Johann Wilhelm Wannemacher
(bap. 15 Mar 1657 Darmstadt – d. 22 Jan 1723 Erbach)
District Magistrate in Erbach
and
Author of the Office Description of the Erbach Office
The residents of the old city of Erbach broke down into two sharply divided classes. The lower class was formed by the old-established families, the few peasants and the many workers. Perhaps one can count the servants of the comital house in this group as well. The old families formed, in genealogical terms, a large clan. They were related by blood and marriage in multiple ways.
Above this purely old Erbach portion of the residents stood the officials, who stood out socially and societally and through their educational background, who were charged with the administration of the countship. Regarded, in the sequence from above to below, as officials in the broader sense, were the chancery directors, the counselors, the officials, the administrators, the collectors of rents, the bailiffs and office bailiffs, the secretaries and the office clerks, perhaps even the kitchen clerks. All of them people who were familiar with administrative duties and who could all read and write.
This upper stratum of the population was seldom recruited from old Erbach families. Most of them were outsiders who were called by the counts on the basis of recommendations from families that were relatives or friends, or who had proven exceptional by virtue of their accomplishments. Most of the pastors of the land also belonged to these people called from outside. This is best evidenced for administrators and also clergy in Luck’s “Essay of a Reformation and Church History of the Countship Erbach and the Domain of Breuberg” in 1772. In the 2nd section of the book that is so important for the family history of the land, the names and mostly also the origins of all pastors and in part also of the officials are listed. If one looks through the long list, one must conclude that about 90 percent of all the clergy who stood in service in Erbach, and of otherwise outstanding people, were foreign to the land. They came from other German states. The calling of outsiders into Erbach services begins with the Reformation. One of the first foreigners was the Michelstadt pastor, Georg zur Brücken (around 1539). He came from Dortmund. His successor, Johann Haynbacher, was from Kissingen, and the successor of this man was Nicolaus Meister from Ober-Ursel. The most significant among the foreigners to the land was Andreas Stalzius, the author of the first church assemblage of church rules of the countship of Erbach. He came from Zwickau in Saxony. At this point the men who were significant as pastors, superintendents, historians, and church historians should also be mentioned.
It was similar with the Erbach officials. They, too, came mostly from other German states: senior civil administrator Adolf Friedrich Pfreundt from Westphalia, Mathes Moler from Wimpfen, Abraham Goyvaerts, who brought home the corpse of the son of Count Ludwig the Knight who had fallen in the battle of Nuremberg, came from services in the Electoral Palatinate. His ancestors were Netherlanders. Also, nearly all of the officials who belonged to the circle of the administrators of Count Francis were foreign to the land. Captain Wiebel came from Wertheim, the Dosch family from Hohenlohe, the chancery director Haackh from Württemberg. This series also could be extended over a great range.
The clergy and the officials of the countship formed at all times a social stratum that was closed unto itself. They were mostly connected and related by marriage. Again and again, there is evidence of marriages between sons and daughters of the administrative families. If one examines the ancestry trees of the families, one finds that the most significant and intellectual families were bound through ties of relationship with one another, like the Kehrer, Luck, Nausester, Louis, Knapp, and other families.
The bailiff, Johann Wilhelm Wannemacher, also belongs among the ranks of the foreign administrators. The family tree goes back in its various branches to Darmstadt, Worfelden, and Friedberg. The well-known description of the office of Erbach from the year 1708 comes from Wannemacher. Wannemacher was first a house clerk (castle administrator) in Fürstenau. A settlement from him lay in the document files of Fürstenau under “court servants and clerks.” In 1688, Wannemacher stood in the service of the count of Erbach-Erbach. In this position, he assembled several residents’ lists for the countship. The description of the office of Erbach and entries in several payment registries also stem from him. In the year 1689, he received an employment contract as official administrator in Erbach. On the 8th of August, 1710, he is listed at the wedding of his daughter, Christine Margarethe, along with the comital chamberlain Johann Adolf Greef in Erbach, as cameral adjutant and deputy administrator. Until 1722 he is also called bailiff and privy counselor. (Erbach documents, “Amtmänner,” fascicle 7.)
Wannemacher was baptized on the 15th of March, 1657, in Darmstadt. He died on the 22nd of January, 1723, in Erbach. His son, Jakob Wilhelm (1695-1768), likewise entered the administrative profession. He was first deputy administrator in König, and bailiff there beginning in 1723. In 1725, he went as a bailiff to Biber and Lohrhaupten in the countship of Rieneck. His daughter was married to the steward, Johann Adolf Greef. Most likely this man is the archivist Gräfe who came from Friedberg.
Johann Wilh. Wannemacher came from the landgraviate of Hessen-Darmstadt. His father, Philipp Christoph Wannemacher, was registrar and chancery director, then notary public, and finally city clerk in Darmstadt. He was active on the 20th of June, 1661, in the opening of the testament of the deceased landgrave, Georg II of Hesse. The testament was opened in the castle in Darmstadt by the Hessian chancellor, Fabricius, in the presence of the royal family, several ambassadors, and gentleman from the aristocracy. The imperial notary, Philipp Christoph Wannemacher, carefully inspected the seal and the signature of the testament. Those present could be assured of this through visual perception.
Philipp Christoph Wannemacher was married to Margarethe Linder, a daughter of the senator and church elder Johann Linder in Darmstadt. The next generation of ancestors stretches to Friedberg in Upper Hesse. The grandfather of the Erbach bailiff was Christoph Wannemacher, organist in Friedberg, and the great grandfather Wolf Wannemacher was a cooper in Darmstadt, the great-great grandfather Hans Wannemacher the Younger was a cabinetmaker in Darmstadt. He died on the 30th of April, 1585, in Darmstadt. – A younger branch of the family emigrated to America. There the name is written Wanamaker. John Wanamaker, born on the 11th of July, 1838, in Philadelphia, founded there in 1861 the clothing store, Wanamaker and Brown. Wanamaker was an outstanding merchant and erected a 26-story skyscraper of marble in Philadelphia.
Postscript: A portion of the genealogic material was kindly made available to me by Lt. Col. Commander Leistikow, Krautheim an der Jagst. (Die Heimat, 1961, no. 12)
This file, originally written in German, was found in the Hessisches Landesarchiv in Darmstadt, Germany, by Haylie Wanamaker. At the request of Julia Wannamaker this translation has been provided by Ginny Lewis, Professor of German, Northern State University, Aberdeen, South Dakota. (Sep – Oct 2020)
Julia Wannamaker
SC > NYC
JuliaWannamaker@gmail.com
http://www.WannamakerGenealogy.com
Posted October 11, 2020
Wannamaker Genealogy 