Carroll and Valerie
Overholt brought Charles and Victoria
into the world, and these two youngsters
grew up to be excellent students.
Victoria graduated Wor-Wic Community
College, earning high honors and two AAS
degrees -- for Business in 2011, and for
Office Technology in 2012. This
"darling daughter" is called
the athlete of the family. "She has
had to work hard for her grades,"
wrote Carroll, proud that she earned
"all A's, except for one B." At
the time Carroll and I were e-mailing,
Victoria was working for the State Health
Department, and making plans to return to
college and earn a degree in nursing. Carroll
described son Charles as a natural
student, having "a super
personality," who "makes
friends easily, especially with older
people." In June 2009, Charles
graduated Wor-Wic Community College with
an AA in General Studies. His time at
Wor-Wic overlapped that of sister
Victoria, so both their names appeared in
one Dean's List after another. In 2011,
Charles earned a B.A. in History from
Salisbury University. He was working on a
master's degree with a concentration in
European and World History, when he
became a Fulbright Student. The U.S.
Department of State's Bureau of
Educational and Cultural Affairs awards
student fellowships to graduating college
seniors, graduate students, young
professionals, and artists to study,
teach, or conduct research. Generally, by
the start of the Fulbright grant period,
a candidate is required to have already
earned a bachelor's degree, or its
equivalent. "Some exceptions may
apply, especially for artists."
Being awarded the Fulbright
Student Fellowship hurled Charles into
the limelight, because he was the first
student at Salisbury University to
achieve the honor. He would spend the
2012-2013 academic year at the
485-year-old Philipps-Universität in
Marburg, Germany.
On April 3, 2012, Carroll posted a URL
on his Facebook page to a
Salisbury University article: Overholt
is First SU Student to Earn Fulbright
Fellowship. "Sooooo proud of
Charles," he wrote. And then began
one-half of a long tale about Charles, an
Overholt son who left behind his home and
family, in order to sally forth and
experience life in Europe. The other half
of the long tale would begin when
Carroll, in turn, became an Overholt son
who left behind his home and family, in
order to sally forth and experience life
in Europe. Their combined stories and
photographs generated the new Oberholz
web pages published on Karen's
Branches, save one.
|
On the
Western Edge of Canton St. Gallen
was generated by Nelson Lafon's
essay about a visit he made to
Oberholz in August 2011, that was
published in the Summer 2013 OFA
Bulletin, along with a few
of the photos he took during the
"green season." |
|
In August 2012, Carroll posted
to his Facebook page, "Just
got home after taking Charles to Dulles
Airport. By tomorrow morning he will be
in Frankfurt, Germany, and then a short
train ride to Marburg. There he will
begin his Fulbright Fellowship. Yes,
we'll miss him, but we are some kind of
PROUD PARENTS!"
Charles launched a Wordpress
blog with the title, In der
Heimat: My Year in Germany
(In the Home: My Year in Germany),
to keep his friends and family informed
of his time overseas. If you visit the
blog (http://inderheimat.wordpress.com/),
you will see a subtitle, Und meine
Seele spannet, Weit ihre Flügel aus,
Flog durch die stillen Lande, Als flöge
sie nach Haus, which (according to Google
Translate) means, "And my soul
spread wide its wings, flew over the
quiet countryside, as if it were flying
home." The first post, written from
the heart, was A Shoreman Bids
Farewell. It is poetry that
describes his home in America, with
appreciation for the life he had lived
growing up on the waterways of Maryland,
composed when he had to give it all up,
at least for a little while.
"Words can never describe how
proud I am," wrote Carroll on Facebook.
"He never ceases to amaze me. We
found this 'Farewell' poem on the back
seat of the car after leaving Charles at
Dulles."
|

Sunrise on the Chincoteague
Bay -- Charles Overholt ©
2012 All Rights Reserved
A Shoreman Bids Farewell
From the Ocean City
inlet, down the isle of
Assateague,
Where the marshes stretch under
the sky and herds of ponies feed,
The lighthouse on the horizon
beckons all who pass that way,
To lose themselves in nature and
the splendor of the bay.
From Green Runs
off-shore duck blind, through
Middlemores thoroughfare,
Past the lonely Bob O Dell,
its crumbling walls laid bare,
To the sand bar just near South
Popes, where the Spaniards
ran aground,
The wind blows through the marsh
grass, and the morning sun shines
down.
Oh, the glory of the
sunrise, as its rays caress the
waves!
Ten thousand painters could not
capture the beauty of such days!
The searing heat of summer, the
oceans salty kiss --
What other land on Gods
good earth could ever compare to
this?
The green heads
hateful swarming, the
sunburns painful sting,
The sand upon the beach afire,
while above the seagulls sing.
The Pocomokes muddy
droning, Boxirons wistful
call,
The workboats tied in Girdletree
-- Ill miss these most of
all.
This is my world along
the shore, between the ocean and
the bay,
And though life takes me far from
here, in my soul shell
always stay.
I shall keep her spirit with me,
wherever I should roam,
And revel in her memory -- until
at last my heart comes home.
Charles Overholt © July
30, 2012. All Rights Reserved
|
|
A month later in
Marburg, Charles celebrated his 23rd
birthday, and he was already "loving
life in Germany." During the year
away, Charles posted a few essays on his
blog, telling about some of his
experiences, but mostly he was busy
living the dream.
|

