Franz Holtzclaw (1550 - 1619)

Born 1550 in Weidenau, Germany

Ancestors

Descendants

Died 1619 at about age 69 in Weidenau, Germany

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Biography

"Franz Holtzklau of Weidenau was probably born around 1545-50, the eldest son of Johann Holtzklau (born about 1520-25, died 1578) of Siegen. He is mentioned in the records only twice. In the special tax of 1583, he is mentioned as No. 6 in the list of tax-payers of Weidenau, between Hans Chun and Johann Jung, and paid a relatively small tax of 6 Albus. The 1583 tax-list seems to follow fairly closely the lists of houses and owners shown in 1563, 1566, 1567 and 1572. If we can trust this order, Franz Holtzklau, who appears for the first time in 1583, was living in the house next to Heintze Kun (father of Hans Chun), which was occupied 1563-72 by Hermann Huettenhen, described in 1566 as 'a worn out, frail man and much in debt,' who seems to have been the son of a Huettenhen mentioned at Weidenau as early as 1523. It is possible, therefore, that Franz Holtzklau had married a daughter of this Hermann Huettenhen, though, of course this is very speculative.

"The second mention of Franz Holtzklau was in 1595, when he was one of the three 'elders' or assistant administrative officers of the township of Weidenau. He appears in 1595 in connection with the rebuilding of the chapel at Weidenau, which also served as a school, and again we may speculate that he may have been the teacher, as his grandson, Johannes, his great-grandson Hans Henrich, and his great-great-grandson, Jacob Holtzclaw, were all teachers. Universal common school education was first established in Nassau-Siegen in 1582, and Franz Holtzklau may ahve been the first official schoolmaster in Weidenau under this act. There is no further mention of Franz Holtzklau after 1595, and he was certainly dead before 1619, when only his son, Wilhelm, appears in the village.^[1]

Sources

1. ↑ B.C. Holtzclaw, Ancestry and Descendants of the Nassau-Siegen Immigrants to Virginia 1714-1750 (Harrisonburg, Virginia: The Germanna Foundation, 1964), p. 219.

Acknowledgements

• WikiTree profile Holtzclaw-16 created through the import of My Ancerstors.ged on Jul 2, 2011 by Mike Snider. See the Changes page for the details of edits by Mike and others.