, pie-shaped fields reaching out like spokes from a hub.  Inside the hub are a mix of well kept, old -- some very old! -- buildings, and a few newer homes, built of a style that does not clash with the old.

There was once a major castle in Grafenreuth, the home of a family of robber barons some say.  At the summit of the hill above the village stood a tall and substantial tower called the Hohen Warte.  It was not used as a residence, but for surveillance, signaling, and defensive purposes.  A lane now leads to a woods which hides a small tower commemorating the spot. From the vantage point of the Hohen Warte, I doubt the village looks much differently today than it did to our ancestors in their last look back, 150 years ago this November (1852 – 2002).

Many of the 100 or so current residents are elderly.  In 2001 alone, three of them died.  One has the bittersweet feeling of the passing of an era – of changing times fueled by the energy of youth, a newfound national identity, and the commerce of a gleaming four-lane autobahn visible to the southwest, just beyond earshot of the traffic.

Georg Wolfgang Riess (see above) was born in Grafenreuth in 1811, but if we go back one more generation to the birth of his father Johannes in 1770, we find ourselves in a strange place, a ‘town’ called “Ottenlohe” (Oat ten LOH ay).  The Germans have a name for such places.  They are called “Einzelhaus”, or in English, “a single house”.  That’s right, the town consisted then and does yet today, in its entirety, of a single house.  It is only because of an associated barn and other out buildings, that you can see it at all.  Still -- it maintains its listing on modern maps.  At least three generations of Riess’s lived there: Johannes in 1770 and his father Georg in 1741 were born there; and Georg’s father Johann died there in 1769 at the age of 61.  This latter Johann was born about a mile away in Dietersgrün in 1707, and his father Georg Johann (the son of yet another Johann Riess) married in 1698 in close-by Arzberg.

Ancestral Villages of Riess and Rausch and Related Families in Bavaria

Ottenlohe sits by itself in a small open valley, literally only a few potato tosses from the Czech border.  To the east on a hill, the larger village of Hohenberg is easily visible.  What kept them here?  Did they just work on the farm?  Did they own it?  As a slang name, area folk called the place “Schmecken”, meaning something like “tastes good?”  One gets the distinct feeling this Einzelhaus has stories that need telling.  The current farmer, however, looked none too friendly, and we decided not to ask.

The marriages in this RIESS line were as follows: Johannes RIESS born 1770 married his first cousin, Magdalena RIESS (RIESS married RIESS) born Grafenreuth in 1777; Georg RIESS born 1741 married Anna Rosina GEBHARDT (also see JAHN section below for more GEBHARDT's) the daughter of Johann from Raithenbach; Johann RIESS born 1707 married Magdalena BAURNFEIND the child of Johann Adam; and Georg Johann RIESS born estimated 1673 married Catharina SEIDEL the daughter of Mathäi.  See the Detailed Genealogies sections for the siblings and descendants of many of the people given above and below.

The parents of Magdalena RIESS born 1777 (see above), were Johann Lorenz born 1745 (whose ancestors are the same as for Georg born 1741, given above) and Margaretha JAHN born 1753 (another Jahn line).  Margaretha  parents (JAHN / MEYER) were from Grafenreuth; and her paternal grandparents (JAHN / KÜNZEL) were born in Röthenbach.  The next two earlier generations of KÜNZEL’s were from Asch (now ‘As’ in the Czech Republic), the more recent generation of whom married a SCHERZER from Röthenbach.  We probably have more than a little Bohemian blood in our veins.  It is said that it was common practice for men on both sides of the border to recruit brides from the other side -- and these are not the only lines of ours that lived very close to the border!  It should be noted though that the areas of territory inside the north, west, and east borders of what is now the Czech Republic were for centuries heavily settled with people from various "German" states. Those areas, known as the Sudetenland, were in fact politically associated with German-speaking governments until the end of WWI in 1918, at which time they were made part of Czechoslovakia -- against their wishes it might be added.