Marburg an der Lahn's Marburg
Castle & St. Elizabeth's
Church
Charles Overholt © 2013 All
Rights Reserved
|
|
~ o ~
Carroll
Begins to Live the Dream
|
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Together in Europe --
Carroll Overholt © 2013 All
Rights Reserved
|
|
Six
months later, Carroll Overholt boarded a
plane to join his son in Europe. They put
together a busy itinerary, with a visit
to France to see Omaha Beach and Paris,
and to Austria to visit Innsbrook, but
most of the time, they were in Germany.
In
Germany, Carroll's list of cities,
museums and monuments was long -- Essen,
Cologne, Aachen, Marburg an der Lahn,
Frankfurt,Worms, Sinsheim, Immelhauser
Hof, Weiler (where the Steinsberg Castle
is located) and Munich. However, at Karen's
Branches, we are focused on the
Oberholtzer sites in Germany.
|

Carroll's European Tour -- with
stops in France to see Omaha
Beach and Paris
|
|
~
o ~
On
the Bank of the River Main |
As
seen in the map above, the portion of the
greater city of Frankfurt closest to the
river is called Frankfurt am Main.
Some of the oldest buildings are there.
By the start of the third century (circa
200 to 250), the German-speaking Alemanni
tribes were found in what we now call
Central Germany, but especially in the
River Main area. In competition for prime
territory were the Romans.
(See Alemanni,
by The History Files, a new web page
at Karen's Branches.)
|

On the Bank of the River Main
-- Charles Overholt © 2013 All
Rights Reserved
|
|
It meant a lot to
Carroll Overholt to stand at the center
of the Martin Oberholtzer birth mystery.
In the picture above, we see buildings
erected in the past alongside modern
high-rise buildings, with machinery still
working on newer towers. The riverbank is
lined with now-famous sightseeing barges
that meander up and down the Rhine River,
to show tourists many castles and
vineyards of the past, and teeming cities
that are visions of the future. We also
see someone in a small boat, perhaps
fishing.
|

Charles & Frankfurt am
Main -- Carroll Overholt ©
2013 All Rights Reserved
|
|
Charles Overholt is
an up-and-coming historian, and like a
genealogist, he cannot help but live in
the past, present and future
simultaneously. Those of us who study
family histories travel along figurative
streams, slowly, because names, dates and
places are many and complicated. We
grapple with slippery facts and figures,
identified and unidentifiable pictures,
words easily read and languages beyond
our kenning, while racking up hundreds of
questions. Finding a serious genealogist,
or historian, among our relatives is a
rare thing these days. Finding a happy
amateur who enjoys recording family
stories, and saves old photo albums and
memorabilia -- this is more likely.
Since we are few and far
between, picture us as the lone
individuals sitting in our small boats,
meandering along many slow-moving streams
too full of knowledge to venture
traveling in a speedboat. One cannot
absorb history on the fly! And our boats
will be seen crammed with books and bits
of data from the past and present, and
while we put two and two together in
attempts to see the "big
picture," we are continuously
fishing for more "new"
information.
|

Charles & Frankfurt am
Main (2) -- Carroll Overholt
© 2013 All Rights Reserved
|
|
Time, time, time --
life takes time. Looking at all the data
before us, keeping our resource books
close at hand, balancing proof against
conjecture, we set for ourselves the
neverending task of creating a useful
document. Ultimately, we hope to educate,
or simply charm, our families in the
here-and-now, and families yet to come.
In writing about the history of our
people, we are offering a simple
proposition.
By studying our
ancestors, we discover our own worth,
which in turn changes our expectations
for the future.
Sometimes we make a
pilgrimage to the roots of our genetic
inheritance, and become familiar with the
footsteps, so to speak, of this or that
ancestor. While visiting a place full of
the vibrations of the past, if we are
sensitive enough, we can feel the
spiritual weight of a place, or imagine
the very presence of a beloved aunt or
great-great-great grandfather who once
walked where we are walking now.
To visit the past, we
often gaze in wonder at carved headstones
in a cemetery, or try to gain some
insight from the shape or size of a
family monument. We stand still on turf
where great battles raged, and listen to
the wind moan, or the nearby creek
gurgle, or the leaves rustle in tall
trees that may have been mere saplings
when our great-grandparents were laid to
rest. We humbly face our finite moment in
history, and recite prayers for the dead,
if only in the privacy of our minds, and
send good wishes far into the future.
More than we care to admit, we imagine
our descendants appreciating our personal
struggles to document what we have
learned, and hope they will send a nod of
thanks back through time, back to us
standing here, in a place where they may
one day come to visit.
~
o ~
|
Why
were Oberholzers living in
Germany, anyway?
|
|
|

