Johann Watsack and Anna Maria Kesseler

Citing this biography: Boyd, Michelle, "Johann Watsack and Anna Maria Kesseler," article, Olive and Eliza, last accessed [current date]."

Johann Watsack was born about 1658 in Venlo, Limburg, Netherlands. According to Dieter Eckstein's research (and confirmed by the Familienbuch register listed below), he was "Vagabund, vorher Soldat" (a vagabond, formerly a soldier).

The following information gives more information about the history of vagrants and unemployed soldiers in what is now Germany:

“The German underworld was an underworld of outcasts, of people who by trade, occupation, lifestyle or origin had no place in the pre-industrial hierarchy, the ‘society of orders’ (ständische Gesellschaft), but lived, whether by necessity or by choice, in its interstices, beyond its bounds. The first and widest circle of the underworld was formed by vagrants and itinerants...The respectable traveler did not form part of this group: merchants and travelling salesmen, messengers, wandering journeymen seeking employment, all these had a fixed place to go to, and were acceptable as part of urban society...At the lower end of the scale, however, demobilized soldiers and Landsknechte, mercenaries, itinerant entertainers, tinkers, knife-grinders, pedlars and other wanderers whose living was precarious and bound to no particular fixed point, shaded off imperceptibly into the underworld.” (Evans, Richard J., “Introduction: The ‘Dangerous Classes’ in Germany from the Middle Ages to the Twentieth Century,” from Evans, Richard J. (ed.), The German Underworld: Deviants and Outcasts in German History, Routledge, 1988 (reprint in 2015), pgs. 1-2.)

“Historians have found comments as far back as the early Middle Ages associating poverty with beggary and crime. Outsiders and vagrants, already recognized as potentially disruptive, were increasingly demonized...By the fifteenth century, cities were laying increasing restrictions on wandering beggars, tightly limiting or even forbidding their entry. The use of banishment by many localities as a punishment for lesser crimes tended to associate wandering with criminality in the minds of many. Similarly criminal was the reputation of unemployed mercenary soldiers, left without resources in intervals of peace and bred to violence…Vagrants were legally suspicious and could be subject to questioning without reference to particular crimes…Of course, all this was not just a matter of discourse: soldiers and vagrants did form a substantial portion of those who engaged in violent lawbreaking.” (Wiltenberg, Joy, Crime and Culture in Early Modern Germany, University of Virginia Press: 2013.)

Johann married Anna Maria Kesseler 14 July 1683 at St. Gangolf Church, Trier, Rheinland-Palatinate, Germany. Anna Maria was christened 22 September 1659 in Kues, Bernkastel-Wittlich, Rheinland-Palatinate, Germany, the daughter of Paul Kesseler and Eva Scheder.

Johann and Anna Maria’s children are:

1	Anna Elisabetha Wottsack, born in 1683 in Bruch, Bernkastel-Wittlich, Rheinland-Palatinate, Germany (according to Dieter Eckstein), married Peter Eckstein 7 Jun 1706 in Niederberg, Rheinland Palatinate, Germany. Dieter Eckstein states that she was born in 1683 in Bruch, Bernkastel-Wittlich, Rheinland-Palatinate, Germany and cites "Bistumsarchiv: Geburtsurkunde im KB Trier St. Gangolf" ("Diocese Archives: Birth certificate in Kirchenbuch Trier St. Gangolf") in his notes on Anna Elisabetha. Husband: Peter Eckstein, son of Johann Leonhard Eckstein and Anna Schienen, prob. bp. 30 Aug 1683 in Bremm, Cochem-Zell, Rheinland Palatinate, Germany. Children: probably Johann Michael Eckstein (m. 1) Anna Christina Quint and 2) Anna Rapp), Joannes Petrus Eckstein, and Anna Maria Eckstein (m. Joannis Quint).
2	(child) Watsack, born and baptized 22 Dec 1690 in Osann-Monzel, Bernkastel-Wittlich, Rheinland-Palatinate, Germany.
3	Maria Watsack, born and baptized 4 May 1698 in Osann-Monzel, Bernkastel-Wittlich, Rheinland-Palatinate, Germany.
4	Johann Peter Watsack, born Jun 1700, baptized 12 Dec 1700 in Maring-Noviand, Bernkastel-Wittlich, Rheinland-Palatinate, Germany.

