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ALSACE 17th century

CHRISTOPHE HORRER AND HIS FAMILY

The Knight CHRISTOPHE HORRER, ironmaster at Val-Saint-Georges, in Lauterbourg, and Receiver of the Chapter of Spire (Spire was an episcopal principality belonging to the St-Empire) was born in 1640 and died in Lauterbourg on December 2, 1713. He would have been the grandson of Eberhard-Georges Horrer, who precedes.

In 1689, he built a tile factory, which he then sold to the city. When Lauterbourg was surrounded by fortifications in 1709, this tilery was demolished.

He appears in the Armorial Général of 1696 (Strasbourg Register, VI, no. 350). The Armorial Général is an official register created during the reign of Louis XIV to record and regulate the French nobility. It was compiled by Charles-René d’Hozier, First Judge of Arms of France. Its purpose was to authenticate the coats of arms and noble titles of French families, as the State sought to combat false claims to nobility and to organize taxation linked to noble privileges. All noble families were therefore required to declare their coats of arms and their genealogy.

Christophe Horrer is thus listed there with the following arms of coat :

Per pale:
1st, Azure, a female figure contourné, vested with a Greek morion plumed, resting her dexter arm on a furnace, holding in her dexter hand a rule, a clamp, and a pair of compasses, and in her sinister hand a hammer, all Or;
2nd, Gules, Saint George mounted, spearing a dragon couchant, all Argent.(1)

Lauterburg Secretary of the Magistrate of the city of Lauterbourg, Christophe HORRER is the author of an old manuscript chronicle relating to the history of Lauterbourg and preserved in the Archives of this city. The letterhead of this manuscript, dated 1683 and which has 200 pages in German by the hand of Christophe Horrer, is a true piece of calligraphy. After him, from 1739 to 1793, this chronicle was continued by his successor, Mr. Westercamp. On the other hand, in 1684 and as a result of a ruling of 31 October 1683, Christophe HORRER and HARFF established a cloth factory in Strasbourg.

He had married, in 1668, Marie-Madeleine SCHIFFMAKER (2), born around 1646 and died at Lauterbourg on March 21, 1729, 83 years old (Doc-2 : Register of Lauterbourg (recto) and (Doc-2b : back)

He was the father of:

1° ANNE-MARIE HORRER, born in Lauterbourg on March 7, 1669, died young.

2° The Knight CHRISTOPHE HORRER, also receiver of the Chapter of Spire (1701), born in Lauterbourg, married there on November 22, 1701 Anne-Marie KLIPABRITENE, widow of Mathieu KLIPABRITENE, citizen of Esslingen. The parish registers of Lauterbourg at that time had a gap of more than 7 years, during which only 13 births were registered.

3° The Knight CHRETIEN-JEAN-ADAM HORRER, or d'HORRER, receiver of the Chapter of Spire during his marriage in 1699, is qualified at his death as "commander of a brigade of Alsace, reformed following Metz" (Poirier, Metz, Genealogical Documents). Born in Lauterbourg around 1670, he died in Metz in the parish of Saint-Simon on March 12, 1747, aged 77. He had married in the church of Scheibenhard, annex of Lauterbourg, on August 17, 1699, Marie-Elisabeth du BOIS (3), daughter of François du Bois, captain in the service of the Holy Roman Empire. Witnesses: François Neubeck and Jean de Michault. She died in Metz on August 5, 1741.

4° The Knight JEAN-GEORGES HORRER, who follows.

5°ANNE-URSULE HORRER, born in Lauterbourg on October 6, 1678, died on April 3, 1721. She married in Lauterbourg, on November 10, 1699, Jean-Michel HAUCK, son of another Jean-Michel HAUCK, from Rostenfels (Baden). We know them as children:

1. Anne-Barbe HAUCK, born on September 11, 1700.
2. Marie-Ursule HAUCK, born on November 18, 1701

6° The Knight JEAN-HERMANN HORRER, inspector of forests, born at Lauterbourg on April 16, 1682. On January 5, 1728, he was pursued by Hoche, receiver of the bailiwick of Lauterbourg, in payment of 5 florins and 35 kreutzers, remaining due on an acquisition of seigniorial wine (Archives Haut-Rhin, B.129). He died on January 15, 1732. He had married first, in 1706, Anne-Marie REINHOLD, who died on September 6, 1724. He married secondly on October 1, 1725, Anne-Marie SIGISFRIED, of Heidelberg. Widow, she remarried on October 6, 1734 with Pierre BOCK, himself a widower.
He had from the first union:

1. Marie-Barbe HORRER, born on June 15, 1707.
2.The Knight Christophe HORRER, born on January 3, 1710.
3.The Knight Jean-Michel HORRER, born on December 4, 1710.

7° The Knight NICOLAS HORRER, born in Lauterbourg on June 7, 1684, pharmacist, died there on January 31, 1727. He was (in 1712) the husband of Marie-Madeleine HEGER, who died a widow on August 12, 1746. They had at least:

1 Julienne HORRER, born on 1 October 1712, died on 31 October 1761. She had from Pierre Julien, a soldier, an illegitimate daughter, Marie-Elisabeth Julien, born on August 28, 1737. She married N.N. of whom she had at least one son, named Jean-Bernard, born on March 8, 1740.

8° MARIE-MADELEINE HORRER, born in Lauterbourg on July 11, 1686, died there on January 30, 1692.

9° MARIE-FRANCOISE HORRER, born in Lauterbourg on November 9, 1687, married there on August 30, 1706 Jean-Pierre KLEPPER, aulic and royal notary of the city of Luxemburg.

10° SUZANNE HORRER, born in Lauterbourg on December 6, 1689, died there on December 9, 1691, barely 3 years old.

NOTES

1) This coat of arms clearly recalls the profession of Christophe HORRER (ironmaster) and the place where he practiced it (the Val Saint-Georges). They are certainly the work of the clerks of the General Armorial and what are called 'weapons imposed ex officio'.

2) SCHIFFMAKER, or Scheffmaker: Azure, a chevron argent, accompanied in chief by two mullets or and in base by a ship of the same (Armorial General, under Michel-Oswald Scheffmaker, advocate general of the city of Strasbourg, François-Joseph Scheffmaker, canon of Ludenbach and Marie-Claire Scheffmaker, wife of N. Holdt, king’s advisor to the Sovereign Council of Alsace.

3) DU BOIS, in Lorraine. Ennobled family in 1736. Argent, a stag proper, couched behind a vert shrub, all standing on a terrace azure; on a chief of the same, charged with three stars argent. (Rietstap). In fact, several families bear this name, which differ by the name of their own land. In Lorraine, the family du Bois de Cendrecourt were ennobled in 1576.