Gudelius/Gutelius
Family
History
by
Jost Gudelius
English Version of
the Third Edition
Revised and Expanded
Copyright © 2002
Haus am Raut, D-83676 Jachenau
Tel 0049-08043-333
e-mail: jost at
gudelius.de
Saturday, 05
January 2013
All
rights reserved. No part of this publiccation may be
reproduced in any form without permission in writing from the author, except by
a reviewer who may quote brief passages in a review.
Based on his results, I found in 1988/89 in the
tax-register of the chapel of Schweppenhausen at the Landeshauptarchiv Koblenz and in the "Weistum" ( a record of
judgments) of the village (both from the 15th and 16th centuries) the Gudel family of vine growers as the origin
of our line of descent.
This result encouraged me in the following years to
get in contact to all Gudelius by five "Gudelius-Letters" and to try
to close the most incomplete lines of the several Gudelius families back to Wendelinus Gudelius.
This approach was very successful with the assistance of
nearly all members of the family except for a very few. I have to thank all the
contacts within the Gudelius families. I would be very pleased to have more
assistance in extending the history.
Special thanks are due to Gerhard Moisel from Heisberg for handing
over the extensive results of his research of the Gudelius
from Siegerland of the 18th and 19th centuries and
Dr. Walter Kolb from Borkwalde
for his successful research of Gudelius from East Prussia in the same period as
well as Hermann J. Sartor from Sinn for
composing the Haigerer Gudelius
and John Blankenbaker from Chadds
Ford, PA, USA for his friendly assistance during the translation to
English.
of the clan
Gudel / Guedel
from Schweppenhausen near Bingen on the river Rhine
Historical Summary
The Gudelius family descends from the old
family Gudel of vine-growers and
farmers from Schweppenhausen, a little
vine growing village, about 10 km west of Bingen, in
the Gulden Valley between Bad Kreuznach and
Stromberg.
"Sweppenhuzun"
is first mentioned in 1125 in a document of Kaiser Heinrich V as property of
the abbey St. Maximin in Trier[i][i]. Since
the 14th century the village was a feudal tenure of the Wildgrafen
and Pfalzgrafen in the possession of the Family von Ingelheim.
"peder
gudel" and "jeccl
gudel" (Jacob) are the first documentary
mentioned names of members of the family Gudel. They are several times recorded
in Gothic Italics (writing of that time) at 1400-1420[ii][ii] as land proprietors in Schweppenhausen in the
tax-register[iii][iii] of the chapel. (Dokument)
Later entries in this tax-register name
·
1467 "gudeln pede” as land
proprietor, (Dokument)
·
1521 "guedellen peder" as church
warden and (Dokument)
Guedellen Henn is only once more
named in a later correction of the first document of 1400-1420, resolving a tax
of Gudeln Jeccl.
Gudeln Wendelin is several
times named as juror in the court and wisdom book of Schweppenhausen[iv][iv] during the period from 1558 till 1575.
Considering that for more than 150 to 170 years
a Peter and a Wendl Gudel
are named at the same place as land proprietors and in the same duty as elder
and juror, we may assume to have five generations of the same family.
The name Gudel is not recorded or declared in the literature
of German surnames. Josef Karlmann Brechenmacher[v][v] mentioned the similar sounding surname Gudelmann (-mann is in former
times frequently used as nickname suffix, e. g. Karl > Karl(e)mann). As early examples Brechenmacher
cites a Gudilmanus in 1260 and a Henlin
Gudelman in 1356, where both were from Worms, not far
from Schweppenhausen.
The author gives two possibilities of
explanation:
·
in Middle High German "giudel
= boaster, spendthrift",
·
derived from female
first name Gudel(a), which was formerly popular
particularly in the western part of Germany.
For instance the poet Heinrich Heine used the
first explanation with Gräfin Gudel von Gudelfeld in his
poem Hoffart (haughtiness).
Dr. Wilfried Seibicke of the Germanistischen
Seminar of the University of Heidelberg takes the second explanation
(fortunately) for the more probable. Gudel and Gudelman are in that way metronymes
(as contrary to patronymes).
The female name Gudela
(Gudula, Godela and
similar) is derived from the German word "gut" (good), but more
frequently from names composed with God(o)-, Got- ,"Gott"
(e.g., Godolewa).