Summary of Sources

Melcher, Peter, Familienbuch Osann - Monzel – St. Peter & St. Nikolaus, http://www.wgff.net/trier/Familienbuecher/OsannMonzel_Listen.pdf, Westdeutsche Gesellschaft für Familienkunde e.V. Bezirksgruppe Trier, retrieved 26 Dec 2015.
Melcher, Peter, Familienbuch der katholischen Pfarrei St. Lambertus in Maring-Noviand, 1685-1900, Köln, Westdeutsche Gesselschaft für Familienkunde e. V., 2015.
"Deutschland Geburten und Taufen, 1558-1898," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:VH9K-CD3 : accessed 27 December 2015), Paulus Kesler in entry for Anna Maria Kesler, 22 Sep 1659; citing ; FHL microfilm 585,866.
Eckstein, Dieter, Ahnenforschung Ecktein/Michels, http://ahnen.carosaar.de/individual.php?pid=I10143&ged=ecksteins, citing Bistumsarchiv: Geburtsurkunde im KB Trier St. Gangolf, retrieved 26 Dec 2015.
"Deutschland, Heiraten, 1558-1929," index, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/JHHF-7FS : accessed 18 February 2015), Petrus Eckstein and Anna Elisabetha Wottsackin, 07 Jun 1706; citing Katholisch, Koblenz-Niederberg, Rheinland, Prussia; FHL microfilm 578,067.

Special thanks to Dieter Eckstein for his valuable research!

Source Materials

Click on each category below to expand and see the copies of sources used to create the biography above (copyrighted and other restricted items are listed in the summary of sources above but not included below). Click again to close.

Deutschland, Geburten und Taufen 1558-1898

Name:    Anna Maria Kesler
Event Date:    1641 - 1798
Gender:    Female
Christening Date:    22 Sep 1659
Christening Place:    SANKT BRICTIUS, KUES, RHEINLAND, PRUSSIA
Father's Name:    Paulus Kesler
Mother's Name:    Eva
Reference ID:    2:JRKB2L
System Origin:    Germany-VR
GS Film Number:    585866
Indexing Project (Batch) Number:    C93381-1

"Deutschland Geburten und Taufen, 1558-1898," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:VH9K-CD3 : accessed 27 December 2015), Paulus Kesler in entry for Anna Maria Kesler, 22 Sep 1659; citing ; FHL microfilm 585,866.

Deutschland Heiraten, 1558-1929

Name:    Petrus Eckstein
Spouse's Name:    Anna Elisabetha Wottsackin
Event Date:    07 Jun 1706
Event Place:    Katholisch, Koblenz-Niederberg, Rheinland, Prussia
Indexing Project (Batch) Number:    M97100-1
System Origin:    Germany-ODM
GS Film number:    578067
Reference ID:

"Deutschland, Heiraten, 1558-1929," index, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/JHHF-7FS : accessed 18 February 2015), Petrus Eckstein and Anna Elisabetha Wottsackin, 07 Jun 1706; citing Katholisch, Koblenz-Niederberg, Rheinland, Prussia; FHL microfilm 578,067.

Familienbuch Osann - Monzel – St. Peter & St. Nikolaus

KESSELER Anna Maria *1659 Kues oo 1683 WATSACK, WADSACK Johann

WATSACK Johann *u1658 Venlo oo 1683 KESSELER Anna Maria

WATSACK Johann Peter *1700 Noviand

WATSACK Maria *1698 Osann

WATSACK *1690 Osann

Source: Melcher, Peter, Familienbuch Osann - Monzel – St. Peter & St. Nikolaus, http://www.wgff.net/trier/Familienbuecher/OsannMonzel_Listen.pdf, Westdeutsche Gesellschaft für Familienkunde e.V. Bezirksgruppe Trier, retrieved 26 Dec 2015.

Familienbuch der katholischen Pfarrei St. Lambertus in Maring-Noviand

Entry for the Johann Watsack family in the Familienbuch — Johann Wattsack
and Anna Maria
Kesseler family

Source: Melcher, Peter (ed.), Familienbuch der katholischen Pfarrei St. Lambertus in Maring-Noviand, 1685-1900, Köln: Westdeutsche Gesselschaft für Familienkunde e. V., 2015, p. 458, entry 2044.