Despite an impressive number of documents tracing our Joachim ancestors, Ancestry does not dignify my DNA with any “German” blood. The closest the DNA records identify is “Northwestern Europe”. Perhaps a brief history of this area will offer some explanation.
As early as the late 1600s and probably earlier still, our Joachim ancestors lived in a very beautiful area less than 15 miles west of the Rhine River in what is now the Rhineland-Palatinate area of Germany. Their home was on the eastern edge of the Palatinate Forest on the famous German Wine Route.
Evangelical Lutheran Church records show the Joachims living in the towns of Wachenheim and Dürkheim. Occasionally, family members also lived in Neustadt. You will see all these cities on the map below just to the west of Ludwigshafen on the Rhine River.
The first known settlements in this area were during the early Iron Age (approximately 550 BC to 1 AD). The earliest known settlers were Celts. Precise dating is possible because there were many Celtic pottery finds in the area. There are also remnants of a Celtic built Heidenmauer (German for Heathen or Pagan Wall) , a circular rampart of stone and wood more than a mile and a half long built to defend Iron Age hilltop forts.
The Celts were replaced by the Romans, who did not rule without challengers. The region was also occupied for periods of time by the Huns, the Alemanni, and was eventually taken over by the Franks.
The Huns were a nomadic people from central Asia. Their brilliant leader, Attila, created the most effective fighting force of the time. Attila built a vast empire in less than ten years in the first half of the 5th century. His empire stretched from central Asia to what is now France. It was a short lived empire, but it did include Wachenheim and Dürkheim.
The Alemanni were a confederacy of Germanic speaking people who occupied the area south of the Main River and west of the Rhine River, which included Wachenheim and Dürkheim, until they were defeated by the Frankish King Clovis in 496. Despite their defeat, the Alemanni name lived on in the region where they once lived. Alamannia was the name given to their territory and evolved into the name for Germany in many languages, for example Allemagne in French.
The Franks prevailed when the Holy Roman Empire was created on Christmas Day in 800 with the coronation of their king, Charlemagne, by Pope Leo III. There is no reason to believe that this brought any more stability to the area. Battles seem to have been a way of life. We know this from, among other evidence, all the castles constructed to protect both the nobility and the Rhine River, a major trade route.
In the 11th century, Wachenheim fell under the rule of the House of Hohenstaufen, a dynasty of German kings. Most likely Wachtenburg Castle was built in Wachenheim by Konrad von Hohenstaufen, a half brother of Frederick Barbarossa. Barbarossa was the Holy Roman Emperor from 1155 until his death in 1190 and historians consider him one of the best medieval emperors.
Wachtenburg Castle . The castle lookout tower has a commanding view of the upper Rhine plain and, on a clear day, the Black Forest.
In Modern Times (c. 1500 to c. 1800), life continued to be unsettled in the Joachims’ part of the world. After the 30 Years War, Wachenheim was occupied by Spanish troops from 1621 until they were driven out by Swedish forces in 1631. The Swedish troops fled by 1634, but within a generation there was the Nine Years’ War from 1688 to 1697. This war was fought between France and what was called a “Grand Alliance” of European countries. Wachenheim was totally burned down. Records show our ancestors in Wachenheim at that very time. Then, too, French troops almost destroyed Dürkheim as part of a scorched earth campaign.
During the 1700s, Dürkheim and Wachenheim rebuilt. But the end of the century brought the French Revolution and still more upheaval and conflict. In 1794, French troops invaded and plundered both Dürkheim and Wachenheim. All German lands on the east bank of the Rhine were then governed by Napoleonic France for the next 20 years. Both Dürkheim and Wachenheim belonged to the Department of Mont-Tonnerre, Arrondissement of Speyer, Canton of Durkheim.
When Napoleon was finally defeated in May 1814, ambassadors from all the European states met in Vienna, Austria, for what was called the Congress of Vienna. On 9 June 1815, the Congress signed its “Final Act” and one of the territories taken away from France was the one in which Dürkheim and Wachenheim are located.
Three days later, on 12 June 1815, Johann Conrad Joachim, my 2nd great grandfather, was born in Dürkheim. Officially, Dürkheim had then become a part of the recently created Kingdom of Bavaria. But events did not unfold with today’s speed. I am sure our ancestors had no idea that they were no longer part of the Department of Mont-Tonnerre. They were not texting then! Did our ancestors care whether they were on German or French soil?
Maybe it is no wonder that my DNA is no more specific than “Northwestern Europe”!
K. of Bavaria right in the center of the map after the Final Act of the Congress of Vienna in 1815
Notes:
Johann Conrad Joachim was the subject of the blog post All Because of a Broken Arm.
In 1871, the German states were unified into what was for the first time called Germany. William I was proclaimed the German Emperor. Dürkheim and Wachenheim remained in the Kingdom of Bavaria, but within the new nation state, Germany.
In 1946, after World War II, the Rhineland-Palatinate was established from territory of historically separate regions, including Bavaria.
Because of its seven mineral springs, Dürkheim has been permitted to use the designation Bad (German for bath) since 1904. Only a spa town may use this epithet. Dürkheim became Bad Dürkheim.
I am in awe of your writings and fact finding abilities!!! Keep it up … maybe a book?
What a clears and concise history, the understanding of which clarifies so much. Very informative and so very well written. Your family becomes more and more interesting as we move along.
Thank you,Shannon. Maybe some day it will ALL make sense!
That certainly is a lot of turmoil. I can’t believe you were able to trace it all and put it in such good order .Very, very interesting. Keep it up!
Thank you, Joan. Next up…a Brennan!
I cannot imagine how you followed all these changing times! The map of Europe in 1815 looks like something Daddy would have drawn for one of my geography classes -he loved to use all the colors! Very informative and you are a master at telling the stories.
Your clear writing makes the complex story of your Joachim homeland fascinating. This microcosm of European history also works as a tip-of-the-iceberg example of the incredible amount of warfare that went on throughout the continent. It also makes me curious about how DNA is determined: are you Celtic? Roman? Central Asian? Germanic? French? Spanish? Swedish? I don’t know, but you certainly have the DNA of a good writer!
Fabulous. Knowing how much work this was,I am in awe. Keep up the family history,it is so important!
This is a true lesson in history. The fact that my own family is part of this history is pretty incredible. It does make you wonder how they can truly pinpoint DNA.
And with no social media to let people know what was going on