a robber's family

A recent research paper reported the identification of the skeleton of the infamous robber Johannes Bückler (1778?-1803), aka Schinderhannes, who committed dozens of crimes in the Hunsrück area where 3/16 of my ancestry is from. In a nutshell, his skeleton had been involved in a mix-up and has now been correctly identified based on a known bone fracture, and confirmed by comparing a DNA sample with one donated by a descendant of his sister. (See this news story in Archaeology News for more details.)

Which reminded me that there is quite a bit known about the family links around the young outlaw, and that I really should check again for possible connections. Note that there were quite a few vicars and teachers among my Hunsrück ancestors (the Kauer and Imig clans), who would have been horrified to see their names associated with a criminal - even one whose life has been romanticised extensively. But you never know - maybe there once was a connection that was swept under the rug?

A family portrait dated 1803

So I need to find out. Here is the ancestry of the robber as a Kekule list (which is the only way I understand these things), data from GedBas, and I marked any places that also occur in my family tree as bold (no overlap with family names, apart from Schmidt which is so common as to be meaningless):

1. Johann Wilhelm BÜCKLER, aka Schinderhannes

2. Johann BÜCKLER born 1758-02-28 Merzweiler
3. Anna Maria SCHMIDT born 1755-03-18 Miehlen

4. Otto Philipp BICKLER born 1709-04-29 Hilscheid
5. Maria Margarethe RIEMENSCHNEIDER born 1713 Merzweiler
6. Johann Dietrich SCHMIDT born 1706-04-11 Hamm-Sieg died 1781-04 Miehlen
7. unknown

8. Johann Nicolaus BICKLER born 1673 Wallenbrück Death: 1757
9. Maria Barbara ROTH born 1675 Kastellaun
10. Johann Lorenz RIEMENSCHNEIDER born 1690-04-16 Herren-Sulzbach Death: 1750 Merzweiler
11.Anna Margaretha SCHIELER born Merxheim
12. Johann Christoffel SCHMIDT born estimated 1674 Miehlen bei Nastätten Death: 1740-01-27 Miehlen bei Nastätten
13. Anna Thimothea SCHMIDT born calculated 1687 Daaden

16. Hans Adam BICKLER born 1649 Wallenbrück Death: 1720-06-27 Wallenbrück
17. Margaretha KOLLER born 1648-09-03 Bernkastel Death: before 1694
18. Johannes ROTH born about 1640 Death: 1719-12-28 Kastellaun
19. Barbara RACH born about 1652 Oberwesel Death: before 1683 Kastellaun
20. Johann Wilhelm RIEMENSCHNEIDER born 1665-11-07 Meisenheim
21. Juliana Catharina HESSLER born about 1665 Diez
22. Philipp SCHIELER born Merxheim
23. NN
24. Johann Conrad SCHMIDT born 1645 aus Miehlen bei Nastätten
25. Anna Margaretha XX Death: 1713-01-10 Miehlen
26. Weiland Johannes SCHMIDT

32.Sebastian BICKLER born 1624 Kirchberg Death: 1668 Wallenbrück
33. Elisabeth CLAUSS born 1625 Uhler Death: before 1672
34. Philipps KOLLER born 1620 Bernkastel Death: 1694-01-09 Bernkastel
35. Anna HEIL born 1622-10-10 Bernkastel Death: 1696-06-14 Bernkastel
38.Nicolaus RACH
39. Anna Elisabeth XX Death: 1776-03-17 Oberwesel
48. Jacob SCHMIDT born 1610 Limburg
49. Carita Liebmuth WENTZEN born 1615 Limburg

64. (Bickler)
66. Johann CLAUSS born 1585 Trarbach, Mosel Death: 1636-08-30 Trarbach, Mosel
67 Catharina HAUSMANN born 1589-10-22 Trarbach, Mosel Death: 1670-11-10 Trarbach

There is also some information on Schinderhannes's girlfriend,

1. Maria Juliana (Julchen) Blasius, born in Weierbach 22. March 1781, whose occupation is given as Bänkelspielerin, ie a musician and street performer. Her parents are:

2. Johann Nicolaus BLASIUS born 1751-03-11 Weierbach
3. Maria Catharina Louisa CATHARIUS born 1754 Becherbach

While Schinderhannes was executed, Julchen only went to jail for a couple of years.

Their descendants are:

1. Johanna BÜCKLER 1801-1801

2. Franz Wilhelm BÜCKLER 1802-1834
2.1.Johann Friedrich Wilhelm BÜCKLER 1831-1874
2.2. Philipp Wilhelm BÜCKLER 1831-1886
2.3. Eduard BÜCKLER 1834-1838

Julchen later married a cousin also called Blasius, settled in Weierbach, and produced lots of children by that name.

Weierbach is on the river Nahe, downstream from Idar-Oberstein and just next to Fischbach, where my migrating miners passed through and where I revisited the ancient copper mine ten years ago.

The Wikipedia entry notes that Schinderhannes often visited the village of Hahnenbach, but that was a generation before my family showed up there. My many-times great aunt Maria Margaretha Weiss (1809-1885) married the innkeeper Johann Peter Schmidt in 1842. Her daughter married Ferdinand Weirich, whose name appears on the inn in this old photo.

Further reading:

A google search for led me to the book Unter dem Freiheitsbaum by Clara Viebig (full text at Projekt Gutenberg). I hadn't heard of her before, but apparently she was famous in the early 20th century, and this book has been praised for elevating the Schinderhannes sujet to the literary level.