MINERATH

Genealogy WebPages

 

 

Jean-Jacques MINERATH

(1827-1908)

 

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The origins of the MINERATH family (historically also spelled MINERADT, MINORADT, or MINERODT) trace back to the region around Freudenburg, Germany.
The earliest known ancestor is Huberti MINERATH (born before 1658), who was married to Anna N.

Together, they had nine children - seven sons and two daughters.

 

From this lineage, two main branches of the family can be identified:

 

 

Branch #1: The line of Mickael MINERATH (born in 1681).
Around 1737, Mickael moved from Freudenburg to Hillesheim, located about 60 miles north.
His descendants were the first members of the MINERATH family to emigrate to the United States, settling in Calumet, Wisconsin, between 1848 and 1850.
This branch adopted the spelling MINNERATH (with two Ns).
I have identified over 2,000 individuals in this line of descent, with the majority now living in Minnesota.

 

Branch #2: The line of Godard MINERATH (born in 1683), who is my direct ancestor.
Like his brother, he left Freudenburg in 1737 but moved to a closer town: Palzem, located about 9 miles west of Freudenburg.
His grandson, Johannes MINERATH, moved from Palzem to the French village of Kontz-Basse (12 miles south of Palzem) around the year 1800.
Later, his own grandson, Jean Jacques MINERATH, married Barbe SCHOLTES (born in Elvange, Luxembourg), and the couple moved from Kontz-Basse to Paris in 1864 or 1865.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Geography & History

GERMANY: SAARLAND & RHEINLAND PFALZ

 

The Habsburgs muddled on until the devastating Thirty Years War (1618-1648), sparked by ongoing religious and nationalist conflicts. Europe had been simmering ever since 1517 when Martin Luther tacked 95 suggestions for improved service to his local church door in Wittenburg. It took a bloody good stoush to settle everyone down and secure the rights of both Protestants and Catholics. Germany lost a third of its population in the process. Local princes assumed complete sovereignty over a patchwork of some 300 states, which made it all too easy for Napoleon to come along in the early 19th century and start adding them to his scrapbook. The French never quite managed to subdue Prussia, which became the centre of German resistance. It was Prussia that led the 1813 war that put an end to Napoleon's German aspirations in a decisive battle at Leipzig. In 1866 Otto von Bismarck, chancellor of Prussia, annexed most of Germany, consolidating his position as biggest wig in Europe with a resounding victory over France in 1871. The Prussian king, Wilhelm I, was instated as Kaiser and a united Germany hit the world stage for the first time.

Germany is divided into 16 federal states (Länder), each responsible for the government of its own state, some of which look back over a long tradition. Germany has always been divided into states but over the course of the centuries the map has often changed its appearance. The states that exist today were established after 1945 but have in part retained their old ethnic traditions and characteristics as well as their historical boundaries.

 

Taben-Rodt, Freudenburg, and Palzem are located in the state of Rhineland-Palatinate (Rheinland-Pfalz). Palzem lies directly on the border with Luxembourg, while Freudenburg and Taben-Rodt are near the border with another German state: Saarland. Weiten, in fact, is located in Saarland, just about half a mile from the Rhineland-Palatinate border.

 

All of these villages were part of Saarland before 1801.

From 1801 to 1815, they belonged to France.

Between 1815 and 1945, they were again part of Saarland.

 

Kontz is located in France, just one mile from the Luxembourg border and two miles from the German border.

The village was part of Germany between 1870 and 1918, but has been French again since 1918.

 

 

Jean Jacques Minerath was born in 1827 in Kontz, which was part of France at the time. He died in 1908 in the same village - which, by then, had become part of Germany due to the territorial changes following the Franco-Prussian War.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Pictures (Freudenburg, Palzem, Kontz)

 

Freudenburg (Germany)

 

Freudenburg, general sight (1998)

 

Freudenburg, the church and the cemetery (1998)

 

 

Taben-Rodt (Germany)

 

Taben-Rodt (1999)

 

Hamm - Taben-Rodt (1999)

 

Palzem (Germany)

 

 

Contz-les-Bains / Kontz-Basse / Nieder-Kontz (France)

 

 

 

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Laurent PERRIN - 2005/2025