Stories

Based on approximately 25,000 Strohs, the movements of our ancestors and cousins ​​are instructive:

• In the 14th and 15th centuries, the first Strohs were located in the German villages of Queerschield and Bernkastel-Kues, formerly the Duchy of Upper Lotharingia and then the County of Saarbrücken in the Holy Roman Empire, and now Saarland, the 10th state of the German Republic. Note a few Strohs near Zurich (in Wettingen), also in the Holy Roman Empire.
• In the 16th century, the Strohs spread from the Saarland to the Barony of Fénétrange, the Rhineland-Palatinate, and Bavaria. Their concentration peaked in the village of Mittersheim in the same Barony, now in French Moselle.
• In the 17th century, the spread continued in Germany in the states of Hesse, Baden-Württemberg, and North Rhine-Westphalia in agricultural areas. On the French side, settlements were established in villages in Alsace Bossue and around Strasbourg, with a strong concentration in the villages around Fénétrange and a peak in the Stroh population in Wolfskirchen. There was no expansion to the west, as these were Catholic lands.
• In the 18th century, the Stroh continued to spread north, south, and east, including into Germany and Austria. The Stroh population remained highly concentrated in villages near the Barony of Fénétrange, in Bossue Alsace (Ottwiller, etc.) for our direct ancestors. The Strohs appeared in America, with Pennsylvania as their preferred landing point.
• In the 19th century, large-scale migrations for survival accelerated, and maps show the presence of the Strohs on the East Coast of the United States, in South Africa, in Tsarist Russia, and in Ukraine to benefit from land to cultivate. Religions were less fragmented. The Strohs were found in Paris and Lyon in eastern France, and remained numerous in Bossue Alsace and Hesse.
• From 1900 to the present day, the diffusion has continued, the high densities have decreased with the powerful mixing of peoples and the Stroh are often in town with “peaks” of Stroh in the East of France and the West of Germany, on the former Upper Lotharingia, as well as on the East coast of the United States.

Map of the Stroh expansion from the 13th century to the present day

Abraham and the seigneurial mayors

Our ancestor Abraham Stroh (1530-~1600) was a farmer in the village of Mittersheim.

His son Thiebold (born before 1560) and his grandson Georg (born in 1587) were mayors in the Col-de-Cygne lordship of the barony of Fénétrange between ~1590 and 1640. They were newly Protestants. Their function was to collect taxes from the mainly farming fellow citizens of the village (in their case Mittersheim) in a rather violent period.

The Rhingraves introduced Lutheranism to Fénétrange and Mittersheim before 1565. This was followed by a troubled period, punctuated by quarrels between co-Barons who remained loyal to Rome and the supporters of the Reformation. The 17th century was marked by the terrible Thirty Years’ War (1618-1648) which was followed by famine and plague.

Michael and Paulus, Farmers and Innkeepers

Thiebold’s other sons are Michael (1580-1615), probably a farmer, and Christoph Paulus (before 1602-1673), “already” an innkeeper in Mittersheim. There will be at least one innkeeper in each Stroh family. Note that the two brothers are our direct ancestors, because one of Michael’s grandsons, Johann (Hans) Theobald, married one of his aunts, the daughter of Christoph Paulus, himself Michael’s brother.

The Barony: History

In 1070, Fénétrange came under the jurisdiction of Remiremont Abbey. Emperor Henry IV set the fee payable by the abbess for the right to mint money in Fénétrange on that date.

The Barony of Fénétrange (Fintinsgen in German) was part of the Holy Roman Empire. As the map opposite shows, in 1400, “Finstingen” was a small confetti that nevertheless had the rights of a quasi-free state.

The Barony was Immediate to the Empire (Reichsunmittelbar)1 and formed a Ganerbschaft (Ganerbe), with a mandatory joint ownership status 2 that bound four lordships of the barony in perpetuity, such that the undivided shares of these lordships were distributed in varying proportions among several lords, simultaneously co-barons of Fénétrange. The joint ownership was extended by a state entity with hereditary collective sovereignty.

And our mayors (Rheingräflischer meier), Thiebold and Georg Stroh?
The most likely hypothesis is that they reported to the Prince of Croy, husband of Diane de Dommartin, heiress of the Rheingrave, through his bailiff (Amtmänner), Frederick von Hindenburg. We will see in the genealogy section that approximately 300 years later, a descendant of the Rheingraves, Louise Dannenberger, married our AAGP Jean Georges Stroh (1812-1898)!

