I attached the permission of marrying for Sergeant Johann Christoph Krauseneck and Charlotte Engelhardt: the original document and a translation. My English is to bad for translating such a long text in a short time. But if Mary will help you translate and will have some questions, please give her my e-mail-address. Maybe, I could help her. She translated the handwritten text on the picture correctly! There is only a small mistake: the name is not “Else,” but “Elise”! The 3 Photos: 1) the young girl is my Grandgrandmother Anita Schmitz, born on July 11th. In 1864 in East Saginaw. She died in (West-) Berlin on January 31st, 1955, one day before my sister was born. Anita was the youngest child of Anton and Betty Schmitz. 2) I learned that this man in the American uniform must be Friedrich Wilhelm Krauseneck, a brother of Gustav and Betty, the painter of the small picture from the blockhouse. But what for a uniform is it? From the north- or south troops? 3) I am unsure who that person in the Prussian uniform is. But I am sure: this is not Anton Schmitz!  I have a photo from Heinrich Krauseneck, another brother of Gustav and Betty. He was born on the first of June in 1839 in Koblenz, where the family lived. And this Heinrich looks like the young man in the third photo! I attached the photo from Heinrich Kr. to compare! I think, that photo was made in the time, he served in the prussian army! Now I hope, this mail will “healthy” arrive in America!   Felix  

Berlin / Germany

The Krauseneck story

Introduction

  The chapter of the ancestors of the Krauseneck family dates back to the era of the 30 Years European War (1618 – 1648). So it is quite natural that the first mention of this family could only be tied together to a family history by adding some guessing. The family Krausnick (in church records often also spelled Crusnick) can be found several times in the Brandenburg Altmark between 1500 and 1600. In Berlin, in 1569 a man called Benedictus Krusenick becomes awarded the citizenship. In 1587, his son Dictus becomes citizen of Berlin (both were bricklayers).   In Stendal, a teacher (Magister) called Grigorius Krausnick was a vicar before 1533. With the introduction of the Reformation, he became the first Protestant vicar in Stendal where he died in 1558. His tomb can be found in the Petri Church (Petrikirche). Some delivery of some single family roots brings up the assumption that this very Grigorius and his son with the same name (vicar in the Church St. Niklaus in Stendal) were direct ancestors. This can only remain an assumption because no written evidence exists. However, we know by evidence that the first known ancestor of the Krausnick family line war born in Seehausen, Altmark. In this town, several Krausnicks took residence as husbandmen (farmers) and handycraftsmen. In 1493, these families were mentioned for the first time as witnesses in a case before court.   Another repeatidely re-surfacing guessing that the Krausenecks who later would live in Frankonia and would have been religious refugees from Bohemia seems to be belonging to the realm of sagas. In annex 1, there can be found a well-founded rebuttal of this thesis by a professional family history scholar.   Our eldest ancestor, known by name, is probably Joerg Krusnick. Following an order of the Great Elector (“Kurfuerst”) to open weapons arsenal records, he was listed in Seehausen as being equipped with a feathered spear but considered re-armored. This entry dates back to the year 1571. Joerg Krusnick probably died before 1585 because, in this very year, a Jochen Luedike took his place (Joerg`s widow has probably married this Luedike).   One of Joerg`s sons, Joachim, is mentioned in the church archives of Seehausen as a godfather: “Joachimus Crusenick, Juergen`s son”. He is the first person starting the chapter of the Krauseneck ancestors with documented evidence.   As part of this family history, a couple of interesting original documents exist. Among them is a copy of a family tree which states that our relatives emanate from two Krausenecks which were entered into Meyer`s Dictionary – The poet Johann Christoph Krauseneck and the Prussian Chief of Staff, General Johann Wilhem (von) Krauseneck. Information on those two Krausenecks who are not part of the direct family line can be found in the annex to this chapter. There, all connection and relations, either known by research or by re-established contacts to ‘family sidelines’ (from our perspective) in the USA and Canada can be found. Only one of these contacts was not cut off because of World War II – the one to the offsprings of the marriage of one Krauseneck daughter with Friedrich Grund. All the others I discovered by accident (for example during my first internet searchings in 1999), or through research I undertook by purpose.   In this family, there have been some academians. That`s why many hints exist in the according relevant scientific sources and dictionaries, such as the “Christian Gottlieb Joechers allgemeines Gelehrten Lexicon” (Christian Gottlieb Joecher`s general Dictionary for Scholars), reprinted in Hildesheim in 1961, State Library Berlin: Am pp. 317, and Georg Wolfgang A Fikenscher`s “Bayreuth for Scholars” (Nuremburg 1803).                     