Chapter Eight

East of the Rhine River in the modern German state of Rheinland-Pfalz (Rhineland-Palatinate in English) on the rolling plain between the river and the Haardt Mountains are two adjacent villages, Niederhochstadt and Oberhochstadt, which since 1969 have been consolidated into the single town of Hochstadt. The community, located eleven miles southwest of Speyer and the Rhine River and three miles northeast of Landau, has a population of 2,200 inhabitants today. An almost entirely agricultural community in past centuries, there are still today many people who derive income from agricultural pursuits. This area of the southern Palatinate is wine-country. Today, there are over 300 hectares (741.3 acres) surrounding the town on which the vine is cultivated, including such varieties as Müller-Thurgau, Kerner, Silvaner, Morio-Muskat, Rieseling, Portugieser, Hexelrebe and Scheurebe, while over 600 hectares (1,482.6 acres) are devoted to the growing of grains and sugar beets. Many more people are employed in administrative jobs, industry, trade, and wholesale and commercial businesses in the area. The 335-hectare Maiblumenwald (May-flower Forest) provides an area of recreation and relaxation for the community. This pleasant little village, which is a mixture of industry and agriculture, modern homes and historic churches, has an ancient past. Earliest-known mention of the village in a historical record is dated 770 A.D. From this time of 1200 years ago the vine is known to have been grown in the fields around Hochstadt, or Houscht, as it is known in the Palatine dialect. Beginning in the early Middle Ages, the names of some of the early landowners in Hochstadt are recorded, and included the cloisters of Lorsch and Weißenburg, the lords of Homburg, of Sickingen, of Löwenstein, and of Scharfeneck, and the counts of Würtemberg. These men attempted over time to consolidate their properties, which led to the eventual division by 1251 A.D. of the community into Oberhochstadt (Upper Hochstadt) and Niederhochstadt (Lower Hochstadt). For the next 700 years, until their reunification, the stories of the two villages must be told separately. Oberhochstadt in 1350 was the common property of the count of Zweibrücken-Bitsch and the ruler of Ochsenstein, and then by 1485 it was ruled by the Bishop of Speyer and the Elector Palatine. Both men divided their right over the village and administered it jointly up until the year 1709 when it passed to the sole ownership of the Elector Palatine who ruled it until the French Revolution. Niederhochstadt, the larger of the two villages, had a different history during this period. In 1294 one Peter von Scharfeneck sold his rights in the village to the Order of the Knights of St. John (Johanniterorden), and specifically to the House (Cameralhaus) Haimbach. There were disputes with the Elector Palatine over certain rights pertaining to the village, but in 1749 the Johanniterorden obtained sole sovereignty over the village and its lands, which lasted until the French Revolution. During that conflict, the French conquered all the territory eastward to the Rhine and retained it until the time of Napoleon as a part of the Département Bas-Rhin. After Napoleon's fall, the Palatinate became a part of Bavaria. The Johanniterorden maintained its Cameralhaus Haimbach cloister at the eastern edge of Niederhochstadt. From there the Order administered its vast properties scattered all over the Palatinate. The produce of these rich properties was stored in gigantic barns and cellars for reselling, the Cameralhaus having the character of a tax office, and the obtained resources being sent to the eastern Mediterranean to support the Order in its long fight with the Moslems. The Order was begun at Jerusalem at the time of the Crusades for the purpose of taking care of the sick and injured pilgrims and crusaders. Circumstances forced their taking up the sword, and as the order spread in the East and back to Europe, the function of the Knights in Europe was the collection and shipment of money and materials needed in the East. In 1185 the Emperor Friedrich I (Barbarossa) gave the vacant monastery buildings at Haimbach to the Order. The rights of the Order over the village were numerous, including the right to trap animals, the right to hunting, the right of protectorate, the right of villeinage (land tenure), and finally, full sovereignty. The House Haimbach was owed harvest help, taxes and contributions, and armed service by the citizens of Niederhochstadt. The fortunes of the village were closely tied to the fortunes of the Order, especially in wartime. The villages of the Knights suffered greatly during the Thirty Years War, and in 1631 when the Spanish retreated in the face of an advance by the Swedish, they burned the church and village. A magistrate of the Order who supervised the reconstruction of the village later wrote that the fields grew nothing but thorns, there were no stables, and no vineyards were cultivated. In 1630, there were three hundred subjects of the House Haimbach, but by 1663, when he wrote about the circumstances, there were hardly one hundred.

