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52 Ancestors: Week 47, Gerhard Dönges

Orginal post: 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks

In 1703, Gerhard Dönges transferred a house in Harxheim (now part of Zellertal, Donnersbergkreis, Rhineland-Palatinate) to his son also named Gerhard.1 Harxheim and its neighboring villages were former Catholic church estates secularized by the Electoral Palatinate in the 16th century. They were subsequently owned by the University of Heidelberg. The aforementioned house transfer was found in the university's archives.

Three years earlier, on 9 November 1700, Gerhard Dönges of Harxheim married Maria Demuth Haÿnen in Kindenheim (now in Landkreis Bad Dürkheim, Rhineland-Palatinate), about 2 1/2 miles southeast of Harxheim.2 This may be the younger Gerhard from the 1703 house transfer.

Daimbacherhof (now part of Mörsfeld, Donnersbergkreis, Rhineland-Palatinate), located about 11 miles northwest of Harxheim, was another former church property owned by the University of Heidelberg. In 1715, the lessees of Daimbacherhof, Gerhard Dinges and Michael Steinbock, petitioned the university that the lease be made hereditary due to the expenses incurred during the War of the Spanish Succession claiming that French troops pillaged their lands.3 The petition named Gerhard's wife as Maria Demuth. The unique given name combined with the shared owner of Daimbacherhof and Harxheim suggests that this may be the same couple married in 1700.

Child of Gerhard Dönges:

  1. Gerhard Dönges. He was possibly the Johann Gerhard Dinges, b. abt. Jan. 1674;4 m. (poss.) Maria Demuth Haÿnen.2

  1. “Verwaltung der Collectur Zell, 1673-1704,” house of Gerhard Dönges in Harxheim, 1703, RA 3984; Universitätsarchiv Heidelberg, Heidelberg, Germany.↩

  2. Evangelische Kirche Kindenheim (Kindenheim, Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany), Kirchenbuch, 1659-1746, p. 297, Gerhard Dönges-Maria Demuth Haÿnen, m. 9 Nov. 1700; digital images, FamilySearch, DGS 102332981 > image 158.↩

  3. “Streit mit der Gemeinde Mörsfeld wegen Daimbach, 1710-1727,” petition for hereditary-tenancy by Dunges and Steinbock, RA 2701; Universitätsarchiv Heidelberg, Heidelberg, Germany.↩

  4. Evangelisch-Reformierte Kirche Kriegsfeld, Kirchenbuch 2:578, Gerhard Dinges, d. 5 March 1743 (age 69y 3m); digital images, FamilySearch, DGS 102458408 > image 314; imaged from FHL microfilm 193924, item 3; citing Vereinigte Protestantisch-Evangelisch-Christliche Kirche der Pfalz, Speyer, Germany.↩