The Different Lines of the Family in Germany

Introduction

7. The Different Lines of the Family in Deutschland (Dates, Stories, Pictures)

- Introductory remarks to Chapters B-D, and to the arrangement of the Chronicle -


The Spread of the Family in Rhein-Hesse

The mobility of the population has spread the descendants of Zacharias today to many parts of Germany, and even to foreign countries (France, Netherlands, USA, Canada, etc.). In Undenheim the family name disappeared many generations ago. Only in a few towns like Herrnsheim (Worms) and Laubenheim (Mainz) have the Schömbs descendants lived for a long time, e.g. 200 years, and has the surname become somewhat common. Since these two lines of the family are somewhat large and have used a spelling variation (Schembs) for this entire period, I have established special chapters for them (Chapter C - The Herrnsheim Line, and Chapter D- The Laubenheim Line). The separation of these lines are identified in Chapter B- The Undenheimer Schömbs. All remaining, numerically less signficant lines, are included with the Undenheim Chapter (B), and described there as they moved away. The Undenheim Chapter is the starting point, as it provides the overview and description of the early generations for all the lines.

A goal of the research was naturally to trace all family members living today back to their roots in Undenheim 300 years ago. In most cases this has been accomplished. Written sources of information (church-books, civil records, literature, and other documents) provided the opportunity to without question put together the family lineage down from the period of the Thirty Years War (1618-1648) and Zacharias Schömbs. However, the information gained from talking and corresponding with many, many distant family members was invaluable. It also provided an abundance of photographs, stories and other documents which make the chronicle considerably more interesting than it would otherwise be. For everyone's help I am extremely grateful.

In October,1999, a big family gathering took place for the Schömbs/ Schoembs/ Schembs clan. Approximately 90 family members arrived from various cities in Germany as well as other parts of Europe and the United States.

Group Photo from the big Family Reunion of the descendants of Zacharias Schömbs
Worms-Herrnsheim, 2 Oktober 1999

After small gatherings by some in Undenheim and Friesenheim during the afternoon, the large reunion took place in Herrnsheim 2 October, 1999. The venue was the winery and studio of Arno and Mieke Schembs. Especial thanks go to Arno and Mieke for their good organization which made the party a great success. Few people knew each other prior to the gathering. Relatives had come from Munich, Berlin, Nurnberg, Stuttgart, Frankfurt, Wiesbaden, and many of the towns in the Rhein-Hessen. Still others came from Russia, Netherlands, Ireland and the United States. Most of the attendees came knowing very few of the others, but with large curiousities. In the local Worms Press (Rhein-Main-Presse, Allgemeine Zeitung) appeared the following article on 6 October 1999:

	Left: First Family Reunion, 1999 in Worms-Herrnsheim The accompanying picture in the paper included only some of the attendees. The party was scheduled to start at 6pm. The photographer, with customary German punctuality, arrived at 6pm and took the picture of those who were on time. A half hour later many more had arrived.

In 2005 the second big international family reunion took place. The date was 4 June 2005. The main dinner was held at Gasthaus Krone in Herrnsheim with many families in attendance. All together about 120 people were there. The three day event included a tour of Undenheim and the original home of the Schömbs family at the beginning of the 18th Century. The tour through the streets of Undenheim was led by former Bürgermeister (mayor) Reinhold Sittel. Sunday some of the Germans and all the foreign relatives enjoyed a boat tour down the Rhein River. The meeting provided plenty of opportunities to depen existing relationships and establish new ones. It was obvious that the family was growing closer. The purpose of the gathering, developing new and growing old relationships, was definitely achieved. Organizers of the event, as with the first, were Jim Schembs (Phoenix AZ, USA), Arno Schembs (Worms/Herrnsheim), Martin and Monika Schoembs (Nürnberg), and Reinhold Schembs (Mainz/Laubenheim).

Article in the Wormser Zeitung about the second Familientreffen in Worms-Herrnsheim on 04.06.2005

The Family Reunion of 2005 was also the subject of an article in the French genealogy magazine facile Généalogie - Retrouvez l'histoire de vos ancêtres. Information was provided by the descendants of the French Schömbs.

English translation of the Article:

The Cousin's Reunion of the Schömbs Family

In June 2005, overcoming all language barriers, 120 descendants of Zacharias Schömbs came from all over the world to a Reunion in Herrnsheim, a small part of the city of Worms in Germany, 25 km from Undenheim, where their ancestor settled in 1694.

