The aim of this project is to record the male and female lines of the family's origin for the previous 300+ years and forward. All documents dating prior to the end of the Thirty Years' War (1618-1648) have been destroyed, as have family tombstones and later documents, as well. In the span of the 300 years, several connecting links are still missing.
The Berolzheimer family can be traced back only until 1684 in the male line. It is known that they moved from the hamlet Möhren to nearby Markt Berolzheim, but not how long they resided in Möhren. One can surmise that they were victims of the expulsion of the Jews from Pfalz Neuburg.
A very large range of blood-related families lived, and still live, in Franconia, Vienna, Prague, Dresden, Berlin, Hannover, Cleves, Frankfort on the Main, Worms, Mannheim, and the United States of America from the middle of the 19th Century to the present.
Among the many successful business people of these connected families of special note are: Elias Gumperts in Cleves under the Kurfürst Friedrich Wilhelm of Brandenburg; Lazarus Hirschel, the Viennese financier; Simson Wertheimber, Viennese court actor; Samuel Oppenheimer in Vienna, the financier and war supplier, whose ancestors were Männlein Bacharach and Moses Oppenheimer in Frankfort on the Main; the bankers Arnstein and Eskeles, and Leopold von Wertheimstein of Vienna; and the great merchant, industrialist, and philanthropist Heinrich Berolzheimer.
Poets and musicians were also part of this group: Ludwig Boerne and Heinrich Heine, Meyerbeer and Felix Mendelsohn-Bartoldi, and a talented painter, Philip Veit.
ORIGIN OF THE NAME
The name of this family is one of provenance (source) that originated from the village of Markt Berolzheim on the Altmühl River in Middle Franconia. As evidenced by the ending "heim" or "ham" (meaning "home"), the name of the village derives its origin from its lord of the manor, a Franconian named Berchtold/Bertold/Berold. He was Count Berold of Kalden, the marshall of Middle Franconia, grandson of Emperor Otto I and of his wife, Aethelgitha/Edgitha/Edith, an English princess who died in 946. Their daughter, also named Edith, married the Count of Kalden. Of her two sons, Walter was the ancestor of the Counts of Pappenheim, and Berold was the ancestor of the Counts of Möhren. The latter resided in the so-called "stone house," a castle adjacent to Markt Berolzheim. His son Friedrich succeeded his father as the marshall and moved to the nearby castle of Möhren.
HISTORY OF THE VILLAGE
Markt Berolzheim was in Sualafeld County, named after the Schwal (Suala), a small brook flowing into the Wörnitz River. Schwal is a Celtic name. The region north of the Danube was inhabited by Celts and their relics found there (bronze tools and weapons, clay vessels, and their knowledge of processing lime) date back 4,000 years to the Hallstadt period. Some Celts went from there to Ireland where they Christianized that country. These Celts spoke the identical language as their brethren whom they had left behind in Middle Franconia.
The name "Wörnitz" indicates that the region was also populated by people of Slavic extraction who were conquered by Otto I. The victorious Franconians intermingled with the local Celtic-Slavic mixture of races.
The hamlet is located in the Old Mill River Valley (Altmühltal) on the eastern slopes of the Rooster Creast hills (Hahnenkamm). This location was considered well suited for inhabitation because of its forests, water, pasture land, and shelter from inclement weather. Settlers' efforts transformed the land into rich-yielding farmland.
ADMINISTRATION OF THE REGION
The office of Lord of Sualafeld County (Gaugrafenamt), which became hereditary in the family of the Counts of Truhendingen, was to develop regional independence (autonomy) from the German king. The county passed on to Bavaria, then to the Counts (Burggrafen) of Nürnberg, afterwards to the Margraves of Brandenburg-Ansbach, in 1791 to Prussia, and on the 15th of February 1806 to Napoleon I who united the region with the Kingdom of Bavaria, which he had created at that time.
The locale that later became Markt Berolzheim was owned by the aristrocrat who was the proprietor of one of the three local castles. The inhabitants of the village were his subjects (Hintersassen). In cases of or changes of ownership of the village, they were sold together with the land as "sub-owners" (unter-eigenthümer). These villagers owed contributions and services to one of the three castles: the lower one, the one above, or the "stone house."
In the years 1573 and 1574, the Reichsmarshall Count Wolfgang von Pappenheim the younger became the owner of all three castles, and in 1667, they went to the Margrave Albrecht von Brandenburg-Ansbach. When the upper and lower castles in Markt Berolzheim were sold by the Count of Pappenheim to the Margrave of Ansbach, a document survived containing a complete list of the inhabitants (Hintersassen sub-owners) and their dues and obligations toward the owner of the castle, payable yearly on Walpurgis (May 1, beginning of summer) and Michaels (Saint Michael the Archangel's Day on September 29), to be given to the owner, the Honorable Lord Wolfgang Christopher, Elder of the Holy Roman Empire, Reichs Heir-Marshall, Lord of Pappenheim and Grauenthal, on Rottenstein, Berolzheim and Calden, etc. The earliest entries are dated 1628. The entries were continued after the death of Count Wolfgang Christoph, after the change of ownership to the Margraves of Ansbach in 1667, and until 1677.
