I had the pleasure of welcoming 4 ESCH brothers from Pennsylvania and organizing a tour in the footsteps of their NAFZIGER Anabaptist ancestors in Alsace-Lorraine.
To find out more about Mennonite history and my own ancestors from Anabaptist families, read my previous article : KELLER, NAFZIGER, GUNGRICH : les origines de mes ancêtres anabaptistes, mennonites et amish
It all began in the 17th century in the Swiss canton of Bern
The earliest traces of the NAFZIGER family, like many other Anabaptist families, can be found in the registers of Leissigen and Steffisburg, around Lake Thun.
In the Leissigen register digitized by the Mormons and available on FamilySearch, I was able to find the earliest NAFFZIGER marriage in 1626, that of NAPFFZGER Melchior and SCHMOCKER Eva.
The ESCH family naturally began their genealogical tour in this region, which is rich in 17th-century Anabaptist sites.
A strong Anabaptist presence in the Sarrebourg district
Persecuted in Switzerland, the Anabaptists fled to the lands of Alsace and the surrounding seigneuries of Lorraine, settling in mills and large farms away from the villages. Following the same route as their ancestors, the ESCH joined me for a first stop in Rhodes on the banks of the Stock pond.
In Rhodes, the commune entrusted the restoration of the disused cemetery to a conservation association, and after extensive work it has been accessible to the public again for several years.
Main Anabaptist families buried in Rhodes: PELSY, ABRESOL, ESCH, SCHERTZ, WAGLER, ROUVENACH, SOMMER, …
A few kilometers away, we visited the Mennonite cemetery at Gosselming, perfectly preserved as it is maintained by the families of the community. It’s the only one in the region that continues to hold graves.
Main Anabaptist families buried in Gosselming: NAFZIGER, ESCH, PELSY, SCHANTZ, HIRSCHY, VERKLER, WAGLER, SCHERTZ, ZEER, SUISSE, GUTH, MIEGEL, …
We rounded off our tour of the region with a former chapel built by the Mennonites in Sarrebourg in the early 19th century, now owned by the Evangelical Assembly.
Many thanks to Mr. HAUTER for his presence during these visits and his knowledge of the history of the families in the region!
For further information, please consult Jean-Claude KOFFEL’s reference book “Les Anabaptistes dans l’arrondissement de Sarrebourg”, published by the Société d’histoire et d’archéologie (SHAL) de Sarrebourg, richly illustrated and commented. A gift from Mr. HAUTER to the ESCH brothers, and one that touched them deeply.
Mennonites in Alsace Bossue
Following the course of the Saar, Anabaptists also settled in the Alsace Bossue region. One of the ancestors of the ESCH family was NAFFZIGER Johannes “der alte Steinbacher”. In the mid-18th century, he settled on the Steinbacherhof farm outside the village of Durstel, where he was a particularly influential Anabaptist pastor and earned his nickname.
The farmhouse is still visible today, but it is no longer in use, and the Anabaptist families probably left at the end of the 18th century to settle at the Schottenhof in Sarralbe.
The Schottenhof farm in Sarralbe
Anabaptist families settled on 3 different farms in Sarralbe: Ferme du Haras (HAUTER, SALTZMANN, BIRKY families) south of town, Tenscherhof (STALTER, SCHANTZ families) between Eich and Holving, and Schottenhof (NAFZIGER, ROGGY, HAUTER families) in the woods between Grundviller, Richeling, Hambach, Willerwald and Sarralbe! To find out more, read Le pays d’Albe n°39 of 2009….
NAFFZIGER Valentin, ancestor of the ESCH family, lived at Schottenhof around 1770. Almost all his children were born there, and he died in 1807. There is no trace of his grave, but it is highly probable that he was buried near the farm, as was customary at the time.
A search of the Sarralbe land register suggests that the farm was owned by Anabaptist families until 1828, when the GUINGRICH family sold it.
A huge thank you to Astrid and her family for their generous welcome and the excellent dinner at the farm in the company of local genealogists. For the ESCH brothers, it was the highlight of their tour and the first time they had eaten wild boar and tasted Waldi!
Remarkable Anabaptist sites in the Pays de Bitche
To complete the tour, I also photographed and recorded the names of the main Anabaptist sites in Bitcherland.
- The hamlet of Weidesheim
The first Mennonite families settled in the hamlet of Weidesheim in the early 19th century, using both the farms and the mill. These farms are still run today by descendants of these Amish families, and the cemetery continues to welcome the deceased! I’d like to take this opportunity to thank Edgard NUSSBAUMER and Bärbel STALTER for their generous welcome and for the full tour of the cemetery and chapel, which are on their private property.
Main Mennonite families buried in the Weidesheim cemetery: ROGGY, GUINGERICH, GERBER, WARISSE, DOETWEILLER, SCHANTZ, EYMANN, MULLER, … An exhaustive survey of the graves and history of Weidesheim, written by M. NUSSBAUMER, is available on the website of the Kalhausen Historical Association.
- Dorst Mennonite Cemetery
The Dorst cemetery is located in a field above a small chapel, not far from the Dorsterhof farm run by Mennonite families since the late 18th century. The long-abandoned cemetery was first renovated in 2005, and has recently undergone major work thanks to volunteers from SHAL du Pays de Bitche and the Waldhouse commune.
Main Mennonite families buried at Dorst: ESCH, HAUTER, SCHRAG, STEINMANN, LEHMANN, JODER, GUTH,…
- Gendersberg castle and Mennonite cemetery
A former feudal castle, Château de Gendersberg was rebuilt in 1723 by Jean-Frédéric DITHMAR, the Duke of Lorraine’s substitute and receiver of finances, and then general farmer. The NAFZIGER Mennonites were tenant farmers at Gendersberg around 1836 or 1837, before becoming owners in 1877. Not far from the buildings, there is a cemetery which has housed the graves of successive Mennonite families, and which was renovated in the early 2000s by volunteers from the SHAL du Pays de Bitche and the municipality of Hanviller.
Main families buried in the Gentersberg cemetery: ESCH, HAUTER, DETTWEILLER, NAFZIGER, ROGY, …
Other places steeped in Anabaptist history remain to be discovered in Bitcherland (Weiskirch, Woelfling, Gros-Réderching, etc.), but that’s for another visit!
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