1680 - 1707 Anna Catharina was born in Niederhausen on October 18, 1680 and eleven days later she was baptized in the Reformed Church. Her first child, Johan Christian Meÿ, was born on June 9, 1700. Failing to survive his second year, he died on March 9, 1702 (possibly 1701). 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 of 1707. Most likely, Johann Nickel had moved his small schuhmacher shop to Niederhausen, a distance of about eight miles from Alsenz, about the time he married. He became the first Meÿ to live in Niederhausen. We have a record, dated January 1, 1700, showing that he and Anna Catharina traveled back to Alsenz to witness the baptism of his nephew, Johann Jacob Meÿ, the sixth child of his oldest brother, Hans Philip. The church record of the baptism notes that the visiting couple was from "Niederhauben an der Nahe." During the same month Anna Catharina died in 1707, Johann Nickel's mother, Margaretha Lauers Meÿ, also died, leaving him with no living wife, children nor mother. Johann Nickel's father, Judge Johannes Meÿ, continued to live in Alsenz until his death in 1720, long enough to see six of Johann Nickel's children who were born to his second wife, Maria Catharina Graeff. Since both of Anna's children died when they were young, she has no descendants. Our May family line in America is descended from Maria Catharina Graeff, our immigrant "grandmother." For a chart of her ancestors, CLICK HERE 1. Anna Catharina Beyers, born 18 Oct 1680 in Niederhausen, Pfalz, Germany; died Abt. Apr 1707 in Niederhausen, Pfalz, Germany. She was the daughter of 2. Christoffel (Stoffel) Beyers. She married (1) Johann Nickel Meÿ 18 Apr 1699 in Niederhausen an der Nahe, Rheinland Pfalz, Germany. He was born 29 May 1673 in Alsenz, Pfalz, Germany, and died 21 Feb 1743 in Niederhausen, Pfalz, Germany. He was the son of Johannes Meÿ and Margaretha Lauers. Notes for Anna Catharina Beyers: 2. Christoffel (Stoffel) Beyers,
died in Niederhausen, Pfalz, Germany (most likely). Although there is no record, other children probably were in this family. Hans Philips, the oldest of Johannes and Margaretha Lauers Meÿ's children, was the first to marry. During the years from 1688 to 1711, the marriages of all the surviving eight siblings were recorded in the church in Alsenz where their parents married in 1665. On April 18, 1699, Johann Nickel Meÿ married Anna Catharina Beyers in her home village of Niederhausen. Below is a translation of their marriage records. Both records show the names of his father, Johannes Meÿ, and her father, Christoffel Beyers - shortened to Stoffel in the Niederhausen record. Anna Catharina's father is called an official (from the word "gerichts") of his village. He likely served in a local court in a capacity much like that of a magistrate in the British courts. In the Alsenz register, her home village is called "Niederhauben ahn der Nahe." When he married, Johann Nickel had begun his trade as a shoemaker. His marriage record in the register of the Niederhausen Church uses an abbreviated spelling of the word - Shu'macher.   |
