The distinctive name of "Riedesel" has its origins in central Germany. The first mentions of the name stem from the 13th century in association with a knightly family that had residences in and around what is now the state of Hessen. In 1463, one branch of this family was established as the sovereigns of a small territory around the town of Lauterbach and the castle "Eisenbach." In 1680 they were elevated to the status of Riedesel Freiherren (barons) zu Eisenbach. The Riedesels of Lauterbach have extremely complete and accurate records of family members for many centuries.

A second branch with knightly status was known as the Riedesel zu Josbach. They included individuals associated with Bellersheim, Vers, and other locations in Hesse and, we think in Westphalia. A third line at Camberg was aligned with the Hessian Landgrave but possibly with the rulers of Siegen-Naussau as well. Members of the Josbach and Camberg lines lacked the hereditary lands of the Riedesel zu Eisenbach, and disappear from the archival record in the 1600s.

In the meantime, the name "Riedesel" occurs in the archives of the tiny county of Wittgenstein-Berleburg from the 1300s onward. By 1600 when it becomes possible to pick up the genealogical trail, the Riedesels of Wittgenstein were peasants—unfree subjects of the Counts of Wittgenstein. The towns and villages of Wittgenstein have included many Riedesels over the last 400 years, but none more than the village of Wunderthausen. Virtually all of the Riedesels in America trace their ancestry back to Wittgenstein and a majority of them to this small village, as do many Germans by that name who migrated within the German states.

It is our opinion that the Riedesels of Wittgenstein (and hence of America) descend from the Riedesel zu Josbach. A German colleague and I have published a paper on this subject in a German periodical, but an English version is available here.

WWW riedesel.org

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