Hans Adam (Wull) Will (1685 - 1753)

Born 1685 in Ottweiler-Steinback, Germany

Husband of Anna Catharina (Zimmer) Will — married 27 Jan 1711 in Evangelical Church, Ottweiler, Saar, Germany

Husband of Anna Juliana (Tross) Wull — married 1 Oct 1715 in Lautenbach, present-day Ottweiler, Ottweiler, Saarland, Germany

Descendants

Died 23 May 1753 at about age 68 in Lautenbach, Saar, Germany

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Biography

Research Notes

This profile has not yet been checked with Jerry's Notes and is included in Category: Cox-5399 jcoxffGED until it has been checked.

Note #NI1330

Edited for readability

In English hand-written letters and documents by Germans, the word "will" as in "I will go" is often written "wull" as in "I wull go." Also, Hans is a short form of Johannes. (Johannes is also shortened to John.) Hans' ancestors might have gone by the name of Willtz, as noted in paragraph four below. Other possible spellings are Vill or Vull, the German pronunciation.

William C. O'Donnell Research: Hans lived in Ottweiler-Steinbach and was a herdsman. He is listed in the Ottweiler Evangelical Church Records, LDS film #490,001, pg. 132; also Dorenbach Evangelical Church,LDS film #1,052,607, pg. 543 and LDS film #415,628, pg. 274. He was in the census of 1741 in Ottweiler District, age 56, and brother Johannes Will was age 48.

O'Donnel's Research:

His first marriage to Anna Catharine Fuchs was recorded in the Evangelical Church of Ottweiler in today's Saar, Germany.

Hans' second marriage to Anna Juliana Tross was in the Dorrenbach Evangelical Church Records, LDS film #1,271,375, pg. 100.

His third marriage to Maria Elisabetha Tondeurs was in the Birkenfeld Evlangelical Church Records, LDS film #492,997, which also states they left that parish.

The Saar River is about 80 miles long, half of it being in today's state of Saar, Germany. This area touches Luxembourg on the west and France on the southwest and south. Interestingly, about 40 miles northeast in Luxembourg is the town of Willtz.

The Saar area is made up of forests and meadows on hilly country side with the valley of the Saar River running through the middle. Coal and steel mines are also found here.

From 1381 to 1793 the German-speaking city of Saarbrucken on the Saar River was ruled by the counts of Nassau-Saarbrucken, the territory around it. Beginning in 1648 (The Treaties of Westphalia) and continuing 150 years, it was partially ruled also by France. Around 1795 upon Napoleon's first defeat, the Saar Valley was included in the new Prussian province on the Rhine except for a small portion given to Bavaria.

It was during this time of competitive rule by both the Germans and the French that Hans lived, and it was during this period that his son, Gerhardt, and daughter, Charlotta Will Kloninger, decided to move to America.

The royal castle of Sarabrucca toward the southern Saar River was first mentioned in 999. The rulers of this city, later called Saarbrucken, until the late 1300s were the bishops of Metz, a large city twenty-five miles inside France. A church was built next to it in the 1400s. The castle belonging to the princes of Nassau-Saarbrucken, was built on the site of the ruined earlier castle of the bishops and built in the 1700s. In the city of Saarbrucken today is a Gothic church, a Stiftskirche, in the St. Arnaul district of the town built in the 1700s, and a town hall and Baroque Ludwigskirche built at the same time. In ancient times, Saarbrucken was settled by Romans in the lst and 3rd centuries.

The ruins of the fortress Saarlouis (Saarlautern) are on both sides of the northern portion of the Saar River, built by Sebastien Vauban for Louis XIV of France between 1680 and 1685.

Sources

• Ancestry Family Trees.

Acknowledgments

• WikiTree profile Wull-2 created through the import of Foster Family Tree.ged on May 27, 2011 by Ferrell Foster.
• Will-248, after changing LNAB now Wull-10, was created by Jerry Cox through the import of jcoxff.ged on Oct 15, 2013. NOTE: Imported GEDCOM includes Jerry's notes containing parts of his years of family history research.