funny that the two #zeuzheim blog entries are more popular than most recent entries even though it's a rare name. #familyHistory #genealogy

the Zeuzheim Clan After accidentally discovering the place from which the very rare family name Zeuzheim (Zeutzheim, Zeutzem, Zeitzem) is probably derived, I had a look at my files and found ancient copies from a residents register (Ortsfamilienbuch) of Horchheim, the village (now part of Koblenz) where all known Zeuzheim people appear to have their origins. For direct ancestors we also have copies or transcripts of the relevant documents from the (catholic) church archives. For other descendants, we just go by the book. So here are the descendants of the earliest Zeuzheim person I know of, namely Johannes Zeutzem. He was married to Magdalena and had at least five children with her, born 1661-1668, and then to Margaretha, with whom he had his last known child, born 1675. No further details are known regarding either of the wives. Close-up of the Zeuzheim sign on the station of Niederzeuzheim, from the photo I used before. I'll first list the six children on their own, and then again with all their spouses and descendants. I'm marking **twins** in the list, as my Krefeld Clan has a conspicuous number of twin births and this seems to be something that came down from the Zeuzheim side. I've also marked godmothers and godfathers where necessary to explain the unexpected choices of posh first names. A few people were employed by the local nobility which may explain some of the high-born godfathers and godmothers. The De la Strada lineage has a similar background in the service of the house of Nassau at Oranienstein (near Diez, just south of Horchheim). 1. Hans Michael ~ 6.3.1661 2. Johannes ~ 2.4.1663 3. Sophia ~ 25.5.1665 4. Lorenz ~ 9.3.1667 5. Eva Elisabeth ~ 27.11.1668 6. Lucas ~ 23.10.1675 Note that in this generation there is also an Anton Zeutzem married to Maria Flory and having children from 1685 to 1695. Not clear what the relation to the family of Johannes is, but it seems to suggest that Johannes is not the only Zeuzheim in his generation. There is also a widower named Jakob Zeutzheim. He died in 1707 aged 54, so this couple would have been a bit younger than our founder couple. Now the whole clan. I think I have all the grandchildren - it gets confusing after that because the same names are popping up in parallel families and from the data in the register it is not always clear which of the Jakobs or Johanns Z. a particular family should be attached to: 1. Hans Michael ~ 6.3.1661 oo Anna Gertrud Enkrich 1.1 Anna Barbara ~ 15.3.1690 1.2. Otilie * 14. / ~ 17.5.1693 1.3. Maria ~ 21.9.1695 1.4. Eulalia ~ 26.10.1698 1.5. Jakob ~ 17.8.1700 + 2.3.1752 oo 25.1.1729 Maria Magdalena Saur (2nd oo 1754 Joh. Sauer) 1.5.1. Johannes * 5.2.1730 1.5.2. Johannes * 14.11.1731 1.5.3. Anna Katharina * 14.3.1736 oo 11.1.1757 Joseph Margareta, Schuhmacher in Thal 5 children born 1757-1762 oo 23.10.1763 Karl Joseph Henrich 8 children born 1764-1780 1.5.4. Franz * 9.2.1738 1.5.5. Philipp Friedrich 9.2.1741 (godfather: PF Baron von Reiffenberg) 1.5.6. Eleonora Katharina Juliana * 5.7.1743 (godmother: EKJ von Reiffenberg, nee von Wasenburg) oo 9.1.1765 Johann Irsch, gardener with the baron von Eyhs (NB a bit of tragedy piling up here, Eleonora died in 1768 at age 24, her daughter three years later just before her sixth birthday, and Johann Irsch went on to marry Agnes Nickenich, have four children with her within four years (including a set of **twins** , one of whom died after 10 days) just to die at age 27.) 1.5.6.1. Theresia * 20.10.1765 1.5.7. Margaretha Helena * 5.7.1743 **twins** with 1.5.6. Her name changed to Maria Magdalena by the time she oo 11.11.1765 Philipp Delastrada but it's definitely the same person, as per a note on her baptism entry confirming that she's the one who married Philipp. The archivist who sent us the transcripts suggested it is most likely that she was called Lena and abbreviated her first Christian name to M., and when she got married and needed a more official name, somebody wrongly expanded the shorter version into Maria Magdalena. These two are the grandparents of Elisabetha de la Strada. 1.5.8. Anna Gertrud ~5.11.1748 1.5.9. Gertrud * 16.8.1751 1.6. Johann Peter ~ 12.3.1703 oo 6.6.1724 Anna Zander + 9.3.1765 aged 72 (see also GedBas) 1.6.1. Jakob * 3.1.1725 1.6.2. Franz *23.6.1726 + before 1793 oo 30.1.1753 Veronica Freusburger from Valendar + 12.10.1793 aged 66 "ob languore" 6 children including Johann Georg Zeutzheim (*27.11.1758) whose family is on GedBas (they are the only grandchildren of Johann Peter listed there) 1.6.3. Johann Georg * 4.6.1729 + 18.3.1796 from asthma oo 31.1.1758 Elisabeth Mohr from Kobern + 22.10.1775 aged 41 after long term tuberculosis 7 children including a set of **twins** 2nd oo 11.6.1776 Anna Katharina Struth + 25.2.1795 aged 67, stroke 1.6.4. Matthias ~ 8.11.1733 1.6.5. Johannes * 28.8.1734 oo 27.6.1763 Maria Volcker from Kamp 1.6.6. Anna Katharina * 11.1.1738 + 8.10.1774 1.6.6.1 Veronika Z. * 6.4.1761 + 17.12.1761 (father: Friedrich Augstein from Ruedesheim) 1.6.6.2. Anna Clara *15.6.1765 + 18.6.1765 (father: Joseph Blath, French soldier) 1.6.7. Albertina Franziska 9.7.1740 (godmother: AF von Heddesdorff) 2. Johannes ~ 2.4.1663 oo Maria Margaretha 2.1 Johannes ~ 28.3.1701 3. Sophia ~ 25.5.1665 4. Lorenz ~ 9.3.1667 5. Eva Elisabeth ~ 27.11.1668 6. Lucas ~ 23.10.1675 NB the Horchheim book notes no death or any other further events for the four youngest children - so we're left to hope they lived happily somewhere else. There are Zeuzheim links to the neighbouring village of Pfaffendorf, for instance, now also a part of Koblenz.

