The Ries line of Oberderdingen and Tiefenbach, Germany

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This post is for my husband, Nick, and my mother-in-law, Helene's, family. Helene's father, August Ries, immigrated from Germany to America in 1924. Here I will share what I have learned about the history of the place he came from, as well as how the German and American lines of the family reconnected.

The Best Greeting from West-Germany

In Sept of 1979, eight years after the death of her father, Helene (Ries) Vigdahl wrote the following letter to the Mayor's Office of Oberderdingen, Germany:

The Mayor's Office was able to provide her with some names of likely family members that she could contact, and in Oct. 1979 she sent off another hopeful letter:

A little over a month later she was finally rewarded by a reply from her long-lost uncle Anton Ries (by way of help from his daughter Anette who was studying English at the University in Heidelberg), a part of which is included here:

Anton was also able to provide her with a copy of a page from her grandfather Franz Joseph Ries' bible that contained information about both her grandmother Rosa (Schenkel) Ries, and her great grandparents, Wilhelm and Sofi Ries. He also sent her a copy of the last letter they received from her father, August, dated 16 Feb 1927:

After much more correspondence, Helene was eventually able to travel with her children (my husband and sister-in-law) to Oberderdingen and visit with her German relatives in person.

(Anton Ries on the accordion)

Sickingen Catholic Church

Franz Joseph Ries b.1873 d.1947

Many years passed, children grew older, and eventually her son Nick married me- who loves family history stories like this one. Helene humored me by digging out her old container of letters, photos, and mementoes from this time period, and also put me in touch with Anette (Ries) Welte, the daughter of Anton Ries (who had passed on in 1999).

Anette with her daughter and grandchildren

Anette has been a gift, for she had been bitten by the genealogy bug as well. We have exchanged a wealth of information, and she has even made a trip to her local church to look up very old records of family members that were difficult to get online. This helped immensely to point us in the right direction.

Original book of church records from St. Maria Magdalena Catholic Church in Sickingen

The results are presented to you in the Ries Ancestry and the American/German Ries Descendant documents privately provided to family members. Additionally, I have written a place of origin history below, similar to what I like to do for my own family tree blog posts. May these two family lines never again lose touch of their shared history with one another!

The Ries Surname

The surname Ries is Bohemian (now Czech Republican) in origin. Its literal meaning is "branch" or "twig", and it was probably used to signify a woodcarver. Alternatively, in southern Germany, it could be used to denote a person who was very big or tall. Sometimes it is spelled with the variations of Riess, Reis, or Rüs. Given their Roman Catholic roots, the Ries' of Bohemia may have been part of the House of Habsburg- Austrian's who defeated and then took over the area starting around 1278. Or instead, they may have been a part of the original Slavic inhabitants that were mostly aligned with the Protestants prior to 1620. 

Location of Bohemia before becoming a part of Czechoslovakia in 1928. Bordered on the west by Germany. Now a part of the Czech Republic.

Starting in the early 1500s, tensions between the established Roman Catholics and the newly forming Lutheran Protestants created a great deal of unrest throughout Europe (more on this to follow). In Bohemia, this came to a head at the Battle of White Mountain on 8 Nov 1620. The untrained Protestants lost soundly, resulting in the suppression of Lutheranism within Bohemia, and about 600 families being forced to either convert to Catholicism or be exiled. Given the timing of when the Ries line is first recorded in Tiefenbach, Germany, (likely between 1620-1640), it is possible this historic battle played a role in the family's emigration.

The Battle of White Mountain (by Peter Snayers)

Tiefenbach, Östringen, Karlsruhe, Baden-Württemberg, Germany

Location of Tiefenbach, within the Baden-Württemberg state of SW Germany

Tiefenbach from view of Kreuzberg chapel

Tiefenbach is a small village that was originally owned by the nearby town of Odenheim, but is now a part of the municipality of Östringen. It was first mentioned in records in 1122 AD where it had built up around an Odenheim Benedictine monastery that later became a noble knights monastery. Interestingly, it had early ties to Sickingen as well, (another noble knight town), which their king had pledged allegiance to in 1344. Its ownership changed many times over the generations, and with it, its religious affiliation. Teachings of the Protestant Reformation came to the city in 1556, but were quenched by 1673 when its ownership passed to the Electoral Palatinate. From 1794 until the defeat of Napoleon in 1815, it was ruled by the Catholic French, but then the Congress of Vienna determined that it should become part of Protestant Prussia. Within a year of this decision, the Ries family left Tiefenbach for Sickingen.

Route from Tiefenbach to Sickingen (then separate from Flehingen), about 9 miles. Both are part of the district of Karlsruhe in Germany.

