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Descendants of Mattheis Riegell
1.MATTHEIS1 RIEGELL was born Abt. 1610 in Munster Emmel, Amt Wittlich, Germany, and died April 17, 1672 in Munster Emmel, Amt Wittlich, Germany.He married MARIA WERNER Abt. 1632 in Rheinland-Pfalz, Germany.She was born Abt. 1615 in Neumagen-Dhron, (near Piersport), Germany, and died December 28, 1672 in Munster Emmel, Amt Wittlict, Germany.
Notes for MATTHEIS RIEGELL:
This family record microfilmed by the Morman Church of Salt Lake City, Utah, Film #493,251page 15, Becherbach, Pfalz, Germany.Note: Pfalz=Palatinate.(Palatinate: the territory of a Palatine- relating to a palace or a feudal lord having sovereign power within his domains), Webster's Dictionary.
The Rheinland-Pfalz was involved in the Thirty Years' War from 1618 to 1648 during which the country was turned from prosperous to a wilderness of uncultivated land.In 1621 this region was in the possession of Spain.After the Thirty Years War ended, a period if comparative peace followed, but it was of short duration.The King of France, Louis XIV, was opposed by all the princes of Northern Europe, who leagued themselves against him, England, Holland and Germany stood as one against this intrigue of France.King Louis XIV, finding himself unable to cope against this mighty combination, determined that, "if the soil of the Palatinate was not to furnish supplies to the French, it should be so wasted that it would at least furnish no supplies to the Germans."The destruction went on.Whole villages were set afire along with all the surrounding farms and farmland within the Palatinate.The fields where the crops were sown were ploughed up.The orchards were hewn down or burned.The damage done during WWII was minimal when compared to this.The population of the region decreased from 17 million to 4 million during this period.The war ended with the Treaty of Rhyswick, signed in 1697.William Penn visited here in 1671 and again in 1677 and offered them a home in his Province, where they could live without wars and persecutions, and under laws which they would share in making.His message brought cheer and hope to many a peasant household.As early as March 10, 1682 Penn's agent sold several 5,000 acre tracts to merchants in Crefeld, Germany.In 1683, Francis Daniel Pastorius, an agent for a number of German Freinds, bought 25,000 acres, and upon these the town of Germantown, Pennsylvania was soon after located.
His name was spelled Mattheiss Riehell in tax records in 1662.In the Riegell Genealogy Newsletter, Oct 31, 1995, they reported that Leslie A. Riggle of Wichita, Kansas visited the Koblenz, Germany Archives and found for the Lutheran Church in Becherbach the death notice for Mattheis.The notice read, "Mattheiss Riechell, who was born the son of a knecht (hired hand), died on 17 April 1672.According to his appearance he was 50-60 years of age.He was married at the age of 18."
More recently, Stefan Riegel of Mainz, Germany determined that the birth records of Mattheis' first children had been wrongly interpreted.They were born in Munster Emmel, Amt Wittlich (today Piersport) on the Mosel River, not Bad Munster am Stein as had previously believed.Mattheis' wife, Maria Werner was born in Neumagen-Dron, a town only 2 miles from Munster Emmel.
Stefan discovered that Mattheis was a Cooper for the local wine makers.Perhaps Stefan's most startling discovery is that the surname does not appear to have been "Riegell" at that time.Tax records for a "Theis Ruell" were translated to "Matthies Riehell" in the Becherbach records for there were two dialects of the German language at that time and the Pennsylvania "Dutch" language most closely resembles the Palatinate dialect.Stefan Riegei discovered that the surname spelling of "Riegell" did not appear until about 1670. Records before that spelled the name "Riehell".This from Gerald Reigle.
Notes for MARIA WERNER:
Traces of Riegel in Piersport,You cannot expect much information from these sources (Tax lists of Piersport and Baptismal register of S. Martin, Niederemmel) bacause Matteis and his wife Maria were born probably between 1605 and 1610 and left Piersport in about 1645, but the names of some of their relatives could be recorded.
At first, none of the sources mentioned above show a surname of Riegel, Riehell or Riehl.Although you can find some entries for the name Ruell.During Gerald Reigle's visit in piersport, he noticed that the people from that town tended to prononce the German umlaut "ue" much like "ie". The local historian, Mr. J. Schemer, confirmed for Gerald that "Ruell" could be prounced as (ry:el) in Piersport (unlike in Becherbach).This lead Gerald to the assumption that when Mattheis moved to Becherbach and said his name (ry:el), the clerical of Becherbach thought it would be written as "Riehell".The name Ruell etc. disappeared in Piersport in 1733.The first finding is a Endrus Reul in 1556.
From this, Gerald conclued the following evolution of the name Riegel: Reul (Piersport 1556) Ruell (Piersport 1624) Riehell, Riehl (echerbach 1650) Riegel (Becherbach 1680).
Child of MATTHEIS RIEGELL and MARIA WERNER is:
| 2. | i. | JOST2 RIEGELL, b. 1635, Munster Emmel, Amt, Wittlich, Germany. |