Frankfurt
am Main, Circa 1617-1618
(Wikipedia)
|
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|
1517 |
-The Protestant
Reformation begins when Martin
Luther (1483-1546) nails his 95
Theses on a church door in
Wittenberg, Germany; he preaches
"great fundamental
truths" of justification by
faith alone & exclusive
authority of the Word of God; his
sermons draw thousands of
Christians from all over Europe
to his philosophy; Lutherans work
to discard "degraded &
corrupt" practices of the
Roman Catholic Church (i.e.,
salvation by works, denial of the
Bible to the people, and the
burden of ceremony & forms
imposed by the priests
-Authorities of the Roman
Catholic Church move against
Luther & his movement |
1519 |
-Ulrich Zwingli
(1484-1531) begins preaching
biblical sermons at the Great
Minster Church in Zurich,
Switzerland; his version of
Protestantism differs from
Lutherans in that the ordinances
of baptism & the Lord's
Supper have only symbolic
meaning; Zwinglians are stricter
in their demands for righteous
living, emphasizing the doctrine
of obedience to God &
instituting state churches
-Zwingli exercises great
influence over the Swiss
Reformation; his Protestant
vision spreads to include most of
the population of Switzerland
north of the Alps, along with
sections of southwestern Germany |
1521-1648 |
-Martin Luther is
condemned as a heretic & is
excommunicated by the Roman
Catholic Church
-For opposing Luther, England's
King Henry VIII receives the
title Defender of the Faith
from Pope Leo X |
1524 |
-In Switzerland, the
alpine cantons of Uri, Schwyz,
Unterwalden, Lucerne & Zug
remain Catholic; they form a
League of the Five Cantons (Bund
der funf Orte) to combat the
spreading of the new faith;
conflicts arise in common
territories when administrations
change bi-annually, switching the
official faith from Protestant to
Catholic & back again |
1525 |
-City Council of Zurich
threatens exile to any who fail
to baptize an infant before the
age of eight days
-The Anabaptist movement begins
(January 21) in Zurich,
Switzerland, with the first adult
baptisms of the Brethren, the
main issues of contention being
their opposition to state
churches, their expectation of a
complete reformation of the
Christian Church & their
insistence that the Church
include believers only (i.e.,
adults having an experience with
God, who commit their lives in
unreserved obedience to the Word
of God, solemnized with adult
baptism)
-Martin Luther organizes the
Evangelical Church of Germany as
a universal state church,
requiring infant baptism; he
agrees with permitting
territorial rulers to determine
the religion of the people of
that territory; he advocates the
use of force to persecute those
who refuse to accept the
authorized religion -- a
principal leading to the severe
persecution & death of
thousands of people that
continues for 200 years or more
after the Reformation |
1527 |
-Government authorities
of Zurich and neighboring cantons
institute the death penalty for
the Swiss Brethren, the first of
the Zurich martyrs (1527) being
Felix Manz & the last martyr
in the district (1614) being Hans
Landis
-Over 1500 lives are sacrificed
(1531-1597) for their religious
beliefs
-Over the course of the
Reformation, persecutions by
Catholics & Protestants
result in the execution of 4000
to 5000 Anabaptists by fire,
water & sword |
-
Data taken from Renovated
Timeline (coming soon) at Karen's
Branches
|
~
o ~
Oberholtzer
Communities Near Sinsheim
|
In the
Introduction of The Oberholtzer Book,
Willard E. Overholtzer outlines the
European history of our Oberholzer
ancestors. During the Protestant
Reformation, shortly after the end of the
Thirty Years War, a few generations of
our ancestors worked as tenant farmers in
Germany, which is where the "t"
began to appear in the surname. For a
whole lot of Swiss refugees, the farming
areas south of Sinsheim became a magnet
of sorts, because the previous war had
decimated the German population,
especially the farmers in that valley, a
"sweet spot" in the Lower
Palatinate, situated between the Rhine
and Neckar rivers. The Swiss were known
to be excellent farmers, and were
welcomed in Germany.
Remembering that the
word Hof means "farm,"
Oberholtzer families lived in
Immelhäuser Hof, Buchenauer Hof, and the
communities of Weiler, Reihen, Hilsbach,
and Elsenz. The story becomes clearer
with data now available from the OFA,
which adds Steinsfurt to the list of
places where a few generations of our
ancestors lived. And who were these
"O" ancestors?
~
o ~
Marti
Oberholzer's Six Immigrant Sons
|
As a young man, Marti
Oberholzer (1595 Wald, Zurich -
1670) married Margaretha
Schollenberger (c1595 Zurich -
died in Aa, Wald, Zurich), and they had
nine children that we know about, among
them were seven sons: Jacob, Samuel, Hans
Jagli, twins MARX and
Hans Heinrich, Matheus, and Martin. We do
not know if Marti was a farmer. At some
point in time, Anabaptists were
prohibited from owning property, so they
and their families relied upon their
skills of weaving and building wood
furniture, especially church furniture.
If Marti had daughters, we have have no
data about them, but there must have been
a number of little grandchildren around
to brighten life along the way. We do
know that at some point, Marti Oberholzer
became an Anabaptist preacher.
The Protestant
Reformation was an era full of strife
between the Roman Catholic Church and all
civil and religious protestations against
the authority and proclivities of the
established Church. However, the strife
between all the emerging points of view
turned individuals and groups of citizens
against each other, manifesting in
prohibitions and bloodshed on all sides.
Simply put, the people had no practical
experience of living in a society that
could abide alternatives in the central
belief system of the age -- Christianity.
After years of engaging in public
debates, the Swiss Brethren found
themselves hated by most of the other
groups, especially those who garnered the
most political and religious authority
over their neighbors. The Brethren were
derided as anabaptists, because they