Map of Portion of the Palatinate, showing Landau (lower left) and Speyer (upper right) with Hochstadt in between (circled). (Source unknown)

So why are we interested in this place called Hochstadt? Because for four hundred years it is known to have been the home of the Pressler/Bressler family. It was certainly not the only place in Germany where Presslers lived in the 17th century, but in the Palatinate it was the village from which they almost exclusively originated. The earliest extant record in which the surname is found is dated 1590 and is a list of debtors who owed the House Haimbach interest, or taxes. Included on the list was Hanns Preßler of Niederhochstadt. In return for the land which they tilled and on which they lived, the villagers were required to pay a portion of the produce which they grew, such as oats, chickens, etc. Heinrich Preßler was named in the Haimbach tax book in 1600. (The German symbol "ß" is usually written as "double s" in English.) During the Thirty Years War, the village accounts listed a number of Preßler residents of Hochstadt, including Georg Präßler and Georg Präßler der Junge (1619), Vältin Präßler (1619 and 1628), and Lorenz Preßler (1619 and 1626). At a later date in 1667 and 1668 the records included the names of the widow of Lorenz Preßler, Hannß Preßler, Hannß Jerg Preßler,Valtin Preßler (a magistrate), Hannß Stoffel Preßler and Philipp Preßler. A major difficulty exists, however, in trying to establish family relationships during this period because of the loss of so many of the records, and especially of the churchbooks. The extant Reformed church registers at Niederhochstadt do not begin until 1708, with significant gaps thereafter to about 1730 The church registers for Oberhochstadt have a few baptisms recorded from 1727, but entries are sparse for sometime thereafter. It seems reasonable to attribute this lack of early records to losses which occurred during the tumultuous circumstances which existed in the 17th and early 18th centuries. Niederhochstadt with View of the Haardt Mountains, from a pen and ink drawing by Karl Graf (The Rhine (Berlin: Reichszentrale für Deutsche Verkehrswerbung, 1927)) The events and the conditions of life in the 17th century Palatinate have been discussed previously, but there are records which indicate how they specifically were felt in Niederhochstadt. The advent of the Thirty Years War was marked by a drain of the village's finances, as evidenced by the village statement of 1619. Nearby Ober- and Niederlustadt, a mile and a half away and also villages of the Johanniterorden, had to support Prince Friedrich V in his struggle with the Emperor by providing war wagons. The war wagon was equipped with a long ladder, ropes, awnings, and two banners, and was accompanied by two waggoneers and two drivers. Even the costs of the meals for the men had to be provided by the village. Comparable demands were placed on Ober- and Niederhochstadt. In 1620 the area was occupied by Spanish troops from the Netherlands, and in 1621 Palatinate troops attempted to retake the area from the Spanish and the Emperor's forces. As these armies moved back and forth, the resident populace suffered from both sides. The farmers and villagers were fair game for any of the raiding soldiers. The Niederhochstadt village accounts of 1619 mentioned 162 names, but between 1626 and 1628 only 70 names were listed. Life went on, but the tenacity to live had to be very strong. In Niederhochstadt the people bought gunpowder and hired a "guardi" who was armed to protect the village and warn the villagers of roaming soldiers and bandits. Transients and soldiers simply took what they needed from whoever was at hand. The community tried to reimburse the individual for his losses, and oftentimes the village elders would reimburse the community. In 1628 Niederhochstadt hired a cadet who was quartered in Haimbach, in addition to the "guardi," to regularly collect money from the community for reimbursements and taxations. In spite of the depredations and burdens, in 1626 and 1628 the village was able to come up with the money demanded of them, and still meet many of the expenses which the village might have had in times of peace, such as paying the field warden and pig herder and buying new chairs for the town hall. Yet large fields were not being cultivated, and wolves were reported to be stalking the village. In 1631, as previously stated, the Swedish arrived in Niederhochstadt to discover the burned church with only the steeple and outside walls remaining. While the war supposedly ended in 1648, the village accounts reflect the terrible epidemics and continued loss of life which followed. Not until 1665 were the receipts and disbursements on the same level as they had been before the war. While many Hochstadt family names survived this period of great dying, including Preßler, new immigrants from upper Germany and Switzerland helped to rebuild the community. The needs and hardships of individual Niederhochstadters are only hinted at in the village accounts. The fate of the population was of little interest to Palatinate officials, but documents do exist which indicate their sufferings. The Niederhochstadters were probably living under conditions similar to their fellow citizens in other areas of the Palatinate. Perhaps they were even faring slightly better since they were subjects of the House Haimbach. The Johanniterorden was traditionally neutral in wars between Christian princes, and Johanniter villages erected Maltese Crosses at their borders to advertise this fact and avert looting by passing troops. French soldiers, especially, were said to respect these villages. In 1688, just when the wounds of the Thirty Years War and its subsequent epidemics were beginning to heal, the Palatinate War of Succession began. The French, who retreated from Speyer and left it in ashes, turned the city of Landau, just three miles from Hochstadt, into a fortress. The people living in the Front Palatinate were ruled by the military and forced to make frequent payments to the soldiers. Trade came to a standstill, and the Niederhochstadt village income was greatly reduced, over 90% of which was spent on war related expenses. Deliveries of malt, oats, hay, forage, straw, cows, and field work were demanded of the community. To prevent the French from confiscating it, one of the church bells was buried in the woods. Yet, in this first year of the war the people of Niederhochstadt were still able to help their suffering neighbors. On Pentecost, Speyer had been burned, and the Niederhochstadters took in the orphans of that city, letting them live with various families of the town. They were taken each day to the Johanniterhaus Haimbach for a meal, and the city council of Landau paid a sum of money for their support.

