1. WILHELM1 ESCH was born Abt. 1655 in unknown1, and died Unknown.
Notes for WILHELM ESCH:
Wilhelm is identified through the marriage records of his son, Joahnn Mathias (Theis) Esch. In that record, Wilhelm Esch is said to be of "Eppenroth, Schaumburg. Paul Schmidt, German researcher, in March 2, 2000 report, believed that "Eppenroth may have referred to Eppenrod, Unterlahnkreiss, Hessen-Nassau, as that village was not too far from Blessenbach. If Wilhelm's son was born in the 1670s or early 1680s, his christening should have appeard in Eppenrod records. Records were searched from 1651-85, but no Esch entries at all were noted. Wilhelm presumably was still alive when his son married in 1702; a search of Eppenrod burials were searched from 1702-60, but no Esch surname was seen.
Earlier Esch/Eschen name included Johan Esch, martyred in 1523. Unsure of connection to our family:
As Martin Luther's gospel writings were distributed throughout Europe, many joyfully embraced the truth of justification by grace alone.
And some were persecuted for professing this faith. At an Augustinian monastery in Belgium, the prior and two young monks were sentenced to death for refusing to give up their faith. The prior was put to death in his prison cell, and the two young men, Heinrich Voss and Johann Esch, were burned at the stake in Brussels on June 30, 1523. [Brabant, Brussels, Belgium]
Deeply moved by the deaths of these faithful young men, Luther wrote a poem to commemorate their martyrdom. This poem of twelve stanzas is more a ballad than a church hymn. Yet apparently it was the beginning of Luther's hymnwriting, his first poetic effort. The complete text in English translation can be found in The Handbook to the Lutheran Hymnal (page 190).
The hymn "Flung to the Heedless Winds" is a paraphrase of one of the stanzas of Luther's ballad. It expresses the confidence that the sacrifice of Christian martyrs is not in vain