reasoned infant baptism to be invalid.
However, the greater sin may have been a
pacifism that declared kings, princes and
popes had no right to haul them into
ranks of soldiers to fight and die in
neverending wars. This position made them
traitors to the state.
During the religious
persecutions, the only one of Marti's
sons who did not immigrate from
Switzerland to Germany was twin Hans
Heinrich, perhaps due to poor health. At
about 36 years of age, Hans Heinrich
died, and thereafter, the youngest
Oberholzer brother, Martin (5/5/1639, Aa
- 1/22/1711, Palatinate, Germany),
returned to Switzerland to marry
(10/26/1669, Wald) widow Elsbeth
Kindlimann Oberholzer. Elsbeth
was about 28 years old, when she became
Martin's second wife -- he was about two
years younger. We can assume they
returned to Germany together, considering
Martin died there in 1711.
Around the time Marti
Oberholzer should have been celebrating
his 75th birthday, when his six surviving
sons were safely raising families in
Germany, he was identified as an enemy of
the state. Margaretha would have been
about 75 years old, herself, unless she
had passed away by then. Marti may have
been living alone, or the old married
couple may have been part of a daughter's
extended family. In any case, because of
religious (and political) beliefs that
ran counter to those held by the
authorities in Zurich, in 1670, Marti
Oberholzer was made a martyr to his
faith. Citizens adhering to the tenants
and preaching of Ulrich Zwingli took
Marti's life by drowning him (see
timeline above).
Zwinglians practiced a
brand of Protestantism that was decidedly
all-inclusive, and left no room for
compromise or dissent. In the aftermath,
how did the news of Marti's death, and
the manner in which he died, affect his
sons? Did they weep in frustration,
because they had not been in Wald to
protect their father? Did they realize
that their own lives would have been
forfeit, had they been there in Wald,
making a concerted effort to save him?
The stories of Marti
and Margaretha, and all seven of their
sons affect us deeply, but our focus will
be on Marx Oberholzer,
who (with twin Hans Heinrich Oberholzer)
was born in 1633, at the village of Aa in
Wald, Canton Zurich, Switzerland. Marx
was the direct ancestor of everyone who
can trace their family tree back to MC
Marcus Oberholtzer and Elizabeth
Ely.
In 1657, when Marx was
about 24 years old, he was in Buchenauer
Hof, near Sinsheim. In 1660, he lived at
Immelhäuser Hof, and became the Keeper
there, in 1661. He married Margaret
(Barbary) Dobler/Tobler, and
they had a daughter, Catherine Barbara,
and sons Marcus, Hans
Jagli/Jacob, and Martin, then another
daughter, Anna Barbara. We have not yet
discovered the "paper trail"
that would give us definitive data, so
the OFA genealogists present us with the
following information.
|
Gen.
1--1 |
Catherine
Barbara Oberholtzer (born1663,
Europe - died age 18, 1681/82 ?) |
|
|
Gen.
1--2 |
MC
Marcus Oberholtzer (born
c1664, Europe - died 12/3/1726,
Chester County, PA) |
|
|
Gen.
1--3 |
Hans
Jagli/Jacob Oberholtzer (born
c1665, Europe - died date?
place?) |
|
|
Gen.
1--4 |
ML
Martin Oberholtzer (born c1667,
Europe - died prior to 1733,
Lancaster County, PA) |
|
|
Gen.
1--5 |
Anna
Barbara Oberholtzer (born 1670,
Europe - died 1742, place?) |
|
According to Robert
L. Reeser's Oberholtzer Family
History (see reference below), as
quoted by Brian Oberholtzer's web
site (Oberholtzer.net), our Marx
shows up in a couple of official records
-- one that states Margaret Dobler was a
servant of the oldest Oberholzer brother,
Jacob, before Marx made her his wife. You
have to wonder about the story of Marx
and Margaret. For instance, was Margaret
Swiss or German? Was she Catholic,
Protestant or Anabaptist? Had she been a
servant of Jacob's family back in Wald,
and brought along during the immigration,
or had she been added after the family
reached Germany?
|
The
Geneallandearchiv, Karlsruhe,
gives this quote from the
seventeenth century: "A
number of the Wiedertauffer wish
to settle here, which people
practice their religious
exercises partly in the forest,
partly in their houses, and some
have their land on the church
support land. Many adapt well,
among them is Marx Oberholtzer,
who announced that he plans to
marry his brother's servant, but
does not intend to have his
marriage announced
publicly." Marx Oberholtzer was
among a group of 53 Anabaptists
meeting for worship near Sinsheim
on the evening of March 2, 1661.
While they were singing, the
meeting was abruptly ended by
German authorities. Their names
were taken, which included other
familiar Pennsylvania names such
as Groff, Hess, Landis, Meyer and
Miller. They were to report for
punishment on March 29th.
Appearing on that date, they
stated that they had come into
the country from Switzerland in
1655, and had been meeting for
worship secretly in the forests
near Steinsfurt. The government
fined them but they continued to
meet. In 1662, Elector Karl
Ludwig ordered that the
Mennonists should no longer be
forbidden to meet, but that every
participant must pay a tax.
________________________________
- Taken from, Oberholzer
Family History: An historical
account of the life and ancestors
of Nathan Reist Oberholtzer
(1864-1923) and his wife Martha
Bomberger Bucher (1877-1952),
by Robert L. Reeser, Strasburg,
Pa.1995; quoted on Brian
Oberholtzer's Oberholtzer.net.
|
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When Marx
Oberholzer was about 47 years of age, he
died on Sept. 14, 1680, and was buried at
"the Buschen Hof in Hilsbach"
without singing or bells, which perhaps
indicated that Marx was a devout Taufer
to the end. Perhaps "Buschen
Hof" refers to Buchenauer Hof
near Hilsbach?
Some time later, widow Margaret
Dobler Oberholzer emigrated with
her three sons, when they and their
families left Germany for England. Oldest
son Marcus was our MC
Marcus Oberholtzer, whose
pregnant wife, Elizabeth Ely,
gave birth to our Martin
Oberholtzer (c1709-1744) along
the way. Let us speculate about whether
Grandmother Margaret was traveling with
her oldest son's family, and was present
