Adam
Reitz (1630-1666)
Adam Reitz is the first clearly-documented
ancestor of the South African Reitz clan, and therefore can be viewed
as the "oer-stamvader." His father was supposedly
Zacharias Reitz, a citizen and councillor in Gruningen, born about
1600, who married Ursula Meder.
Adam was born in Gruningen, in the Province
of
Wetterau. He enrolled at the University of Herborn, and during
this period (1652-1653) he was a Lehrer
or teacher of religious instruction in Oberdiebach, on the
Rhine, a few miles south of Bacharach. He was also an
ecclesiastical inspector in the church province of Heidelberg.
He married SYBILLA
HARTUNG in Oberdiebach on January
18 1653, and was referred to in the marriage entry as Schuldiener. Sybilla was a
widow, and she and Adam had six children, one of whom, JOHANN HEINRICH REITZ becme a renowned church
leader and scholar.
The plague which devastated most of Europe during
the 17th century affected Cologne and the Rhineland from 1660 to
1670. Only eleven weeks and two days after the plague reached
Oberingelheim, Adam was struck doen while preaching, on October 11
1666. He was buried in the Church, between the pulpit and the
altar, and there is said to be an inscription in the church that reads "ist in der Kirche zwischen der Kanzel und
den Tisch begrepen worden ... worde de 11rth Oktober in der Predigt mit
der Pestilentzialische Hitz angegriffen."
I wonder who this person Adam Reitz was, and what it
was like for him living in those times. Census entries, dates,
times, and names tell one so very little. However, we have
received a brief glimpse into the personality of Adam Reitz from a
letter that Tony Bosch Reitz managed to track down in the archives of
Braunfels Castle. It was dated 1651, written in Latin, and addressed to
William Otto Sames, Bailiff of the Count of Hoyningen
(Gruningen). The letter concerns an offer of a position which
involved ecclesiastical and scholastic duties, which Adam had decided
not to accept, because he considered that the dual function of the
position would be too onerous.
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