| Notes |
- lebt in Rumbach
BIOGRAPHY: http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~harringtonfamilies/120c.htm
Christoph Neuhart (1599 - 1654), the son of Valentine and Barbara Nauert, brings yet another variant on the spelling of the Neuhart name. This spelling remains the current and most popular version. It was Christoph Neuhart who brought the Ostertag (Ostertag means Easter Day in English) name into our ancestral tree. He married Margaret Ostertag (abt 1605 - aft 1667) who was the daughter of Marzolph (Marx) Ostertag (abt 1560 - 1619). The Ostertag family will be discussed in more detail in the following pages.
Christoph and Margaret lived through and raised their family in a particularly difficult period. The religious upheavals of the mid-1500s had given birth to several protestant religions in opposition to the parent Catholic church. With the dawning of the new century, there were strong feelings that ranged from the belief that the Catholic church should be unified and restored as the only church in Europe, to, equally strong feelings that the Protestant reforms were the correct interpretation of the Christian faith. By the early 17th century these factions had crystalized their positions and had large followings that reached to high levels in the government. Some were willing to go to war to protect their beliefs.
While the Thirty-Year Wars that followed may have been originally justified by the participants on religious grounds, it soon became an opportunity to pursue economic and aggressive agendas. For example, Spain who held much of the territory which is now the Netherlands had long sought an overland route between her possessions in Italy and the Netherlands. The lands of our ancestors lay directly in their path.
In the end, the period between 1618 and 1648 saw several waves of armed forces sweep across Europe with devastating results. Villages and houses in the paths of these armies became the providers of food and supplies needed to keep the armies functional.
The problem was further exacerbated by the return of the bubonic plague in 1635/36. In this period the county of Wegelnburg lost over 75% of its population, 66% of the residences, 85% of the horses, 82% of the cattle, 83% of the goats and 100% of the sheep. Schoenau where the population was 102 persons in 1634 was reduce to 2 families. At least 62 people were buried in the wake of the Black Death in Rumbach during 1635/36. These burials were found in a concentrated area of the Rumbach cemetery just outside the main entry to the church during the 1957 renovation of the structure. During the hostilities, the Rumbach church was on the village side was hit by cannon fire about November 1635, but this was apparently repaired by 1638.
The population of the area around Rumbach remained very sparse for the next 50 years, with only 40 families in the County of Wegelnburg in 1676. Then, following the period of the Thirty-Year Wars, there were repeated "Wars of Reunion" which combined with plague and famine kept the population low.
Book: the book Neuhart Nobility. 3 All known Neuharts descend from a single patriarch, Christophel Neuhart (1599-1654), a resident of Rumbach, Germany. In 1626, he united with Margaret Ostertag (1605-1667), daughter of the village innkeeper, and granddaughter of the town mayor. It is through the Ostertag family that the Neuharts trace descent from royalty. This noble past is described in the 260 pages of Neuhart Nobility, second edition. Over 2,000 regal ancestors appear in this illustrated volume (double the number of forebears in the first edition). These progenitors are depicted on over 200 family charts. What Will You Find? You descend from community leaders, magistrates, and other prominent personages in Alsace-Lorraine, Germany and surrounding areas. Besides several medieval knights, various lords and earls, there are many counts, dukes, monarchs, even emperors among your kinship. You descend from portions of the royal houses of Germany, France, Russia, Poland, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Italy, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, and Austria. You are related by blood to Sir Winston Churchill, Dr. Albert Schweitzer, and to 16 U.S. presidents of royal descent: Washington, Jefferson, Monroe, Adams, Harrison, Buchanan, Lincoln, Grant, Garfield, T. Roosevelt, Taft, Nixon, Reagan, Kennedy and Bush, six first ladies, various reigning monarchs in Europe as well as personages of international acclaim. Seventeen professional researchers (from Germany, France, and the U.S.A.) were involved in this effort. Typed by Ethel C. Phillips and edited by Dennis A. Kastens, 1997, 260 pages. $35.00 (includes postage and handling). Index included.
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1599 - 1654 (55 years)
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