for what had to be a memorable birth, one
that was noted in history books.
Jacob Oberholzer
(1620-d. after 1683) immigrated from
Wald, Canton Zurich, Switzerland, to
Germany in 1657. At that time, he was
perhaps 32 years old, and had been
married (1/27/1646) to Anna
Buchman (daughter of Anabaptist
Casper and Vreni nee Wyss Buchman) for
roughly 11 years. They had four children:
Hans Jacob, Samuel, Regel, and baby
daughter Barbara (b.c.1656). Their fifth
child, Johannes, was born c.1660, perhaps
in Immelhäuser Hof.
And apparently, Margaret Dobler
was a servant in the household of Jacob
Oberholzer, probably keeping busy with
housework and helping Anna with the
children.
|
Gen.
1--1 |
Hans
Jacob Oberholtzer (born
12/20/1646) |
|
|
Gen.
1--2 |
Samuel
Oberholtzer (born c1644 - died
11/12/1705, age 61, Immelhäuser Hof) Wiedertauffer |
|
|
Gen.
1--3 |
Regel
Oberholtzer (born 3/4/1649) |
|
|
Gen.
1--4 |
Barbara
Oberholtzer (born c1656) |
|
|
Gen.
1--5 |
Johannes
Oberholtzer (born c1660) |
|
It is noted that
Jacob was a Wiedertauffer at Immelhäuser Hof in 1663, but
you have to wonder when he and his family
took up residence there. Younger brother
Marx was living in Immelhäuser Hof by
1660, and had his first child, Catherine
Barbara, in 1663. So, could both Jacob
and Marx have been among the group of 53
Anabaptists surprised by German
authorities on the evening of March 2,
1661? I would like to see the list of
names the authorities made. Also, did
that surprise happen before or after
younger brother Marx became the Keeper of
Immelhäuser Hof?
We might also wonder how
near to Steinsfurt (see map above) the
secret worship meetings took place. Let
us imagine the forests of that time
period as covering a whole lot more area
than they do now. Perhaps they met in the
forest at the nearby castle, now called Burg
Steinsberg (seen in the picture at
the top of this page). According to Google
Translate, the word steins means
"stone" and berg means
"mountain." Castle Steinsberg
is surrounded by vineyards, much like
another fortress on a hill in the
Heilbronn district, called Weinsberg,
a name that translates as
"vineyard," despite the fact
that weins means
"wine" and (again) berg
means "mountain." Like the
castle in Weinsberg, the "stone
mountain" castle near Weiler was
destroyed in the German Peasant's War of
1524-1525.
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Weinsberg's
Castle, 1578
(Wikipedia)
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Castle
Ruins & Vineyards in Modern
Weinsberg (Wikipedia)
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In modern times,
Weiler's castle site has been spruced up
for the sake of tourism, and named
Steinsberg (see map below). It is worth
speculating about where the Anabaptist
secret worship meetings took place,
because it would have been a whole lot
easier for them to come together in the
forests somewhere close to the farms
where they lived and worked, someplace
centrally located and easy to find in the
dark -- like the local castle grounds. It
was far enough away from their homes and
families to afford them (the families)
some measure of protection, but not so
far away that the men could not get back
home before dawn.
Internet
maps show us that Buchenauer Hof has
become the Golfclub Sinsheim
Buchenauer Hof. In The
Oberholtzer Book, Will Overholtzer
names Oppau and Fiesenheim as the other
German villages where our ancestors
lived. I found Oppau near Frankenthal,
northwest of Mannheim, on the west bank
of the Rhine River. A search for
"Fiesenheim" only brought up
the name Friesenheim, which
showed up in two different locations.
Right next to Oppau is a community of
similar size named Friesenheim, so it is
my guess this
is the place where our people lived,
precisely because it is next door to
Oppau. However, it is interesting that
the other Friesenheim is on the western
edge of the Black Forest, southeast of
Strasbourg, the capital of the Alsace
region in eastern France.
(See Maps
of Interest to "O" Families
at Karen's Branches.)
~
o ~
Oberholz,
Germany -- Nine of them, and
counting!
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Before
Karen's Branches had its own
URL, one of the earliest web pages at The
Overholt Family Tree ~~ Karen's Branches
had the title, Research Entry #1,
and was published in the year 2000. For
that page, I compiled a number of
interesting e-mail messages from members
of the "O" family who had
written to me and shared a bit of their
family history. I heard from Jacob H.
Overholt in July of 1998. Jack was a
retired electronics engineer and a former
Army Major, whose family tree went back
to the founders of the Deep Run Mennonite
Church. His grandfather was born at the
original Overholt Homestead in Bucks
County, at the intersection of Deep Run
and Dirstine Roads. Jack's family had
always shown great interest in tracking
down the German history of our ancestors.
A portion of his e-mail is below. Note that the Holy Roman
Emperors of the German Kingdom (962-1806)
called themselves Kaiser,
meaning "Emperor."
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My
grandfather, Jacob Baum Overholt,
financed an extensive search in
the late twenties and early
thirties, which traced the name
back to the Swartzwald in
Germany. The earliest user of the
name was a Baron Uberholzer
(umlaut over the U and the o in
the name). He was, as the name
implies, the keeper of the
Kaiser's forests. The name
translates: Uber = Over, and
holzer = forests.
My
father, Warren Harr Overholt,
spent seven summers in Germany
looking for our place of origin.
He found a little crossroad
village in the Black Forest with
the name Uberholzer/Overholt,
where he was told that a castle
once stood, and that it was the
seat of the Baron Uberholzer.
In
my ancestors, there were three
men and two women, all in their
late teens and early twenties.
The story is that the Overholts
were part of a rebel group of
students who marched on the
Kaiser's palace demanding changes
in the feudal system -- the
"activists" of their
day. The Overholts were all
identified and proscribed for
rebellion. They escaped in family
groups, through Belgium into