The name got an independent importance by the
Saint Gudela of Brussels, Ste.
Gudele (+ in 712), and was popular until modern times,
even with the nobility[vi][vi]; see also Dutch Goede(l)[vii][vii].
As to the pronunciation, in those times and
today also the first "u" in Gudel/Gudelius is pronounced long. This
is proved by the extended "e" in "guedel"
which was frequently used in times from 1521 till 1576.
The name Gudel is still found in the area of Borken and Raesfeld in Westphalia
as well as in Kusel in the Palatinate, in Switzerland
and in the 19th century in West Prussia. A connection with the Gudel of
Schweppenhausen is improbable, because after 1576 the Gudel in Schweppenhausen
are not mentioned again in any document.
In Siebmacher’s book
of heraldry[viii][viii] we find the heraldic figure of Elisabeth Gudlin (Gudel), wife of Hans
Georg Eßlinger from Zürich in 1681. It shows on a
green three-topped hill a red heart with three white roses at green branches
growing out of it, look:
Wendelin Gudel, the first one with the name Gudelius and
later pastor, was born about 1567 (estimated) in Schweppenhausen as second son
of Wendelin Guedel.
After Wendelin Guedel’s decease in 1575 his wife married in 1576 on
Thursday after Kantate (May 20, 1576) Thomas Hairich of Warmstatt. Six
children are mentioned in the marriage contract[ix][ix], Jacob, Wendell, Elsgen,
Margreta, Maria and Hilgarte, "who are in part
not of age".
It was specified that Thomas Hairich had had to pay the children 90 Gulden, the Gulden
with 24 Albus. For security, among other things, was
mentioned the large "Weingart in staigerbergk" (vineyard), which still today is among
the best vine sites of
Schweppenhausen[x][x].
This money could have been the basis for Wendelin Gudel’s education.
Whether he visited the school nearby in the town of Kreuznach,
where in 1556 a grammar school was founded to provide[xi][xi] the Palatinate with theological trained
Reformed personnel, could not be verified.
On December 19, 1586 he was matriculated at the
University of Heidelberg as "Wendelinus Gudelius, Schweppenhusanus, famulus Dionysianus,
gratis" [xii][xii] Look:
"Gudel" was
simply latinized and in this way the name
Gudelius
originated more than
420 years ago.
About half a year later, on seventh July anno
1587, Wendelinus Gudelius
was proposed by Graf Emich XI the Younger of Leiningen and Dagsburg to the
rector and dean of the fourth faculty of the University of Heidelberg for a
scholarship of the foundation "Dioniss" of
the Earl`s grandparents[xiii][xiii].
In the answer of the 4th of August 1587 (same
source), the dean insisted according to the statute of the foundation on his
right to elect and to install the supported students and he refused the presentation
of Wendelinus Gudelius,
though he was well disposed towards him and he his "wolfarth
und befurderung in ander weg gern sehen
möchte(n)"[xiv][xiv] (he wished him a well success).
That probably was the reason for Wendelinus Gudelius to change the
universities. In 1588 he was matriculated at the “Hohe Schule” at Herborn as "Wendelinus Gudelius Schwettenhusanus"[xv][xv]. The writing of Schweppenhausen
with "tt" is obviously a slip of the
pen. Look:
Apparently at Herborn
he became acquainted quickly with the inhabitants and in 1588 he married Margarete Will, daughter of a citizen and baker. In the
same year he finished successfully his study in theology.
There were six children in his family:
Matthias, born about 1590/92, Johann Henrich, born as second son in that period
too, third son Georgius and the daughters Anna Elsbeth, Anna Catharina and
Dorothea.
After finishing his studies, Wendelinus Gudelius was second
chaplain at Herborn[xvi][xvi]. He served every week the villages surrounding
Herborn - Hörbach,
Hirschberg, Fleisbach, Guntersdorf
and Beilstein - with a lecture and a catechisation
(instruction).
Because of the low income at Herborn ("propter donorum paucitatem") he went in 1594 as pastor to Breitscheid.