At the end of 1980, in three different countries and in three different languages three persons independently started with the same investigation about their family history! The German Reinhold Schembs, the American Jim Schembs and the French Alain Schömbs.

A joint passion: Genealogy
In Mainz Reinhold Schembs is only a few bends of the Rhine River away from the houses of his ancestors. This neighborhood has given him the opportunity to discover his family tree back to Zacharias Schömbs (1645-1707).

In Phoenix, Arizona, Jim Schembs tries to compile the history of his family. He only knows, that his great-grandfather and some of his great-grandfather's cousins were leaving Germany in 1850 to emigrate to America.

In Paris Alain has found a passport dated in 1871 of the name Adam Schömbs, officially recognised cartwright, who had emigrated to France in the 1840s. Documents and a certificate of marriage in German and French had convinced him to expand his investigation to the other side of the Rhine-river. In 1995 he received the birth certificate of Adam Schömbs translated from German, which identifies Adams ' father Mathias, born in 1787. Adam, the founder of the French branch of the family tree, was born in 1815 in Dorn-Dürkheim, a small village, nowadays a part of Worms.

The meetings of 1999
When Jim discovered the family name Schembs in the telephone directory of the Rhineland-Palatinate in Germany, he sent out a letter, translated by a German friend, to those in the directory asking for help, to try to learn who his ancestors were.

The first who answered was Reinhold. From Reinhold Jim learned that he too descended from one of the four sons of Zacharias Schömbs. And Reinhold learned that many big family branches existed in America.

They began a serious E-mail correspondence, with the assistance of a bilingual friend of Reinhold's.

In 1999 Jim came with his wife Pamela to Germany and convinced Reinhold that they should organise a family meeting.

Jim and Reinhold attempted to find the Schembs, Schoembs and Schömbs by hook or by crook, to contact and to persuade them to come to the reunion. They succeeded in getting not only Germans but also relatives from America, The Netherlands, Ireland and Russia to come to the party -- a total of 90 family members. The gathering was held in the private studio of Mieke and Arno Schembs in Herrnsheim.

The Schömbs from Paris were unable to come, because they had already planned a journey to Africa at the same time.

But Jim and Pamela later traveled to Paris and were received by Alain, his wife Christiane, and all the French Schömbs.

The fusion of the three genealogical researches
Now started the project of the common research and the further important details of the family members. To communicate and share the information with all family members they created a large web-site, updated regularly.

Reinhold had published a book about the family history in Germany since 1645. It was impossible to trace back farther, because all documents had been destroyed during the Thirty Years' War (1618-1648).

Well, the family history starts with Zacharias, already 46 years old, who settles in Undenheim, a small town, which had been destroyed and abandoned as a result of the War but later rebuilt.

Also one can find the history (written by Jim) about all those descendants of Zacharias who emigrated to Amerika and other countries. Their history about the family continues up to the present. The family tree grows and grows, including those who have descended from the Schömbs women.

They have compiled more than 5000 descendants of Zacharias. The amicable relations grow stronger:

Jim and Pamela invited the granddaughter of Alain and Christiane to come visit them in Arizona and Oregon. Now it's time for a new "general meeting"!

Cousins meeting in 2005
Thanks to the active co-operation of their cousins Arno Schembs and Martin Schoembs, Reinhold and Jim planned a cousins meeting with a three-day program.

The gasthouses (small hotels and restaurants) of Herrnsheim were booked for the reception of about 100 German and foreign family members coming from all parts of the world and the several regions of Germany.

Friday was dedicated to a walk through Undenheim, as well as visiting several villages in the region where their ancestors had lived.

A great dinner on Saturday evening topped off the reunion of the cousins, who now were learning their family history over the past 250 years. An endless applause sounded when a gallery proof with a length of 50 M was unrolled, showing the family tree of Zacharias since 1745.

On Sunday many of the cousins met for a Rhine River cruise and discovered the romantic banks of the Rhine.

In spite of the barriers of the verbal communications this new community was overcome with an intense experience. Alain relates: "I found Doris, a German cousin who had lived in Paris on the same street as I. I enjoyed talking French to Ken, a cousin from Florida, who spent five years in France during the Second World War as an American GI."