Holland, then to England. They
were not welcome in England . . .
they were given a brief time to
find some other place [to live]
or be returned to Germany . . . .
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This
e-mail reveals the prevailing confusion,
in times past, about the location of
Oberholz, the village where our
Oberholzer ancestors came from, because
Germany really does have a place named
Oberholz that is located in today's
Baden-Württemberg, near the city of
Ravensburg. But this is not in the Black
Forest, or at least what is today
identified as the Black Forest. Today,
the Schwarzwald is found in the
southwestern corner of
Baden-Württemberg, near the border of
France. In the 1560s, when our Oberholzer
ancestors immigrated to the area, the
Black Forest may have covered a larger
area.
Below
is a map showing the location of Oberholz
in Baden-Württemberg, Germany. I have
found nine different locations, so far.
This Oberholz caught my eye, because it
is situated (in geological terms) close
to our village of Oberholz in
Switzerland. Lake Constance is bigger
than the Obersee, but in comparison, both
Oberholz locations are similarly close to
their lakes. As the crow flies, the two
are not far from one another --
correction, as the raven flies!
The Birds'
Eye View above shows the last
remaining portion of a woodland that once
must have been a vast forest. Such
landmarks invite speculation, regarding
Jacob H. Overholt's story about the Baron
Überhölzer. Was this baron one of our
"O" ancestors, or did the name
simply identify his occupation, or merely
indicate his location at the top of a
wooded hill or mountain?
In the
Winter 2014 edition of the OFA
Bulletin, genealogist Dennis L.
Oberholtzer added more to his series, OUR
BARBARIAN ROOTS, with Family
Growth on Oberholz Mountain. In a
few paragraphs, we are reminded how our
ancestors handled land ownership and
their growing families.
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As the top of the
mountains in Eastern Switzerland
became filled by each family, the
brothers would divide the
mountain. One family would remain
at the top of the mountain and
continue to farm and herd. The
other family (usually the
youngest) would move down the
mountain into the valley areas to
clear land and raise plants and
grain which could not withstand
the weather on top of the
mountain . . . .
By
the beginning of the 17th
century, the family expanded into
an upper and lower house.
"The lower house also
spelled their name Oberholzer,
until after they moved to
America." The present
Oberholzers used the upper house
since about 900 A.D. Due
to the shortage of employment,
most of the children would move
to other areas of Switzerland and
Bavaria to find or use their
skills. This, as well as
losing some sons to the continual
war skirmishes over the next five
centuries, and plagues thinning
the family, led to the ability to
trace the Oberholtzer family back
to the 1400s with only one
parental ancestor . . . our
ancestor in Aa/Wald came from the
'lower' house and can safely be
traced to the Oberholzer 'upper'
house which was situated in the
present village of Oberholz.
________________________________
- From OUR BARBARIAN ROOTS:
Family Growth on Oberholz
Mountain, by Dennis L.
Oberholtzer; OFA Bulletin,
Winter 2014, p. 13. [Karen's
Note: The bold
font is mine.]
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Considering
that the map above shows the relative
close proximity of Germany's BW Oberholz
to our Oberholz in Switzerland, perhaps
it is not such a stretch of the
imagination to speculate that the Swartzwald
Baron Überhölzer was one of our
long-lost ancestors. Still, let us bow to
the OFA for the last word on this matter.
In the meantime, we must recognize that
Germany has plenty of places named
Oberholz, and even some people with the
surname Oberholz. Just do an Internet
search and see for yourself!
In
Germany, aside from the Oberholz in
Ravensburg, Bing Maps listed an
Oberholz in Bavaria, Ebenweiler,
Göppingen, Ilshofen, Neu-Ulm,
Niederaichbach, Ochtendung, and Würzburg
-- with Oberholzheim, Oberholzklau and
Oberzellerholz, just for good measure. If
you do a Bing Maps search for
Oberholz, Switzerland, several
locations will pop up, too, like Bülach,
Bülach; Hohenrain, Hochdorf;
Radelfingen, Bern, Seeland; Schüpfen,
Seeland; Trachselwald, Emmental;
Ueberstorf, Sense; and our ancestral
village in See-Gaster.
A salient
point is being made here. We are members
of a clan who are blessed to have
discovered where our actual Swiss
ancestral home was, blessed that the
village still exists, and blessed to be
able to visit our cousins who still live
there. And there is an additional point
being made.
All
this came about through genealogical
research.
~
o ~
Carroll
Overholt's Travel Narrative
Prior to my arrival
in Europe, Charles had travelled to
Sinsheim, and said there wasn't much to
see, "except for an old castle in
Sinsheim." We visited the castle in
Sinsheim [Stift Sunnisheim, see
below].
I knew that
Immelhausen was approximately two miles
from Sinsheim, so I persuaded Charles to
inquire from area taxi drivers about the
possibility of finding Immelhausen, and
getting there. Charles was skeptical that
the castle and Immelhausen even existed,
but I pressed on. As I look back, it was
a thrilling time in my life. Would we
find the Immelhausen Hof (farm)? Would
the castle still be there? My son, the
world traveler, was not as optimistic as
I, but for once, I felt a strange sense
of hope and purpose. I had come too far
to give up now.
We purchased a map of
the Sinsheim area, and found the correct
spelling to be Immelhauser,
and not Immelhausen, as I had read in all
other material. The first taxi driver was
unfamiliar with the area, but the second
was familiar with the area, and agreed to
take us there. Off we went -- an old farm
boy turned cop, and now a waterman, with
his Fulbright son -- attempting to find
the places where their ancestors had once
lived.
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Taking the Train to Sinsheim --
Carroll Overholt © 2013 All
Rights Reserved

