Reinhard ROHLEDER

                       This man's name is noted in the 1100 year anniversary book that I have for Viermunden.  It is stated there that Reinhard was the earliest progenitor of the prominent Rohleder family in Viermunden, and that he came from Somplar.  He is mentioned in Viermunden's list of citizens for 1640, and later also for 1670, but not in the 1682 list.  Presumably, he married about 1635.  The Viermunden book states that he was in Viermunden from 1635 onward.  He would have traveled perhaps 15 miles from his birth home in Somplar.  Interestingly, certain other ancestors of the Paulus family emigrated from Somplar to Viermunden in the early 1700s.  For some reason, the grass looked greener in Viermunden.

The Viermunden book also lists the names of other Rohleders from 1682 on in the town citizen list.  These would likely seem to be Reinhard's descendants.  One of these was Hans Heinrich Rohleder, coincidenally another ancestor of mine, and also Conrad Rohleder, another probable son.  In fact, an internet person has made Conrad to be a son, and established a date of birth for him.  So I have gone ahead and made the three likely siblings all children of Reinhard and Marie.  I'm probably missing other children.  Update: I got better data from Timm Garde, a "cousin."  So we now have fuller data on Reinhard's children.

Reinhard and his wife, Marie, are also listed in the LDS church site's file.  The Orth family seems to be the provider of these details.  Graham Shirra, a faithful LDS person, another cousin, is likely the provider.

Looking up "Somplar + Rohleder" on Google, they provided some genealogy data for some very early Rohleders in Somplar.  They show an Elizabeth Rohleder, b. 1613 in Somplar, who married 7 Nov 1638 in Somplar.  She married David Vopell.  Elisabeth died 28 Mar 1695 in Somplar.  Elisabeth is likely a sister (or could be a cousin) of our Reinhard Rohleder.  Elisabeth's father, Jost Rohleder, b. c. 1580 in Somplar.  He married Creina NN before 1610.  He died 14 May 1639 in Somplar.  The Somplar records only go back to 1625, so as of now we can't know for sure if we have a match for Reinhard.  There are, however, some other Somplar "Familienbuch" records that go back to 1579, so maybe we have a chance there.

I looked at the Familienbuch for Somplar/Bromskirchen and found Jost Rohleder, Elisabeth's father.  He was there with another son, Hermann.  This was the only Rohleder family in Somplar, so it seems likely that this was Reinhard's family.  Because Elisabeth was born in 1613 in Somplar, and since Reinhard's birthdate was estimated at 1610, it seems so likely that Reinhard was a son of Jost that I am going ahead to make this judgment call.  This is based on (a) right place and date, (b) no other Rohleder families in Somplar, (c) Reinhard's siblings who stayed in Somplar and were the right age for siblings.  So, Jost Rohleder has become the father of Reinhard.
Source:Noted in a 1969 reprint of a booklet "1100 Years,Viermuenden."published 1950 byPeter Grebe.  Dr. Timm Garde, Germany, found reference to" the parents of Conrad and Jost Rohleder ie.Reinhard Rohleder,b. abt 1610,Somplar, and wife Maria Grebe,b. abt 1615,Viermuenden, the daughter of Johannes Grebe who died in 1636 (Pest). The Grebe family seems to be a very old family in this region (1528 in Viermuenden)".
Angelika Laudert, e mail   A.undM.Giering@t-online.de (aum.giering )  ,advised that in a book by Peter Grebe entitled "Viermunden, Frankenberg, 195"'p. 44f, it states "The ancestor of all Rohleder in Viermunden is since 1635, Reinhard Rohleder from Somplar and Maria Grebe from Viermunden...." ( June 2001 ). Somplar is a small town about 15 to 20 km west of Viermunden. By James Baker.

BIOGRAPHY: Quoted and translated by Angelika Laudert from the book,"Viermunden" by Peter Grebe,1950 ---concerning the Thirty Years War in Central Europe --- "In the autumn of the year 1640, the Swedish Army took all the sheep from Viermunden with them. They had taken away earlier, 23 cows,10 oxen,3 horses and 3 young horses. At that time Reinhard Roheder tried to get back two stolen horses. With the help of soldiers, he wanted to get them from a certain Leichter in Oberschleidern. But near Korbach, the group was confronted with the Swedish Army and he was forced to flee without succeeding in his task."
"The Rohleder Possession in Viermunden", Grebe p.90 :House Number (today ) 16 and 17, a "Nordenbecksches Gut". 1635 owned by Reinhard Rohleder. Then the heritage was divided abt 1670 ie, Number 16,1670 Johann Jost,1719 Ludwig,1805 Heinrich, 1835 Johann Heinrich and after him,Johann Jost Rohleder....
Number 17, 1719 Konrad, 1780 Jost Heinrich, 1817 Christian Rohleder....
Thus the farm was large enough to be divided between two Rohleder families and surely, when it was in one hand,was one of the larger farms in Viermunden. However the land was not in possession of the peasants but of the local nobility. Additionally to taxes from grain and cattle, the peasants had to work for the nobility and were divided for this purpose into two categories.
   1. Huefener- those who have a Hufe ( enough land to earn a living from it for a whole family, and
2.Koetter- the poorer who had to look for additional income.
The huefener had to do Spanndienste ( some days in the year they had to work for the nobility with horses e.g. plowing ) and the koetter, Handdienste ( do other works but on more days of the year ). So the horse was the prestige object of that time. Both Rohleder families had to do spanndienste. (Grebe p.99). The action of Reinhard in the 30 year war to get some soldiers in order to take back his stolen horses, is the action one would expect of a rather rich peasant and not of a poor peasant."
BIOGRAPHY: In 1648, he did public penitence for "answering during sermon and imitating the pastor in front of the church.", Grebe's book.
James Baker has Reinhard dying in 1680.
From an internet/ Google/ Somplar search, a sister or cousin of Reinhard could be Elizabeth b.1613 with parents Jost Rohleder 1580- 1639 and Creina NN c.1580 and md.before 1610.Feb 2004-from James Baker.