Balde to Berghausen:
early millers and a late 19th century emigrant
Source of this narrative: The Dreisbach Book pp. 8-9.
The town of Berghausen (No. 8 on Wittgenstein map to the right) is situated in northern Wittgenstein, not far from Berleburg, the residence of the northern Counts. It lies only a few kilometers to the west of Raumland. Records show that in 1680 a certain Johann Wilhelm Dreisbach was living in house n. 16, called "Mechels." He remained in that house until 1691, probably the year of his death. Since nothing further is known about him, it cannot be established whether he was related to the Dreisbachs of Balde and Raumland.
In the same period, however, there was another Dreisbach, Hans (or Johann) Henrich Dreisbach, also living in Berghausen. The house he lived in is not known, but a son, Johann Henrich Dreisbach II, was born to him and his wife Susanna in Berghausen in 1674. Through the research of Gustav Schneider of Bad Laasphe it has been possible to connect this family with the Dreisbach family of Balde.
The Raumland church records show that the same family members appear as godparents for children born to both Johann Henrich Dreisbach of Berghausen and to Johannes Dreisbach of "Wahnersch" in Balde, and this pattern continues in the next generation as well. There are thus strong indications that Johann Henrich of Berghausen and Johannes of Balde were brothers, and that both were sons of carpenter Daniel Dreisbach. Johannes, who was doubtless the elder brother, remained in the "Wahnersch" house, while Johann Henrich went off to Berghausen, where he lived until his death in 1724.
Johann Henrich Dreisbach II, born in Berghausen in 1674, became known as "The New Miller." There was already an "Old Mill" in Berghausen, which had been functioning since 1659. Starting in about 1700, the records also speak of a "New Mill," and this was the mill which was operated by Johann Henrich II until his death in 1730. In 1702 he married Anna Margaretha Hesse in St. Martin's Church, Raumland. The New Mill remained in the Dreisbach family for several generations. It was continued by Johann Henrich III, who died in 1757, whereupon a son-in-law took over its operation.
Miller Johann Henrich Dreisbach III married Anna Gertrud Dorr in 1730. He died at age 54 in 1757, and the very next year his daughter Anna Elisabeth married one Johan Daniel Bräuer, who then became the next in line of "New Millers."
Johan Philipp Dreisbach, son of miller Johann Henrich III, was not a miller. He did, however, live his entire life in Berghausen. He married Elizabeth Katharina Strackbein in the Raumland Church in 1774, and died in Berghausen in 1804.
Christian Georg Dreisbach, son of Johan Philipp, was just fourteen when his father died. He left Berghausen as a young man and went to the more industrialized region of Wuppertal. Here, in Elberfeld in North Rhine Westphalia, he took a wife, Anna Sibilla Farber, in 1818.
Little is known of their son August Dreisbach, who was born in Elberfeld in 1827. He married Julie Monnich in Barmen in North Rhine-Westphalia. It is not know when or where they died.
Christian 'Oscar' August Dreisbach, son of August and great-great-grandson of miller Johann Henrich III, was born in Barmen in 1864. While still young, he came to the United States. The date of his arrival has not yet been found, but it must have been at least five years before his naturalization in 1898. He was certainly settled in New York City by May of 1896, the month when he married Louisa Knaus there. He is among the most recent of the Dreisbach arrivals in North America.
Old records also tell of other Dreisbachs who lived in Berghausen in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Between 1755 and 1817 there were two who lived, one after the other, in the same house (no. 13, called "Tambours.") Their names were Johan Jost and Georg Heinrich Dreisbach, and both are mentioned with the epithet "Tambour" or drummer. It is thought that they might have been part-time drummers for the Guard at nearby Castle Berleburg. Their possible relationship to the Dreisbach millers at the "New Mill" has not been ascertained. In about 1970 there was at least one Dreisbach still living in or near Berghausen.
(In addition to incorporating the recent findings of Gustav Schneider, the information presented here on the inhabitants of Berghausen and the descendants of the "New Miller" was drawn from the research of Dr. Kurt Günther of Kassel, Wolfgang Birkelbach of Berghausen and 800 Jahre Berghausen, Rückblick und Besinnung, edited by Ernst Fischer and published by the municipality of Berghausen in 1978.)