Land Register – Germany

Property registers afford a very specific artifact reflecting the conditions in place when Johann and family decided to emigrate from Germany to the United States in 1843. Political and social Conditions in Germany in Early 19th Century History marks the French Revolution as a period of major social and political change. The effects reverberated throughout Europe, including Germany. The most colorful revolutionary episode in Germany in the late 1700's, the attempt to establish a republic in Mainz, after Custine's occupation of Mainz in 1792, was a short lived 'farce' conducted by a small number of 'Jacobins'…

The Grand Duchy of Hesse-Darmstadt: A History

Pictured above: Ludwig I- First Grand Duke of Hesse-Darmstadt I. A Brief Introduction The Grand Duchy of Hesse-Darmstadt (it would be more properly termed the Grand Duchy of Hesse but the former title will be used throughout this history to avoid confusion with the elector state of Hesse-Kassel) rose out of the ashes of the Holy Roman Empire in 1806. It was in August of that year that the last Holy Roman Emperor, Francis II, was forced to abdicate following his defeat at the hands of the forces of the French Emperor, Napoleon Bonaparte. With his…

The French Revolution and Germany

The French Revolution, which erupted in 1789 with the storming of the Bastille in Paris, at first gained the enthusiastic approval of some German intellectuals, who welcomed the proclamation of a constitution and a bill of rights. Within a few years, most of this support had dissipated, replaced by fear of a newly aggressive French nationalism and horror at the execution of the revolution’s opponents. In 1792 French troops invaded Germany and were at first pushed back by imperial forces. But at the Battle of Valmy in late 1792, the French army, a revolutionary citizens’ army…

St. George Catholic Church, Frettenheim Germany

Written by Paul Floersch, sharing from extensive research on early life in Germany. (Frank Floersch lineage.  Johann, Michael, Frank, Paul Floersch Sr.,  Paul Floersch Jr, Mark Floersch, Paul Floersch) Theology has a way of being strikingly personal. This is one of the major points I have learned since I have been here in Rome.  It is the story of God and his contact with man—or more concretely with particular men, those who hear his voice and respond in faith.  But what is faith exactly?  It is one of those words that we throw around often but…

Hesse-Darmstadt

former landgraviate, Germany Alternate titles: Hessen-Darmstadt By The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica Date: 1567 - 1945 Key People: Wilhelm Heinrich August, Freiherr von GagernErnest Louis Related Places: Germany Hesse-Darmstadt, German Hessen-darmstadt, former landgraviate, grand duchy, and state of Germany. It was formed in 1567 in the division of old Hesse; after Hesse-Kassel was absorbed by Prussia in 1866, Hesse-Darmstadt was usually known simply as Hesse. Hesse-Darmstadt was originally only the small territory of Upper Katzenelnbogen with Darmstadt, being situated in what is now the extreme southern portion of the present-day Land (state) of Hessen. But the…

Hochborn (Blödes Heim)

Blödes Heim in German means "dimwitted home". Hochborn From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Hochborn (until 1971: Blödesheim) is an Ortsgemeinde – a municipality belonging to a Verbandsgemeinde, a kind of collective municipality – in the Alzey-Worms district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. This Ortsgemeinde earned a Germany-wide media presence in early 2001 when a television spot from the 1970s made by the then Südwestfunk was broadcast by Stefan Raab on his show TV total; it was about the place called Blödesheim. Stefan Raab then visited Hochborn during Carnival (locally known as Fastnachtszeit) and for a few weeks thereafter…