The earliest ancestor of this line that is known by name with certainty was Georg Ries, born in Tiefenbach around 1640. In 1666, he was married to Catherine Nies. We do not know what his occupation was, but both weaving and wine making were particularly important to the economy of this region at the time. It was a growing area up until the 1850s when the Industrial Revolution began to draw people away into the city factories. When Georg Roman Ries and his wife Elizabeth (Heitlinger) moved their growing family to Sickingen in 1816, many of his wife's family line must have remained. The Heitlinger family is still well established in the area and amazingly, still owns a family winery in Tiefenbach today. Not to mention a hotel, a spa, a golf course, a restaurant...

Historical Background

Sickingen-Flehingen, Oberderdingen, Karlsruhe, Baden-Württemberg, Germany

The village of Sickingen no longer exists by the name of Sickingen. In 1936, it merged with the adjoining town of Flehingen. And then again in 1972, Flehingen and another town, Großvillars, were combined with the municipality of Oberderdingen. Based on monastery records, the original towns of Sickingen and Flehingen existed at least as early as 764 AD and 779 AD, respectively. The Flehingen family line is an offshoot of the Sickingen line that settled the two villages. Unfortunately, the earliest genealogy of the Sickingen line has been lost to time, but the early town was gifted as a fief of the Electoral Palatinate to the noble von Sickingen line no later than 1353.

Current day combined town of Flehingen and Sickingen. Sickingen was originally separate and located at the east end of the city.

According to legend, the precursor of the Flehingen line of the von Sickingen family started in 1158, when two brothers, Eberhard and Berthold, were disputing over who should get to claim the ancestral castle. Due to their mother's pleas to avoid bloodshed, they decided on a snowball fight to settle the claim. Each brother would be given 5 snowballs, with the winner taking the castle. Unfortunately, the epic battle ended in a tie, leaving the castle's fate unresolved. Still desiring to refrain from violence, the mother devised a new contest in which the winner would instead be the brother who saw an animal first on the following day. This time, Eberhard was the victor, after spotting a wild swan on the castle moat. A short time later, Berthold caught sight of a wolfhound as well, but the fate of the castle was already sealed. Thus, it would be that Berthold would be forced to build his own "Upper Castle", north of the Sickingen church, while Eberhard would remain south of the church in the "Lower Castle". Each would adopt a coat of arms depicting the 5 snowballs, with Eberhard's also displaying a swan and Berthold's exhibiting a wolf. Over time, the Sickingen crest lost one of its snowballs and the Flehingen crest lost its wolf, but they still exist in similar form today.

Original Coat of Arms

Modern versions

Perhaps Berthold can be considered to have won the day after all though, for in 1525, peasants destroyed the Lower Castle during the German Peasants' War, and no trace of its exact location now remains. Additionally, by 1353, the von Flehingens had built a third castle in the town Flehingen. Berthold's legacy would also be scarred, however, by the Thirty Years War (1618-1648), during which the Upper Castle was burned and pillaged. This was done in an effort to destroy the influence of the Protestant Reformation among the peasantry and restore the region back to its Roman Catholic roots. So now, the Flehingen Castle, which was rebuilt as a palace in 1565 by Ludwig Wolf von Flehingen, is the only castle of the 3 still remaining. Both Sickingen, and especially Flehingen (due to its castle), were badly damaged in 1622 during the Thirty Years War. This was a very difficult time period, and is estimated that up to 50% of people in central Germany died during the war, due to either battle, famine, or disease. Then in 1666, the Bubonic Plague spread to the Rhine region from London, taking the lives of another 10-15% of the population. That Georg Ries (b.1640) survived this time period to carry on the line says a lot about his strength and luck. It also explains why very little in the way of official records can be found before his time.

Flehingen Palace, originally a moated castle, as it appears today

The power of the noble Sickingen and Flehingen families, along with their hopes for Protestant Reformation, were diminished leading up to the Thirty Years War, particularly after their loses in the Knight's Revolt of 1522-1523. By the early 1600s, the last of the von Flehingen males had died, and ownership of the village was passed on to the noble Wolff-Metternich family, which was Catholic. The von Sickingen line persisted until 1834, when the last of the line, Franz Graf von Sickingen, died unmarried and childless. Many of the noble family members are entombed within the Sickingen Church.

Tomb of Lucia von Andlau, died 1547, wife of Franz Konrad von Sickingen

The Catholic Church of St Maria Magdalena

As alluded to previously, the religious affiliation of the inhabitants of Sickingen and Flehingen was caught in the same Protestant Reformation tug of war as of much of the rest of 16th century Europe. It began in 1517, when Martin Luther published his famous "Disputation on the Power of Indulgences", calling into question the all-encompassing authority of the Roman Catholic Church. Ultimately, the Reformation helped to introduce social and political ideas that would one day bring down the feudal system, and usher in more democratic forms of government. But many lives were lost or upended in the long transition.