Sinsheim Train Station --
Carroll/Charles Overholt © 2013
All Rights Reserved

At the Train Station--
Carroll/Charles Overholt © 2013
All Rights Reserved

Sinsheim Finanzamt Vorne
& Bus Stop --
Carroll/Charles Overholt © 2013
All Rights Reserved

Charles & Sinsheim
Freiheitsdenkmal -- Carroll
Overholt © 2013 All Rights
Reserved

Charles & Elsenz River --
Carroll Overholt © 2013 All
Rights Reserved

Carroll & Elsenz River --
Charles Overholt © 2013 All
Rights Reserved

Sinsheim Stift Sunnisheim
Entrance -- Carroll/Charles
Overholt © 2013 All Rights
Reserved

Sinsheim Stift Sunnisheim
& Kirche --
Carroll/Charles Overholt © 2013
All Rights Reserved

Carroll & Sinsheim Stift
Sunnisheim & Kirche --
Charles Overholt © 2013 All
Rights Reserved

Part of Sinsheim Stift
Sunnisheim --
Carroll/Charles Overholt © 2013
All Rights Reserved

Charles & Sinsheim Taxi --
Carroll Overholt © 2013 All
Rights Reserved

View of the Modern City of
Sinsheim -- Carroll/Charles
Overholt © 2013 All Rights
Reserved

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~
o ~
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Locating
Immelhäuser Hof --
Carroll/Charles Overholt © 2013
All Rights Reserved
|
|
|
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Sure enough, we found
Immelhäuser Hof, a small village in a
region of beautiful rolling hills, much
like the Amish area of Lancaster County,
PA. The driver, named Stephon Benzinger,
agreed to wait while we walked the area
and took numerous pics.
How
many Overholts can say they have been to
Immelhäuser Hof, Germany?
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Morning
Breaks Over Immelhäuser Hof
-- Carroll/Charles Overholt ©
2013 All Rights Reserved

The
Center of Immelhäuser Hof --
Carroll/Charles Overholt © 2013
All Rights Reserved

Carroll
in "Downtown Immelhäuser
Hof" -- Charles
Overholt © 2013 All Rights
Reserved

Carroll
& Immelhäuser Hof Sign --
Charles Overholt © 2013 All
Rights Reserved

Charles
& Immelhäuser Hof Sign --
Carroll Overholt © 2013 All
Rights Reserved

Immelhäuser
Hof Homes -- Carroll/Charles
Overholt © 2013 All Rights
Reserved

Immelhäuser
Hof Homes (2) --
Carroll/Charles Overholt © 2013
All Rights Reserved

Fields
of Immelhäuser Hof --
Carroll/Charles Overholt © 2013
All Rights Reserved
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As I gazed off to a
distant hill, I saw a tower-like object
approximately two miles away. Was that
the castle?
~ o ~
Finding
Burg Steinsberg, or
"Hey, is that a castle tower
over there?"
|
We persuaded the taxi
driver to take us further to what I was
confident was the castle I was looking
for. A short and exciting drive took us
there.

