Historical Perspective

This page sets forth a historical timeline on the Rheins, Laengs and related families in Europe during the XVI to the XIX centuries in (a) low Alsace, in the adjacent area of the Saarland to the north in the Lower (Rhenish) Palatinate, in the adjacent area to the east in the Upper Palatinate all in the Holy Roman Empire, later in the Province of Alsace in France, (b) the Kingdom of Lorraine, later the Province of Lorraine in France, (c) later in Alsace-Lorraine, Germany, and (d) in the adjacent area to the southeast in the Swiss Federation, later the Swiss Republic.

The hyper links below provide some limited background on certain historical events that occurred in Europe during that period. They are referenced to on line encyclopedias. Students of history and genealogy are encouraged to also read the history of that time as written and published in various articles and books in France, Germany and the United States.

As set forth on the Home Page, the early Rheins (Reins) were a wide spread clan of executioners and skinners in early modern Germany in the Holy Roman Empire in the above territories, see map. The earliest information on the forebears of the Rheins is Johann Gaspard Rhein, my 8th great-grandfather, born in Saverne, low Alsace, in 1595. The earliest documented information on the forebears of the Laengs is about 1529, the estimated date of birth of Urs Laeng, in Utzenstorf, Canton of Bern, The Swiss Confederation. His great-grandson, Dorsch Laeng, my 6th great-grandfather, a Calvinist, came to Herrlisheim about 1667 to 1668 from Utzenstorf, Canton of Berne.

The earliest information on some of the forebears in the related families in Herrlisheim follows:

Barthlelemy Kientz, my 7th great-grandfather, born 1607 in Herrlisheim. He married Marie Huck.

Nicolas Huck, my 7th great-grandfather, born about 1630 in Herrlisheim. His son Philippe Huck married Marie Gross.

Daniel Kistler, my 7th great-grandfather, born 1625 in Bottingen, Canton of Bern in the then Swiss Federation. He married Marie (nee unknown).

Georges Noe, my 7th great-grandfather, born about 1645 in Herrlisheim.

Johannes Jacob Lohr, my 6th great-grandfather, born 1644 in Kork, the Lower Palatinate, the Holy Roman Empire, came to Herrlisheim in 1708 with his wife Anna Barbara.

Joannes Adam, my 6th great-grandfather, born about 1650 in Herrlisheim.

Martin Guhmann, my 6th great-grandfather, born about 1665, married Barbara Schaffer in Herrlisheim on May 3, 1689.

Georg Pfaadt (Pfaaf), my 6th great-grandfather, born 1642, married Margaretha Zugmann in Herrlisheim.

Joannes Schreiner, my 6th great-grandfater, born about 1665 in Herrlisheim, married Anna Jung.

Georges Klein, my 6th great-grandfather, born 1670 in Herrlisheim. He married Maria George in Herrlisheim.

Bartholome Heitz, my 5th great-grandfather, born about 1715 in Herrlisheim.

In the year 1691 a Christian Herrmann came to Herrlisheim from Grosshochstetten, Canton of Bern, Switzerland. I have been unable to place him in my line. There is a fair degree of probability that he is the great-grandson of Christian Herrmann, born about 1560 in Signau, Canton of Bern, the then Swiss Federation, married to Baroli Rettenmund.

The communities of Herrlisheim, Otterswiller and Saverne were located in low Alsace in the jurisdiction of Hanau-Lichtenberg, the house of Hesse-Darmstadt, the Holy Roman Empire. They were part of the lands the Hapsburgs handed over to France following the Thirty Years War, that ended in 1648, thus drawing to a close eight formative centuries of Germanic influence in Alsace. For the first time in its history Alsace became French.

Strasbourg

Franz Rhein, son of Wolfgang, was residing in Strasbourg in 1705 where he was an executioner until 1719. Strasbourg was located in the German kingdoms and territories and was part of the Holy Roman Empire from 870 to 1681 when it was seized by Louis XIV and became a part of the Kingdom of France. This was confirmed by the Treaty of Ryswick in 1697.

The Saarland

Following the Thirty Years War, most villages around Homburg in the Saarland (note different spelling from Hombourg located in Forbach in Lorraine) were destroyed and for a long time remained uninhabited. New inhabitants began arriving in 1680 principally from the east of France and from adjacent areas in the Saarland. In the year 1685 nine families received the right to live there and their names are listed in the church book of the Catholic parish of Bexbach. Franz Rhein came around 1691 from nearby Wiebelskirchen.

