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Olanie Family history
Cheryl L Morgan & Jean Pierre Gasser
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The majority of our roots are from Alsace and Lorraine |
The first place the Olanies are mentioned is in Lautenbach, Haut-Rhin, France in 1700. Lautenbach is a small village of about 14800 inhabitants located in the Lauch valley near to the Abbey Murbach. The Olanies moved to Bitschwiller, in the Thur Valley, around 1789 at the beginning of the French Revolution (and the storming of the Bastille in Paris). My gr-gr grandparents (FX OLANIE and Therese REBISCHUNG OLANIE) emigrated to San Francisco in 1863 during the middle of the American Civil War. They had to travel across the isthmus of Panama to San Francisco. From there, my great grandmother, Agatha Marie OLANIE LEWIS and her husband TJ LEWIS homesteaded in Washington Territory, USA, in 1889. I am grateful for the help and friendship of Robert Behra a wonderful researcher of Alsace who helped greatly with this research.
| Francis Xavier, Felix OLANIEb. 1839, Bitschwiller-les-Thann, Franced. 1919, Oakland, Calif. USA Therese Marie REBISCHUNGb. 1842, Bitschwiller-les-Thann, Franced. 1877, Oakland, Calif. USA |
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Today Olanie family links are found in France (Valence, Ambert, Colmar, Avignon, Drancy, Paris, Troyes, Nice, and Meudon), Italy (Milan) and the United States (Washington, California, Georgia, Alaska, Ohio, Idaho and elsewhere).
- Alsace background
- Bitschwiller Families
- Family Roots in:
- Links beyond the Vosges Mountains in Lorraine
- Swiss and German Links
- Agatha Olanie: Emigrant from Bitschwiller to the USA
- Agatha Olanie - Lewis: Homesteading in Washington Territory, USA, 1889 and onwards. USA
- Occupations of Olanie Ancestors
- Greater Lewis-Olanie Family Reunion 1999
Alsace background
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Our Alsacian roots originate in the Valleys of the Vosges Mountains namely: Thur, Doller and Lauch Rivers |
Alsace is rather French in feeling and tone although German in cultural tradition. It is separated from Germany by the Lauter River on the North, by the Rhine River on the East, Switzerland on the south and by the Vosges Mountains from the rest of France. Originally Alsace formed part of the Frankish kingdom. In 870, Alsace went to Germany as part of the newly founded Holy Roman Empire, which, though called Roman was in reality German. It retained much of its independence.
We can trace our Alsatian ancestors to 1530. Antoine STOLTZLIN, born around 1530 in Vogelbach is related to the OLANIER line while Jean WISSLING born around 1530 in Urbes is related to our REBISCHUNG line.
The Thirty Years War (1618 - 1648) brought great devastation and death to the people of Alsace. The decimated country was ceded to France in 1648 by the Treaty of Westphalia.
After the War, Alsace was repopulated by Catholic families from Switzerland and Germany because France wanted to encourage a Catholic influence in the country. For the next 200 plus years, Alsace was ruled by France. Unrest was felt once again during the period when our ancestors emigrated (in the 1860's) and in 1871, Alsace was ceded to Germany at the end of the Franco-Prussian War (1870). However, after World War I it returned to France.
The valley of the Thur, where Bitschwiller is located, serves as a pass through the Vosges mountains and has, for many centuries, been fought over. It provides an alternative route through the mountains between Italy and Spain to Holland and Northern Europe, thus there were commercial causes of conflict. In addition, it provided a buffer between France and Germany as they experienced conflict between the Catholic and Protestant religions. Alsace itself had no conflict between the two religions; it has always been catholic.
The people are strong and flexible and believe strongly in family. The area is one in which many peoples have come into collision and many cultures met. In this century (as well as historically) the Alsatians have had to make their own peace after the two world wars where they were in the war zone and had sons fighting on both sides -- French and German armies.
The hills surrounding the valleys of the Thur, Lauch and Doller were rich in minerals, including silver, copper, lead, iron and coal (these deposits are now exhausted). The rivers provided the energy for factories and manufacturing of linen and cotton were established along with foundries and other industries. Indeed, the first French locomotive was built in Bitschwiller and delivered to Paris by oxen as there were no tracks laid. Today the foothills boast vast vineyards. A succession of villages are known globally as the Route du Vin.
