The Kuntz & Rauch Families of West Hanover
Does prayer work? Well, these two families put it to the test. They found that families that pray together build eternal relationships built on a foundation of strength, comfort, and love, and prayer was the bedrock of the Kuntz and Rauch families. Michael Kuntz was born in the winter of 1709 in Preuschdorf to parents Diebold and Margarite. His wife, Eva, was born around the same time to Jacques and Catharina Bender in Lampertsloch. Life in the Alsace region was tumultuous for these Lutheran families.
For centuries, its inhabitants endured violent political and religious conquest. Although the crusades had ended, the religious inquisitions, blasphemy, heresy, etc. continued until the 19th century. There was even a witchcraft conviction of Helena Curtens in 1738 the Palatinate and, Anna Goldi in the Swiss Confederacy in 1782, both sentenced to death for witchcraft. During The Thirty Years War, it was devastated by conflict and disease, and after a brief Swedish rule, came under control of France and German rule back and forth. They prayed for safety and stability.
The Rauch family was living in abysmal conditions as well. Bernhard Rauch was born in 1714 to Mennonites Peter and Dorothy in Marnheim, where they attended Evangelisch-Reformierte Kirche. Marnheim has a chaotic, miserable history. In 1525 during the Peasants’ War, rebellious farmers from Marnheim marched against Leiningen Castle. The Bios ancestors Jacob Lehman of Narrative 12 and Mary Breidenstein of Narrative 23 are descendants of the Catholic Leiningen family—and plenty of prayers were needed to convert their progeny.
During the Thirty Years War, the Froschauerhof, just south of Marnheim, was almost completely incinerated. Extreme poverty and disease were rampant, including an outbreak of plague in 1666 that decimated the population. At the beginning of the eighteenth century, Count Johann Ernst von Nassau-Weilburg acquired the Electoral Palatinate Office of Bolanden, and rule switched over to the Lords of Kirchheim…more prayers. Nearby, Bernhard’s wife, Elizabeth, was born in Meisenheim to Peter and Margaretha Gebhard. Elizabeth’s sister, Maragaret, is highlighted in Narrative 21. Bernhard and Elizabeth married in 1734.
Political and religious unrest, and an oppressive economic structure that taxed its poor and provided no opportunity for land ownership, compelled the Kuntz and Rauch families to take their chances on life in the colonies. Leaving their parents behind, but remembering them in their constant prayers, Bernhard and his family immigrated to Philadelphia in 1738 and settled in Jonestown. Michael, Eva, and their six children arrived in Philadelphia ten years later. Neither couple would see their parents again…
For Complete Details, go to “American Pioneer Biographies, European, African, Colonial & Republic Families Of America’s East Coast From 1500-2000, Volume 1, Edition 3” at https://arcifc.com/genealogy/books-and-blog/
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