The Swiss Confederation

The Swiss Confederation, a loose federation of largely independent small states called cantons was formed in 1291 out of territories of the Hapsburgs in the Holy Roman Empire. It was the precursor of modern-day Switzerland. Bern, a German speaking area, became the eighth state in the Confederation in 1353. Urs Laeng was born about 1529 in Utzenstorf, Canton of Bern. The Confederation existed until 1798 when it was invaded by the French Republic, who transformed it into the short-lived Helvetic Republic. Some sources say that Switzerland became an independent nation with the Treaty of Westphalia in 1648, following the end of the Thirty Years War.

Migration from Switzerland

Jacques de Guise, Center for Genealogical Research, Geneva, Switzerland advises that the Thirty Years War ravaged Alsace. ” It is said that at the end of that War there was not a farmhouse which was standing. The Swedish army literally looted everyone and committed atrocities. Records of that period attest to that. Alsace needed to be re-populated by the French. It was decided that good Catholic farmers could be found in France. Lands would be given for cultivation and Mass. Very few Catholic Frenchmen came from inside France at the urging of the Government. The King and his Prime Minister, Mazarin (Jules Cardinal Mazarin), set out to find French speaking farmers. They turned to the French Catholics, but they were not very enthusiastic to go to that hostile land. Finally after much hesitation, they asked French Protestants to come and emigrate. Very few came. It was suggested that the Swiss German Kantons, mainly of the Reformed religion might be interested.

The Swiss Germans did come. That is one reason why, today in Alsace, one finds many families of Swiss origin, whose families came from Aargau, from Bern, from Zurich, and other German speaking Kantons. They spoke their diverse Swiss-German dialects and fitted very well into the countryside. They were hard working, they were not too far from home either. And as usual, ‘Alsacien or Elsasser deutsch’ is so close to Swiss-German dialects that many Alsatians not only worked in Switzerland but also felt at home in Germany where there are thousands of workers who work across the Rhein.

Alsace and Switzerland have over the hundreds of years maintained privileged relations, not only in terms of friendliness, but also because of economic reasons. For hundreds of years, the markets of Basel and other Swiss cities were prized by the Alsatians. They could sell their produce at better prices. They could also speak the same languages, Alsacien and French and German depending upon the time. They could be understood by everyone.

For Alsace, there are the French, there are the Germans, there are Alsatians Families from before 1648, but the re-population came mainly with the Swiss”.

The 25 years between the French Revolution in 1789 and the Bourbon Restoration after Napoleon in 1814 is an astonishing period in world history. This era shook the foundations of the old world and marked a permanent shift for politics, religion, and society – not just for France, but for all of Europe.

The French Revolution – 1789 to 1799

The storming of the Royal Prison (the Bastille) in Paris on July 14, 1789 signaled the end of the reign of Louis XVI and the beginning of the French Revolution.

Franz’s great-grandson, Francois Joseph Rhein, was born in Herrlisheim in 1754 and died there on November 29, 1819. He was a farmer. He and his wife Catherina Pfaadt and their children were in Herrlisheim at the time of the French Revolution.

Dorsch’s great-grandson, Phillipe Laeng, was born in Herrlisheim in 1753 and died there in 1816. He and his wife Odille Zilliox and their children were in Herrlisheim at the time of the French Revolution.

The Napoleonic Wars – 1792 to 1814

Mathieu Laeng, born January 28, 1787 in Herrlisheim, served with the 56th regiment of infantry between March 1, 1807 and February 8, 1811 during the Napoleonic Wars. He was awarded the Saint Helena medal. It was created in 1857 by Napoleon III and given to the 405,000 soldiers still living in 1857, who had fought under Napoleon I in those wars. I suspect that there were other Laengs and Rheins from Herrlisheim that fought in those wars but who had died prior to 1857.

Several others from the related families of Herrlisheim who were awarded the Saint Helena medal follow:

Jean Michel Huck, born September 9, 1789, served with the 5th regiment of hussards and the 6th regiment of hussards between November 15, 1808 and June 18, 1815.

Jacques Kistler, born February 7, 1794, served with the 30th regiment and the 10th regiment of infantry between April 4, 1813 and August 17, 1817.

Andre Noe, born September 13, 1787, served with the 2nd regiment of dragons between November 5, 1808 and May 3, 1814.

Ignace Pfaadt, born April 19, 1788, served with the 5th regiment of hussards between November 15, 1808 and July 7, 1815.

Mathias Schaffer, born December 10, 1783, served with the 27th regiment of the line for an unknown period ending September 19, 1815.