A 19th-century painting by Julius Hübner sensationalizing Luther's posting of the 95 Theses

These Protestant ideals enamored not just the peasantry, but many of the free noble class as well. In the late Middle Ages, the world economy was undergoing a gradual shift into industrial, rather than agricultural, wealth. This created declining conditions for the noble land Barons, who felt impoverished in both property and political power. Imperial Knight Franz von Sickingen (born March 2, 1481) was an early adopter of this new way of thinking, as was also the nephew of Konrad von Sickingen, the Lord Baron of Sickingen at that time. After his wife died in 1515, Franz began campaigning in earnest to improve the conditions of the free nobles. In doing so, he came into acquaintance with humanist Ulrich von Hutten in 1519, an ardent supporter of Martin Luther and an outspoken critic of the Roman Catholic Church.

Hutten-Sickingen Monument ( Robert and Ludwig Cauer, 1889) on the Ebernburg

The result for Sickingen was that in 1522, the von Sickingen family became members of the Protestant faith, and their church began to preach Luther's doctrine. This change seems to have inspired the building of a new church in 1523, a structure which still stands in the town today. Throughout the remainder of the 16th century and the Thirty Years War soon after, Sickingen and Flehingen remained Protestant. Tides changed in 1685, when Catholic French King Louis XIV revoked the Edict of Nantes that had helped to secure peace between Catholics and Protestants since its signing in 1598. 

King Louis XIV (1638-1715)

In the late 1600s, King Louis XIV was at the height of his power, and he sought to enforce French land claims along the Rhine and in Württemberg, which he judged had been granted by the Peace of Westphalia treaty at the conclusion of the Thirty Years War. By 1688 he was launching attacks on this region, and forcing Protestant towns to convert to Catholicism or be destroyed. By 1693, the von Sickingen family had re-converted to Catholicism, and the Sickingen Church became The Catholic Church of St. Maria Magdalena. This church has played a prominent role in the Ries family, as it has been the site of numerous baptisms, weddings, and funerals for many, many generations. By the time Franz Josef Ries moved his family from Tiefenbach to Sickingen in 1816, the church had been Roman Catholic for over 100 years.

Choir vault of the Sickingen Church

Kraichgau Railway

The railroad industry has also been of prime importance to the economic growth of Germany. Napoleon's defeat in 1815 lifted the Continental Blockade that had prevented trade with the British Empire. Unfortunately, the gradual weakening and final collapse of the Holy Roman Empire in 1806 initially left future Germany fractured and disordered, with no organized economic center. Town specific cottage industries involving a particular specialty such as linen, wine, or iron works, began to apply more mechanized forms of industry from the 1830s onward. But he real leap forward in industrialization began in the 1850s when Germany began to invest more heavily in railway construction. In addition to connecting centers of trade, railroads also increased demand for iron and coal, leading to expansion in these industries as well.

Initially, Sickingen was somewhat left out of this booming expansion, due to early railroad routes that circumvented the region for the larger cities of Heilbronn, Heidelberg, Karlsruhe, and Stuttgart. This diverted traditional trade routes, and threatened the economic interests of the Eppingen, Kraichital, and Oberderdingen regions. Construction of the Kraichgau Railway in 1880 helped to remediate those concerns. The line runs from Karlsruhe to Heilbronn, crossing directly through the towns of Bretten, Flehingen, and Eppingen on its path. Many generations of the Ries line have maintained their livelihood by working for the railroad, including the father of August Ries, Franz Josef (b. 1873) and August's brother Anton (b. 1920).

The Ries Line

Passage to America

August Ries came to America in 1924, at the age of 19, to continue his training as a locksmith. His brother Wilhelm had left for America the year prior, and for the first two months they lived together with their first cousin (once removed) John Haag (b. 1867). John's family was descended from the line of August's great aunt and uncle, Ludwig Haag and Elizabeth Ries (b. 1838), who had come to America in 1886. They settled in Middlesex County, New Jersey, and over the years rented out their home to a number of different immigrant boarders.

For unknown reasons, August lost track of both his brother Wilhelm and his German family back in Sickingen. At the age of 26, he married Mary Dernar, whose parents had immigrated from Slovakia to Pennsylvania in about 1900. In 1941 they moved to Cincinnati, Hamilton Co., Ohio where they raised a family of 5 children. August worked initially as a machinist, and eventually as an electrical appliance repairman. The Ries line surname carried on for two more generations in America, but at this point has ceased to advance, though many DNA descendants on female branches of the line still remain.