meet Conon the contrarian
Among the inlaws of Conrad von der Rosen, who came from Strasbourg to settle in Winterburg in the Hunsrück area, we find the vicar and church inspector Johann Conon who gets a lot of praise in texts relating to the von der Rosen family history and also in the Monatshefte, but is vilified in a history of the town of Trarbach. So let's get to the bottom of that:
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**Johann Conon**
He was born around 1542 in Reichenbach (Vogtland). He studied theology in Rostock and Strasbourg, spent two years as an assistant priest in Mundolsheim, Alsace, then became the court priest of the Counts of Winneburg in Beilstein (Mosel).
From 1572 to 1575 he was the Diakon (assistant priest) of Trarbach, serving under the very popular priest Heinrich Henning who was the first protestant vicar of that town, which at the time had between 1000 and 1200 residents and was the adminstrative capital of the Hintere Grafschaft Sponheim (Upper County of Sponheim). The town was in principle Lutheran but it appears that some people including Henning had Calvinist inclinations. (Note that Calvinism wasn't recognised in the Augsburg settlement of 1555.) Diakon Conon together with an unnamed Diakon of neighbouring Enkirch wrote a letter of complaint about those Calvinist tendencies to the authorities in Zweibrücken, resulting in the removal of both Henning and the vicar of Enkirch, Heinrich Gallus in 1574.
Reporting the events in the book _Trarbach in alter Zeit_ , dating from 1909, author Ernst Schütz creates the impression that Conon acted maliciously against a universally popular parish priest, which at the next "Visitation" from the authorities led to the good people of Trarbach denouncing Conon for all sorts of misdemeanors, such as playing cards and running up debts in the local inns. Apparently he was also fond of hunting and fishing, and a good businessman.
As a result of the "troubles in Trarbach" as other sources put it, Conon was moved to a smaller town, Dill, where he became vicar, so it isn't exactly a punishment as he moved to a higher rank in the clergy albeit in a smaller parish. He stayed there for a year, 1575-76.
As if to prove that the authorities were really on his side in the troubles he faced, he was then made the court preacher of Birkenfeld and inspector of the districts of Allenbach, Birkenfeld and Herrstein, a role which he fulfilled until 1602 (not sure what happened then?). Mentions of his name in the Monatshefte mostly refer to his official actions as an inspector, such as installing or removing clergymen in various positions around the area, or commenting on their merits, so he appears to have been carrying out his duties as he should. (Although I also recall seeing a statement from someone who was disappointed after following Conon's recruitment recommendation.)
Birkenfeld in an engraving after Merian. Source: Wikipedia
On 18.12.1600 he held the _Leichenpredigt_ (funeral sermon, a tradition going back to Martin Luther) for Charles I, Count Palatine of Zweibrücken-Birkenfeld in Meisenheim, which has also been published in print. (The count's main claim to fame, I just learned, is that he is the ancestor of the future kings of Bavaria.)
Around 1573 he married Anna Gräf (Croef). Their children include:
Ursula, who in 1602 married Georg Christmann Nesselius, who from 1600 to 1602 was the schoolmaster and Diakon at Birkenfeld serving under Conon, see his CV below. Their daughter Elisabeth married Johann Conrad von der Rosen, the son of the Strasbourg goldsmith. After Elisabeth died, he married her sister Ursula (blog entry on their descendants coming soon).
Hans Konrad 1577, died the same year
Margaretha 1578 died 1579
Petrus 1579
Sara 1581
Johannes 1583 died 1602
Christina 1585
Karl 1587 died 1602
Dorothea 1588
Friedrich 1590
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And while we're here, I'll add a short bio of his son-in-law, the priest Christian Nesselius, about whom we don't know quite as much. In fact, I have come across an amazing number of such cases where the clergyman's daughter marries another clergyman, often carried on across several generations, like we have in the Weiß Chronicles as well. One could describe this as matrilinear, as the daughter of the Pfarrersfrau (vicar's wife) becomes a Pfarrersfrau again. So in the Weiss Chronicles we have Elisabeth Hammers - Catharina Elisabeth Ebner - Maria Elisabetha Weiß. Which makes sense as this role came with a whole host of social obligations as well and the daughters could be trained for it from an early age. Church historians like Friedrich Back and O. Penningroth are good at pointing out these connections. Watch out for a separate entry on this phenomenon coming soon.
Anyhow, here comes Conon's daughter and her husband:
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**Georg Christmann Nesselius**
Born in Speyer
From 1600 to 1602 was the schoolmaster and Diakon at Birkenfeld serving under Conon.
in 1602 married Ursula Conon, daughter of Johann Conon, his boss.
Their daughter Elisabeth Nesselius was born 1606 Winningen
1603-1616 he was Diakon (assistant priest) in Winningen. In these years he had to temporarily take on the tasks of the vicar on two occasions when the position was vacant, but each time he failed to get promoted to get the job permanently.
From 1606 to 1607 he had was the acting vicar after Johannes Porta was dismissed. Petrus Merkator, the vicar of Gödenroth was then moved into the position. Merkator died of the plague (which had also killed four of his children within a fortnight) on 28.10.1611. Although the members of the parish supported Nesselius as the permanent replacement, Konrad Greulach was installed in the post in 1613.
Protests only subsided when Nesselius became vicar of Winterburg in 1614. Greulach also died of the plague, in 1623.
In 1628 Elisabeth Nesselius married Johann Conrad von der Rosen, the son of the Strasbourg goldsmith.
On 10.6.1633 he is no longer alive as his daughter Ursula marries Andreas Quinckh from Kreuznach.
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> Long story short: Conon the contrarian becomes a respectable inspector and his daughter marries his deputy.
PS More treasures from the Trarbach book to follow next week. Oh, and a potted history of the town is also in the pipeline.
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Confused about who is who? - see my new name index for all things family history.
meet #Conon the contrarian proseandpassion.blogspot.com/2026/04/meet-conon-contr...
#familyhistory #churchHistory #reformation #Lutheran #clergy #genealogy #Sponheim #Trarbach #Birkenfeld
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