Keeping track of the various sovereigns or governments in one region of Germany is difficult. Taking the example of Baden, which has existed for a thousand years, it has varied in size from 1300 square miles to 5823 square miles. Some of the time it has united under one ruler while at other times it has been divided between different rulers. Generally, it is on the east bank of the Rhine River from Switzerland almost up to Heidelberg. On the west side of the Rhine, there are Alsace and the Palatinate; on the east side is (Württemberg) Wuerttemberg. To the north lies Hesse-Darmstadt. Geographically, Baden is dominated by two regions, the valley lands of the Rhine and the mountains of the south. Within this area, wheat, maize, barley, spelt, beans, potatoes, flax, hemp, hops, beetroot, tobacco, oats, sheep, cattle, pigs, goats, grapes, and wine are grown.
About 1800, the population was only 210,000 of whom 60% were Catholics, 37% were Protestant, 1½ were Jews, and 1½% were Other. During the Napoleonic era, boundaries were adjusted. In particular, the church lands came under civil control. At this time the Bishopric of Speyer ceded its extensive lands to the civil states. Some of these church lands went to the Palatinate and some went to Baden. The south east corner of these church lands included Neuenbuerg where John Thoma/Thomas lived. Less than two miles away was the town of Oberoewisheim where the Blankenbakers, who also lived in Neuenbuerg, went to a Protestant (Lutheran) church. In Neuenbuerg, there was, and is today, no Protestant church.
The church had in Medieval and the Middle Ages acquired much land. In Austria, at one time they controlled 40% of the land. The technique for acquiring this land was to promise the owner eternal salvation in return for the gift of land to the church. To varying degrees, the church became the ruler of this land above and beyond the mere ownership of the land.
During the German upheavals of the late 1840's, Baden came under the control of Prussia in 1849. In describing where a village lay, say Neuenbuerg, would you could say it was in the Bishopric of Speyer, or in Baden, or in Prussia. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, in their extensive catalog of the church and village records, had a problem. They decided to use the political boundaries just prior to the time that Germany became united about 1872. At this time, the region that we usually call Nassau-Siegen was under the control of Prussia. So many researchers list their Nassau-Siegen village in Prussia which confuses everyone because we think of Prussia as being over in the eastern part of Germany.
Many of my remarks in this note come from the Encyclopaedia Britannica, 13th edition, 1910.
(25 Sep 06)
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.