We will start a look at some of the history of the village of Schwaigern, home to many Germanna citizens. The information was brought back to America by Earl and Leona Willhoite and was translated by Fred Westcott. The material, written by Pastor Waldbaur, of the church in 1905, was not well organized, but Fred did the best he could with it. It was printed in Beyond Germanna in volume 2, the number 3 issue.
The oldest document in which the village is mentioned dates to 765, when the village was given to the Lorsch Monastery. Through the years, the name has appeared as Sueiger, Sueigeren, Swegern, and Swaigern (1302). The church itself is mentioned for the first time in a document of Wimpfen from 1295. It should be assumed that some church existed for centuries before this time.
In 1496, is a visitation report of the Diocese of Worms is written that Schwaigern is listed under the sedes , or seats, of the Deanery. At that time, the following belonged to Sprengel: Heimsheim, Mühlbach, Wimpfen am Berg, Wimpfen im Tal, Biberach, Oberriesesheim, Neckargartach, Frankenbach, Grossgartach, Massenbach, Hausen, and Neipperg.
The introduction of the Reformation in Schwaigern probably took place between 1520 and 1530. In 1531, the Counselor of Heilbronn requests, from Wolf von Neipperg, a trained preacher. Thereafter, B. Wurzelmann, the brother-in-law of Schnepf, was called to Schwaigern as the first evangelical pastor, probably in the second half of the 20’s. He later became the pastor of Dinkelsbühl.
The Thirty Years’ War : The year 1625 lists 222 deaths. The high mortality number is connected with the march of Georg Friedrich of Baden-Durlach, who started out from here on the 25th of April, with 15,000 to 20,000 men, 20 marksmen, and 1800 pack wagons, to follow Tilly. He was beaten on the 26th of April at Oberreissesheim.
The year 1635 numbers 691 dead. Among them were 186 foreigners. More than 500 deaths occur in the time between May and August. In the month of September and half of October, no other deaths are registered, so it is to be assumed the residents had left town. In the years 1634 to 1637, 1,005 persons died.
The vigor of the population is evident in the number of marriages subsequently. After 1625 there were 30, at other times 15. After 1635, there were 45, but otherwise there was an average of 12. Many widowers married widows.
We gratefully acknowledge the work of John Blankenbaker who published over 2,500 Germanna History Notes via the Germanna-L@rootsweb.com email list from 1997 to 2008. We are equally thankful to George Durman (Sgt. George) for hosting the list and republishing the notes via rootsweb.com.