The Abbey of Murbach
In 727 Count Eberhard, brother of the Duke of Luitfried decided to found an abbey in the Lauch Valley near the Grand Ballon (Bald Mountain). Count Eberhard called on Bishop Pirmin to establish an abbey and named it Murbach -- the first Roman Catholic abbey in the region. (there was already near Bergholtzel, not far from Guebwiller, a small community of Irish Monks called peregrines. ) Murbach was under the protection of the Pope and the Emperor of the German Empire. It was granted special privileges including: free election, and autonomy from royal agents. During the 8th and 9th centuries, Murbach became the wealthiest abbey in Alsace along with Wissembourg.
During the 8th and 9th Century, in the Carolingien Age the Abbey flourished. It was known for its piety and the excellent level of spirituality. The 397 monks and novices of Murbach created many well known hymns and were required to read latin poems for their chants and to prepare copies of manuscripts. There was a comprehensive library at Murbach considered to be the richest library in the Rhine Valley. This beautiful period was ended by the Hungarian raid of 926 when the Abbey was sacked and 7 monks martyred near the Grand Ballon.
In the feudal period of the 10th and 11th centuries, the Abbey rose from the ruins and continued to play an important role in the history of Alsace. It enjoyed both political and ecomonic importance in the region. Indeed it controlled a part of the valley of Lauch River, the Valley of the Thur down to Bitschwiller and different small scattered territories. In order to protect themselves and their people from secular interests, the abbey constructed a number of fortified villages in the valley. These included Guebwiller, Wattwiller and St Amarin. The abbey was sacked once again (along with most of the countryside) during the english raids in the 100 years war.
Through the centuries, the Abbey of Murbach continued to prosper and suffer as conflicts continued around them. In 1525, the War of the Peasants engulfed the Abbey. The Protestant Reformation was not allowed to take a foothold in the valley and it continued to be Catholic. Instead, the Abbey of Murbach aligned itself with the counter reformation and established a strict discipline in its cloisters. Then came the Thirty Years War in 1618.
The Abbey of Murbach attempted to be neutral during the Thirty Years War. But both sides pillaged the villages and killed the population - civilian and religious. At the end of the war, the Abbey and the surrounding lands became under the control of the King of France and were repopulated by Catholics from Switzerland and Germany.
During the French Bourbon monarchy epoch (1648-1789), Murbach experienced political tensions which affected its rebuilding. The abbey supported industry including reopening the mines (including the mines at Bitschwiller), the installation of glassmaking at Wildenstein. They also supported the rebuilding of the Abbey itself.
The buildings of Murbach were abandoned in 1759 and fell into ruins. The abbey was secularised and moved to Guebwiller. a nice castle with outbuildings was built together with parks and gardens, the Notre Dame church and houses for the canons. These new buildings (and not the older ones from Murbach) were sacked and plundered by the rebel country people of the Saint Amarin valley, amongst them probably some of our ancestors.
Nearby to Murbach were the villages of Lautenbach and Linthal. These belonged to the venerable Chapter of Canons of Lautenbach. Our ancestors, the OLANIE's and KECH's lived in these villages, and one, Jean OLANIER, was the game warden for the Abbey in the 18th Century.
Books about ALSACE
Readers might want to locate several books written by an Alsatian-American cousin of ours, Dale Fife. She was born in Toledo, OH, in 1901. Her first book was Weddings in the Family , which was followed by The Unmarried Sisters. In her own words:The two books were concerned with growing up in an Alsatian-American family. I wanted to write a third, comparing the lot of the immigrants with that of relatives who had not come to America. For this research I went to Alsace. When I returned, the memory of the storybook quality of my mother's village in the Vosges mountains prompted me to write a book for children. It was , A Stork for the Bell Tower and was published by Coward-McCann. A second followed it, A Dog Called Dunket . The adult book I intended writing was published later as a teen-age novel. Called, Walk a Narrow Bridge, it won the Ohioana Award in 1967..
(Complements of Robert Behra).
created by Cheryl L. Morgan,
last modified: 19 December 2008