1 How did this little confetti obtain the immediacy of empire ?
According to documents consulted on Gallica.bnf.fr, some of the co-barons had direct vassal possessions of the emperor (without intermediary, i.e., immediate), such as the Lorraines and the Rhingraves. The immediacy of empire was transmitted by “osmosis” to the barony, which was managed jointly.
2 Why this compulsory joint ownership (Ganerbschaf) ?
The inheritance, long shared among the aristocracy of the Holy Roman Empire, is often the reason. Primogeniture was only imposed in the 17th century. There was no dismemberment of lordships. This led to this particular form of condominium, the Ganerbschaft in Fénétrange, where all the heirs share jurisdiction. This required compromises between the various co-barons, the town of Fénétrange and the villages, the corporations, and the religions. And this in our confetti barony (29 km by 20 km), as in the Free Republic of Strasbourg at the same time. Louis XIV took all this in hand in a monarchical manner.
In France, we have yellow vests and no concord (because of Louis XIV?), while our German neighbors are champions in the art of compromise (because of the Holy Roman Empire?)! The political management of the barony is impressively balanced, reflecting Strasbourg at the time (see the M.Pfarrer page in the zoom menu). But formariage was forbidden. It was not democracy but a complex and finely tuned system designed to ensure that everyone remained in their original environment.

Unrest in Mittersheim

The Peace of Augsburg in 1555 recognized the existence of two denominations in Alsace, the Protestant (Lutheran) and the Catholic according to the rule “cujus regio, ejus religio”. Now the Count of Nassau Saarweden, who owned the bossue Alsace, was Protestant: Ottwiller returned to the Princes of Nassau Saarbrucken. Ottwiller and Drulingen and 25 other localities were part of the Oberamt of Haskirchen. The “cabbage heads” were reputed to have an enterprising character and a taste for innovation.

On the Fénétrange barony side, the agreements and commitments to divide the villages and churches between Catholics and Lutherans are constantly broken with numerous clashes (preemption of places of worship, etc.). Diane de Dommartin and her second husband, Charles Philippe, Duke of Croy-Arschot, co-barons, remained Catholics. The pressure is strong on our reformed STROH ancestors. It is likely that they left Mittersheim for religious reasons around 1650 (?) and went back a few kilometers to Alsace Bossue towards Ottwiler and Drulingen to find themselves in “reformed” land. In 1664-65, the House of Lorraine, via Henri de Vaudémont, acquired the last shares of the Protestant Rhingraves in the lordships of the barony. After the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes in 1685, the Mittersheim temple was destroyed.

The Wehrungs leave for Alsace

Our WEHRUNG ancestors and cousins ​​left Picardy after the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes. They settled 150 meters from the Lorraine border, on the Alsace side, at the Siewiller mill. They were then called VÉRON and Germanized their name.

Johan Theobald, Innkeeper

Son of Michael, Johann Theobald Stroh (1612-1669) was a tanner and innkeeper in Wolfkirchen. He married Agnes Juncker (1625-1705) and had 11 children. Some of his descendants, three generations back, emigrated to the United States around 1750 and probably “generated” the largest genealogical branch of Stroh & Straw, including France, but with an unknown quantity on Germany, because the work of identifying our German ancestors remains to be done.

Johann (Hans) Theobald, Innkeeper

1646-1736. Son of Johann Théobald. Born and married in Bouquenom. Died in Wolfskirchen. Innkeeper and practicing Lutheran. He married an aunt Ermilia Stroh (1647-1712) and had 17 children during his lifetime, including JOHANN GEORG, 35 grandchildren, 80 great-grandchildren and 1 great-great-grandchild. This is the “identified” record of the Stroh & Co. genealogy.1646-1736.

 Johann ou Hans Georg Stroh, Tanner

Named George I on the website. Beware of the uncertainty surrounding the relationship of the Stroh who married Christina 🙂

A tanner, Johan Georg (1669-†) or Hans Georg (1686-1718) married Christina MARTZLOFF (1688-†), but in 40% of the genealogical data, he is the brother of Johann Theobald (unlikely, as he was 19 years younger than his wife at the time) and in 60% of the genealogical data, his son (very likely). They had four children, including GEORGE

George, the Postmaster

Jean Georges STROH (1711-1792) in Metting – named Georges II on the site – was a farmer, brewer, blacksmith and owner of the coaching inn, therefore an innkeeper, on the coal route which went from the Saar to Alsace. The house still exists. He had 11 children including JEAN, Johannes in the civil registry, (1757-1793). A life certainly difficult. 7 of the 11 children died in infancy.

