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   Bad Kreuznach is a district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It is bounded by (from the north and clockwise) the districts of Rhein-Hunsrück, Mainz-Bingen, Alzey-Worms, Donnersbergkreis, Kusel and Birkenfeld.

     The region is full of medieval castles, especially along the Nahe River. Best known is the Kyrburg of Kirn, built in the 12th century and sitting in state above the river.  In 1815 the district of Kreuznach was established by the Prussian government. In 1932 it was merged with the district of Meisenheim. The name of the district officially changed from Kreuznach to Bad Kreuznach in 1969.

     The district is located in the hilly country between the mountain chains of the Hunsrück in the north and the Nordpfälzer Bergland in the south. The main axis of the district is the Nahe River, which enters the territory in the west, runs through Kirn, Bad Sobernheim and Bad Kreuznach, and leaves to the northeast.

The region formed by this district and the adjoining Birkenfeld district is known as the Naheland. The banks of the lower Nahe are used for vineyards. Away from the stream there are sparsely populated forests crisscrossed by the narrow affluents of the Nahe River. 

surnames

The following are names of persons, found within our databases,

as having been either born, married or died in this location.

To find out more about each surname listed above click on the corresponding LINK.

McVicker; Moreland; Pinnell; Scruggs and allied families

Bozarth; Peiffer; Quigley; Rhubart and allied families

Dellinger; Knecht; Pfeffer; Silar and allied families

CHATEAU (SCHATTO),   KELLER,  LEYONBERGER,  SCHAFFER

Additional information regarding these and other surnames may also be found at:

Surname Locator Resources

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ancestral gen-sites

     The Keller and Schaffer families had lived in that area of Germany now know as Bad Kreuznach since at least the late 1600’s and more than likely will before.  In fact it appears that Anthony Keller and Paulus Schaffer the progenitors of both families in American lived in or near the village of Lettweiler which at the time was quite small with few inhabitants.   

     By the later decades of the 17^th century the Dukes of Zweibrücken had ensured that the region was aligned with the Protestant church.  As a result, the French Hugenot Chateau family had left the Catholic area around Avignon, France where they suffered persecution and moved to Bad Kreuznach around 1715.  Thus the family name was Germanized to Schatto.  In 1730 Anthony Keller and Anna Barbara Chateau (Schatto) were married at Meisenheim.  To this union at least eight known children were born three of them at Lettweiler.  In 1740 Anthony Keller and his family left Germany and sailed for American on the ship “Loyal Judith” and arrived at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in November of that year.

     Henrich and Anna (Leyonberger) Schaffer parents of the aforementioned are known to have lived at Lettweiler as early as 1688.  Their son Paulus was born at Lettweiler around 1693.  Paulus may have left Lettweiler as a young man and moved to the area around the capital city of Zweibrücken.   In 1713 he married Anna Maria Elizabeth Bracher a native of Hornbach a village located about 6 miles south of the capital.

Lettweiler;   Meisenheim

LETTWEILER

LOCATION:  Country: Germany;   State: Rheinland-Pfalz;   District: Bad Kreuznach;  

Municipal Association: Meisenheim;    Place: Lettweiler;   Coordinates/Map: 49° 44′ 4.2″ N, 7° 43′ 30″ E

A countryside view of Lettweiler and its Wind Park

A typical street and

homes in Lettweiler

DESCRIPTION OF GEN-SITE(s):  Lettweiler was first mentioned in an 1190 document as “Litwilre” a fiefdom belonging to the Archbishop of Mainz.  Since then the name of the town has also been spelled as Littwiler, Lirrewilre, Lywilre, Lettwiler, and Lytwyler.  It was not until the 19^th century that the name Lettweiler took hold. In 1675 only four families lived in Lettweiler.  By 1770 51 church people and 5 tenants were counted.  The number of residents grew to 502 by 1866 and remained largely the same since until World War I.  Today Lettweiler has a population of about 250 persons.  The village chapel was originally constructed during the 14^th century.  After it fell into disrepair it was rebuilt in 1751.    The Evangelical Church was built in 1763 to replace an older building that was demolished in 1761.  The old burial ground on which the church stands with closed in 1827.

ANCESTORS ASSOCIATED WITH THIS GEN-SITE:  Keller, Anthony I Birth: 1710 in Lettweiler;  Keller, Elisa Katherina Birth: 13 Mar 1736 in Lettweiler;  Keller, Johann Nikolaus Birth: 13 Mar 1736 in Lettweiler;  Keller, Johann Peter Birth: 30 Apr 1731 in Lettweiler;   Leyonberger, Anna Birth: Abt. 1668 in Rheinland-Pflaz Death: Aft. 1693 in Lettweiler;  Schaffer, Heinrich Birth: Abt. 1668 in Rheinland-Pflaz, Death: Aft. 1693 in Lettweiler; Schaffer, Paulus Sr. Birth: Abt. 1693 in Lettweiler.