After accidentally discovering the #Zeuzheim village, I've now written out my Zeuzheim relatives in the 17th and 18th centuries: proseandpassion.blogspot.com/2025/05/the-zeuzheim-cla... #familyHistory #germany #Familienforschung #Horchheim #Koblenz

an origin story In family history research, every new answer tends to create two new questions, so in dealing with this hydra effect, it is always satisfying to find a kind of endpoint such as the place and time where a family name came into being, if only as an excuse to stop digging. I have shared a few such origin stories already, some more hypothetical than others, eg for my lineages of Wolff (named after the Wolffskotten farm in Styrum) and Kauer (leading to the Kauerhof at Nickweiler, mentioned in 1074), and the French connection of Dopheide / d'Oppède. Now I discovered another one accidentally just by looking out of the window of a train while travelling to Idstein: Photo of the train station of Niederzeuzheim, Kreis Limburg (Lahn), Hesse, Germany, taken from a train. Own photo. Ignore the first bit, "Nieder" just means "Lower" Zeuzheim, there is also an Upper Zeuzheim nearby. Now Zeuzheim is also a really rare and interesting family name which probably arose only once, with Zeutzheim and Zeutzem as spelling variations. My most recent Zeutzheim ancestor Margaretha Helena (also known as Maria Magdalena) married a de la Strada and later became the grandmother of Elisabetha de la Strada, the founding mother of the Krefeld Clan. She was born in Horchheim (today part of Koblenz) in 1743 and died in Krefeld in 1798. Her father and paternal grandfather were both born in Horchheim as well, and of her great-grandfather we only have the name Johann Zeutzem (as well as two wives and lots of descendants, will have to prepare an entry on the Zeutzem Clan one day). He must have been born before 1640, so it is a plausible hypothesis that he or his parents were displaced by the Thirty-Years War and may have been settled with the name Zeutzheim as the indication of where they came from. The historic villages of Niederzeuzheim and Oberzeuzheim, today both parts of Hadamar, are about 30 km east-northeast of Koblenz, so this would be the kind of place that people in Horchheim would be just about aware of, a half-day's walking journey away. Meanwhile the fact that I wasn't aware of the place until I passed through on that train is easily explained by the writing as one word with Nieder- or Ober- prefixed to it. Any online searches for the family name would thus not have included the place name among the results. In gedbas.de there is a Zeutzheim family in Horchheim descending from Johann Georg Zeutzheim born 1758, so 15 years younger than my Margaretha, could be a brother, nephew or cousin. The other spelling variants yield only more recent results. There are Zeuzheim people in Koblenz to this day, including a roofing company established in 1889. List of origin stories for name lines (this might become a very irregular series): * Wolff (named after the Wolffskotten farm in Styrum); * Kauer (linked to the Kauerhof at Nickweiler, mentioned in 1074); * Weyland is a name chosen by my Jewish ancestor upon his adult baptism - he was the reason I was travelling to Idstein; * Obelode is a unique name linked to a farm at Steinhagen near Bielefeld * From the same branch of the family tree and geographic area comes the French connection of Dopheide / d'Oppède. Ancestors' names matching place names that I should look into include: Trimbach, Wilsberg,

at one point on my recent travels, I looked out of my train window to find out where we stopped, and instantly learned something about my #familyHistory: proseandpassion.blogspot.com/2025/05/an-origin-story.... #names #genealogy #travel #germany #zeuzheim