Jean represents the district of Sarrebourg

Jean, the tanner

Jean Stroh (1784-1847) settled in Ottwiller as a tanner. He married Eva-Caroline WEHRUNG (1790-1867) 1, from Drulingen.
The STROH tannery building still exists, on the banks of the Isch, next to the Strohhof, which was the residence. François Stroh had a long-standing relationship with the Bieber family, who lived there in the 1990s and 2000s. They had six children, including Georges. The six children and their descendants are presented in the Stroh & Co. family tree, visible in the Trees menu.

1   A sister of Eva-Caroline, Catherine, married Pierre Stroh, brother of Jean. Another sister, Julie, married Chrétien WACK, from Drulingen. Julie is the grandmother of Pastor Charles WAGNER (1852-1918), the founder of the Foyer de l’Ame in Paris. In the Trees menu, the genealogy of the 3 Wehrung sisters is presented.

Georges III and Louise with George IV and Anna (photo ~1861)

1 Our AAAGM was the sister of the AAGM of Stanislas and Diane MASSONIE.
2 Louise Dannenberger was the daughter of Pastor Philippe-Frédéric Dannenberger, pastor of Vendenheim, who, in 1815, offered to replace as hostages the 18 Catholic inhabitants of the neighboring village of Souffelweyersheim. Based on false testimony (which the pastor verified), they had been sentenced to death as snipers. The Prince-General of Württemberg was eventually convinced. General Rapp prepared a report, and King Louis XVIII made him a Knight of the Legion of Honor (ordinance of June 2, 1819).

George IV

Henri, Jean-Louis et Madeleine

• Henri (1887-1945) – his page here – was admitted to the École Polytechnique and the École Normale Supérieure, choosing the École Polytechnique (1907). He specialized in torpedoes. His first position was in Toulon, then he managed the Saint-Tropez base (he lived in Château Bertaud) and in 1933 was appointed general manager of the Schneider factories in Le Creusot.
• Jean-Louis (1888-1978) – his page here – studied law (PhD in 1915) and was Deputy Director of Social Security in Strasbourg in 1920. In 1930, he married Marie-Louise (known as Maryse) Baudoin, from Toulon. In 1940, his Social Security department was relocated to Périgueux. He returned to Strasbourg in 1944. Later, as a Civil Administrator, he became Deputy Director of Social Security for Alsace and Lorraine.
• Madeleine (1892-1987) – her page here – studied at the Lycée Fénelon. There she met Marie-Anne Guéylard, who became her best friend and married her brother Henri. Madeleine Stroh entered the École Normale Supérieure de Sèvres and then married Pastor Louis-Paul Horst (1887-1972) in 1913. They settled in Ste Marie aux Mines, but, accused of “Deutschfeindlichkeit,” they were imprisoned. Louis-Paul was imprisoned in Colmar. Madeleine was placed under house arrest in Dresden. In 1916, they were both placed under house arrest in Thuringia.Some documents concerning the siblings H, JL, and M are accessible via the zoom menu.

-Henri STROH and Marie-Anne GUEYLARD had three children: Pierre, François, and Bernard.
-Jean-Louis STROH and Maryse BAUDOIN had four children: George V – his page here -, René, Anne-Marie, and Denise.
-Madeleine STROH and Louis-Paul HORST had no children.

Attempt at synthesis

1. Two foundations run through this story: Protestantism and republican sentiment.

• In the years 1848-1851, the Strohs were among the “reds”!
• Pastor Dannenberger, a staunch royalist, was the exception.

2. Beyond the Barony of Fenétrange and then Bossue Alsace, the family has ties in the Bas-Rhin and Haut-Rhin, with:

• The ORTLIEB family, from Ribeauvillé, one of the oldest families in Alsace.
• The related families of the DANNENBERGERs, notables and nobles, who connect us to the Free Republic of Strasbourg, the Holy Roman Empire, and even to the Alemanni, Etichonides, and Leutharius I of Alemannia.

3. More anecdotally, our cousin J. Hatt has unraveled the corridors of time to establish that Brant, Charlemagne, Rollo the Viking, the Dukes of Brittany, the Counts of Toulouse, the House of Habsburgs, etc., were among our ancestors.

4. Our social background was a mix of rural and notable families. We find the same pattern with the Delmas of Eymet in Dordogne in the second half of the 19th century.