INTERNET WEB LINK(s): Lettweiler Town Website

Click on thumbnail

 for larger image

MEISENHEIM

LOCATION:  Country: Germany;   State: Rheinland-Pfalz;   District: Bad Kreuznach;  

Municipal Association: Meisenheim;    Place: Meisenheim;   Coordinates/Map: 49° 43′ 0″ N, 7° 40′ 0″ E

Hammelgasse (Street)

in Meisenheim

DESCRIPTION OF GEN-SITE(s): Meisenheim is situated on the river Glan, approx. 25 km south-west of Bad Kreuznach. Meisenheim is the seat of the Verbandsgemeinde ("collective municipality") of Meisenheim.  Meisenheim was probably founded in the 7th century and first mentioned in 1154.  Since the 12^th century the town was owned by the Counts of Veldenz who made the town the capital of the county of Veldenz.  City rights were granted by King Ludwig of Bavaria in 1315.  In 1444, the Dukes of Zweibrücken inherited Veldenz.  From 1815 till 1866 the city was a part of the Landgrafschaft Hessen-Homburg.  It was then inherited by the Grand-Duchy of Hessia (Hessen-Darmstadt) in early 1866 and seceded to Prussia after the Austro-Prussian war.

ANCESTORS ASSOCIATED WITH THIS GEN-SITE: Keller, Anthony I  to Chateau (Schatto), Anna Maria Barbara, Marriage: 12 Dec 1730 in Meinsenheim

INTERNET WEB LINK(s): Meisenheim - Wikipedia;  Meisenheim Municipal Website;

Click on thumbnail

 for larger image

LOCATION:  Country: Germany;   State: Rheinland-Pfalz;   District: Bad Kreuznach;  

Municipal Association: ;    Place:;   Coordinates/Map:

DESCRIPTION OF GEN-SITE(s):

ANCESTORS ASSOCIATED WITH THIS GEN-SITE:   

INTERNET WEB LINK(s): 

Click on thumbnail

for larger image

populated places

Map of

This County

Gazetteer of Places in This County

Link to State-Wide Resources

Where in the World

are My Ancestors?

map

The Red Dot in the map designates the location of the seat of government for this district (Landkreise).  A Purple Dot shows the location of identified ancestral Gen-Site(s).

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gazetteer

The list below will assist in your research regarding the matching of your ancestor’s birth, marriage, death dates and the place(s) within this locality at which these events may have occurred.

TOWNS AND MUNICIPALITIES

Links to more locations in Germany

State-wide

For more information about the Country and State in which this county is located  click  on  these  LINKS:

Where in the world

Where in the World  are My Ancestors?

Resources which enhance our knowledge of the places inhabited by our ancestors are almost as important as their names. The LINK

to the right will take you to Maps, Gazetteers,   and other helpful  resources  that will assist you in discovering Ancestral Locations. 

resources

This search engine may

provide you with additional

information to assist with

your research about this topic.

·    Website & Webpages We Like

·    Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

·    Free Genealogy Search Help For Google

·    Germany GenWeb

·    German Genealogy Info. & Resources

·    List of places in Germany

·    FEEFHS: Germany Genealogy Resources

·    German Genealogy - Yahoo discussion group

·       Germany - Rootsweb.com (message boards)

·       Genealogy.com: Places/Geographic, Europe

·       Cyndi's List - Germany / Deutschland

·       German Genealogy

·       Directory of Cities, Towns, Regions in Germany

·       German Heritage & Genealogy (D'Addezio.com)

·       The German Genealogy Network

·       SGGEE -German genealogy in eastern Europe

·  Bad Kreuznach  – Wikipedia

·  Official website (German)

·  Naheland touristical website (German, English)

·  www.KH-lokal.de - local community with more than 1.800 links to homepages of Bad Kreuznach (district)

·  A flickr-group with fotos of Bad Kreuznach (district)

The following Link will take you to our library of genealogy reference books that pertain to this place.   Here you will find books about the history and records of this county and other places such as towns and churches. 

 Germany Research Library

Gallery

During our research we have collected images and photographs that are of general interest to a variety of localities.  Some of them are presented on this website because we believe they tend to provide the reader with additional information which may aid in the understanding of our ancestors past lives.

Famous Brückenhaüser (Bridge Houses) in Bad Kreuznach.

The stone bridge dates from 1300 and the houses from 1480.

Use the following LINK to ascertain whether we have any images that pertain to this location.

ANCESTRAL LOCATION PHOTOGRAPHS and IMAGES

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topic you are searching in the box and click “Search Images”. At the “Images” display page you will see the image, as well  as the  website to  which it is linked.

Contact information

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USA

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