There Wendelinus Gudelius in 1603 sat up a detailed list of the rights and
the income of the parish of Breitscheid. This gives
us today a deep insight into the agriculturally dependent way of life of those
times. His cash income amounted total best 40 Gulden a
year. As natural produce there were delivered yearly about 50 hundredweights
(one hundredweight = 50 kg) of corn for bread and food as well as three cocks,
two hens, half a goose and the firewood for the vicarage. Because the pastor’s
family couldn´t live on this cash and produce, they had to engage in
agricultural pursuits like all the other inhabitants of the village. To the
parish belonged more than "34 Äcker (fields), 7 Wiesen (meadows) and 4 Gärten
(gardens)". That was more ground than the farmers of Breitscheid
had and probably more than the pastor’s family could really cultivate[xvii][xvii].
Nevertheless during his time as pastor in Breitscheid, Wendelinus Gudelius was forced to raise a loan from the parish. The
reason for this loan must have been the high expenses for the education of the
children. Matthias and Johann Henrich are mentioned 1602 and 1609 in the roll
of the Hohe Schule
(college) of Herborn. The loan amounted to 22 Gulden
and it was not unusual in those times. But it is remarkable that the debt was
not paid off even 120 years later.
In 1595 Wendelinus Gudelius started in Breitscheid a
parish register "darinnen die Eheleuth undt jungen
Kinder so zu Breidtschiedt
in der Kirchen getauft geworden, verzeichnet sein" (wherein the married couples and young
children, who were baptized in the church of Breitscheid,
are recorded). The
title-page contains beside the superscription the personal signature of "Wendelinum Gudelium Pastorem". Look:
At about 1619 his wife Margarete
died. In his second marriage about 1620 - now already more than 50 years old -
he married Elsbeth Wetz.
Wendelinus Gudelius had a
special liking for registers, records and lists. In that way in 1620 he sat up
"Ein kurz Inventarium der fahrenden hab so semptliche kinder bekommen" (inventory of the objects destinated for his children), which also gives rich
information of the household of the pastor’s family. There is listed a chest,
"so ich vom Rein mitgebracht"( taken from the
Rhine), presumably from his home.[xviii][xviii]
On Saturday, September 10, 1622 Wendelinus Gudelius died on the
way from Ballersbach to the market in Herborn.
In the estate, which had to be divided between
the children and the stepmother, are listed amongst other things a black cow, a
black young cow, ten pigs, and fourteen sheep, which shows
how deeply pastors were engaged in agricultural activities in those times[xix][xix].
During the Thirty Years' War, on April 23, 1639
his second wife Elsbeth was shot on the "Hüttenplatz"
in Dillenburg by
cavalrymen of Mansfeld[xx][xx].
The son Matthias lived first as chaplain in Haiger and later as pastor
at Frohnhausen, Fleisbach
and at last at Oberfischbach. His son Henrich is the
ancestor of the Siegerländer Clan, and son Dietrich
of the Haigerer Clan of the Gudelius. Both still
exist in the male line.
Wendelinus` second son Johann Henrich is the ancestor of
the Herborner Clan, which doesn`t exist in the male
line, but which has many living descendants with other surnames.
The daughter Dorothea married at Frohnhausen the teacher Hans Wilhelm Schmidt; they had ten
children.
No details have been found of son Georgius and
the daughters Anna Elsbeth and Anna Catharina.
In the 17th century also a chemist-family Gaudelius lived in Herborn beside
the Gudelius. Their origin is from Niederwildungen in
Hessen-Waldeck, perhaps from the Polish nobility. The
surmise of Gerhard Moisel of a connection to the
Gudelius is rather improbable and may be excluded by the good quality of the
sources.
A
Judelius-family of teachers, pastors
and medical doctors lived in Erfurt and its surrounding from the 16.
until the 17. century .
The first matriculation of the two brothers Samuel and David Judelius, sons of a shoemaker at Erfurt, was done at the
Erfurt University in 1586, the same year as the matriculation of Wendelinus Gudelius in
Heidelberg. Whether there is any connection is to be researched in future as
well as Johannes Gudelius of Erfurt, who is matriculated there in
1609.