Houses in Hochstadt (Courtesy of Elizabeth Bunting)

As the war continued, the burden on the citizens of the village in having to bare the expenses of supporting the war effort grew ever worse. The demands for hay, straw and corn were exorbitant. In 1690 the expenses of the community were up to 1,518 Gulden, of which 1,397 were spent on the soldiers. In 1691 the expenses were 1,475 Gulden, of which 1,352 were due to the war. The expenses in 1693 amounted to 1,885 Gulden and were almost entirely war related. In 1694 there were 34 demands for payments for war-related costs. The citizens had to raise that money, as evidenced by the levy of extra taxes. If the village was insolvent, the village leader or a citizen was imprisoned. The demands of the soldiers against the community were harsh, but equally harsh was their treatment of individuals. Burglaries, thievery, cattle theft, and mistreatment were common occurrences. The Peace of Ryswick in 1697 brought only temporary relief, leaving Landau a French city and fortress. Four years later, the Palatinate War of Succession, followed by the Spanish War of Succession, began, and the unrelenting troubles started all over again. On April 20, 1702, the Imperial army crossed the Rhine at Speyer and marched toward Landau, camping next to Lustadt. The cavalry soldiers rode into Hochstadt with their familiar demands for hay, forage, etc., making an extra charge if force had to be used to collect. On June 6th, the attack began on Landau, which surrendered to the Germans on September 12th, only to have the French begin their siege of the fortress on October 13th. They retook it on November 17th. After their victory, the French raided the surrounding villages. On November 22nd, Niederhochstadt was unable to deliver forage, and was subsequently fined 553 Gulden. With the defeat of the French near Blenheim in 1704, they were forced to retreat once more east of the Rhine and the battles resumed in the area of Landau. On September 9, 1704, the 30,000 troops of the Imperial army under Prince Eugen camped in the villages between Dammheim and Schwegenheim, including Hochstadt. On the 12th the siege of Landau began, and on the following day parts of the German army were quartered in Haimbach, still making demands of the already depleted village's supplies. The community bought itself free by making payment of 324 Gulden. The fortress of Landau surrendered on November 24, 1704, and the war moved elsewhere for a time, but in 1706 small bands of French soldiers roved through the Front Palatinate, pillaging and devastating the countryside. In September, the Imperial army drove the French out of their camps near Schwegenheim east of Hochstadt. There was no end to the demands to quarter and provide payment to the transient troops, nor was the demand just for the benefit of French troops. In September 1706 the German commander of Landau demanded of Hochstadt that it provide three wagons and ten workers to the fortress. The same story continued in the following years. The Spring of 1709 arrived. The rumor spread throughout the countryside of the promise of the English Queen to provide for a home for German citizens in America. There were books and pamphlets being passed around, written in German, which seemed to confirm the talk between neighbors, families and friends. Some people had even talked to British agents who encouraged them to emigrate. They made promises which seemed almost beyond belief to a beleaguered people on the verge of starvation. A vast exodus of people from the area began, all headed down the Rhine. Henrich Frey and family left Essingen, 1 ¼ miles west of Oberhochstadt; Henrich Schwitzler and family left Offenbach 2 ½ miles south of Essingen. Johann Dietrich Sutz and Johannes Lorentz bundled up their families in Bellheim, just 3 ¾ miles east of Offenbach and an equal distance southeast of Niederhochstadt, and began the long journey down the Rhine. These are just a very few of the citizens of surrounding villages who have been identified as among the throng of emigrants pulling up stakes from their ancestral homes. Others have been identified from more distant communities. In Hochstadt, the records from this time have been lost. After the Peace of Utrecht in 1713, the Germans were left alone to face the French who circumvented the fortress of Landau to occupy the Palatinate. They looted the villages, killed peasants, and took hostages in demand of money payments. German troops from Landau were sent out to protect the villages and in early June they caught and killed 20 French troops in Zeiskam, a village a little over a mile from Hochstadt. However, the ring around Landau tightened and by August 20, the French once more seized the city. With the Peace of Rastatt in 1714, it became a French city.