A new meeting of the cousins is planned for the June 2008. As many as 30 Americans have scheduled the journey as well as relatives of six other countries!

Article about the Hippel-Schembs-Familientreffen in the Wormser Allgemeinen Zeitung
(November 2006)

Worms-Herrnsheim was also the setting for the third large international Familientreffen, held in 2008. The picturesque Schloßpark in Herrnsheim provided a wonderful venue for the family.

right: Monika Schoembs, Nürnberg, sending out invitations for the 2008 Familientreffen

Group photo on the front steps of the Schloß (castle), the venue for the third Schömbs Familientreffen
28 June 2008.


above: Article about the Schömbs-Familien-Treffen 2008 25.06.08 AZ Landskrone The article talks about descendants coming from Brasil to attend
right: Article about the Schömbs-Familien-Treffen 2008 Wormser Zeitung

News Article about the Schömbs-Familien-Treffen 2008 25.06.08 Nibelungen-Kurier (12.07.2008)

The winning format was repeated, with a Friday tour of Undenheim again led by former Bürgermeister Reinhold Sittel, the main party on Saturday, and Sunday the ships tour down the Rhein.

Group photo in front of the Ratshausplatz (town hall) in Undenheim
Friday of the Schömbs-Famlientreffen 2008
back row, from left: Eduardo Schemes, Adrian Schemes, Frank Schembs, Jim Schembs, Marion New, Gordon Steward, Reinhold Schembs, Wilhelm Horn, Dr. Erwin Schömbs, Klaus Schömbs, Martin Schoembs
middle row: Pamela Schembs, Steve Mohr, Steve Schembs, Jean Schembs, Monika Schoembs, Irene Schembs, Cindy Schönhart, Philipp Schombs, Faith Schombs, Caroline Steward, Mechthild Streicher, Hans Rier, Reinhold Sittel
front row: Adriana Schemes, Clair Schemes, Mimi Mortensen, Wolfgang Heuberger, Ernest Mortensen

The family researchers Reinhold Schembs and Jim Schembs clowning around
on board the Rhein River cruise, 2008


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An article (right) on the Familientreffen appeared in the newsletter of the Rhineland Palatinate Genealogy Association:

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At the invitation of the Worms Genealogy Group (Genealogengruppe), Reinhold Schembs made a report in March 2009 about the research of the Schömbs family history. The presentation was reported in both the local press as well as the Group newsletter.



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Article about the presentation by Reinhold Schembs with the title: "Die rheinhessische Familie Schembs" on 12.03.2009 in the Januaray 2009 issue of the internal Gruppe publication "Mitteilungsorgan der Arbeitsgemeinschaft der familienkundlichen Gesellschaften in Hessen" (HFK):

Notes on the Structure

The vast amount of data required a special kind of structure. Otherwise only with great difficulty could a satisfactory overview be realised. The orientation is not always easy, especially for lines with many children and grandchildren. Hopefully the vertical lines in the Chapters will assist in keeping generations straight. The classification is based on each generation assigning increasing numbers to the successive children and the number attached to the number of the parent. From the first digit it is always clear which of the four sons of Zacharias is the forefather. The following example shows the structure:

Gliederungs-Nr.	Name
1	Zacharias Schömbs	First Generation (Founding forefather)
2.1	Hermann Schömbs	Second Generation (first child of Zacharias)
2.2	Joh. Philipp Schömbs	Second Generation (second child of Zacharias)
2.3	Joh. Heinrich Schömbs	Second Generation (third child of Zacharias)
2.3.1	Anna Margaretha Schömbs	Third Generation (Grandchild of Zacharias; first child of Joh. Heinrich)
2.3.2	Johann Schömbs senj.	Third Generation (Grandchild of Zacharias; second child of Joh. Heinrich)
2.3.2.1	Anna Schömbs	Fourth Generation (Great-grandchild of Zacharias; first child of Joh. Schömbs senj.)
2.3.2.2	Anna Catharina Schömbs	Fourth Generation (Great-grandchild of Zacharias; second child of Joh. Schömbs senj.)
2.4	Theodor Schömbs	Second Generation (fourth child of Zacharias)

However, using this numbering system up to the present day would result in "mile-long" numbers which would be more confusing than clarifying. The above system is only used for the earlier generations. Thereafter a simple numbering system for each family is used. For example, for a family with five children, the children are simply numbered 5.1, 5.2, .... through 5.5.