Glassmakers part 9 Glassworks at Wulfingerthal The region of Wangenbourg apparently had at least one glassworks before the Thirty Years War. The parish registers of Marmoutier states that between 1627 and 1630 there were three births in the family Sebastien Schmidt "Vitriator" (Latin word for glassmaker) and Gertrude Grinerin (Greiner). The witness was Jean Frolich, Jr. (Froelich). We will find this name again in Lucelle in 1656. The First Glassworks at Wulfingerthal On April 3, 1666 the Count advised his bailiff that the glassworker Vincent Fischer had been accused of engaging foreign workers. It is definitely the period in which the glassmakers of the region of Bitche were moving into this region. The glassworks that the Count mentions in his writings have not been located, but it must have been in the region of Wangenbourg. The parish records of Marmoutier indicate three births between 1665 and 1670 to Vincent Fischer and Anne Greiner at "Wangenbourg und Glasshutt." These parish registers reveal the presence of other glassworkers from 1658. The names Schwoerer (Schwerer) and Andres appear - well known as glassmasters. In 1664 among the four glassmasters there were Georges Schwerer, Michel Andres, and Georges Spengler. After 1670 one finds other lines - Moser, Stenger, Shira (Gerard). In 1677 Elisabeth Schwerer, wife of Jean Georges Stenger gave birth to Jean whose godparents were Martin Scherard (Gerard) and Anne Andres. Names which we will find at Eigenthal, Troisfontaines, Harreberg, Kourtzerode-Waltembourg, Dannelbourg and others. It looks like the first founders of this glassworks were Georges Schwerer and Michel Andres who were later joined by Spengler, Fischer, Moser, Stenger and Gerard. Around 1678, the last four names of those previously mentioned disappear from the parish registers of Wangenbourg. We will find them in the parish registers of Walscheid listing Eigenthal as their place of occupation. Georges Spengler married Maria Hug from a glass family from Wildenstein in the valley of Saint Amarin. Christian Strel (Strol), husband of Eve Andres was at Wulfingerthal from about 1664: he went to Eigenthal where he was designated "carver of forests." Antoine Pechon (Bechon) (Poisson; Fischer?) whose wife Veronique Andres was the daughter of a glassmaker, was certainly a manual laborer and we will see his son, Jean Nicolas, a glassmaker at Kourtzerode. The Second Glassworks at Wulfingerthal (page 52) In 1680 the Count Casimir of Linange gave to the master glassmaker, Georges Schwerer and to his son (name not given but who could be Balthasar born in 1661 to Georges Schwerer and Marie Moser) authorization to reconstruct the glassworks at Wulfingerthal. The other subjects of the Count were not to impede the construction. The forester Jean Jacob of Dabo was charged with the control of the glassfactory (this must be Jean Jacob Muller). = The Glassworkers and Their Constructions (page 53) The first glassworkers were probably Georges Schwerer, Michel Andres, Georges Spengler, Jean Andres, Balthasar Schwerer, Melchior Spengler, Jacob Schwerer. They were joined by Nicolas Spengler, Adam Greiner, Jean Wolfgang Schwerer (the future provost of the glassworks of Kourtzerode-Waltembourg) and future father-in-law of the glassworkers Burgun and Stenger, who will develop three factories at Plaine de Walsch. Michel Andres came from the glassworks of Grunwald in the Black Forest. The parish register of Leutzkirch records his marriage to Appoline Griger on August 7, 1646. To supplement their income the glassmakers took on other tasks such as the manufacture of poles for the vineyards. A document of 1693 indicates that Hans Wolff Schwerer and Adam Greiner were fined for making and selling poles of the wrong length. The glassworks disappeared around 1700 because the majority of the workers went to Kourtzerode where Waltembourg was being established. A document of 1716 listing the possessions of the glassworkers mentions the widow of Balthasar Schwerer (Elisabeth Spengler), Pierre Spengler (a descendent of the glassmaker), Jean Braun and Jean Wolff Schwager. This glassfactory was the cradle of glassworkers which in the 20th century still provides the region with a flourishing industry. [from Janet Nichols] ==== KUNKEL Mailing List ==== If you have any problems with this list please contact Janet Reinhold, [email protected] To unsubscribe from single message mode, send a message to [email protected], with the word "unsubscribe" in the message and nothing else. To unsubscribe from digest mode, send a message to [email protected], with the same message.