The Windeckers and Related Families

Three Rivers
Hudson~Mohawk~Schoharie
History From America's Most Famous Valleys

THE WINDECKERS AND RELATED FAMILIES

A Family History donated by: Harry Windecker

Windeckers in Germany.

The family names, Windeck, von Windeck and Windecker still persist in Germany and America. The name, Windecker, is most prevalent.

The earliest Windecker researched to date, is a civil servant named Hans Windecker, born before 1540 in Friedberg and died before 1605 in Windecken, Germany. On July 10, 1581, he married Ursela Pfungstadt, born in Windecken about 1560. Their son, Nikolaus was born about 1565 and married Apollonia Marolf in 1590 in Friedberg im Taunus. Their son, Conrad, a vintner, was born about 1601, in Friedberg im Taunus and died in Frankfurt a. M. on August 30, 1653. This lineage can be traced through Conrad's daughter, to Wolfgang von Goethe, the famous German Poet.

Henrick Windecker, at the marriage of his son Nicolaus, in Nidda, to Barbara Deckmann on March 22, 1648 (date also reported as January 30, 1648), (was called "the late of Ober-Mochstadt, a village in the Taunus Mountains not far from Nidda.) Henrick is the earliest Windecker of record who can be linked directly to our family. No other children of Henrick are known at this time. The Deckmann family name comes from that of a coverlet maker in Germany called Deckenmacher. Barbara Deckman is the daughter of Peter Deckmann (b. 1580, Broburg) and Anna Heuser, daughter of Hans Heuser.

Henrick's son, Nicolaus, was the father of four children, Nicolaus Jr., 1653; Hartmann, 1656; Judith, 1659; and Margaretha, 1663. Nicolaus Jr. (our ancestor) married Anna Elisabeth Stroh in Stockheim on April 1, 1673. She was the daughter of Georg Stroh - "Kirchbaumeister und Gerichtschoffen" (Master Church Builder and City Official). Among their children were Julianna, 1674; Johann Harten (Hartmann), 1676; Johan Henrich, 1679; Elsa, 1681; Johan (?), 1683; Johann Conrad (Curt), 1685; Johann Henrich, 1688; and Dorothea, 1690. All children were baptized in Dudelsheim.

The first Windecker in America was Johann Hartman Windecker (also spelled Hartmann, Harttman, Hardtman, and Harten, as above), son of Nicolaus, Jr. He married Anna Catharina, daughter of Andreas Birx on November 13, 1700 in a double wedding along with Juliana Windecker who married Johann Georg Birx.

Hartman and his family, reported to be, wife, Anna Catharina, and possibly two children arrived in New York City in 1710, having arrived in England via Holland in 1709, and departing for America in 1710 on the Hartwell, one of several ships that represented a small flotilla of English ships, carrying future American immigrants of German descent. The promise, FREE LAND! The British, of course, had a motive. These people were to initially become indentured servants working on the production of Naval Stores (primarily pine pitch) and ultimately serve as a barrier on the frontier between the French and their Indian allies. In fact they did just that during several predecessor skirmishes, and the French and Indian War in 1757. It is possible that Hartman's younger brother, Conrad, came also, although no evidence supports this. The Germans, who came to America, at this time, are commonly called the 1709ers by historical researchers.