Michael SOLLMANN

Sollmann family history as developed by Georg August Sollmann

Research by Friedrich Wilhelm Sollmann - Circa. 1917

" - out of old farm stock - "

The following declarations were obtained from the family tree and historyof the Sollmann family. This work was gathered from the early city churchby Georg August Sollmann at the time of May 7, 1878 until his death onthe 14th of April, 1879 at Coburg.

This thick volume is an extraordinary and diligent work for the manymembers of the Sollmann families. This work in beautiful German scriptbears the motto, "Desire and more".

Georg Sollmann had gone through more than 79 church books and civilrecords to develop the facts herein presented. He went through the familytrees and histories of 14 generations. The chief work is in thepossession of his son in America.

Another copy, painstakingly duplicated the original copy and it isbelieved was the work of a middle school teacher. Reinhold Ungelenk, fromCoburg. He was married to a daughter of Georg August Sollmann. He and hiswife had agreed that after his

hopefully distant death, the 'family tree' would go over to 'my'possession. This also corresponded with a wish of the author as noted inthe 'family tree' that he, first of all, on behalf of the "Schernecherfamily" should inherit this work. This was in

consideration of the thorough work and research of the extensive familyhistory.

Days and weeks were necessary. I have been able to make the followingextractions only within a few hours in my stay in Coburg in September1917. (It is believed that much of the foregoing and following accountswere interspersed with personal notes and

interpretations in his own words by Friederich Willhelm Sollmann and wasextracted from the German text found in the Peace Collection inSwarthmore Library. This was then translated into English and furtheredited by me. - Henry C. Sollman, 1999).

Cologne,Germany - December 1917

The historical beginning of the family:

The first dwelling place was Drossenhausen on the Langenberg (Mountains)about 2 or 3 hours away from Coburg. Now that is only a small village ,that lies on a bare high plain, is mention ed in the documents of thefirst male in the year 1317, to the

second male in the year 1457. The village consisted, as the othervillages in the neighborhood already much longer. From discoveries in thearea of the old graves, that the villages had already driven that withRomern Handel. The villagers were spoken of

as descendants of the French and Saxons. The women of Drossenhousen(earlier Trossenhausen) were derived of camp followers. The count ofHenneberg, who dwelled at the fortress of Coburg and in the neighboringLangenbergs, had (*) "angsiedalt" their camp

followers in the village.

(Editorial comment: The computer translation of the German text intoEnglish was difficult since many words were not translated and the syntax{sentence structure} required considerable care and imagination to putinto understandable English without

destroying the original meaning and intent. HCS - 1999)

(*) angsiedalt - Found no exact translation but this was apparentlyrelated to the evolution of the tribes into families or family units. Youhave to assume that some of these women (camp followers) gravitated tocertain men. The Roman Catholic church

was trying to evangelize these central European peoples and was quitesuccessful in bringing Christian Teachings to the masses and weresuccessful as these peoples began to appreciate the value of theteachings by the missionaries.

In 1938 and 1939 my father-in-law, the Reverend J. H. Gockel, a LutheranPastor from Wilmette, IL related many such personal experiences to me. Ashe accepted his first 'call' which was to establish a Lutheran MissionChurch in rural Casper Wyoming in

1917. His first order of business was to gather up all the unmarriedcouples and their families to bring Christian Teachings to them andbaptize all who had not been baptized and held several mass weddings.This was strikingly similar to the experiences

of our ancestors in the Langenberg Mountains and Coburg area in theperiod around 1300 A.D. Editor's Notes by H. Sollman - 1999)

The name Sollman, which appeared as Sollmann, Sohlmann and Soolman wasoriginally probably Soldmann. Either the men who stayed in the warservice of the Count of Henneberg received their pay from a paymaster orSoldmann (Ger.). The name of the first male

emerged in an official bulletin in the year 1499. The fee book in theCoburg Castle is placed in the year 1499 a Clas Solman "named weise".This "wiese" or sage in the pasture in Drossen-hausen, Clas Solman, whoseFrau Barbara is called Margarete

Solmann., had referred to "feudal service" and in "property and instinct"for agriculture and breeding. Drossenhausen must have validity as thebeginning place of the family.

Clas and Barbara Margarethe Solman, whose birth year was around 1465, arethe progenitors.

Drossenhausen lies 1342 "Pariser" feet over the North Sea on stony barrenland and is raw

cold. Winds prevailed - our first ancestors must have had a difficult andtough battle in

order to travel their "Daseinfuhrt".

At the end of 70 years, Drossenhausen village counted 102 inhabitants in117 households,

one 1 story and four 2 story houses. On my first visit to our place oforigin in September

1917, 1 found that solitary small village in somewhat the same generalarea. The last bearer

of the Sollmann name died there a number of years before. FE's (?)house, an after

Drossenhausen proportionately imposing farm house, stays left indangerous dilapidated

condition. In the past, it served more for wanderers staying there ratherthan residents.

Anyone can acquire the money to buy the original castle for a familyresidence. From the

Drossenhausen heights, one has a wonderful view over the entire Coburghomeland far into

"Its grounds" and into the Main valley.

