Overview

Here we document the genealogy of the person known as John Reinhardt in Illinois, United State, but born as George Rheinhardt in Alsace, France. Relevant family names include Reinhard, Roth, Depp, Frederick, Adam, Muller, Dolter, Pfander, Schlechten, Gilgen and Baur. The relationships and sources are documented in the family tree itself; what we attempt to document here are the weak links in the family tree in case someone wants to dig in to them further. For background on the family and individuals, see Reinhard and Roth in Alsace before 1850.

George to John

First one has to accept that John Reinhardt, born 18 September, 1844, in Sainte-Marie-aux-Mines, France, according to his obituary is in fact George Rheinhardt, born 18 September 1843 in Sainte-Marie-aux-Mines. Fortunately, it's relatively easy to accept. George in France has an older brother Joseph born June 2, 1840, according to the Sainte-Marie-aux-Mines birth records--though the date of the record itself is 3 June--and John's brother Joseph in Illinois was born 3 June 1840, according to the 1900 US Census. George's niece, Adele, via his older sister Madelaine (who is born and dies in France) marries John's wife Kathryn Egli's brother, Benjamin. When or why George of France became John of Illinois, however, we don't know.

Reinhard and Roth

George's birth records, with apologies to those who can translate French better than we, reads roughly: Number 250, George Rheinhardt, acknowledged natural child. The year one thousand eight hundred forty-three, the eighteenth of September at eight hours of the morning to minister Edward Mohler deputy by delegation of the Mayor on second February one thousand eight hundred forty-one forestry officer of the civil state at Sainte-Marie-aux-Mines, district of _______, region of Haut Rhin appeared Mister Joseph Rheinhardt, harvester age thirty eight residing in this town, who presented us a male infant that he declares to be born in his home, estate of Jerome Bichl in area _____ of this town arriving at six hours of the morning, to Miss Madelaine Roth, without profession, age thirty seven, resident of this town, and declares he is the father and also declares he wants to give the first name George; other witnesses are Mister Francois Girard, harvester, age fifty-eight years, resident of this town, and George Rheinhardt, harvester, age thirty-six years, resident of Bac___ near Ville.

The birth records of George's older siblings Joseph and Madelaine Rheinhardt are very similar--natural children, but acknowledged, with parents Joseph Rheinhardt and Madelaine Roth. Joseph is said to be 37 in June 1840, 38 in October 1841, and 38 in September 1843. Madelaine is said to be 35 in June 1840, 36 in October 1841, and 37 in September 1843. The parents we have identified were born 5 December 1803 in Urbeis and 16 February 1804 in La Croix-aux-Mines. That would make them both 36, 37, and 39 at the time of their children's births. There are other candidates to be the parents--if Elizabeth Sairafou is in your tree, we take responsibility for transcribing the last part of "Jean Rheinhardt et Elizabeth Paira son epouse" (Jean Rheinhardt and Elizabeth Paira his wife) into "Elizabeth Sairafou, epouse" in 2010 or earlier. Their son, Joseph Rheinhardt, is born in Sainte-Marie-aux-Mines in 1800, but upon further investigation also died there in 1801, so was the wrong Joseph Rheinhardt anyway. There is also another Madelaine Roth in Sainte-Marie-aux-Mines, but she is twelve years younger and married to someone else. The witnesses at the births also tie into the parents identified. Joseph has a brother George Rheinhardt who is 36 at the time of son George's birth. One witness at daughter Madelaine's birth is Joseph Roth, age 30, of Sainte-Marie-aux-Mines. Madelaine Roth has a nephew of that age who is documented to be in Sainte-Marie-aux-Mines two years previously, at his marriage, and two years later, at his death. The other witness, Jean (signed Johannes) Roth is likely Joseph Roth's father and Madelaine Roth's half-brother, though the sources for his age differ. Finally, the death records for these parents match the other evidence. Joseph Reinhardt dies in 1848 with Urbeis listed as his place of birth. Many years later, in 1886, Madelaine Roth's death record lists her place of birth as La Croix-aux-Mines and Joseph Reinhart as her deceased husband.

Roth, Adam, and Müller

The record is short on the Roth side, partly because the Haut-Rhin records are online only after 1792. The Bas-Rhin records> are online from further back, and these families are on the border. The other border to concern ourselves with is the French/German one, particularly regarding language. The records themselves are written in French, or, earlier, Latin, but individuals often sign their names with a German variant. Jean Roth signs his name Johannes, for instance, in the 1841 birth record of Madelaine Rheinhardt mentioned above.

For the Roths this is relevant because Marie Madelaine--or more likely Maria Magdalena--Roth's father, Nicolas Roth, is married three or four times, twice to Anne or Anna Müller or Meunier, the German and French variants of Miller. That the two women are distinct is clear from the 1797 marriage record of Nicolas Roth and Anne Munier, which notes the first Anna Müller as deceased. Nicolas' parentage is unknown, though his birth record dated sometime around 1760 can probably be found in Aubure. His death record says he was born there, though again language comes into play--the record says Altwihr, the Alemannic variant of the name of the town. The German name is Altweier. The death record is witnessed by Christian Ummel, Nicolas' son-in-law via daughter Anne Roth, so while there is some question about Nicolas' earlier wives, this part of the family, including the 1804 birth of Marie Madelaine Roth, is fairly well documented.