The paternal line of the above MEYER was from Grafenreuth, and included the BENKER family.  Her maternal line were SCHRICKER, that for at least two generations, were from Unterwoltersgrün (“under Wolter’s  green”), a barely existent place deep in a valley, a place which should not  be confused with Ober (over) Woltersgrün that sits on a hill less than half a mile away.

The parents of Anna Margarethe JAHN born 1815 (see earlier paragraph) were Johann Georg born 1787 in Grafenreuth, and Rosina WUNDERLICH born 1794 in Fischern -- which is right on the Czech border.  Johann George’s father and grandfather, Andreas and Sebastian JAHN, were both from Grafenreuth., while his mother, Anna Margaretha NURNBERGER and her father, grandfather, and great grandfather, Johann, Nicol, and Nicol, respectively, were from Habnith (“Hob nit”).  Anna Margaretha Nurnberger’s mother, Maria GEBHARDT was from nearby Hebanz, while Maria’s father Erhard was also from Habnith.

Anna Margarethe JAHN (born 1815) had a sister, Margarethe Katharina Jahn. After her marriage in 1846 (to a THOMA), she lived in House #27 in Grafenreuth; and in fact, to this day a hand-carved wooden ironing (Mangbrett) board and roller that was given to her as a wedding present still hangs on a wall in that same home, now occupied by Anton Röll. Anton also has the original of a ‘funeral letter’ written by the sisters’ father (my great, great, great, grandfather, Johann Georg Jahn, born 1787).

The parents of Johann Georg RAUSCH born 1800 (referred to earlier) were Georg Rausch born 1768 in Heidelheim, and Margaretha BAURIEDEL born 1764 in Thierstein the daughter of Peter.  Georg’s father and grandfather were Erhard born 1740, and Johann Rausch, both from Heidelheim.  Johann married Eva Catherina RIEDEL born 1706 in Spielberg.

The parents of Magaretha BAURIEDEL (born 1764) were Johannes born 1726 in Thierstein (the son of Jacob and Catharina SIEGLER of Thierstein), and Magdalena LIPPERT born 1725 in Rügersgrün (the daughter of Bernard LIPPERT born 1678 in the same town, and Anna Catharina GEIER of Lauterbach).  Bernard Lippert’s parents were Nikol born 1645 in Rügersgrün and Barbara SOMMERER (died 1712), the daughter of Hans of Hauenreuth.  Anna Catharina Geier’s father was Nikol of Lauterbach.

The parents of Magdalena MEICHNER (referred to earlier), born 1806 in Schirding, were Johann Nikol born 1776 also in Schirnding, and Margaretha Barbara RIESS, born 1783.  Now, it just so happens that Margaretha Barbara was the sister to the Johannes RIESS born 1770 whose ancestors were given earlier in the Riess section – so we will not repeat here.  This duplication of ancestors [in one sense, you could say we were gypped out of a set of ancestors – or more importantly, out of the diversity of their gene pool] results of course because, two generations later, a granddaughter of Margaretha Barbara marries a grandson of Johannes (this refers to the marriage of my great grandparents, Elisabeth RAUSCH and Johann W. RIESS, second cousins of one another).  This was not an uncommon practice, and you will note that in an earlier section, there is even an instance of first cousins marrying [we really got gypped out of ancestors there!].

Before giving more ancestors, the story of Magdalena Meichner’s descendants and kin is also worth mentioning.  Magdalena had a daughter, Sabina, several years before her marriage to Johann Georg Rausch.  Sabina later took the Rausch name, emigrated with her parents in 1847, married a Lutheran minister [WALTHER], and is the ancestral matriarch of a very large population of current day Wisconsinites.

Magdalena Meichner, born 1806, had a younger sister, born 1810, who also went by the name Magdalena.  Many years later, this fact has caused confusion -- as well as an error in a book written by Fritz Meichner and his daughter Gerda: “The Meichner Family in Upper Franconia and Hannover” (pages 155-186 in “Deutsches Familienarchiv, Ein Genealogisches Sammelwerk”, Band 59, 1974, Verlag Degener & Co).  The book fails to recognize what recent research has revealed, that there were two Magdalena’s born to the same parents, and that both survived to adulthood and left descendants.  The second Magdalena, it turn out, also had a child out of wedlock, a Wolfgang Georg Bernhard MEICHNER born 1831.  While the older Magdalena emigrated to America with her subsequent husband and with her two surviving daughters, the younger Magdalena did not marry nor emigrate.  The descendants of Wolfgang Georg Bernhard were numerous, and most of them still live in Germany.