5. Our Stroh family has experienced the ups and downs that have marked Alsace, from the introduction of the Reformation – in Ottwiller in 1572 – until today. Madeleine Stroh-Horst has participated in her own way in Franco-German reconciliation by translating a number of Alemannic texts, by Sébastien Brant, her ancestor, of whom she made the first translation in 1977 of the “Ship of Fools” (a bestseller of the Middle Ages, published in 1494) but also by Geiler de Kaysersberg and Albert Schweitzer.

Fragments of memory …

• Some of our Stroh ancestors migrated from the Saarland to the Barony of Fénétrange in the 16th century, then left these territories, which had become Catholic (Lorraine), for the Protestant Hunchbacked Alsace in the mid-17th century.
• Jean Stroh, settled in Ottwiller, submitted the request for the annexation of the neighboring communes to the newly formed French Republic, a request that was accepted by the Convention and enacted by the decree of February 1, 1793, confirmed by the Peace of Lunéville in 1801. The district of Sarre-Union was created in 1790
• A heroic episode of Pastor Dannenberger in 1815, recounted in Erckmann-Chatrian’s “Alsatian Vigils.” Pastor of Vendenheim, he saved the lives of 18 Catholic hostages from a neighboring village.
• Chrétien Ritzenthaler, husband of Mathilde Ortlieb, a winegrower in Ribeauvillé, founded a transportation company to travel from the brand new railway station located 4-5 km away to the town center.
• The presence of the republican Jean Macé at the “little Château” in Beblenheim, where he had Mathilde and Émilie Ortlieb as students, and also Louis-Paul Horst’s aunt, Marie Pétri, a close friend of Mathilde.
• Around 1860, the young Charles Wagner arrived in Ottwiller with his family. The grandmothers of George IV Stroh and Charles Wagner were sisters. In 1907, he founded the Foyer de l’Ame in Paris, today one of the two “liberal” Protestant parishes in Paris.
• In 1872, George III Stroh and his wife, Louise Dannenberger, opted for France so that their son, born in 1853, would not have to do his German military service.
• In 1915, Pastor Louis-Paul Horst, Madeleine Stroh’s husband since 1913, was imprisoned in Colmar for refusing to pray for the Kaiser, and Madeleine was relegated to Dresden.
• Jean-Louis Stroh spent four years on the front lines of World War I: the Somme, the Chemin des Dames, and as far as the Piave in Italy, fighting against the Austrians, where he was wounded.
• In 1931, Louis-Paul Horst and Madeleine Stroh took charge of the Saint-Nicolas parish, a center of liberal Protestantism in Strasbourg.
• In 1939, thousands of Strasbourg residents were evacuated to the southwest: Jean-Louis Stroh and his family went to Périgueux, while Madeleine and Louis-Paul Horst (with Émilie Orlieb and Mathilde Ritzenthaler) went to Bergerac, to the Gueylard family home in Lamouthe, purchased before the war by Henri Stroh, husband of Marie-Anne Gueylard.
• On March 25, 1944, Henri Stroh was arrested by the Gestapo in his office in Le Creusot. He was deported to Buchenwald. His whereabouts disappeared after his release from the camp in 1945. In 1947, he was declared dead for France by the Autun tribunal.

In MOSELLE:

• The villages of Fénétrange and Mittersheim, where our ancestors, Abraham and his sons, were farmers and seigneurial mayors.

In ALSACE:

in Bas-Rhin department, 

• the Stroh tannery in Ottwiller and the Strohhof,
• the Wehrung houses in Drulingen,
• the coaching inn on the Metting hill,
• the Herbitzheim cemetery (Fritz Stroh and his family branch),
• Rue de la Monnaie in Strasbourg and St. Nicholas Church (pastors Louis and Louis-Paul Horst, A. Schweitzer, etc.),
• the St. Gall cemetery in Koenigshoffen, which was for a long time the Protestant cemetery. It contains the graves of Georges Stroh IV, who died in 1926 (perpetual grave), and of Aunt Madeleine and Uncle Louis-Paul Horst (grave of Petri, Louis-Paul Horst’s mother).

in Haut-Rhin department, 

• Ribeauvillé and Riquewihr, in the footsteps of the Ortliebs,
• Beblenheim, the “little castle” (Jean Macé),
• Horbourg, at Aunt Madeleine’s godmother’s house.

IN PARIS:

• At Père-Lachaise Cemetery: the (perpetual) tomb of Georges Stroh III (died in 1898) and his wife Louise Dannenberger. Renovated in 2009,
• The Temple of the Hearth of the Soul, built in 1907 by Pastor Charles Wagner, first cousin of Georges Stroh IV, who chose to live in France in 1872.

Google map of places …