Anne's name at her death in 1814 is recorded as Miller, with her father noted as Christian Müller and her mother as Marie Adam; they are noted as farmers of Urbeis, Bas-Rhin, while they lived. They were farmers more likely of Climont, a separate Anabaptist community considered part of Urbeis. The Anabaptist records among the Urbeis records include marriages and deaths, but very few births, though we know there were children. Anne is said to be 50 at her death in 1814, so born around 1764. We have a 1763 marriage record for Christian and Maria in which both witnesses are Anabaptist. One is Jacob Müller, who is pencilled in as the father of Christian in the tree, but this is the only source we have for that connection. Christian dies in November 1766, and the only other record we have for Maria is her second marriage in December 1767. Her second husband remarries in 1789, but we have no death record for her.

Reinhard, Frederick, and too many Depps

Joseph Rheinhardt was born Joseph Reinhard. The spelling in the records is all over the place (Rheinhote, Rhinharde, Reimhote), but the most common is Reinhard. Joseph's father is also Joseph Reinhard (1773-1823) and his mother is Anne Marie Frederick (1782-1843); we have birth, marriage, and death records for each of them, as well as the birth records for seven more children. The next generation of Reinhards is trickier. The only direct record we have for George Reinhard (1742-1816) is his death record--he died at Bourg-Bruche in 1816. However, he was a fixture of Climont (Bourg-Bruche is just on the other side of the mountain from Urbeis) for years, appearing as a witness to multiple births and deaths. As usual, the age he is said to be is inconsistent among them; the best date for his birth is about 1742. His death record says his parents were Florant Reimhote and Magdelaine Tape. Those are Florant Reinhard and most likely Magdelaine Deppe or Depp--there are loads of Depps around. Florant Reinhard is an unusual name, but we haven't found him elsewhere in the records. Variants of Magdelaine Depp are all over the place, however. Not only is George's mother one, so is his wife. Moreover, the two are about the same age. If George is born around 1742, his parents are born around 1720. Magdelaine Depp, the mother of Joseph Reinhard the elder, is born around 1721. That would make her 52 when Joseph is born and twenty years older than George, but her death record in 1809 is pretty clear: George Reinhard, age 67, and Joseph Reinhard, age 38, report the death of Magdelaine Deppe, age 88, married to the abovementioned George Reinhard and daughter of the late Jean Deppe. If two Magdelaine Depps born around 1720 aren't enough, there's a third.

Swiss roots: Depp, Dolter, Schlechten, Gilgen, and Pfander

Turning to the family of George/John Reinhardt's paternal grandmother, Anne Marie Frederick (1782-1843), we have a marriage record for her parents that also names her grandparents. For her father, Jean George (or maybe Johann Georg) Frederick, that's about all we have--his marriage in 1773 and the names of his parents, Jean Frederick and Susanna Baur.

We have more information about Anne Marie's mother, Maria Barbara Dolter (1742-??), including her birth record and a 1734 marriage record for her parents, Valentin Dolter and another contemporaneous Magdalena Depp. Valentin's parents are Valentin Dolter and Magdalena Müller, and we don't know much more about them except that they are Swiss. Magdalena Depp's family is also Swiss; her parents Joseph Depp and Christina Schlechten were married in Muhlethurnen, Switzerland in 1694. The transition from France to Switzerland is fairly well-documented in that Magdalena Depp's parents in her marriage record are noted as Swiss and the names match with a couple who are married and having children in Switzerland at the right time, and some of those children are also found in France later--the main missing link is a birth record for Magdalena, herself.

A quick note on names, especially for the Swiss section: we have mostly adopted the family names as they seem to be once the spelling has settled down. Depp was mostly Däppen in Switzerland, then Depp, Deppe, and even Thebb in France. Schlechten, as another example, can be Schlacht or Schlächten earlier, but in Rüeggisberg, Switzerland, descendents in the town become Schlechtens. We mention Rüeggisberg, in particular, because that is the only Swiss village--Christina Schlechten's hometown--for which we've searched the records in depth. There are clues to other locations, but sometimes you just have to stop researching and update your website.

Summary

The weak points and gaps, where records generally exist, are the George to John transition and disambiguation of Magdalena Depps, including the location of the 1712 birth of the eldest Magdalena, which would help narrow the date range for that family's move from Switzerland to France--seven previous children are born in Switzerland, from 1697 to 1709. Opportunities for further research are primarily the Haut-Rhin records prior to 1793--a three-month glance at those might tell us a lot, especially about the Roths--and the Swiss records online. There are references to Schangnau, Schönau, and Riggisberg in the details of the written records we haven't explored yet.