Hochstadt/Pfalz Surrounded by Vineyards

The peace which followed was marked by the building of new churches in both Oberhochstadt and Niederhochstadt. New houses were built, many of which still stand in both communities today. They are the old timberframe and stucco houses which make the town so picturesque to visitors. It was a time of recovery and a time when record keeping was resumed with some regularity, enabling family lineages to be established down to the present time. People remained somewhat insecure, however, and distrusted the peace. The War of Polish Succession in 1734 brought once again the sight of French troops riding through the village with demands for payments, labor, wood, and forage. The War of Austrian Succession, just ten years later, saw similar entries in the village records of demands for grain, horses, hay, labor, and timber from the woods. When, in the 1730's and 1740's the word again spread of the opportunities for a better life in America, especially in Pennsylvania, many residents of Hochstadt were receptive to the idea, including Presslers. As previously mentioned, they formed a settlement in Pennsylvania around what became known as the Host (ie. Houscht) Church. It is also from this time that several Pressler/Bressler families may be traced, which have lived in Hochstadt down to the present time. Lineages descending from at least five separate Pressler ancestors have been identified. While the original common ancestor of all these families cannot be determined, the given name of Valentin is frequent and recurrent down through the years. Perhaps the largest of the Pressler families traces its lineage from a Valentin Preßler, who was born in 1699 and died in 1735. For the next seven generations down to the twentieth century, there have been individuals named Valentin in this Preßler family in Hochstadt. Furthermore, just as "our" Valentine Pressler was a vinedresser, the continued association of members of the family with wine-growing has continued down through the centuries. Today, this place called Hochstadt, is surrounded by open fields and dark-green vineyards. The older parts of Ober- and Niederhochstadt with their red-roofed houses surrounding their steepled Reformed churches have grown together, and been greatly expanded by newer homes constructed on the south side of the town since the end of World War II. The town is still bordered on the north by the Haimbach River which flows toward the Rhine.

Pressler Winery & Wine Label

At the southeastern corner of the town is the modern plant of Otto Pressler GmbH & Co. KG, a winery owned by the two sons of Otto Pressler.  The produce of the surrounding fields is bottled and shipped from there to the dinner tables of Germany and Europe. A Pressler cousin (Gerd Pressler) has become the village historian and has written an extensive history of Hochstadt (see Sources) with its over 1,200 years of recorded history. There is in Hochstadt an interest in the Pressler family history, just as in the United States there has developed a desire to know more about the family's roots. Due to the ravages of war and time, it may never be possible to find the absolute historical documentation to prove beyond any doubt that Hochstadt is the village from which Valentine and Christina Preßler began their long and difficult journey so long ago. However, after many years of extensive research by several people, it is the opinion of the writers of this book that Hochstadt is the ancestral home of Valentine Pressler and the place where the Presley family story began.

© 1997 Donald W. Presley.   Reproduction of this material for commercial purposes is prohibited without written permission of Donald W. Presley.  No claim is made to previously copyrighted material.  Elvis, Elvis Presley, and Graceland are registered trademarks of Elvis Presley Enterprises, Inc.

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