The Gudelius normally are Protestant. Only the
GUDELIUS 3 - Sauerländer Clan - are
Roman Catholic. In former times the Gudelius lived mainly in the Fürstentum Nassau-Siegen between Oberholzklau and Herborn. That is today the
area of Siegerland and Dill-Kreis (county), where even today the most Gudelius are
living, (Map)
In the 18th century at least two Gudelius
emigrated to Virginia and Pennsylvania. Descendants could first only be
demonstrated for 1850 in Pennsylvania and Kentucky (census of 1850). But since
March 31, 1999 I have a very good contact to the new found and quite numerous American
Branch Gutelius, which obviously descends from Johann Peter Gudelius of Niederholzklau, who
immigrated at Philadelphia on August 31st, 1750 . Argument shows the
results of a half year discussion about the question of French or German origin
of the American Gutelius. The amateur-genealogists (like myself)
of the American Gutelius family agreed to the German origin.
Johann Peter’s wife, Anna Maria Deitzler, is
said to be of Dutch origin. But I rather think she is like her husband of
German origin, because there are several families Detzler,
Ditzler, Dietzler, and
Deitzler in Germany, but not any in the Netherlands.
Frederick Adam Gutelius, Johann Peter’s son,
had with his wife Anna Catherine Bistel fifteen
children, eleven sons and four daughters. They founded the American
Gutelius-Clan. The Gudelius/Gutelius family was by this way enlarged by about
150 -200 people.
Adam Frederick Gutelius was a blacksmith by
trade
and then studied
surveying. Here you may see a map
draught by him on 2nd of May, 1809.
Nevin Pyle Gutelius,
great-grandson of Johann Peter Gutelius, went at about 1900 to Lima in Peru.
Some Gutelius families are still living there. But some descendants of Nevin Pyle returned to the USA (Cesar Humberto
Gutelius Reyes), to Europe (Luis Suarez Gutelius in
Madrid and his brother Edgardo in Stockholm, Sweden), and to Japan (Guillermo,
Gladys, Karisol, Jonny, and Edith Gutelius Reyes) .[xxi][xxi]
In 1920 Elfriede Gudelius, born at Salchendorf bei Neunkirchen in 1908, emigrated
with her mother to the USA and lived at Tacoma, Washington; she died in 1995.
Johann Philipp Gudelius, born on September 16th,
1770 in Alchen, emigrated in 1798 to Nieuwerkerk/Ijssel
in Holland[xxii][xxii], where he got married and had seven children,
who still have to be researched.
In autumn 1999 I found a Gutelius Family
with four members in Sweden. Sven-Erik and Karin Gustafson got married
in 1964. At this time they changed their very frequent surname to
"Gutelius" by a proposal of the Swedish administration. There is now
a quiet new branch of Gutelius without any connection to the original Gudelius
or Gutelius.[xxiii][xxiii]
A large Gudelius-line developed in East
Prussia as descendants of Conrad Gudelius (brother of Johann Peter
Gudelius, above mentioned), who in 1723 emigrated from Niederholzklau.
With the end of the World War II, these Gudelius moved to the west and are
spread out in the area around Hamburg, to Saxon and one family to South Hessen.
Today there are about 100 families and 350
people with the name Gudelius or Gutelius. The about 60 married daughters of
Gudelius/Gutelius with other surnames are still to be added.
Until 1999 the Sauerländer
Clan with nearly 50 Gudelius was the largest clan, which as "GUDELIUS
3" with Hermann Gudelius, born in 1852, started a new genealogical line of
descent and which settled on the rivers Lenne, Ruhr, Rhein and Neckar.
After the "homecoming" of the American
Branch with about 150 Gutelius (or more?) the cousins on the other side of the
ocean are the genealogical largest complete group of our lines of descent.
Dorothea Mavromara-Gudelius,
married, and her daughter Anna Gudelius-Mavromara,
are living in Athens in Greece.
Gudelius descendants with other surnames live in Australia
(Williams), in New Zealand (Curkovic) and in the USA
(Yost).
The famous family Henkel (Persil) has Gudelius
ancestors. The Henkel as well as the industrial family Cloos
from Fleisbach near Sinn[xxiv][xxiv] have in their line of descent Anna Elisabeth
Gudelius, christened September 1, 1658 at Herborn and
great-granddaughter of Wendelinus Gudelius.
