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"From Where Did Zacharias Schömbs Come? STETTEN!" The first evidence of Zacharias Schömbs in Undenheim is from the Protocol Book of St. Albans when in 1691 it was recorded that Zacharias and a Mathes Henn were installed as the Hofmänner of St. Albans-Hof, one of the large farms in the region of the St. Martins Cathedral in Mainz which kept the very large staff of the Cathedral fed. The reference in the Protocol Book is that Zacharias and Mathes Henn had come from Stetten, a village about 18 km (12 miles) to the south of Undenheim. With the single exception of the Protocol Book mentioned above, records had not been found of a Schömbs family in Stetten. But this could be because all records were destroyed in The Thirty Years War (1618-1648). Or in one of the many wars since. The Village of Stetten It is interesting to read a little about the history of Stetten. Stetten in the Seventeenth Century was a small town, located about 8 Km (5 miles) sound of the city of Alzey. To see Stetten on the map of the area click HERE. A lengthy history of Stetten is available at this LINK. It is only available in German. Reinhold Schembs has written a brief synopsis of the longer history, which is given here: The village of Stetten looks back on a very long history. The oldest traces of settlement in the Stetten area date back to the Neolithic Age. For the time of the village foundation the 5th/6th century can be assumed. This is supported by grave findings from the Merovingian-Franconian-Carolingian period in the district. Stetten was first mentioned in a document in 835. As early as 880, a document mentions a church in Stetten, on the site of today's Catholic church. In the 12th century, the Knights of Stetten are mentioned in documents. The known bearers of the name of the Stetten family were "Ludowicus de Stetin" and "Eggibrecht de Stetin" in 1190. Stetten soon passed from royal to monastic possession. Prüm and Münsterdreisen played a role. In the 16th century the Electoral Palatinate became the sole ruler of the village. The Thirty Years War (1618-1648) brought great hardship and indescribable misery over Stetten. In 1635 most of the village was destroyed, looted and burned. Zacharias Schömbs was born in 1645, three years before the end of the war but long before the village recovered. Whether Zacharias was born in Stetten, or moved to Stetten later is not clear. Despite the world wars, the old village image has been partly preserved until today and shows itself with numerous farmsteads and their large roofed gates and inner courtyards decorated with flowers. Since 1972 the village of Stetten belongs to the municipality of Kirchheimbolanden. Today, Stetten has about 650 inhabitants. The area is characterized by agriculture and viticulture. A wind farm was built there a few years ago, which is currently being expanded to become one of the largest in southwestern Germany." The Schömbs and Henns from Stetten All the records of Zacharias Schömbs after 1691 are from the churchbook of Mariä Himmelfahrt, the Catholic church in Undenheim. Zacharias and his wife Anna Magdalena had four children, all sons. The birth years for the four are all derived from their death records, as we do not have birth records nor are sure where they were born. But presumably they were all born in Stetten. The Protocol Book is difficult to read due to its age and the script (hand-writing) at the time. As a result until 2022 it was believed that Mathes Henn was Mathes Heim. Searching of historic records for the Heim family produced no results in Stetten, Alzey, or Undenheim. Finally in 2022 it was determined that the family name was "Henn" and not "Heim". This revelation produced many records for the Henn family in Stetten (Alzey) and their move to Undenheim in the early 1690s. The reason that the records are from the Catholic Church in Alzey rather than the church in Stetten would probably be due to the devastation and long time to reconstruct a church in Stetten. The Catholics in Stetten went to Alzey to go to church. And the records reflect this. The Mathias Henn and Schömbs families moved from Stetten to Undenheim in the early to mid-1690s.
Another issue deals with the spelling of Zacharias's family name. All records in this period of history were created by a scribe in the Church. Different scribes spelled names differently. As seen in the Protocol the spelling appears to be "Schimpfs". Or perhaps "Schimbs". And later church records have created several other spelling variations. The family name Henn has survived in Stetten until today. One family member was Burgermeister (mayor) of Stetten for 20 years until 2004. |
