Nobility Found in our Family
Some of our most recent finds in dealing with our family's ancestry is the possibility of being descended from the European royal families. As of today, we have found out that there are two possible connections, but each of the connections will be through an illegitimate child sired by a duke in the German state of Hessen.
Heinrich III of Hessen (1440-1483) fathered a girl, Cunzel, who was then raised by the girl's mother and her husband Johannes Dietz. She appears in history as Cunzel Dietz, who will marry a Ludwig Orth. This lineage which included the names Grebe, Lüncker, Weigel, Steuber, and Ernst will eventually continue through a long list of Spindlers to Johanna Laura Celine Spindler (1872-1951), who was my great grandmother.
Ludwig II of Hessen (1438-1471), not to be outdone by his younger brother Heinrich, also sired an illegitimate daughter, Margarethe. Her second marriage to a Heinrich Fürster was the beginning of a lineage which included the names Nordeck, Harsack, Wogesser, Biermann, and Ernst, and would eventually meld with his brother's line from above in the mid 1700's, leading to my great grandmother.
The exciting part of the nobility connection is that our tree shows ancestors back to Holy Roman Emperor Charlemagne, who was born in the year 747 AD. There are many, many, people descended from "Karl der Grosse" and we will make very little effort to list these as there is no direct connection from them to our family.We are primarily concerned with the direct ancestry from our immediate family.
But just for grins, two famous people in history who are descended from Charlemagne are German writer Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, and Russian czar, Ivan the Terrible. Its most likely my sister who is closest to Goethe and my students would say I'm probably closest to Ivan. But....never mind that. While we're working on verification, enjoy the portrait of Charley, who was crowned on Christmas Day in the year 800. My high school history teacher, Nathaniel Grunst, would be proud that I remembered.
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