Gerhard Moisel, historian and main genealogist of Siegerland, has in his family three lines of descent from
the Gudelius family, what was very useful in composing the present dates.
Our name Gudelius was used in literature
in the booklet "Haus Gudelius"
by Bertha Schmidt-Eller for demonstrating a well situated middle class family
in Leipzig (assumed) [xxv][xxv].
Family members with national importance are
Professor Dr. Georg Gudelius (XVI g), editor and
author of numerous articles in genealogical and theological newspapers, Colonel
Alfred Gudelius (XVI h), Ritterkreuzträger in WW II, Heinz Gudelius (XVI a), well
known entertainer in the fifties and the fiction writers Bärbel
Gudelius (XV n 1.) and Dr. Claudia
Gudelius (XVII h oo).
Public
figures of the American Gutelius are Samuel Gutelius
(1795-1866), a well known pastor of the Reformed
Church, Joseph Gutelius (1842-1866), killed on the battlefield at Gettysburg in
1866 during the Civil War, and Frederick Passmore Gutelius, (1864-1935) chief engineer of the Canadian
Pacific Railroad and later in the leading management of the Canadian Railroad.
There are more famous members of the Gutelius-Family, who have still to be researched and listed.
The Gudelius are dispersed throughout Germany,
from Pinneberg in the north to Jachenau in Upper
Bavaria and from Bonn at the river Rhine to Frankenberg in Saxon aswell as the Gutelius reside in
almost all parts of the United States, in Canada, in Peru, and- from there
returned to Europe - in Spain and Sweden.
[i][i]
R. Seil, Schweppenhausen, ein Weindorf im Guldental,
1994, S. 29; hier verweist W. Vogt auf T. Giessmann,
1990.
[ii][ii] Von Dr. Mötsch,
LHA Koblenz, auf Grund der Schrift zeitlich so eingeordnet.
[iii][iii] LHA Koblenz Abt 53 C 44 Nr.
11, S. 1
[iv][iv] LHA Koblenz Abt 53 C 44 Nr.
124 S. 28 bis 71
[v][v] Brechenmacher,
Josef Karlmann, "Etymologisches Wörterbuch der deutschen
Familiennamen", Bd.1, Limburg/Lahn 1956 ff., S. 607
[vi][vi] Ernst Wasserzieher,
"Hans und Grete. 2500 Vornamen erklärt", Bonn 1979, S. 113
[vii][vii] "Spectrum
voornamenboek", Utrecht 1992, S.166
[viii][viii] Siebmachers Wappenbuch, Bd. V.7.
Bürgerliche Familien, Tafel 6, Nürnberg 1907
[ix][ix] siehe Anm. 4, S. 71-73.
[x][x] Transkription Hermann J. Sartor, Sinn.
[xi][xi] Albert Rosenkranz,
Geschichte der Evangelischen Gemeinde Kreuznach, Kreuznach 1951.
[xii][xii] Toepke,
Matrikel der Universität Heidelberg, Bd. 2, S. 131.
[xiii][xiii] Universitätsarchiv
Heidelberg, UAH A-160/13, fol 200 r+v.
[xiv][xiv] Transkription Hermann J. Sartor.
[xv][xv] Zedler/Sommer, Die Matrikel
der Hohen Schule und des Pädagogiums zu Herborn, S. 9.
[xvi][xvi] Steubing,
Topographie der Stadt Herborn.
[xvii][xvii] Ernst Henn, Unser täglich
Brot gib uns heute, Mitteil-Blatt des Herborner
Geschichtsverein 1964.
[xviii][xviii] Stadtarchiv Herborn.
[xix][xix] Ebd.
[xx][xx] Becker, Schloß
und Stadt Dillenburg, 1983
[xxi][xxi] Telefon-call with Luis
Suarez Gutelius, Madrid, Spain on 04.12.1999
[xxii][xxii] Siegerländer
Intelligenz-Blatt 1798, S. 568
[xxiii][xxiii] Telefon-call
with Karin Gutelius, Skövde,
Sweden on 13.11. 1999
[xxiv][xxiv] Hermann J. Sartor, Sinn
[xxv][xxv] Verlag der
Francke-Buchhandlung GmbH, Marburg an der Lahn, ISBN 3-88224-278-2
