The early Rheins (Reins) were a widespread clan of executioners in (a) low Alsace and the adjacent area of the Saarland to the north in the Lower (Rhenish) Palatinate all in the Holy Roman Empire prior to the Thirty Years War that ended in 1648 and (b) the Kingdom of Lorraine.

The earliest information on the forebears of the Rheins is Johann Gaspard Rhein born in Saverne, low Alsace, in 1595. He was an executioner in Saverne and later in Riedheim and in Bouxwiller in low Alsace. His son Wolfgang Rhein was born in 1628 in Saverne. He was an executioner and came later to Saverne from nearby Otterswiller, dates unknown.

Wolfgang’s son Franz Rhein, born 1665 in Saverne, married Anna Barbara Bourgard in 1684. She is the daughter of Jean Bourgard, an executioner in Sainte-Marie-Aux-Mines in 1684, and Marguerite Herteman. Franz was an executioner in Wiebelskrichen in Ottweiler from 1685 to 1691 and in Mittelbexbach in Homburg from 1693 to 1698, both in the Saarland and in Schirmeck in low Alsace in 1705. Franz came to Strasbourg in low Alsace in late 1705 and was the resident executioner there until 1719. He resided in the parish of St. Johann.

Franz’s son, Joannes Martin Rhein, married Anna Barbara Lohr on January 29, 1709 in Herrlisheim, low Alsace, daughter of Johannes Jacob Lohr, the executioner in Herrlisheim having earlier been an executioner in Kork in the Lower (Rhenish) Palatinate. Joannes Martin was the executioner in Herrlisheim until his death on April 25, 1735. His son, Francois Rhein, born September 25, 1722 in Herrlisheim, married second to Catherine Wolff, was an executioner in Sarreguemines, Kingdom of Lorraine in 1754. Their son, Francois Joseph Rhein, born March 10, 1754, married Catherine Pfaadt on October 22, 1787 in Herrlisheim. Francois Joseph was a farmer in Herrlisheim.

The Saarland was part of the Lower (Rhenish) Palatinate that included lands on both sides of the Rhine River between its Main and Necker tributaries. Its capital in the 18th Century was Heidelberg. It became a French province in 1684 under the Truce of Regensburg, but France was forced to surrender it in 1697. It remained a part of the Holy Roman Empire until its dissolution in 1806. Bexbach is about 4 km southeast of Wiebelskirchen which is about 2 km north of Neunkirchen and slightly south of Ottweiler.

The communities of Herrlisheim, Otterswiller, Sainte-Marie-aux-Mines, Saverne, and Schirmeck were located in the jurisdiction of Hanau-Lichtenberg, low Alsace, 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. Strasbourg was located in the German kingdoms and territories and was an independent city, initially being an imperial city. It was a part of the Holy Roman Empire from 870 to 1681 when it was seized by Louis XIV for France.

Herrlisheim is 28 km northeast of Strasbourg in present-day Bas-Rhin, France.

The earliest documented information on the forebears of the Laengs is 1529, the estimated date of birth of Urs Laeng, in Utzenstorf, Canton of Bern, The Swiss Confederation. His great-grandson, Dorsch Laeng, a Calvinist, came to Herrlisheim about 1667 to 1668 from Utzenstorf. There is a reasonable degree of probability that Dorsch is the son of Hans Jacob Laeng and Anna Schuerch of Utzenstorf and was christened October 10, 1647 in Utzenstorf and that his earlier forebears are Hans Jacob, Christened April 20, 1622, the son of Durs, Christened, September 24, 1570 in Utzenstorf, married to Verena Wyss and that Durs is the son of Urs Laeng born about 1529, married to Margret Zeigler about 1550.

Dorsch Laeng married first Anna Banzen, daughter of Endres Banzen in Herrlisheim, on the Sunday after Esto Mihi, February 19, 1673. He married second Anna Maria Nonner, daughter of Hans Gorg Nonner and Anna Maria Schertzler, of Gambsheim, in Herrlisheim on February 22, 1689. They had four sons all of whom remained in Herrlisheim.

Related families in Herrlisheim include Alt, Christmann, Gross, Gumann, Heitz, Herrmann, Huck, Jung, Kientz, Kistler, Klein, Lohr, Noe, Pfaadt, Schaffer, Schmidt, Schmitt, Schreiner, Wohlfaret, Wolff, Zagels, Zilliox and  Zinger.

Joseph Rhein, my grandfather (5th great-grandson of Wolfgang Rhein), was born April 13, 1866, in Herrlisheim, Department of Strasbourg, Bas-Rhin, France. He married Louise Laeng, born May 15, 1866, Herrlisheim, (4th great-granddaughter of Dorsch Laeng and Anna Marie Nonner) on May 3, 1890, in then Herlisheim, Alsace-Lorraine, Germany, following his military service in the German Army in the German Territories in Africa. They left for the United States the day following their wedding. They arrived Port of New York on May 20, 1890 from Le Havre on LaChampange, L. Boyer, Ship’s Master. They settled in Pittsburgh, Allegheny County, Pennsylvania.

Joseph and Louise had three sons: Joseph Peter, my father, born March 16, 1895, Aloysius Ralph, born February 1, 1900, and Anthony Joseph, born July 14, 1905, all in Pittsburgh. Joseph Peter married Mabel Florence McKinney of Sligo, Clarion County, Pennsylvania on August 6, 1924, at St. Augustine Roman Catholic Church in Pittsburgh. She is the 2nd great-granddaughter of John McKinney, born about 1748 in Ireland and Mary Llewellyn. He was a volunteer from Haverford, Chester County, Pennsylvania, and served in the First Battalion, Pennsylvania Rifle Regiment, Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War. She is the 3rd great-granddaughter, in the maternal line, of Lieutenant William Stewart, born 1738 in County Donegal, Ireland, and Mary Gass. He was adjutant in the Second Battalion of the Cumberland County Pennsylvania Militia during the American Revolutionary War.