There are two Neuenbürgs in Germany that are only twenty miles apart. (We have multiple Salems, Lincolns, etc. in the US.) Because the Neuenbürg, with only the Catholic Church, is said to be the home of the Blankenbakers, the question has been raised as to whether the correct Neuenbürg has been identified. I believe that it has been, for these reasons. Zacharias Blankenbaker, when he was naturalized in Virginia, said he was a citizen on the lands of the Bishops of Speyer. That is, he was saying he was born on the lands belonging to the Catholic Church. The maps that I have seen put the Neuenbürg that is north of Bruchsal on the Catholic lands. Also, the church records for our Neuenbürg are combined with two other nearby villages, one of which is Oberöwisheim, which is less than two miles down the road.
It being lunch time when we arrived at Oberöwisheim, we ate as we often ate. We had noticed a Bäckerei (bakery) so I bought some bread. Then looking for something else to go with it, I saw that next door there was a shop with fruits and drinks. When I went it, it was the same sales lady that I had just met in the Bäckerei, and then I noticed the two shops were joined by a doorway. It was more than a way of obtaining the necessary space; a Bächerei does not sell fruit and drinks. Everything must be in its proper place. A good place to eat is often the church yard. First, the church usually can be located by its spire which rises above all else (hence it the ideal place to put the town clocks one on each face). Second, the church often has some parking space, though seldom very much. Third, there is often a bench. And so we ate lunch looking out over the village of Oberöwisheim, peaceful and quiet. And of course we were very careful to dispose of our waste very carefully and properly. When it comes to cleanliness, few nationalities can surpass the Germans. We saw householders cleaning out the cracks in the pavement where the street meets the curb.
The next village was Oberderdingen. Matthias Blankenbaker, my namesake immigrant, was married in this village and apparently lived here. (His eldest son, George, who was baptized there, became the head of the Pickler clan in America.) Just a few miles up the road was Sulzfeld, the home of many Germanna families. The country round about there consists of gently rolling hills offering excellent vistas. We were able to enhance the viewing opportunities by going to the ruins at Ravensburg, which has been turned into a restaurant. More importantly, from our standpoint, there was a tower still standing that had been a part of the former castle. Someone had put wooden steps inside so one could climb the 113 of them to the top. I get a little nervous when faced with heights, and the safety of these steps really did not pass muster, but I was not going to let some minor things prevent me from seeing the view. And what a view it was. From the top, we could see about seven villages, the nearest of which was Sulzfeld. I could see Christopher Zimmerman down there making barrels. Not having had any desert with lunch and as a reward for enduring the dangers of the tower, we went to the restaurant to get a little something.
In between the villages there were no homes or barns. All of the farmers lived right in their village, with their barns behind or beside the houses. Then they go out to the fields with their equipment. Looking at the view from the tower, one obtains the best impression of the physical characteristics of living in rural Germany.
(13 Jun 00)
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.