Leinbach Genealogy Johann Heinrich Leimbach (1649-1716) The German Patriarch
Ancestors
Unknown
Birth
< 1 > Johann Heinrich Leimbach was born about 1649 in central
Germany. In the book recording his marriage to Anna Barbara Lerch at
Langenselbold in 1672, he is associated with a place described in one
modern transcription from the original as "Gerthen-Rode im
Riedeselischen". Some researchers believe this is the present-day
village of Gerterode located above Bad Hersfeld, Hessen, Germany, between Frankfurt-am-Main and Kassel. It is situated near Ludwigseck, the Riedesel castle to the northwest. And, a number of Leimbachs lived in the area at the time of Johann Heinrich's birth. Research has revealed that a head-of-household named Abraham Leimbach resided in Gerterode in 1656. Also, records in Braach, just north of Gerterode, note the baptism of a certain Johann Heinrich Leimbach, son of Johann Daniel Leimbach, in 1663. Additionally, several other Leimbach families are known to have lived in the Braach parish. Beyond this circumstantial evidence, however, no records of church or state directly linking Johann Heinrich Leimbach (1649-1716) to this particular Gerterode are known to exist.
Some genealogies indicate that Johann Heinrich was born in Oberdorfelden, the place of his residence at the time of his death. No evidence is known to support this assertion.
Spouse
Married Anna Barbara Lerch (1652- ) on December 6, 1672.
Children
< 1.1 > Johannes Leinbach (1674-1747)
< 1.2 > Johannes Christoffel Leinbach (1680- )
< 1.3 > Anna Elizabeth Leinbach / Leimbach (1681- )
< 1.4 > Eva Leinbach (1684- )
< 1.5 > Anna Margerth Leinbach (1685- )
< 1.6 > Andreas Leinbach (1689- )
Life
What little we know of Johann Heinrich, the patriarch of this genealogy, was obtained from church records. The earliest of these documents his marriage to Anna Barbara Lerch, the daughter of Johannes and Eva Lerch in 1672 at the Evangelical Church in
Langenselbold. According to baptismal records at that same church, the first five children of Johann Heinrich and Anna Barbara were born there as he practiced the linenweaving trade. However, sometime between 1685 (when their youngest daughter was born) and 1689 (when their last son was born), he and his family moved a few miles west to Hochstadt. Thereafter Johann Heinrich is identified in the records as a school teacher. A subsequent move to Altenhasslau (to the east of Langenselbold) by 1700 was followed by a final one to Oberdorfelden (north of Hochstadt) by 1708.
Death
Johann Heinrich died on April 5, 1716 and was buried at the Evangelical Church in Oberdorfelden.
Historical Background Germany is a principally a geographic region in centural Europe populated by German-speaking people. With the exception of the Arctic and Baltic Seas to the north, it lacks any natural borders. Situated in the path of numerous migrations and invasions, Germany consists of a mixture of people of Roman, Celtic, Teutonic, Baltic, and Slovic descent. That has resulted in a Germany that has existed primarily as a collection of ethnic groups sharing a common language and numerous fuzzy alliances throughout most of its recorded history. The devotion of these groups to their individual "homelands" within Germany slowed progress toward economic or political alliances, and a truly unified German state has existed only during the period of 1871-1945 and since the recent fall of the Iron Curtain.
The area northeast of Frankfurt-am-Main, Hessen, Germany including Langenselbold, Hochstadt, and Oberdorfelden is in an extensive plain known as the Wetterau. Occupied by the Romans at one time, it is a fertile agricultural area reknown for its wheat production. The people in this area of Germany converted to Christianity during the seventh century. About 1530 Frankfurt-am-Main became an important stronghold of Protestantism.
Schools grew in number during the Reformation and became available to not only the clergy, but also the laity. Mathematics and the natural sciences blossomed through Europe thereafter. Just a decade before Johann Heinrich's birth, Galileo Galilei had published the last of his famous works, Discourses Concerning Two New Sciences. During Johann Heinrich's lifetime, Sir Isaac Newton (1643-1727) and others launched the scientific revolution that has since dominated Western thought.