Carpenter
Born: 23 October 1580, Mulhouse
Died: Dates and location unknown
Father: Hans Wyss, abt 1550-?
Mother: Marguerite Küttler, dates unknown
Spouse: unknown
Children:
- Hans Weiss, ?-1668
Biographical Information
Also known as Jean in French publications.
There is some disagreement over who is whose father from Hans Wyss (~1550-?) down to Hans Weiss (?-1668). I'll attempt to explain this, but considering there are three Hans in a row, I'll use different descriptors to reduce confusion: Hans the farmer, Johannes/Hans the carpenter and Hans the saddler.
Most genealogies do not have Johannes/Hans Wyss, carpenter, as the father of Hans Weiss, saddler. They usually have Hans Weiss, saddler, as the son of Hans Wyss, farmer and his second wife Marie Benner, missing out Johannes/Hans Wyss, the carpenter entirely. I believe this is incorrect, based upon information in Ehrsam (1850). Ehrsam (1850) pp. 372-3 lists all three generations (the handwritten notes were probably made by Ernest Meininger (1852-1925), an historian):
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| Ehrsam (1850), p372 |
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| Ehrsam (1850), p373 |
(Hans, elder, the farmer, 1570)
2. Hans, der Schreiner, des Anno 1570 gedachten Hansen Sohn, den 21 December 1601.
(Hans, the carpenter, son of the aforementioned Hans, 1570, on 21 December 1601)
3. Hans, der Sattler, Hansen des Schreiners Sohn, den 5 April 1623 [Anna Arlenspach, Barbe Benner - handwritten]
(Hans, the saddler, son of Hans the carpenter, on 5 April 1623)
The number at the end of each entry denotes when the person officially became a burger (citizen) of Mulhouse - this was when they got married. The handwritten entries made by Meininger note the names of the wives of the person in question.
I think these entries clearly show that Hans the farmer is the father of Hans the carpenter, who is the father of Hans the saddler. By contrast, all genealogies I've seen have Hans the saddler as the son of Hans the farmer, missing a whole generation.
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| Click on image to see in greater resolution |
So where did the confusion come from? Most of my information on the Wyss' in the early Mulhouse Weiss family comes from notes I made at the Mulhouse Archives in 2015. These notes were my transcription of Ernest Meininger's notes on the Weiss family in Mulhouse. Meininger's notes cover each Weiss family - the parents, children, dates, sometimes occupations. The notes don't have a family tree though, so connections between each family can only be inferred. The children of Hans Wyss (farmer) have Johannes (born 23 October 1580, mother Marguerite Küttler) and Hans (born 21 November 1599, mother Maria Benner) listed. Meininger does not list any family for a Hans Wyss, carpenter. He does list a family for Hans Weiss, saddler, married to Anna Arlenspach. This suggests to me that Meininger or others just assumed that Hans Weiss, married to Anna Arlenspach, was the son of Hans Wyss, farmer, and his second wife Maria Benner, discounting the fact that Johannes (son of Hans Wyss and Marguerite Küttler) could also be Hans. Johannes was born in 1580, and Hans the carpenter was made a citizen in 1601 - if they are the same person, that would make Johannes/Hans 21 years old when he was married - an acceptable age for marrying. By contrast, our other candidate son of Hans the farmer, Hans (son of Maria Benner) was born in 1599, which would make him only 2 years old when he was made a citizen, which is simply not possible.
There is very little information on Johannes (Hans) Wyss, the carpenter. I haven't been able to find any reference to Wyss' wife anywhere, though he himself is mentioned in Schlumberger (1903) as a guard at the town hall in 1606.
References
Ehrsam, N. (1850). Der Stadt Mülhausen privilegiertes Bürgerbuch, bis zur Vereinigung dieser Republik mit Frankreich, im Jahr 1798. J.B. Rissler, Mulhouse.
Schlumberger, L. de (1903). Cartulaire de la famille Schlumberger. 1, 1400-1700. Veuve Bader et Cie, Mulhouse.
