I am reaching the point where practically everybody in the ancestry of our teacher Johann Gottlieb Weiß is a clergyman or a close relative of one - see the list of entries at the bottom. Multiple lineages are leading back to the beginnings of the Reformation being introduced (in the Upper County of Sponheim that happened in 1557). Just a couple of the people born substantially later still haven't got their Lutheran credentials confirmed. The most recent of these orphans is Maria Magdalena Metzler in Gebroth. (Metzler is a name referring to the profession of the butcher, related to the current word Metzger and terms like Gemetzel.
Unfortunately, the church records of Gebroth covering the time of her birth are lost, so we don't know anything about her parents. The names we have are guesswork of a professional genealogist who looked at the network of godparents mentioned in other parishes. However there is a vicar of Alterkülz called Johann Peter Metzler who could be her grandfather, just judging by his age. So let's have a potted biography:
A sign of the butchers' guild, from an old chest, displayed at the "Schlaghaus" museum in Büdingen.
Source: Sven Teschke - Eigenes Werk, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=1356868
Johann Peter Metzler
He was born in Trarbach (He could plausibly be identical with this Johannes Petrus Metzler born in Trarbach 31.1.1641 whose entries comes with several generations of ancestors but no further info about JP himself or any descendants.)
He was a student at Giessen in 1663
He served as a Kaplan in Winningen 1670-1701 (Monatsberichte 1909 page 240, 263)
21.5.1678 son Georg David Metzler baptised in Winningen (familysearch no further details)
On 18.10. 1695 he married Anna Lucia (elsewhere the more likely reading: Luisa) Siegbert in Winningen according to familysearch, no children listed there.
1702 until his death vicar of Alterkülz
Died before 12.11.1709, when his son Georg Ludwig Metzler, merchant in Ems, married Maria Charlotta Josepha Dörbeck at Ems (the spa town on the river Lahn now known as Bad Ems).
Going further back, it is intriguing to see that the vicar of Alterkülz Johann Peter Metzler was born in Trarbach, as the Metzler family there is often mentioned in Schütz Buch Trarbach in Alter Zeit. Specifically:
When Trarbach became Lutheran in 1557, the only known example of a citizen who opted to leave rather than change his faith was Caspar Metzler, who moved to Koblenz. Schütz notes at this point that the rest of the Metzler family stayed and their name line descendants became rather prominent members of the town community over the next few centuries.
In 1580-1583, Johann Metzler was the mayor of the town.
As the divide between protestant confessions deepened, Hans Peter Metzler was mentioned in 1614 as a citizen suspected of Calvinist tendencies.
In August 1635, the Gerichtsschreiber (court secretary) Hans Stephan Metzler died of the plague. The same year, Johann Daniel Metzler served as Mompar, an honorary role in the administration that changes annually.
Philipp Daniel Metzler serves as Kellner 1649 until around 1660. He could be this Gedbas entry (with children and no parents) see also here (just one child and less info).
Alternatively, it could be this Philip Daniel Metzler from familysearch (1610-1688) who married Catharina Hautt and had a brother called Johann Peter Metzler born 1612. Their son Johannes Petrus Metzler born Trarbach 1641 would be the right age to be our priest above, but no further info is given about him. The name line of these Metzlers in family search goes back to a Dietrich Metzler born 1420. Irritatingly, the website always gives Traben-Trarbach as the birth location, but based on their frequent appearances in Schuetz's book I'm guessing they were all born in Trarbach.
Summing up this unexpected outbreak of Lutheran clergy, I have now published CVs of 10 clergymen who were proven or probable ancestors of our teacher Christian Gottlieb Weiß and one whose connection is a bit more speculative but plausible. I'll list them here alphabetically, but will round them up more systematically in a separate blog post.
Johannes Andreae (1532-1613), vicar of Altenkirchen and Kastellaun, fierce anti-Calvinist. (He's the one with a more speculative connection to Nicolaus Andreae, below.)
Nicolaus Andreae (died before 1643), vicar of Gebroth since 1632, likely ancestor of all Andrae people in Gebroth. He came to Kastellaun as a young schoolmaster in the same year as Johannes Andreae, above, became the vicar, but were they related?
Johann Conrad Arnoldi I, vicar of Traben from 1670 until his death in 1711. Not to be confused with his eponymous, more famous nephew.
Johannes Keyser / Caesar (died 1543), theologian at the time of the Reformation, served first as a Catholic then as a Lutheran priest in Harburg and Nördlingen.
Sixtus Caesar, clergyman in Thuringia, father of Konstantin Caesar.
Valentin Konstantin Caesar, vicar of Sien, Enkirch and Dill.
Johann Conon, Diakon at Trarbach, court preacher and church inspector at Birkenfeld.
Philipp Nicolaus Ebner, teacher at the Lateinschule in Trarbach and vicar of Alterkülz.
Georg Christian Nesselius, Diakon at Birkenfeld 1603-1616, later vicar of Winterburg.
Johann Balthasar Orth, second Lutheran vicar of Kirn, successor to Peter Siegel.
Johannes Weiß (1704-1772) - the vicar of Eckweiler (see generation 9 in the Weiss chronicles).
Another two Andreae vicars, Johannes Andreae's father and his son Emmerich Andreae, might be ancestors but we know nothing more about them, so no material for a biography. Johannes's father (also called Johannes) is interesting because he was active at the time of the Reformation and likely implemented the Lutheran creed in his parish of Schönbach, which became protestant in 1536. More speculatively still, Johannes junior had a son who was also a priest. If he turns out to be the missing link from Johannes junior to Nicolaus, we end up with a total of four Andreae vicars in a line.
Elsewhere in the family tree, we have (back on firmer ground with some evidence):
Peter Siegel (1485-1560), first Lutheran vicar of Kirn (Wikipedia.de).
Adam Getrost, vicar of Rimbach in the Odenwald and ancestor of a long line of teachers in the neighbouring village of Zotzenheim. CV coming soon.
which brings the total to 15. If we find a reasonable excuse to adopt Johann Peter Metzler, above, he will be the 16th. Note that three of them (Peter Siegel, Johannes Andreae and Johannes Keyser / Caesar) were the first protestant priests in their respective parishes.
Protestants priests who were brothers of direct ancestors include:
Caesar - lots of them, as five of the six brothers of Sixtus Caesar became clergymen. The odd one out was a school teacher. And all three sisters married clergymen too.
Jacob Orth, son of Johann Balthasar Orth, above, and also a vicar of Kirn.
Hans Konrad Roos, the vicar of Gebroth from 1693 until his death in 1711, was the brother of Maria Ottilia von der Rosen. Technically half-brother, but their mothers were sisters, so they still share the same set of grandparents. The maternal grandfather was the vicar Georg Christian Nesselius.
cousins:
Martin Caesar, vicar of Traben. Cousin of Konstantin Caesar.
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