Information and Pictures about Wiederhold ancestors

The Wiederhold Genealogy now has its own webpage: Wiederhold.org. As of 2020 the data here are not being maintained.

Created and scanned in 2004/2006, 2008, 2010, 2011 by Gio Wiederhold.

Background

I have a copy of a large collection of genealogical Wiederhold Documents (about 1200 pages) originally collected into 12 handbound typed books by Alfred Wiederhold over a long period (1930-1985). These were scanned in by me around 2009 and also copied to a Compact Disc (CD). I can make copies of the CD available to people interested in the genealogy of the Wiederhold family. Send me email. Copies of the charts only - which had very small fonts -- are attached to this web page with The source description of the charts.

The description of the book is periodically updated to reflect progress .

I have been entering names, dates, and occupation from those book into a computer-based system, Family Tree Buider, focusing initially on my ancestors, as documented in the Felsberg volumes, but expanding to more branches, as the Homberg volume branches leading to Konrad Wiederhold, see below, and the ancestors that went to the spice islands - the Netherlands East Indies, now Indonesia, and to South America. Ancestors that went to the US is was documented in further volumes, and is being entred piecemeal, as branches can be connected. A description of the published file tells you what is available and how it is being entered. Most information from the version of the tree in 2015 has been copied to an on-line file as
at the MyHeritage web site, last updated 2015. For privacy reason Wiederholds that may still be alive are shown there as unknown. If people give permission I can make them known.

Cleaning all the data, verifying the entries and creating a complete computer family file will be more work than I can promise to finish ever. I am also using other published sources, as the 138 volumes of the Deutsche Geschlechter Buecher, the Regerings Almanaks from the Netherlands East Indies, and of course the Internet, with the Wikipedias in various languages. My current (2018) goal is to have all Wiederhold born prior to 1800 and some current brances on-line later this year.

My own ancestors go back to back to 1441 in those records, when a Nikolaus Wyderolt paid a fee of `drei neue Groschen' (30 cents!) to enroll in the University of Erfurt. There is also a possible linkage here to Gio's academic genealogy.

There are some earlier Wiederhold records as well, but those have not been linked, and any links are likely tentative. An interesting branch of my Wiederhold ancestors should linkds to the Droz family, clock, watch, and mechanical puppet makers (androids) in La Chaux-de-Fonds, Switzerland. I have also collected information from my mother's side, the Tuybens family. Those settled with the VOC in Ternate, now Indonesia, primarily using records at Royal Dutch Archives in the Hague, Holland.

The origin of the name Wiederhold

The name Wiederhold, although it sounds like the German word for `repeat', actually derives from

1. Widder, a ram (male goat)
   and
2. holde, an ancient word for beautiful, actually a `stately beauty'. The word still be encountered in poetry or in Wagner operas, as where the singer is admiring `Die holde Freya', the beautiful maiden Freya.

A 1460 citation mentions that a trumpeter named Wedterolde brought some sick horses from Homburg to Kassel - to a veterinarian, I hope. Many other ancestors had the profession of `Färber', cloth dyer; `Landwirt' or `Ackermann', farmer; `Lehrer', Teacher; `Pfarrer', preacher; `Schmied', Smith; `Schultheiss', sherriff; or `Vogt', estate manager.

I am going through the detailed source material (11 books af Alfred's with text and charts for each family subline) and other information that Wiederhold people have provided or that I have found on the web. That information is being made publicly available on the web.

Scans of the Genealogy pages

Several lines of Wiederhold's were recorded by Alfred Wiederhold, although they all are likely related further back, since they all come from the same area, Hessen, in central Germany. The oldest line is `Felsberg', other line comes from neighboring towns, as Homberg an der Efze (often confused with other Hombergs). A catholic branch settled in Thuringen. Many emigrated, primarily to the U.S., but also to Chile. Some went to the Netherlands East Indies, and, after the second World War, wound up in the Netherlands. I appreciate information about current descendants. Many are are on Facebook,, in a group "My Name is Wiederhold".

I maintain more complex annotated charts, that I am quite willing to share.

Processed Data

I have entered my ancestor records into a genealogy program (Family Tree Maker). A published version as of July 2015/ is Gio Wiederhold's family.

I can make my Family Tree Maker source file available to anyone who has compatible software (.FTW or .GED). That .FTW version is about 32Mbytes, the equivalent .GED files are much smaller.