2432 (XII)        Joachim Krausenenck          born 1575,              Seehausen, Altmark died 7<sup>th</sup> April 1640, Neunkirchen, Frankonia       Most of the informations on our first ancestors from the Krauseneck family line appearing in official documents we have thanks to the short curriculum vita which his son wrote down into the Neunkirchen Church Book.   Joachim studied at the University of Frankfurt at the Oder. Traditionally, he beared his name in the latinized form Joachimus Cruseneccius. The entry into the university archives when enrolling for the summer semester in 1591 and charged with 9 pennies (Groschen) reads: “Joachimus Krusenik, Sehusensis”. With this name he also appears as godfather on May 12,1607, in his native town Seehausen: “Joachimus Crusenick, son of Juergen”. In the year of this baptizing Joachim becomes a teacher and court writer in the Frankonian town Schnaittach, north-east of Nuremburg. It remains unclear when exactly he migrated from the Electorate (Kurfuerstentum) Brandenburg to Frankonia. In those days, the protestant town of Schnaittach was situated in the small High Palatinate enclave of Rothenburg, amidst of Nuremburg territory.   On November 17, 1607, in Schnaittach, Joachim marries Regina Stubenrauch, daughter of Matthias Stubenrauch, castle overseer (Burgvogt) of Rothenburg (Rottenburg). The family of the castle overseer must have been very prestigious because often, he and his wife appear as godfathers or godmothers. From this marriage emanate son Christoph (no. 1216) and at least daughter Margarethe (married Fasolt).   Joachim continues studying theology at the Altdorf University and, after receiving ordination on April 19, 1614 from Baron Georg Erkinger von Lentersheim, gets called upon the pastorate Obersteinbach (Scheinfeld district). In 1616, he went to Creussen as a cantor where he was promoted to the directorship in 1618. On November 9, 1620, Joachim was ordinated to the pastor position in Bayreuth, as well and, in 1621, took over the pastorate in Neunkirchen on the Main (near Bayreuth). There he died on April 7 1640 after 19 years of service. His son wrote down the following grave inscription text into the Church Archives:   Copy Epitaph inscription in the churches of Neunkirchen. “In the year 1640, on April 7, in Jesus Christ, the Honorable and well-educated Mister Joachimus Krauseneck von Seehausen, Mark Brandenburg, who for 20 years faithfully and joyfully served here in God`s churches, gently passed away at the age of 63 years. God may redeem him a happy resurrection. Christophorus Krauseneck, son of Joachim, at the age of 38 years.”   According to a pencil note in the Neunkirchen pastorate description his wife supposedly died on July 24, 1656, in the Bayreuth House of Pastors` Widows. The person listed there was called Magdalena, though. It remains unclear whether this was an error, or whether she was the second wife of Joachim.   Either already Joachim or, later on, his son Christoph re-translated the latinized names into the German form Krauseneck. In the Bayreuth pastorate book the name appears in various written forms: Krauseneck, Crauseneck, Crusnik, Cruseneccius. His son sometimes used the written form “Krausnick” as well.   We can assume with significant certainty that all people bearing the name Krauseneck with ancestors in Frankonia descend from this very Joachim Krauseneck. During my studies of this family line undertaken since 1985, I was always capable to integrate all appearing people with this name somewhere into the list of Joachim`s descendents.           1216 (XI)         Magister Christoph Krauseneck      born November 19, 1609, Schnaittach died October 14, 1674, Berneck, Frankonia         Christoph was born in 1609 in Schnaittach as the son of the teacher and court writer Joachim Krauseneck. During his youth, the family moved serveral times: 1614 to Obersteinach, 1616 to Creussen and 1621 finally to Neunkirchen where the father assumed his final position as a pastor. Like his father, Christoph also studies at the Altdorf University, where he enrolled on June 30, 1628.   Besides studying, he was interested in literature and wrote poems. In 1633, he became “poeta lauretus, ” meaning he was a laurel-crowned poet. The Wirbenz church book, entirely written in Latin, contains many hand-made distiches.   On April 26, 1635, he was ordinated as a pastor in the town of Kulmbach and assumed his pastor`s office in the Higher Palatinate town of Wirbenz on the same day. There, he married Rebecca Biedermann on June 13, 1637. In the official entry of the marriage, he held the name Christoph Crauseneccius Schnaittachio Francus. In Wirbenz, the first children of the couple Krauseneck/Biedermann were born. But the twins born on July 18 1638, died in the same year. Half a year after his father’s death, Christoph took over the pastor position in Neunkirchen. His father did not keep a church book, or it got lost. In any case, assuming his new position, Christoph started keeping a new church book with a short description of his father’s curriculum vitae and his own, which other pastors later did the same. In Neunkirchen, 8 children were born, including our principal ancestor Johann Joachim. (no. 608).   