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Above: Suhl Centrum. 44618514 - "Panoramafoto Suhl" Licensed Use via Henry Czauderna: :https://au.fotolia.com/p/201169743

Introduction

Entrance St. Marien's, Suhl. KPW 1998

This site gives a brief overview of the lineage of Johann Heinrich Wackes, born c. 1740 in Suhl, Thuringia, Germany. The narrative portion of the site concentrates on nine generations of male members of the lineage--those who perpetuated the family's surname "Wackes." Family trees can become gigantic in size when assembled in formats like Ancestry.com or desktop programs like Reunion. The Johann Heinrich Wackes Tree that I have posted on Ancestry.com, for example, currently contains 737 individuals.

Why start with Johann Heinrich Wackes? The Hauptkirche in Suhl, St. Marien's, has been ravaged by fire and rebuilt three times since 1635. Records earlier than the mid-18th century are difficult to find. Johann Heinrich is the earliest Wackes of this particular lineage found recorded in the files of St. Marien's. The church's historian assisted me for two days in 1998. She even brought in the retired church historian to assist us. Why the special assistance? I was the first American to visit the church's records since the infamous Berlin Wall was demolished in November 1989, just nine years before my visit! (I was also invited to speak on Suhl's radio station and a two-column article in Suhl's newspaper featured my wife, Ruth, and my visit! We were the first Yanks in the radio station since 1945.) The Soviet Army took control of Suhl on July 3, 1945.

Ottilienkapelle / Suhl © Henry Czauderna https://au.fotolia.com/p/201169743. Used with license

Extinction of the Family Line?

The task of researching the family line was made somewhat easier by the fact that the first four generations produced few sons to carry on the surname "Wackes." So, identifying and exploring the limbs on the main tree was less difficult.

But it also was alarming to see how close this one family line was to extinction!

.Johann Heinrich, the first identifiable head of this particular Wackes family line, had only one son to perpetuate the line--Johann--his only child.

Street Scene, Suhl. KPW 1998

A Family Tree With Few Branches

Johann Heinrich had one son--Johann
Johann had one son--Johann Christoph Valentin
Johann Christoph Valentin had one son--Johann Michael
Johann Michael had in his first marriage one son to survive infancy--Heinrich Emil--and when Heinrich Emil died at age 27, he left only one son. Frederich Christian.
Johann Michael in his second marriage produced two sons--Ferdinand Oswald and Karl Louis (who heads the family featured in this narrative).

All of these were born and raised in Suhl, Germany.

NOTE: Several pages for privacy reasons have restricted access by password only: "My Three Sons," "Ken and Ruth Wackes," and "Documents." To obtain that password, please contact me at kenwackes2@mac.com.

Please share names of individuals, data, insights, and information, and please make comments here or ask questions via the Blog under the header "MORE."

Helpers along the way

Thanks to Charles Freidrich Wackes (grandson of Karl Louis I), Lois Polloni (granddaughter of Karl "Charles" II), and Eckhardt Kurt Wackes (great-great-grandson of Heinrich Emil Wackes in Hamburg) for the data they have shared. Thanks also to Rudy Wackes in Stuttgart, Helmut Wackes in Dusseldorf, and Gunther Wackes and Werner Wackes in Suhl for sharing their family data.

Thanks to my wife, Ruth, for being willing to spend a two-week vacation in Suhl with me in 1998 so that I could explore further my family's history.

I also thank my daughter Linda, who, for my birthday in 2016, thought that our plebian family, just like the Junkers (traditional Prussian nobility), should have a family crest.

Other Wackes Family Sources

A much more complete narrative of the Wackes Family History can be downloaded from DropBox by contacting me for the URL.

The Johann Heinrich Wackes Family Tree is posted on the Ancestry.com site. This site contains all of the sources used to establish and validate the tree. Sources include official birth, baptism, marriage, and death records, census and city directory reports, military records and more for the 750+ individuals included in the tree.

Note: In order for friends or family members to view the Johann Michael Wackes Family Tree at Ancestry.com, you must already have an Ancestry account, whether it be a paid membership or a registered guest account. If you do not have an account, you can sign up for a free registered guest account. by sending me an email. Ancestry security does not give you viewing privilege unless I send you an invitation. Click the Ancestry.com button below.

Password protected pages: For security purposes, the following pages are viewable only by password which you can obtain from me by email: "My Three Sons," "Ken and Ruth Wackes," and "Documents."

Privacy: Although the Johann Michael Wackes Family Tree can be viewed by other Ancestry users, they do not have accessibility to information about living individuals (names, birthdates) and private notes. If you are included in this tree, your spot is noted as "Living Individual."

Ancestry.com

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