This week’s 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks theme is School Days. My ancestor Franz Jacob Bold was the Schoolmaster of the Catholic school in Nuenschweiler from 1838 to about 1874.
How is he related to me? He is the father of my immigrant second great grandmother Emilia Anna Bold Leies.
Franz Jacob was born in 1811 in Knopp-Labach, Germany to farmers Johann Adam Bold and Margaretha Becker. Franz Jacob had at least 5 older brothers that survived past the age of 5 and one younger sister who married a Lutheran.
His siblings were all born in Knopp-Labach. They are in order of birth, as follows:
Priester Peter Bold, born in 1792, priest in Rodalben. He recorded the deaths of his parents in the parish registry;
Valentin Bold, born in 1794 and died in Knopp-Labach in 1847. His marriage status is unknown;
Johann Adam Bold, born in 1799 and died in 1802;
Priester Michael Bold, born in 1803, died in 1863 in Saarland. He was a priest in Höchen, Saarland (Saar was not part of France at that time);
Jacob Bold, born in 1806. He is a mystery. He may be one of the Jacob Bolds that came to America, or perhaps the Jacob Bold that served in the United States Navy during the Civil War. His marriage status is unknown;
Johann Bold, born in 1809. He is a total mystery beyond the parish registry of his family;
Thecla Bold, born in 1814. She was the only daughter and married Lutheran Peter Riegel of Muenschweiler (not Nuenschweiler). He was the son of Franz Riegel and Catharina Stephan of Muenschweiler. Thecla sounds like the rebel of the family.
Starting in 1838, I found Franz Jacob signing church records as scholae administrator im Nuenschweiler when he was sponsoring various females without fathers at their weddings, or acting as a sponsor at the baptisms for children born into single parent families.
Thanks to Google, I discovered that still in 1874, he was listed as the Catholic Schoolmaster in Nuenschweiler in the Beamtenverzeichniß und Statistik des Königlich Bayerischen Regierungsbezirkes der Pfalz.
I have always wondered how it was that Franz Jacob, a son of farmers, was able to become the Catholic Schoolmaster in Nuenschweiler. I am taking a wild guess that because at least two of his brothers were priests, and two of his American grandsons, Alexander and John Ferdinand, attended a Catholic seminary, that there is a possibility that Franz Jacob attended the seminary as well.
In 1842, Franz Jacob married my third great grandmother Elisabetha Scheid. I have written about their marriage here. Even though he was born in Knopp-Labach, they were both from neighboring Rodalben.
None of Franz’s sons followed in his footsteps. I suppose it is possible that Emilia’s brothers attended the seminary. Do any of the other Bold researchers out there know if they did?
Franz’s mother Margaretha Becker is a brick wall. When her son, Father Peter Bold, recorded her death record in the parish register of Rodalben, he gave her age but did not list her place of birth or parents. When his father died, he recorded the names of his paternal grandparents as Johann Adam Bold and Magdalena Helf. Right, another Johann Adam Bold darnit!
To sum up the religious cycle in our ancestry, we count at least two brothers of Franz Jacob Bold that became priests. Then we have Father John Ferdinand Leies (son of Emilia Bold Leies), while being several generations removed from the Lutherans and Mennonites in the Leies ancestry, became a priest. Then we have in the next generation, Father John Gerard Leies who worked for a Catholic institution like his great grandfather Franz Jacob Bold. So who was the priest back in the family trees of Johann Adam Bold and Margaretha Becker?!
Do you have any comments, corrections, additions, or questions about my sources? Please email me: cinziarosagenealogy@comcast.net.
Cinziarosa's Descendants (c) 