By Barbara Price
In my last article, I discussed the two wives of Hans Jacob Holzklau, Anna Margreth Otterbach and Catherine, maiden name unknown. What do we know about the first wife of Hans Jacob Holzklau, Anna Margreth Otterbach, and her family, namely, her sisters?
Anna Margreth Otterbach was one of five daughters of Hermann Otterbach and Elisabeth Heimbach. Her parents were married on 11 Aug 1685:
Hermann and Elisabeth (Heimbach) Otterbach lived in the village of Trupbach, in the house called, “Welmes,” that was built around 1680 and is still occupied today. Welmes is the house on the right, c. 1960.
The Otterbach family is well documented in Trupbach. Hermann was noted in the census of 1707/08 as “Mannus Otterbach mit Ehefrau, 7 Kinder, 9 Personen, Vermogenslage Mittel (Average Income), Haus—Welmes.”
Hermannus and Elisabeth (Heimbach) Otterbach had the following children whose baptisms were recorded in the Nikolaikirche (St. Nicholas Church) register in Siegen:
1. Anna Margreth Otterbach, born 1686
2. Ellsbeth Otterbach, born 1689
3. Johann Philip Otterbach, born 1692
4. Johannes Otterbach, born 1693
5. Johann Jacob Otterbach, born 1695. This child died as an infant on 30 Jan 1696.
6. Elisabeth Cathrina Otterbach, born 1697
7. Maria Cathrina Otterbach, born 1699
8. Johannes Otterbach, born 1702
9. Anna Catharina Otterbach, born 1705
There are no records in either Germany or Virginia regarding the sons of Hermann and Elisabeth other than their baptisms. We do know that Hermann Otterbach was the first of the 1714 group to apply for permission to leave Germany, just a few weeks after Johann Justus Albrecht signed the contract with the ministers of Siegen.
On 5 Sep 1711, Otterbach stated that he wanted to emigrate to Prussia, a common request at the time according to the staff at the Stadt Archiv (City Archives) in Siegen, where this document was found:
In Virginia, we can only conjecture as to the fate of the daughters of Hermann and Elisabeth. We know that before they emigrated, the eldest daughter, Anna Margrethe, married the school master at Oberfischbach, Hans Jacob Holzklau, her lifelong friend and neighbor in Trupbach. But, we do not know when she died for certain, just that her death occurred between 1727 and 1729 when his second wife, Catherine, is named in a Virginia deed.
We can gather some information about Margret and the other four daughters from the importation statements made by their probable husbands at the Spotsylvania County Courthouse in 1724.
Anna Margreth Otterbach, born in 1686, the wife of Jacob Holtzclaw:
Ellsbeth Otterbach, born in 1689, is the probable second wife of Peter Heide/Hitt. His wife, Elizabeth is named in his statement, but there are no children named. This could be his first wife, Elisabeth Freudenberg, but it is thought that the first wife died before 1724:
Elisabeth Cathrina Otterbach, born in 1697, named Alice Katherine in the document, is the probable wife of John Kemper, who emigrated from Muesen near Siegen:
Maria Cathrina Otterbach, born in 1699, is the probable wife of John Joseph Martin, who also emigrated from the mining village of Muesen:
Anna Catharina Otterbach, born in 1705, is the probable wife of Harman Fischback, one of the sons of Philip and Elisabeth Fischbach, who emigrated in 1714 from the village of Trupbach:
We can only guess as to the death dates of any of the Otterbach sisters. The only one of the above who is named in the will of her husband is Elisabeth, the wife of Peter Hitt, but there are no further records of her after her husband’s death in 1772. Maria Cathrina, the wife of John Joseph Martin, died prior to his death in 1758/59 and his second wife, Eve, was still alive in 1777. Elisabeth Cathrina, the wife of John Kemper, probably died around 1745-50, prior to her husband’s death in 1758/59. Anna Catharina, the wife of Harman Fishback, died prior to 1745 according to a deed dated 7 Feb 1745 in which Harman Fishback is solemnizing his marriage to the widow Mary (Otterbach)Noe/Nay.
Unfortunately, there is no certainty as to the deaths of the five Otterbach sisters, all wives of members of the First Colony. Wouldn’t it be great to know when and where they died and where they are buried? Just another reason to take note of your female line, they’re the other half of your genealogy!
Do you have a MISSing female in your line? If so, contact me at: Barbara.Price@germanna.org.
First published in the Summer 2015 edition of the Germanna Foundation Newsletter. Get our newsletters mailed to your home by becoming a member.
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Ryan Springer says
Thanks for sharing! Anna Margreth Otterbach is my 8th great Grandmother. So amazing that the house is still standing. Proud to be a Germanna Descendant!
Brad Blevins says
I am coming to the conclusion that my line is through Hans Jacob’s second wife, “Catherine”.
If you ever work out her identity, I’d love to hear about it!
