Mary W. Henderson of Enterprise, AL.:Information about Hans Jacob Wassum
Hans Jacob Wassum (b. 1624, d. 1685)
Notes for Hans Jacob Wassum:The Thirty Year War (1618-1648) brought violence, damage, sickness, hunger, poverty, and death to the Kirch- Bromberg Zent and it's little city.BENEDIKT WASSUMwas District Administrator there for years but died in an epidemic of 1623, leaving behind his family.Recordswere destroyed during this war and there is nothing known about how and where the family survived.
The first post-war records of the Lutheran Church at Kirch-Brombach mention as single survivor of the family HANS JACOB WASSUM b ca 1624, died 1685.Only his death is recorded and birthe is derived by backward calculation.No proof yet that Hans Jacob is son of 'Benedikt but all individual WASSUM families in the Odenwald can be traced back to Hans Jacob who adopted as a full citizen of the Kirch-Brombach Zent in 1654.He was a black-smith, a craft which was continued in the family through generations.Sometimes this was parallel with the business of keeping a wine tavern where domestic wine was served.Hans Jacob Wassum married to Katharina and they had five children, three girls Anna, Elisabetha and Margretha, and sons Conrad and Thomas.
Conrad moved to Vielbrunn, a village east of Kirch-Brombach, to marry GERTRAUD HEYD, a widow in 1687.This couple founded the WASSUM family branch in Vielbrunn.
The first Wassum mentioned in old documents of Erbach County in Germany for 1553 is CONRAD WASSUM, Financial Administrator of Erbach's Reichenberg District.In 1582 Conrad was succeeded by his son? JOHANNES as Keller at Reichenberg Castle.Shortly before 1600 a part of the family moved to Kirch-Brombach in Breuberg Dominion which was nearby.
This data was compiled by Shirley Wolfe Wassom, 412 Standing Oaks Lane, Sealy, TX 77474, 409-885-6610 in 1994-1997 from her and other research since 1964.
More About Hans Jacob Wassum:
Citizenship: 1654, Adopted as full citizen In Kirch-Brom..
Fact: See Notes.
Occupation: Blacksmith & possible wine tavern.
Children of Hans Jacob Wassum and Katharina are:
- +Thomas Wassum, d. date unknown.
- Anna Wassum, d. date unknown.
- Elisabetha Wassum, d. date unknown.
- Margretha Wassum, d. date unknown.
- Conrad Wassum, d. date unknown.