Here is the text of Phillip's letter. It also contains wonderful pictures (described in the body of the letter) which I've not been able to download to this website. If you would like a copy of the original e-mail, please let me know - anneb22@yahoo.com Thanks!
Güngerich’s in Arolsen-Helsen-Mengeringhausen
in northern Waldeck, Germany (1743 - 1835)
This year Holly and I are living in Germany with our boys Daniel and Matthew, age 10. We
moved to Bonn from Ann Arbor on June 22, and will return to Michigan at the end of 2006. I
have an Alexander von Humboldt research prize that enables me to continue research on early
whale evolution at the Institut für Paläontologie, Universität-Bonn. Our boys are at a German-
language camp for three weeks now, and will enter the German-language Gymnasium in August–
sink or swim– we shall see!
I write this on July 18-19, as we think of our extended family coming together for this year’s
Gingerich reunion in Iowa. To do our part, last weekend Holly and I drove 3 hours east of Bonn,
to Arolsen-Helsen-Mengeringhausen in northern Waldeck. This is where our Güngerich
ancestors lived and farmed from about 1743 through 1835, some 92 years.
I am neither an historian nor a genealogist, and much of my understanding of Güngerichs ins
Deutschland comes from reading the relatively new Amish Mennonites in Germany: their
Congregations, the Estates where they Lived, their Families by Hermann Guth of Saarbrücken
(published by the Illinois Mennonite Historical and Genealogical Society, Metamora, and
Mastoff Press, Route 1, Box 20, Morgantown, PA 19543).
According to Guth, we are all descended from one Christian Güngerich [b. 1648] of Heimberg,
near Thun, in Switzerland. His parents were Michel Güngerich and Anna Kolb, about whom less
is known. Christian Güngerich married Barbara Ruby in 1668 at the age of twenty, and together
they had nine children, five sons and four daughters. The father Christian Güngerich was
imprisoned in Schwartzeneck Prison for his Anabaptist teachings, but escaped the prison and fled
Switzerland in 1692. Christian Güngerich of Heimberg is mentioned for the first time in Alsace
in what is now France in 1695. From 1708 through 1712 he lived and worked on the
Fleckenstein estate in Niederrödern near Lembach, and then moved briefly to the nearby
Frönsburg estate. These were in the Pfalz or Palatinate region of the Rhine Valley.
In 1713, Christian of Heimberg moved from Frönsburg in Alsace to the Hülshof estate near
Laasphe in Wittgenstein farther north in Germany. His eldest son ‘Hans the elder’ [1669- ]
remained at Frönsburg. Later, in 1726, Hans the elder signed a lease enabling his own son
Christian [1690?-1752] to lease the Pfalzhof estate at Frönsburg.
Here a royal marriage becomes important. In 1741, Prince Karl von Waldeck [1704-1763]
married Princess Christiane Henriette von Birkenfeld Pfalz [1725-1816], the younger sister of
Henriette Karoline von Pfalz-Zweibrücken [1721-1774] whom Goethe himself called the Great
Landlord for her enlightened stewardship of the land. Christiane was similarly enlightened, and
coming from Pfalz knew that the Swiss Amish-Mennonites there were outstanding farmers,
known for both hard work and innovation in cultivation and herd management. When she
married and moved to Waldeck she invited Amish-Mennonites from Pfalz to follow, and it is
probably not entirely a coincidence that they left within a few years of her death..
Güngerichs in Waldeck - 2 -July 18, 2006
Residenzschloss (castle or palace) of Karl von Waldeck and Christiane von Birkenfeld Pfalz in Bad
Arolsen. This is where our ancestors Christian Güngerich and his son Peter Güngerich were
employed as Conductoren or managers on the nearby farm Hönighausen. Other Amish-
Mennonites were employed as managers at other nearby estates and mills.
Our visit to Bad Arolsen started with a search for the great Meierei or dairy farm Hönighausen in
nearby Helsen. People knew of a street in Arolsen called Hönighauser Weg, but shook their
heads about Hönighausen itself. Tracking down one lead, a young man Olaf Schultz called
several of his friends, and finally one of them recommended contacting Frau Ilse Nagel, who is
chair of the local Historical Society. When she heard that a man named Gingerich was looking
for his Ur- Grossvater she asked if we were Mennoniten– and I knew we had found someone
who could help us.
Here follow some photos that we took on our visit to Arolsen-Helsen-Mengeringhausen to give
you a sense of the ‘old-country.’ The rolling, timbered hills with open fields of grain reminded
me a lot of Iowa, and the temperature too was about right (ca. 90° F). The grain harvest is in full
swing in central Germany now, with big combines moving through a bounty of wheat, barley,
rye, and oats.
Güngerichs in Waldeck - 3 -July 18, 2006
Philip with Frau Nagel on the main street of Arolsen. The city was build in the early 18th century
as a new town to support the Schloss and the Prince and his family.
Philip on a typical street in Mengeringhausen. The buildings here date from the 16-17th century, in
a town that was already well established in the 11th century.
Güngerichs in Waldeck - 4 -July 18, 2006
Holly examining the menu at the modern restaurant Luisen-Mühle just downstream from
Mengeringhausen toward Arolsen. This is the former Galgenmühle or Gallows Mill where Jacob
Swartzentruber and his wife Barbara Ösch Güngerich lived before moving to the New World
(see ‘The Swartzendruber history from Waldeck to America’ in Amos Gingerich’s blue
book).
Grain field just southwest of Arolsen, possibly part of the Hünighausen estate farmed by Christian
and Peter Güngerich.
Güngerichs in Waldeck - 5 -July 18, 2006
Now that you are confused– here is a map! The Schloss is near the center (in the circle), and the
area northwest of the Schloss is still today known as Schweizerland– because of the Swiss
Mennonites who farmed there (according to Fr. Nagel, few in Arolsen know the origin of the
name). The houses and buildings of the Hünighausen estate farmed by Christian and Peter
Güngerich were in the second circle, and the Luisen-Mühle where the Swartzendrubers lived is in
the lower circle.
Red circle shows approx.
location of Arolsen in
northern Waldeck at the
north edge of the state
of Hesse.