Benjamin Ainsworth says
I see this article is from 2015 but I wish it were updated. Maybe new info/records have been discovered since then. There are a lot of people tracing their ancestry back to this couple on Ancestry and other sites, but I am wondering how is this possible if only husbands were mentioned and no records of children? Are the people guessing or copying incorrect info from other trees without verifying it? I DNA match over 10 people who trace their ancestry to this couple and I would like to know if it is correct. Obviously the DNA matches and I have a common ancestor. I just want to know who it is.
Barbara E Price says
The article is from 2017 and, unfortunately, no further records have been found for either of the wives of Jacob Holtzclaw. I can assure you that the searching continues to this day! Such is the plight of many of our female ancestors.
We can surmise at an approximate death date for Anna Margreth Otterbach, Jacob Holtzclaw’s first wife, because the second wife, Catherine, “relinquished her right of tenor” in a deed dated 13 Aug 1729. In that deed she is named as “Catherine the wife of Jacob Holtzclaw.” If it not for this deed/document, we would not know that Jacob Holtzclaw was married twice. Many researchers have been looking for the maiden name of Catherine to no avail. We won’t stop looking, but to date, there is no clue as to her maiden name.
We do not even have a definite date of death for Catherine, we only know that she was not mentioned in Jacob Holtzclaw’s will dated 15 Jan 1759. So, Catherine died prior to the writing of the will.
From the deed of 1729, we can surmise that John, Henry, Catherine and Ann Elizabeth were children from the first marriage to Anna Margreth Otterbach as they were all born prior to 1729. The youngest children, Joseph, Jacob and Eve, were children from the second marriage as their dates of birth are after 1729 and the middle three, Harman, Elizabeth and Alice Katherine, could be children from either marriage as we don’t know the death date of the first wife, Anna Margreth.
We do know with certainty that Jacob Holtzclaw was married to Anna Margreth Otterbach as his first wife, we have their marriage record from Oberfischbach on 7 Aug 1708. We do know with certainty that the first two children of Jacob and Anna Margreth, Johannes/John and Johann Henrich/Henry, were both born and baptised in Oberfischbach as we have their baptism records in 1709 and 1711, respectively. We know that Jacob and Anna Margreth grew up together in Trupbach, their ancestry is very well documented, their houses still standing and occupied today. We know that Jacob was the school teacher in Oberfischbach from 1708-1713 and we also know that Jacob requested permission to immigrate on 17 Jul 1713, we found this document in the Siegen Archives along with several others from the First Colony. We know that Jacob stated in 1724 that he had come to Virginia with his wife, Margreth, and their two children, John and Henry, from the Importation statement that he filed in the Spotsylvania Co courthouse. We know that Jacob was naturalized on 11 Jul 1722 and that he, along with the other members of the First Colony, lived at Germantown. We have wills and inventories for many of the male members of the First Colony, but scant information about their wives.
I am more than happy to help you, along with others, try to figure out which of the wives you are descended from. Perhaps the DNA matches you have may give a clue as to the identity of Catherine, the second wife of Jacob Holtzclaw, if you think that you’re descended from her. Please contact me at: barbaragregoryprice5@gmail.com
We are always searching and we won’t stop until we physically can’t do it!!!
Barbara Price, Trustee and Genealogist
Descendant of Holtzclaw, Otterbach, Heimbach, Fischbach x 2, Rector, Haeger, Friesenhagen
Benjamin Ainsworth says
Hello Barbara,
Thank you so much for your response and the information you provided. I just wanted to get back in touch with you to let you know it may take some time to go through the DNA matches. I can’t see all of their trees on Ancestry. But, I did search and I have a match or two with all the names you have listed below. All of them are relatively unique surnames for the US other than Fischbach, which is fairly common so I would expect a lot of matches with that surname. I even have a match named Geoff Price on MyHeritage with Holtzclaw and Otterbach in his family tree. Are you related to him or know who he is?
While I am doing that I have to try and save as many DNA matches as possible since Ancestry has announced it will start removing matches less than 8 cM’s beginning in August. This is terrible news. And I saw many angry comments from Europeans who feel that the smaller DNA matches are the only way to confirm relationships with their American counterparts. And I agree. Whatever their reasoning is, it is not reason enough. After they do that we may never be able to confirm distant relationships.
Barbara E Price says
You are welcome! It’s maddening to me that we don’t know who Catherine is!!! I’m wondering if we could figure out which of the children your DNA matches match. I can help with that! I wonder how many of them are from children of the first wife and how many of them are from children of the second wife? Once we figured that out, could we look for commonalities in the children from the second wife to possibly help us find Catherine’s roots? It’s worth a try!
I’m on Ancestry, too, I have a bunch of trees, but my main tree is Smithereens. If you can’t find me, I can send you an invite. My DNA is also on Ancestry, so I’ll look for you to see if we match.
You can contact me at: barbaragregoryprice5@gmail.com, too.
Barbara Price, Trustee/Genealogist
Holtzclaw, Otterbach, Heimbach, Fischbach x 2, Rector, Haeger, Friesenhagen