Rodenhiser Kin-nections

Rodenhiser Kin-nections

HISTORICAL   BACKGROUND

Contributor: Kenneth S. Paulsen

The Rothenhauser family immigrated to Nova Scotia in 1751. The exact reasons that the family left Klein-Heubach may never be known.  However, a combination of factors may have been considered when they decided  to leave.  It  may  have  been a combination  of  economic, political  and religious  reasons that prompted the  Johann Philipp Friedrich Rothenhauser family to leave the Main Valley.

The town of  Klein-Heubach  sits on the south side of a bend in  the River Main. Rising behind the town are the hills of the Odenwald. The agricultural  potential of the town is limited by the narrowness  of the valley.  Across the river from Klein-Heubach is Gross-Heubach which  historically  lay in the  territory of  the  Archbishopric of  Mainz and which has also been associated with the Catholic branch of the house of Lowenstein-Wertheim.  The location of the town with its limited  agricultural land may have been contributing factors in the decision  to  leave.  The  Crown  was  offering potential immigrants  grants of free land if they  settled in Nova  Scotia.  German  land-holding  practices  probably  made the offer of free land in America  seem very attractive.

The Rothenhauser  family  left  Klein-Heubach  at the height of colonial-era  German  immigration to North America. They left during  the period  between the War of the  Austrian Succession (1740–1748) and the Seven Years War (1756-1763).  The Austrian War had an impact upon Germany as did most wars of the 17th  and  18th  centuries. The Austrian War  involved all the great  powers of  Western and Central Europe and the battles as usual were fought  on German soil. The war itself probably had no direct  impact on Klein-Heubach, but the town lay on an important trade and military route.

The town of  Klein-Heubach was a seat of the  Princes of Lowen- stein-Wertheim.  Klein-Heubach  lay in the Protestant territories of the principality.  The House of  Lowenstein-Wertheim  was split into Protestant  (senior) and  Catholic  (junior) branches.  The House of Lowenstein-Wertheim  ruled  Klein-Heubach for several centuries. The  town was an enclave of the  principality.  It was  surrounded by the Catholic Archbishopric of Mainz to the north,  south and east and by the  Protestant  Grafschaft  Erbach in the Odenwald to the west. The Principality maintained its autonomy until 1803 when it was absorbed into the Grand Duchy of Baden when  Napoleon consolidated the German States and  eliminated the Holy  Roman  Empire of the German Nation.  The town of Klein-Heubach  again changed hands in 1815 following the Treaty of Vienna when it was  transferred to the jurisdiction of the greatly  expanded  Kingdom  of Bavaria.  Klein-Heubach  has remained under the jurisdiction of Bavaria since that time.

The town of  Klein-Heubach had  strong  connections  with  the  neighbouring Grafschaft Erbach.  There was considerable interaction between the earldom and the town.  Many  people  from Klein-Heubach had family  connections  with the  earldom as seen in the following genealogy of the Rothenhauser and Zink families.

The Rothenhauser  (and  Zink)  family  were  part  of  a great movement of German Protestants to colonial America in the middle of the eighteenth  century.  There was a flood of German immigrants to Pennsylvania,  New  York  and neighbouring Mid-Atlantic colonies at  this time.  The  British  government  saw this as an opportunity to recruit people for settlement in Nova Scotia.

Official policy in London was to bring  non-English Protestants  to Nova  Scotia to  establish a  loyal,  agricultural  colony and to establish communities  capable of exploiting the fishery. The answer  at  least  for  agricultural  communities  was  to  recruit  foreign Protestants from the  German  States.  The Crown hired  John Dick in Rotterdam to recruit settlers for Nova Scotia. The Crown pursued the policy  from 1750 to 1752.  Because  of the  cost of  establishing a settlement  and  supporting  the settlers until they were relatively self-sufficient,  the  Crown  suspended  the  policy  of  recruiting foreign Protestants for Nova Scotia.

The result of the  settlement  policy was the  establishment of Lunenburg in 1753.  The Rothenhauser  family  was among the settlers  who found themselves at Lunenburg in June 1753.