Eyes
Tracking a Distant Hill
Carroll/Charles Overholt © 2013
All Rights Reserved
|

Stephon
Waves from the Driver's Seat
Carroll Overholt © 2013 All
Rights Reserved
|
|
|

Castle
Tower Above the Trees
Carroll/Charles Overholt ©
2013 All Rights Reserved

Approaching
the Castle
Carroll/Charles Overholt © 2013
All Rights Reserved
|

Steinsberg Castle is located
on the northern edge
of Weiler, a town southeast of
Immelhäuser Hof.
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Distant
Ramparts Above Vineyards --
Carroll/Charles Overholt © 2013
All Rights Reserved
|
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Treeline
of Burg Steinsberg -- Carroll/Charles
Overholt © 2013 All Rights
Reserved
|
|
The driver agreed to
wait again, while we walked the castle
grounds, taking many more pics.
A
plaque on the castle wall dated the
construction timetable (first started in
the 1200's) and stated that the walls
were 3 meters thick (16 ft.), and the
tower was 100 feet tall. This was the
Elector's Castle!
I
asked Charles, the history buff,
"What was an Elector?"
Electors, he explained, had a vote when
they elected the Holy Roman Emperor.
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Burg
Steinsberg Entrance --
Carroll/Charles Overholt © 2013
All Rights Reserved

Sign
at the Entrance --
Carroll/Charles Overholt © 2013
All Rights Reserved

Castle
Walls, Well & Base of the
Tower -- Carroll/Charles
Overholt © 2013 All Rights
Reserved

Castle
's High Tower --
Carroll/Charles Overholt © 2013
All Rights Reserved

Pinnacle
of the Castle Tower --
Carroll/Charles Overholt © 2013
All Rights Reserved

Inside
Castle Walls --
Carroll/Charles Overholt © 2013
All Rights Reserved

Carroll
Inside Steinsberg Castle --
Charles Overholt © 2013 All
Rights Reserved

Antique
Canon -- Carroll/Charles
Overholt © 2013 All Rights
Reserved

Charles
& the Canon -- Carroll
Overholt © 2013 All Rights
Reserved

Bergfried
Sign -- Carroll/Charles
Overholt © 2013 All Rights
Reserved

Date
of Construction, 1622 --
Carroll/Charles Overholt © 2013
All Rights Reserved

Burg
Steinsberg Periods of History
Sign -- Carroll/Charles
Overholt © 2013 All Rights
Reserved

Door
to Burg Steinsberg Restaurant
-- Carroll/Charles Overholt ©
2013 All Rights Reserved

View
to the Tower Top --
Carroll/Charles Overholt © 2013
All Rights Reserved

Circular
Castle Fortifications --
Carroll/Charles Overholt © 2013
All Rights Reserved

Castle
Guard Tower -- Carroll
Overholt © 2013 All Rights
Reserved

Charles
& Castle Guard Tower --
Carroll Overholt © 2013 All
Rights Reserved

Oberes
Eingangstor Sign --
Carroll/Charles Overholt © 2013
All Rights Reserved

Carroll
& Castle Fortifications
-- Charles Overholt © 2013 All
Rights Reserved

Carroll
& Castle Fortifications
(Detail) -- Charles Overholt
© 2013 All Rights Reserved

Äußeres
Tor Signs -- Carroll/Charles
Overholt © 2013 All Rights
Reserved

Castle
Ramparts & Vineyard --
Carroll/Charles Overholt © 2013
All Rights Reserved

Steinsberg
Castle Ramparts --
Carroll/Charles Overholt © 2013
All Rights Reserved

Carroll
& Burg Steinsberg --
Charles Overholt © 2013 All
Rights Reserved

Carroll
& Burg Steinsberg (Detail) --
Charles Overholt © 2013 All
Rights Reserved

Castle
Ramparts Road --
Carroll/Charles Overholt © 2013
All Rights Reserved

Annakapell
(Anna's Chapel) --
Carroll/Charles Overholt © 2013
All Rights Reserved
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Outside the castle
walls was "Anna's Chapel," an
old church. Pressed for time by the
waiting taxi, we did not go in the
Church, but took numerous pics around and
inside the castle. What a beautiful view
of the surrounding countryside!
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Carroll
& Castle Vineyards --
Charles Overholt © 2013 All
Rights Reserved

Castle
Vineyards Above Weiler --
Carroll/Charles Overholt © 2013
All Rights Reserved

Castle
Vineyards Above Weiler (2)--
Carroll/Charles Overholt © 2013
All Rights Reserved

Castle
Vineyards Above Weiler (3) --
Carroll/Charles Overholt © 2013
All Rights Reserved

Annakapell
Seen Beyond Vineyard --
Carroll/Charles Overholt © 2013
All Rights Reserved

Castle
Vineyards Above Weiler (4)
-- Carroll/Charles Overholt ©
2013 All Rights Reserved

Road
Up fromWeiler --
Carroll/Charles Overholt © 2013
All Rights Reserved

Weiler
Homes at Burg Steinsberg --
Carroll/Charles Overholt © 2013
All Rights Reserved

Weiler
Homes at Burg Steinsberg
(Detail) -- Carroll/Charles
Overholt © 2013 All Rights
Reserved

Charles
& Local Monument --
Carroll Overholt © 2013 All
Rights Reserved

Monument
-- Carroll/Charles Overholt
© 2013 All Rights Reserved

Darkening
Sky Over Weiler --
Carroll/Charles Overholt © 2013
All Rights Reserved
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Next
Stop: Zurich, Switzerland
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Carroll
Naps After a Busy Day --
Charles Overholt © 2013 All
Rights Reserved
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~
Coming Soon! ~
The
next page in this series: Finding
Oberholz
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End of
Page ~ ~ Return to Karen's
Branches
~ o ~
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