In 1661 or 1662, Christoph Krauseneck became pastor in Berneck (today Bad Berneck), 15 kilometers north of Bayreuth. There, he was known as an energetic man with blunt and robust manners who in his preachers was not mincing matters. At times, he was railing at the town writer and the director and was complaining about the mayor and the town council to appear in church not frequently enough. The Berneck pastor chronic accounts for two special peculiarities: “May 19 1664 cloud-burst, 1663/1664 the Turks”.   At the age of 64 he retired and died soon afterward, on October 24, 1674. The epitaph dedicated to him remained intact and can be found at the left-hand side of the altar of the Berneck church.   Now Mister Krauseneck rests Who hat set many verses And has ingravated the praise of many with diaomond to the Book of eternity So that he may not die Therefore this monument will be erected to honor him. Born 1609, deceased anno 74   Below this inscription is a heart crowned with laurel, on top of it a cross and the inscription: “Amor meus crucifixus” (The One on the Cross is my love).   The lower part of the tomb shows a coat of arms – a snake winding around a roman cross, and next to it the inscription: “Cui credidi scio. 2 Tim.I. C.C.S.F.”   Below follows the text:   Next to the altar rests in peace in God Mister Christoph Krauseneck, pastor Right here, died with the age of 65 Serving 40 years, pastoring 37 years And Mrs. Rebecca Biedermann von Bayreuth, his wife Then Mrs. Anna Maria Meusslin, from Culmbach Mr. Joh. Joach. Krauseneck`s pastor`s right here His dearest wife, with the age of 33 years.   So, his wife Rebecca and the early deceased daughter-in-law Anna Maria are also burried there. However, the galley of the former Nikolai Church has been totally re-constructed twice since the burial of Christoph – after the big fire of the year 1692, a baroque-style new church-building was erected on the gothic groundwalls which had to be torn down in 1796 because of the imminent danger fo collapse. The church building which exists until today, now called Trinity Church (Dreifaltigkeitskirche), stems from 1800. The basis of the church tower still dates back to the times of Christoph Krauseneck. Now, where could the real site of the family grave be found? In the church book it says under the entry of the death of Anna Maria Meusel who was inscribed into the gravestone:   “My dearest wife died on the 5^th of December with her soul in the Lord, and was burried on the 8. hujus, here grave next to the altar where the cup (chalice) will be passed around.”   So we can assume that the epitaph can be found today just a couple of yards away from the tomb.   Post scriptum: Upon visiting the church in Bad Berneck in 1997, I found the traces of two more Krauseneck lines:  Hans Krauseneck who emigrated to Canada in the 1950s was in contact by writing with the Pastor’s Office; and a Mrs. Gunhild Krauseneck from Bad Kissingen had left an entry in the guest book.           1217 (XI)         Rebecca Biedermann                       born: December 28, 1613, Bayreuth (wife of Christoph Krauseneck)          died: before 1694, Berneck, Frankonia       Here parents were Nikolaus Biedermacher, clothmaker who died in Bayreuth on December 16 1628, and Anna Ottendoerfer – both had maried in Bayreuth on February 10 1613. So we can assume that Rebecca was their first child. With the age of 23, on June 13 1637 she married the pastor magister Christoph Krauseneck to whom she gave birth of 10 children. The twins born in the year 1638 in Wirbenz died in the very same year. In the town Neunkirchen followed:   Maria Margareta          born August 14, 1641 Johann Joachim       born March 21 1643 (no. 608) Johann Samuel           born October 11 1644, died May 15 1646 Barbara                       born May 16 648 Johann Christoph        born June 22 1650, died March 22 1651 Adam Martin               born May 1 1652; he became bailiff in the town Muenchsteinach, near Frauenthal; died in 1718 He is the ancestor of the Prussian Chief of staff, General von Krauseneck, see annex and the book “Der General von Krauseneck”, written by Felgermann, 1851 – in family possession Johann Adam             born November 16 1654, later candidate of theology Johann Heinrich         born December 5 1656, later died as a Saxonian Lieutenant   Unknown is the date of Rebecca’s death. She is burried together with her husband in the tomb of the Berneck church.     