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Niederhausen an der Nahe 1699-1748
Return to Index of John May essays
Continue with an essay on the immigration
of the Meÿ family
Niederhausen, located on a bend of the Nahe River downstream from Bad
Kreuznach and within 15 miles of the Rhine, was the home of the
Meÿs before they immigrated to America. For half a century,
beginning in 1699, members of the family married, gave birth, studied
their catechisms, attended church services, worked and died in this
small village. Records of these important events of their lives were
entered in the register of the local Reformed Church (Evangelische
Kirche). The church, adorned with many colorful groupings of frescoes
from the Middle Ages, still has an active congregation and continues
to serve as a center of activity in the small village.
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After the marriage of Johann Nickel Meÿ to Anna Catharina Beyers
in Niederhausen in 1699, they lived in the village and he worked as a
shoemaker. Judging from the church records, he appears to have been
was the first Meÿ to live in the village. These same records
show that Anna Catharina was born in Niederhausen on October 18, 1680
and eleven days later she was baptized. Their first child, Johan
Christian Meÿ, was born on June 9, 1700. Failing to survive his
second year, he died on March 9, 1702. A second son, named Johannes
for his grandfather in Alsenz, was born on April 13, 1707, but he
died within a few days. This record, and the fact that Johann Nickel
remarried in 1708, gives us reason to conclude that Anna Catharina,
at the age of twenty-six, also died about April 1707. |
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Niederhausen Evangelische Kirche |
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Anna Catharina Beyers |
b. 18 Oct 1680 |
d. Apr 1707 |
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Johann Christian Meÿ |
b. 9 Jun 1700 |
d. 9 Mar 1702 |
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Johannes Meÿ |
b. 13 Apr 1707 |
d. Apr 1707 |
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First family of Johann Nickel Meÿ |
Click
here to see more about Anna Catharina Beyers' family.
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Modern-day view from the church pews, with a (1729) pulpit on the
left and a stone alter (dating to about 1400) located in the choir
section in the background. |
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A 1997 view of Niederhausen, taken from the road through the local
vineyards on the way to nearby Hüffelsheim. The church is the
large white building in the center of the photo. |
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A view along the Nahe River of Bad Kreuznach, the major village
near Niederhausen, painted as it looked in the
17th Century. |
The second Meÿ family in Niederhausen
Maria Catharina Graeff, who was born in Hüffelsheim near
Niederhausen on December 23, 1685, became the second wife of Johann
Nickel Meÿ. This remarkable woman, in her 63rd year, played a
prominent role in the immigration of the Meÿs to America. On St.
Valentine's Day in 1708, Maria Catharina, at the age of twenty-two,
married Johann Nickel, twelve years her senior, in the Niederhausen
Reformed Church. This was also a special day in the village since St.
Valentine had long been revered as a protecting saint of the local congregation.
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Johann Nickel Meÿ, a local shoemaker, was legally
married to Maria Catharina, daughter of Johann Nickel Graeff of
Hüffelsheim, on February 14. |
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Translated 1708 marriage record of Johann Nickel Meÿ to
Anna Catharina Beyers in Niederhausen |
The vital records of the Meÿ family
in Niederhausen are written in the register of the local Reformed
Church. Over a period of seventeen years, Maria Catharina gave birth
to seven sons and three daughters. When her first son was baptized in
the church on October 30, 1709, he was given his father's name. Their
last child, baptized on August 4, 1726, was named Anna Margaretha.
Two of the sons, Johann Frederick and Frantz Philip, died in infancy.
The known descendants of this family in America are the descendants
of Johann Leonhardt (Leonard) May and Frantz (Francis)
Peter May - using the Anglicized spelling of the Meÿ
surname. Frantz Peter was the father of John (Johannes) May
(1760-1813). A third brother, Johann Daniel May, played an
important role in the families lives in America, but he had no descendants.
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Maria Catharina Graeff |
b. 23 Dec 1685 |
d. 11 Oct 1751, in Pennsylvania |
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Johann Nickel Meÿ |
b. 25 Oct 1709 |
d. 25 Mar 1778, in Niederhausen. |
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Johann Adolf Meÿ |
b. 27 May 1711 |
d. aft. Oct 1747, in America |
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Maria Elisabetha Meÿ |
b. 24 Jun 1713 |
d. aft. 1748, in America |
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Anna Maria Meÿ |
b. 22 Sep 1715 |
d. aft. 1747, possibly in America |
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Johann Frederich Meÿ |
b. 15 Aug 1717 |
d. 3 Jan 1719, in Niederhausen |
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* Johann Leonhardt Meÿ |
b. 17 Jan 1719 |
d. abt. 1777, probably in Va. |
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Frantz Philip Meÿ |
b. 25 Dec 1720 |
d. 13 Feb 172, in Niederhausen |
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* Johann Daniel Meÿ |
b. 17 Jun 1722 |
d. 30 May 1777, in Virginia |
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* Frantz Peter Meÿ |
b. 18 May 1724 |
d. aft. 1784, probably in Va. |
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Anna Margaretha Meÿ |
b. 31 Jul 1726 |
d. aft. 1752, in America |
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Second family of Johann Nickel Meÿ |
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1719 record:
Johann Leonhard, legitimate son of Johann Niclaus
Meÿ, a local judge, and his wife Maria Catharina, was born on
January 17th and baptized on the 22nd of the same month. The
godparents are . . . Johann Leonhard R. . . (illegible). |
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1722 record:
Johann Daniel, legitimate son of Johann Nicolaus
Meÿ and his wife Maria Catharina, was born on June 17th and
baptized on the 21th of the same month. The godparents are . . .
Johann Daniel (illegible) . . . . and his wife, Anna O . . . . |
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1724 record:
Frantz Peter, legitimate son of Johann Nickel
Meÿ and his wife Maria Catharina, was born on May 18th and
baptized the 25th of the same month. The godparents are Frantz Peter
Gilbreth and his wife Anna Catharina, both from here. |
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Translated Niederhausen birth records of three Meÿ
brothers who immigrated to America in 1748. |
On February 21, 1743, three months before his seventieth birthday,
Johann Nickel Meÿ died in Niederhausen an der Nahe. At the time
of his death, Johann Nickel's wife and eight living children all
resided in the village. Johann Nickel, Jr. was thirty-three and the
youngest child, Anna Margaretha, was sixteen. There is no record that
any of the children had married as early as 1743. An English
translation of Johann Nickel Meÿ's death record shows that he
suffered in his last days from a fever and a sickness of the chest, "brustkrankheit."
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1743 record:
Johann Nickel Meÿ, former judge and local church elder, died
from a fever and a sickness of the chest on the 21st of February and
was buried on the 25th. He lived for 69 years, 8 months, 3 weeks and
2 days. |
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Translated death record of Johann Nickel Meÿ |
Johann Nickel's position in the village is called a "gerichtsmann
und kirchen ältester von hier" - literally, "a
man of the court and an elder of the church from here." This
gives us a final view into his accomplishments in Niederhausen from
the local Pfarrer. Since arriving in the village in 1699 as a
schuhmacher, he apparently had become a man of some importance in the
small community and its church. We can assume that Johann Nickel
continued to practice his occupation but, gained a position in the
justice system of the village. His father, Johannes, had been an
influential judge in the Alsenz Valley, and his father-in-law from
this first marriage, Christoffel Beyers, had served earlier in a
judicial position in Niederhausen.
From the microfilm we can see that Johann Nickel's life span was "69
Jahr 8 monat 3 wohen und 2 tage," which corresponds with
our record of the day of his birth in Alsenz - May 29, 1673.
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