The Census of 1836

The Census of 1836 applied to all of France. Instructions were given to the Prefects of the time who transmitted them to the mayors. It was the first personal census carried out in accordance with instructions of the government. There were 21 villages in the Canton of Bischwiller. In the village of Herrlisheim there were 20 individuals listed for Rhein and 41 individuals for Laeng. Following are the number of individuals listed for each of the related families; Alt 35, Gross 152, Heitz 14, Herrmann 22, Huck 68, Jung 10, Kientz 110, Kistler 55, Klein 11, Noe 89, Pfaadt 114, Schmitt 59, Wohlfart 7, Wolff 6, Zilliox 1, and Zinger 10.

Revolutions of 1848

Series of republican revolts against European monarchies, beginning in Sicily, and spreading to France, Germany, Italy, and the Austrian Empire. They all ended in failure and repression, except for France, and were followed by widespread disillusionment among liberals. The revolution was successful in France alone; the Second Republic and universal suffrage were established, but the quarrel between the supporters of the republique democratique and the partisans of republique democratique et sociale culminated in a workers insurrection in June 1848. At that time peasants comprised 80% of the population and with the bourgeois supported capitalism and private property.

Faced with an economic crisis and rising unemployment, 700,000 jobless in 1847, the French government created the Atellers nationaux (National Workshops); the closure of the atellers on June 22 caused the revolution of June 23, 24, and 25. Over 3,000 working-class insurgents were killed or wounded during the bloody June days as the French Army put down the rebellion, resulting in a conservative, middle-class republic instead of the radical one proclaimed in February.

Francois Joseph’s grandson, Jacques Rhein, born February 20, 1820, married Reine Kistler on June 4, 1850 in Herrlisheim, two years after the Revolution of 1848 which is now regarded by historians as a turning point in the history of France. This article comments, in some detail, on conditions in Alsace at that time.

Phillipe’s son, Jean Michel Laeng, a widower and a weaver, then age 64, immigrated with three of his children to the United States in December 1847 during these turbulent times.

Crimean War 1853 to 1856

Pierre Rhein and Philippe Laeng of Herrlisheim were killed in battle fighting with the French Army of the Orient during the seige of Sebastopol in the Crimean War. Pierre Rhein, born 12th of November 1823 in Herrlisheim is the son of Antoine Rhein and Marie Kistler. He was a 2nd servant in the 9th artillery regiment, 1st battery. He died the 24th of Sepember 1855 at the mobile hospital, 1st division, Sebastopol. Philippe Laeng, born 7th of March 1823 in Herrlisheim is the son of Philippe Laeng and Louise Volzenlogel. He was a 2nd driver in the 3rd artillery regiment, 14th battery. He died the 14th of August 1855 at the mobile hospital of the Army of the Orient.

The Franco-Prussian War – 1870 and 1871

Jacques Rhein and Reine Kistler and their children, including my grandfather, Joseph Rhein, then four years of age, were residing in Herrlisheim when the Germans crossed the border into Alsace on August 4, 1870 and engaged the French forces at Wissembourg, 34 km north and slightly west of Herrlisheim, at the beginning of the Franco-Prussian War.(Prussia) It was a major defeat for the French as three German Army Corps suprised the small French garrison.

The battle of Sedan, August 30 to September 2, 1870 was fought at the French border fortress of Sedan on the Meuse River. French troops numbering 120,000 men under Marshal Mac-Mahon fought against more than 200,000 German troops under General Helmuth von Moltke. The battle was a disaster for Napoleon III. He and 83,000 other French soldiers were taken prisoner, spelling the end of the Second French Empire. In summary, The North German Confederation overwhelmed France, and in 1871 William I of Prussia was proclaimed emperor of Germany. The French provinces of Alsace and Lorraine (principally the Moselle portion) were ceded to the newly formed German Empire.

Following the battle of Sedan, 16,000 French troops who were taken prisoner at the capitulation of Strasbourg established their headquarters on the night of September 28, 1870 on the meadows along the Zom Road in Weyersheim under the command of Colonel German Ostroski.

At the beginning of the war the population of the Second French Empire was 38 million and the population of Prussia and the German states was 32 million.

Phillipe’s grandson, Alexander Laeng, was born January 12, 1819 in Herrlisheim. He and his wife Francoise Pfaadt and their children, including my grandmother, Louise Laeng, then four years of age, were also residing in Herrlisheim at that time.

Epilogue

The marriage of my grandparents Joseph Rhein (1866-1927) and Louise Laeng (1866-1954) in then Herlisheim, Alsace-Lorraine, Germany, on May 3, 1890, following his military service in the Imperial German Army in the German Territories in Africa, and their subsequent departure to Pittsburgh, Allegheny County, Pennsylvania in the United States concludes the Historical Perspective of my Rhein, Laeng and other forebears in Europe.