The expansion of the family:

From Drossenhausen, the family expanded in somewhat successive distancesover the Coburg

land and expanded to: Alstadt, 1540; Oberlauter,1519; Hereworthsdorf1525; Beuerfeld 1556:

Einzeberg, 1590; von Beuerfeld 1652 after Breitenau, 1625 after Meeders,Neida 1615;

Weidach l623. ln the year 1729,the first representative to appear of thefamily, our

great-great-great-great-grandfather, came to Scherneck. In1787 we findthe first Sollmann

in Coburg, about 1825 the first in St. Petersburg, and in 1840, one inParis and in 1842

the first namesake came to North America.

{Note: The writer was evidently unaware of the migration from Coburg toSouthern Indiana

starting with Georg and his siblings in 1837. Ed. HCS)

In the family tree there are exceptional vocations: mayor and villageleaders, bookbinders,

bakers, konditorei (?), job masters, coachmen, landlords and brewers,herdsmen, salespeople,

teachers, musicians, butchers, masons, haircutters, locksmiths,shoemakers, cabinet makers,

paper hangers, weavers. Recently, naturally numerous other vocationscame up. The growth

of the family membership shows the following count:

In the year 1465 until 1600 there were 37 births and 4 deaths recordedand in 1601 until

1700 there were 157 births vs 86 deaths. Then in the period from 1701through 1800 they had

recorded 237 births and 110 deaths while in the period from 1801 through1878 they recorded

386 births and 152 deaths.

The birth excess was therefor significant. In the year 1875, the familyhad expanded to 37

places. While most of the marriages would be done at normal ages, in thecentury, 2 male

family members had already married at 20 years, 3 females at 17, and afemale family member

at 16. One Sollmann married first at 67. a woman, Sollmann, first at 50years. Childless

marriages were rare. 7 times the number of children in a family reached afull dozen, one

even reached 30 children One woman even ended her life voluntarily. It isthis trace of

Nikolas Sollmann in Ahlstadt, Katarina Margarete, born Hartab out ofGradstadt, inherited

many fields from her father. According to the church books of Ahlstadt,she hanged herself

on a tree in her garden and became removed by the hangman. Her body liesburied in the

so-called Breitenbohlen (broad boards) ( a small leafy wood nearAhlstadt. During the 30

years war, some families became scattered and driven away and thedestruction of the church

property during this period has impeded the work of the family historianvery much.

From 1465 until 1917, the ancestry shows in the course of the century in4 main stems-

Drossenhausen, Herbarthsdorfer, Oberlauter, Ahlstadt in 2 lines(Drossenhausen and

Beuerfelder) 2 branches Almerswinder and Gauerstadter). I placed togetheronly the direct

ancestors of our branches the progenitors from the end of the 15thcentury.

The stem father, Clas Solman, was born in 1465, in Drossenhausen. Thiswell-known couple

was said to be married 1499. The ancestors had 3 sons. Then our directancestors came of

that. Cunz Sollmann was born in the year 1500 and married in the year1527. He was a farmer

in Drossenhausen. In the year 1543, he acquired the Gulthof in Buerfeld.With his 3 sons,

Hans maintained the Gulthof in Buerfeld.

It is said in the documents, that Hans, after the death of his mother "ererbt (sold ?)

and bought" and it was destroyed by flames. The year of Cunz Sollmann'sdeath is not

recorded. The manuscript mentioned a son, Hans Sollmann. He bears in thefamily tree the

addendwn I (the first). He was born about 1523, lived as a farmer inFeurfeld and died in

the year 1553. He had 2 sons.

The Gulthof became immediately lost by the family after his death.Already in the year 1558,

Paulus Erhardt had sold for the good of the remaining Hans Sollmannchildren and received

("?"). This first one of Hans Sollmann (or was it his Frau?) had aspecial influence on his

descendants until the present day. In many, truly the majority of thedescendants of this

line, lived a controlled roving spirit. While the descendants of otherlines of the

generation of Sollmann mostly stayed sedentary and sat and sat on thesod, the descendants

of Hans Sollmann The First, scattered throughout the world.

The richest and poorest members of the generation of Sollmanns findthemselves in their

descendants stem, men with prominent accomplish- ments of differentfields of art,

knowledge, of public life and in practical jobs. Also, among the poor andpoorest, still

unrest stuck to the youngest members of this line and had a certaininclination to

adventure.

Still, we turn back in the gray olden times of the 2 Hans Sollman's sons,the first became

our progenitor, Lorenz Sollmann I, farmer of Einzelberg, born in 1556,married 1590, died

on October 4, 1632. He was for his time a rich man. He had 3 sons and 2daughters as a

married man, and before this a son when not married. From his son wouldbe our ancestor,

Lorenz Sollmann II farmer and mayor in Feurfeld.

Born in 1603, married on February 6,1627, died May 1686. He increased hisriches through a

rich marriage and was perhaps the richest of the entire line. He enjoyedgreat prestige.

Members of the family were truly doers. In the family tree, wereexceptional vocations -

mayor and village leaders, bookbinders, bakers, konditorei, job masters,coachmen,

landlords and brewers, herdsmen, salespeople, teachers, musicians,butchers, masons,

haircutters, locksmiths, shoemakers cabinet makers, paper hangers,weavers. Recently,

naturally numerous other vocations came up with the growth of the family.

Quelle: Miriam Grafer Rootweb

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