The decision to visit Frankenthal was motivated by the desire to see where the Lotspeich family came from. There was, in fact, very little to see. Frankenthal is now a good sized town and presents a dense mass of humanity. It is located on what I call the "flood plain" of the Rhine River. Though this is some of the best land in Germany, industry and homes have taken over.
Right next door to Frankenthal is Lambsheim from where the Christler family came. It is never a problem to get into a city; the problem is getting out of a city. Finding our way out of Frankenthal was not easy, especially since there was a detour in effect. After wandering around slightly lost, we did make our way to Lambsheim. It, too, was a disappointment.
This was still all a part of the first day of finding a rental car to replace the one that we thought we had, and of finding the city archivist in Pfungstadt out of the office, and of finding nothing much of interest in Frankenthal or in Lambsheim. We made our way west, out of the level ground and up into the hills toward the home of the Yagers. Our first destination was Marienthal, where Adam Yager was baptized. This was a distinctly "mountain" village, where one wonders how the residents earn a living. Also, the day was growing late, and we were concerned as to where we were going to eat and to sleep. As we found so often, many villages harbor more facilities than one might suspect. We did find a guest house, and, with some more inquiries, we found a restaurant and had an enjoyable meal, which helped to soothe the day's disappointments..
The attraction of Marienthal is that it is a destination for vacationing Germans. In this vicinity is the highest mountain in the Palatinate and it is used for camping and hiking.
The next morning (the second day) we drove a short distance to Falkenstein, where the Yagers lived. Falkenstein is centered on a castle, built on a rocky spur of land above the surrounding land. The remains of the castle are still present, and indicate a rather cramped living space. Apparently, the Falkensteins were a family of some note, even though their seat of power was remote. The modern town of Falkenstein is a linear village, built along the road, which itself hugs the side of a hill (the highest in the Palatinate). Since the Yagers were not originally from Falkenstein, one wonders why they moved there. It is easier to see why they left Falkenstein for America, since the opportunities in Falkenstein were probably very limited. Going to church in Marienthal, or in Winnweiler, from Falkenstein was not easy, as it would have involved travel up and down hills. The biggest attraction of Falkenstein today is the view it affords.
From Falkenstein, we drove to Annweiler, a small town situated in a valley. Our interest in Annweiler is that Johann Caspar Stoever (Stöver) was a teacher there, before going on to America.
(31 May 02)
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.