Trupbach Photo Gallery

(This Page Was Last Modified Sunday, 03-Jan-2010 15:53:05 MST.)


In May, 2000, and in May, 2002, John and Eleanor Blankenbaker traveled to Germany and Austria to visit villages from which our Germanna ancestors immigrated.  This page contains photos taken in Trupbach, Germany.
(Each photo is labeled for the month & year it was taken.)
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(Photos of German and Austrian Villages, Copyright © 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009 John BLANKENBAKER.)
(Photos of German and Austrian Villages Web Pages, Copyright © 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009 George W. DURMAN.)


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Photos of Trupbach, Germany




Trupbach Village Drawing

Trupbach Village Drawing

This drawing shows the old village of about 1713, the time that three families, the Rectors, Otterbachs, and Fischbachs, left for Virginia.  If you move down from the center at the top (approximately) through the first, smaller building, you will come to the Rector home, which no longer stands.  This location is now used for a farm implement shed.  The Chapel school is near the center, and its outline can be recognized by reference to the photo of it below.
(May, 2000)
(File size:  800 x 556,  111,650 Bytes)



Trupbach Village Church

Trupbach Village Church

The church in Trupbach is modern, the only modern church building we saw.  I believe prior to this there was no church, only a chapel.
(May, 2000)
(File size:  760 x 546,  65,818 Bytes)



Trupbach Chapel School

Trupbach Chapel School

This is the most famous building in Trupbach, the Chapel School, which was built in the middle of the eighteenth century.  It is now used as a village museum.  In the early eighteenth century, when our people left, there were about 25 houses in the village.
(May, 2000)
(File size:  800 x 581,  99,598 Bytes)



Trupbach Rector Home

Trupbach Rector Home

The Rector home was destroyed by fire in 1945.  This photo of a photo shows the facade of the house which was called the "clock maker's home".  Three generations of clock makers lived here.  Johannes Richter lived here in 1707 before coming to America in 1717.  The house was built about 1640, which is about as old as any house in Trupbach.
(Dec, 2009)
(File size:  3600 x 2588,  1.23 MBytes)

On 17 December 2009,the following information about the house was sent to George W. Durman by Jurgen Schneider, a RICHTER descendant:

"The Trupbach Rector Home was destroyed by phosphor bombs two days before the end of World War Two in 1945.  Near the house was at that time an anti aircraft defence position.

"The last three generations of farmers who lived in the house were clockmakers in the wintertime.  Older generations combined the farm with a blacksmith's shop.  Till 1867 the house was for many generations inherited in the women's line.

"My mother, born in 1907, spent in her childhood many vacations in the Rector House.  It was the house of her grandparents.  Her father, Gustaf Zimmer, was born in the house in 1868.

"With kind regards, Jurgen Schneider."
[email protected]

=======================================================

(29 Dec 2009:  Follow up to the above.  I just received the following from Barb Price and thanks to her we know a little more of the history of the RECTOR House.

"Thank you so much for passing on this email, George!  I will forward it to Katharine Brown, she's a Trustee of the Germanna Foundation, a Richter/Rector descendant and she also leads the Germany Tour every year.  Trupbach, the location of the Richter/Rector home, is always a stop on the Tour and there are other Schneiders that live there, I wonder if they're related to Jurgen as they, too, are Richter cousins.

"The Richter home was the only home in Trupbach to be destroyed during WWII; there is a barn that is still standing and the herringbone brickwork that was at the entrance to the home is still there, a piece of which was given to the Germanna Foundation by the Trupbach Heimatverein.  The Heimatverein are clubs that promote the preservation of the history of the villages and surrounding areas.  The Germanna travelers are hosted every year by the Heimatverein in Trupbach, serving a delicious array of homemade cakes, served in the very chapel that our ancestors attended--it's pretty neat!