608 (X)            Magister Johann Joachim Krausenenck     born: March 21, 1643 in Neunkirchen on the Main died: January 3, 1716, Berneck, Frankonia       The young Johann Joachim was first taught by his father. When he proved to be a keen and talented pupil he was sent to the school in Bayreuth and afterwards to the gymnasium (highschool) in Heilsbronn. This facility, founded as a monastery school for just about 100 talented junior scholars served as a big county school for the Frankonian Dukedoms in which the gynasium education and the university studies were closely linked with each other. Starting on November 23, 1667, following an order of the consistory, Johann Joachim went to the newly founded Christian Ernestinum gymnasium in Bayreuth. In 1668, he went to Leipzig as a student. He enjoyed the sciences and stayed there longer than necessary, beyond receiving his degree – finally it were 5 ½ years. During this time he made his living by teaching. In Leipzig he got his masters degree (magister) on April 29 1671 after defending his thesis “De propagatione religionis violenta – Disquis. politica” (Praes. M. Adam Rechenberg, Lipsia 1671, [10 pp.]). He was awared a “Doctorate for the World’s Wisdom” at the University of Wittenberg.   He continued his studies in Leipzig until his father called him back in 1674. Now Johann Joachim was ordinated in Bayreuth on February 15 1674 and was appointed pastor adjunct to his father in Berneck. In October of the same year, after his father’s death Johann Joachim first left Berneck and was installed in as deacon in Pegnitz on March 21 1675. There he married Anna Maria Meusel on April 27 (or 25 ?) 1676. He was 18 years older than his very young bride. Still in Pegnitz, the daughter Anna Maria and the only son Johann Christoph (no. 304) were born to this couple.   In Pegnitz, Johann Joachim wrote the article (treatise) “On Eva Maria Koebbel, married, from Geysingen” (printed in Bayreuth in 1677).   On November 22 1682, the family returned to Berneck where Johann Joachim assumed the pastor’s position as the second member of the Krauseneck family – seven years after his father’s death. There his wife gave birth to two more daughters.   This Krauseneck is among those listed in the “Scholars Dictionary from Joecher” (Gelehrten-Lexikon von Joecher) – see the introduction. On his time in Berneck we are told that he had encountered “a couple of sufferings”. By this is meant first of all the terrible big fire, “caused by the lack of reason of godless smith” which happend on the Friday before Whitsuntide in 1692, and which destroyed the entire town of Berneck with the exception of 5 buildings. Starting on December 26 1692, pastor Krauseneck had done a lot of work and re-edited the church books which still exist today. He recorded the families with their dates of births and marriages, covering all people living in Berneck and the 18 attached villages.   In 1694, his first wife died with the age of 34. Five years later, on November 28 1694, Johann Joachim married Anna Rosina Schreiber, 45 years old (born 1654 in Weidenberg). She was the widow of pastor Mueller from Trebgast who had died one year ago. This marriage had no children.   During the following years, the church was re-built: the left-overs of the gothic walls were included into the baroque building. The old church tower survived and in the year 1715 got the top which still exists today.   In the summer of 1709, son Johann Christoph returns from his studies in Leipzig and, from now on helped his father as a pastor adjunct and cantor.   On January 3 1716, Johann Joachim Krauseneck died in Berneck “after a long and heavy battle and suffering on Friday mornig at nine o’clock” (entry into the death-certificate record). He was almost 74 years old, had “served to the Word of God” for 41 years, among them 33 years in Berneck. His second wife died only 3 months later.       609 (X)            Anna Maria Meusel                                       born: February 17 1661 in Kulmbach (wife of Johann Joachim Krauseneck)           died: December 5 1694 in Berneck, Frankonia       Anna Maria was the only daughter, after 6 sons, of Johann Kilian Meusel (no. 1218), a draper and merchant (german: “Umgelder”). We know her other ancestors dating back to the period of the Reformation. Almost all of them descend from the small town Kulmbach, just about 20 kilometers north-west of Bayreuth.   With the age of 15 years and 2 months, on April 27 1676 in Pegnitz, she was married with the deacon Johann Joachim Krauseneck. In Pegnitz she gave birth to two children, the first when she was only 16 years old: Anna Maria                  born June 25 1677 married on April 28 1696 to Matthias Jakob Ellrodt Johann Christoph     (no. 304), born August 16, 1681, died May 18, 1751   After moving to Berneck, the family grew after the birth of two more daughters: Ursula Felicitas           born June 3 1683, died on the same day Helena Rebecca         born February 6 1690 married May 22 1719 with the pastor Joseph Andreas Frischmann in Goldkranach, 3 children died in 1724   Anna Maria died on December 5 1694 with the young age of 33 years. Three days later she was burried in the church, “next to the altar where the cup is been passed around”. She found this place to rest in peace together with here parents-in-law Christoph and Rebecca Krauseneck. Their epitaph from 1674 had survived the heavy big fire from 1692 and can be found today in the church which was newly built, next to the altar.