You can also copy older versions from here, as Gio ancestors FTW file, updated 2 September 2009. When cleaned and verified later copies will be uploaded.
Those now include information extracted from the charts, as well as branches to the Osorno and Hedrich von Wiederhold descendants, as well as the linkage to Konrad Wiederhold of the Hohenwiel.

I have also exported current working data as a GED standard file, Gio ancestors GED file as of 11 November 2018. It is about 1,500Mbytes. This file still needs major reviewsand fixes.

Data from my files have been published by others on other sites, as Geni, but I cannot maintain those.

Pictures

There are also a few pictures now on the web:

1. The Homburg Wiederhold coat of arms, as it appear(s/ed) over the entrance to a `Keller', a restaurant below the castle Reichenberg, near St. Goarshausen, Germany.
2. The Homburg Wiederhold coat of arms, drawn, as it appeared on the entrance of the Keller.
3. A copy of a depiction of the coat-of-arms in the Hessisch Familien Kunde, April-Juni 1969, Band 9, Heft 6, by Hermann Knodt and Heinz Ritt.
4. The Felsberg Wiederhold coat of arms, as it appear(s/ed) on the portal of a hospital in Kassel, Germany
5. The Felsberg Wiederhold coat of arms, drawn, as it appeared on a seal attached to a document.
6. A color picture made in the 1950's following those coat of arms images.
7. Gio's grandfather, Erich Wiederhold, Generation XV #9 in Gio's chart, owner of a factory near Frankfurt, about 1939.
8. A Drawing of a great-great grand uncle of Gio, Franz Schmidt; actually a grand uncle of Erich Wiederhold on his mother's side. He was the representative of a region in Schlesien (now Silesia) in the aborted German parliament in 1848. He had to flee in 1849, first to Switzerland and then to St. Louis, MO, where he started a German Lyceum/Gymnasium, which still semms to exist [per Arthur Wiederhold]. When he got sick, he went to Cuba for the better climate, but died there.
9. The most famous Wiederhold is Konrad Wiederhold. Konrad Wiederhold (1598-1667) was born in Ziegenhain, about 50km north of Fulda. In 1615 he became a mounted soldier and Musketier for the German sea-faring states of Bremen and Hamburg. He married well - a Burkhart - and in 1617 joined the army of Venice. Subsequently Konrad joined the military of Wuertemberg, a state in South-Western Germany. In 1634 he became commander of their most important fortress, the Hohentwiel. The Duke of Wuertemberg fled to Strassburg, but Konrad, a fervent Protestant, stayed on independently [German Wikipedia]. After the wars he was given substantial landholdings and became a nobleman. It seems that he had no children so current Wiederhold's can only claim him as a remote uncle.
   
10. The castle that Konrad Wiederhold defended during the 30-years war, called the Hohentwiel, is a popular tourist destination in South-Western Germany. The castle is built on the central basalt stem of a long extint volcano. The castle protected the region during the thirty-years' war (1618 to 1648). Konrad Wiederhold was the castle master during that time. The castle was never conquered. Around 1790 the castle was turned over to the "new forces of liberty", emanating from France, but the French decided to blow it up in 1800, but many of the 3 foot or more thick walls remain. It is located near the town of Singen. The hike up follows the Wiederholdweg to the main gate. There is also a Widerholdstrasse and a Hotel Wiederhold in Singen. Many pictures are on Google Earth if you search for `Singen, Germany'.

But some people used Hohentwiel relationship. In Padang, now Indonesia, lived a "Thomas Willem Gerard Hedrich von Wiederhold von und zu Naidlingen zum Hohentwiel". His daughter, born 10 May 1899, "Eleonore Alfine Madelein (Nora) Hedrich von Wiederhold von und zu Naidlingen zum Hohentwiel", who became the third wife of "Victor Louis Lans" in 10 May 192 in Malang, Indonesia, and died 30 May 1975 in Sittard, the Netherlands. They had 7 children. Some descendants live in Washington State and in Orange County.

A descendant in the Netherlands, George Molenkamp, has documented in detail the history of the ancestor, Henrik Julius Wiederhold who travelled from Germany to Malacca in detail, and also created a beautiful slide presentation.

I welcome comments and additions.
Gio