"The other neat thing about the Heimatverein in Trupbach is that they have not only preserved the history of the people that lived there, but also the houses that they lived in, and still live in today.  Here's the history of the Richter/Rector home, Uhrmeiersch, from "Ortsgeschichte Trupbach" by Dieter Trops and Udo Bohn.  I added the English translation next to the German, in some cases, and there is also a drawing of the home prior to its destruction:

Haus Nr. 18   Uhrmeiersch   (Trupbacher Str. 65)

Erbaut ca. 1640. (Built around 1640.)
1668     Johannes SCHMIDT
1668     Hermann BECKER
1680     Christoffel RICHTER, Uhrmacher (Clockmaker) mit(with)Anna Cath. BECKER
1707     Johannes RICHTER, Uhrmacher (Clockmaker)
1760     Hermann RICHTER, Uhrmacher (Clockmaker)
1812     Johann Henrich HOFFMAN,Vorsteher (Superintendent) mit Maria Elis. RICHTER
1862     Johannes Henrich STRACKE,Kleinschmied (Locksmith) mit Cath. HOFFMAN
1880     Carl ZIMMER, Landwirt (Farmer) mit Helene STRACKE
1910     Carl ZIMMER, Landwirt (Farmer)
1940     Carl ZIMMER, Landwirt (Farmer)"

Barb Price

=======================================================

(29 Dec 2009:  Marc Wheat, President of The Germanna Foundation, posted this today on the GERMANNA_COLONIES Mailing List at Rootsweb:

"The present owners of the RICHTER house site are brothers Fritz and Theo BOTTENBERG, who have hosted Germanna Foundation visitors to their home over the last several years.  Fritz even made the Transatlantic flight to come to a reunion a few years ago.

"On one trip a few years ago, Fritz and Theo presented a square section of the herring-bone stone floor to the Germanna Foundation, on display now.  On of my favorite pictures of my kids is sitting on the entry floor of their ancestors from 300 years ago."

=======================================================

(31 Dec 2009:  Cary Anderson posted this today on the GERMANNA_COLONIES Mailing List at Rootsweb:

"On the 2005 Germanna Trip, my first time, while we were in Trupbach, Fritz (BOTTENBERG) mentioned in his remarks to the group that they were living in the house when it blew up and burned.  Fritz then stated that his mother owned the current house where she had a grocery store.  He contined:  "We just moved over here."

"From these remarks I reckoned that the property must have belonged to his mother???"

=======================================================

(1 Jan 2010:  Joy Watkins posted this today on the GERMANNA_COLONIES Mailing List at Rootswerb:

"Fritz (BOTTENBERG) told us the same thing, that his mother was a "Rector."

=======================================================

So, we can add to the above:

1945     Fritz and Theo BOTTENBERG
2009     Fritz and Theo BOTTENBERG

(I'm still trying to figure out how the owners progressed from the ZIMMER family in 1940 back to the RECTOR/RICHTER family and then to the BOTTENBERG family.  Any help?  [Sarge])

=======================================================

(2 Jan 2010:  We were notified on the GERMANNA_COLONIES Mailing List, by Marc Wheat, President of the Germanna Foundation, that he had posted a new message to the Message Board, entitled "Richter/Rector House "Uhrmeiersch" in Trupbach, Germany".  He has done a great job of combining all the data from the Mailing List with other data he has access to, and the resulting article is worth reading.  You can read this new article at:

http://www.germanna.org/germana_message_board#comment-212



Trupbach "Wisse" Haus

Trupbach Wisse Haus

This house, known as the "Wisse" haus (house), was built about 1650.  In 1707, Johannes Wisse lived there, but he left no heirs.  Next, John Henry Schneider, who married Maria Cath. Otterbach and lived there in 1750.  Their daughter, Elisabeth, married John Eberhard Gudelius, and they lived there in 1780.  The list of inhabitants is known down to the present.  In 1950, the house was subdivided and it now consists of two parts.

This home is typical of the early homes.  The ground floor was for the animals.  The second floor was for the people.  The third floor was for hay.  This cozy arrangement was intended to be just that, cozy and warm for all creatures.  Trupbach was an agricultural village.  Many of the homes have been converted to other arrangements now.
(May, 2000)
(File size:  800 x 506,  69,656 Bytes)



Trupbach Farmer

Trupbach Farmer

Many farmers continue to live in the village, even though it has grown much larger.  Right in the middle of Trupbach, this farmer has a four wheel drive tractor.  In the days gone by, the motive power was furnished by cattle.
(May, 2000)
(File size:  800 x 581,  89,543 Bytes)


NOTE !!!!!

(Photos of German and Austrian Villages, Copyright © 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009 John BLANKENBAKER.)
(Photos of German and Austrian Villages Web Pages, Copyright © 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009 George W. DURMAN.)
(While we allow downloading of these pictures for your enjoyment, and for personal genealogical uses, they are copyrighted material and commercial use of them is FORBIDDEN.)

(If you find errors on this page, please email me.)

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