Now to give the ancestors of the Johann Nikol Meichner, born 1776 in Schirnding, his parents were Johann Heinrich born 1742 and Barbara GEWINNER the daughter of Johann, all of Schirnding.  Johann Heinrich’s parents were Andrea born 1711 in Schirnding and Anna RIEDEL of Fischern.  Andrea’s father was Lorenz born 1679 in Schirnding, and his mother was Margarethe MARTIN born 1683 in Neuenreuth.  The parents of Lorenz were Thomas (born 1634 in Kärten Austria, died in Schirnding) and Margaretha THOMA of Fischern.  Thomas’s father was Zacharias born 1602 also in Kärten, Austria, and dying in Fischern, Bavaria.

I quote now parts of several paragraphs about Zacharias from the above-mentioned book by Gerda & Fritz Meichner, as translated by Frauke Rosenbohm and Robert Greiner:

“The history of the counter-reformation in Kärnten  was crucial for the Meichner family. This is a historical fact, from which one must assess the individual representatives of the family. Parish registers of Arzberg and Schirnding  attest to the fact that the Meichner family, who abandoned their home in Kärnten under pressure of the Roman Catholics, sometime around 1650 immigrated to Upper Franconia and settled in Schirnding, in order to remain true to their Protestant faith.

The ancestor of this family was Zacharias Meichner, a wagoner.  It is possible that he came from Feldkuchen (in Kärnten) as did his relative Ruprecht Meichner.   Wagoners lived in mountain passes and not on the summits; the family may have made their arduous way through the Glan valley. In the new homeland they called Zacharias and his son Friedrich, who was also a wagoner, the Fouhamanna [?]. It is noteworthy that male descendants chose their occupation with the Federal Railway.

Several Meichners worked in the porcelain factories of Arzberg and Schirnding. Besides their artistic talents, the porcelain painters had to have the skillful dexterity of other occupations. While the porcelain grinder only works on white porcelain, polishes grains of sand from the china, and sands the rough bottom of the plates, etc., the decorative grinder reworks richly decorated, i.e. printed, painted etched porcelain. Defective spots are polished off. He has to do it with finished porcelain, which is shortly before distribution. The preparation of the porcelain mixture by the mixture miller is an arduous task.”

Fritz Meichner goes on to describe a family seal, whose words say,  “‘In arte pax’ – these Latin words mean …. ‘In the fine arts and crafts, peace blossoms’.  The four small symbols - pretzel, plow, coffee pot and two crossed brushes, and trowel with bricks - represent the four most frequent occupations of the greater Meichner family: baker, farmer, among them several wagoners, porcelain firer and painter and finally bricklayer. The rearing, winged steed named Pegasus is the very well-known wonder horse of poets and authors.

“In Memory of Zacharias Meichner”, Fritz writes, “All who bear the name Meichner stand, without exception, on the shoulders of our ancestor. Certainly each had in their time their own challenges and sorrows. But above all these things we all have something in common: our faith, which has lifted us above all of this world and the transience of our existence …. However, it is never intended to make something special or real heroes of them. That would have been completely contrary to the man who was the head of our family, a wagoner. The fact that he, nevertheless, may be a model to all of us is accounted for in his attitude.  His example was outwardly seen as a simple act: he set out with his family to come into a country in which a guarantee was given to be able to live in their Protestant faith. This was, however, for him and his family Brandenburg- Bayreuth, the province of the young count Christian Ernst. He lived from then on in the small village of Schirnding in the Fichtelgebirge.  The consequence of his act was the gaining of his inner freedom. This realization prevents us from surrounding him with a false halo ….”
 

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