Source: nie008.pcx
Jacob Heinrich Wille was born July 5, 1819 in Pfulligen, Germany (recorded at St. Marien's Church, Reutlingen). Generally known as Heinrich, he moved to Reutlingen where he was employed as Braumeister at the Eisenlohr Brauerei, then owned by Simon Eisenlohr, first husband of Lisetta Buck. Following Eisenlohr's death, Heinrich married Lisetta, on October 10, 1865. The wedding was held at the Bierkellar in Reutlingen.
Heinrich was a large man, over six feet tall and weighing more than 300 (German) pounds. A photograph, now lost, showed him to be erect, with an exceptionally broad chest and a narrow waist. He was muscular and wore a dark beard. His daughter, Maria, related that he was so "top heavy" that he constructed a contraption with pulleys to assist him in getting out of bed in the morning.
Heinrich died on August 22, 1880.
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| Lisetta Buck Wille. Photo copied from original taken
in her living room in Reutlingen, Germany. in 1913 at age 83. Source: nie008.pcx |
Lisetta Buck was born August 8, 1830 in Reutlingen. Her first husband was Simon Eisenlohr, who was born January 18, 1824. They married April 13, 1852. Lisetta had ten children by her marriage to Eisenlohr.*
On Eisenlohr's death (April 7, 1864), Lisetta inherited Eisenlohr's Bierkellar, which had originally been built by Johann Phillip Eisenlohr, Simon's father, in 1810 in a section of Reutlingen known as Haagöschle.
In spite of the ten children borne to Eisenlohr and four to Heinrich Wille, she was
slightly built and healthy. Her daughter, Maria, related that her mother had never
been ill a single day, and that she sometimes attributed that to a bedtime ritual her
mother practiced until her death on March 5, 1916. On retiring each night, she
placed her dentures in a glass of whiskey, and, on arising in the morning, she removed the
teeth, inserted them in her mouth, and drank the whiskey.
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| Believed to be son Heinrich (far right) with his two
sons (in uniform) and their wives. (Chandelier appears identical in style to one
seen in Uhlandhohe in 1985). Source: nie060.pcx |
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In 1810, Johann Eisenlohr was granted a permit by the Police Department of Reutlingen to build what became known as Eisenlohr's Bierkellar. As a condition for the permit, he was to lease to the city a plot of ground at a pond, or weir, adjacent to a city-owned mill, since the proposed Eisenlohr site would result in the loss to the city of its area know as the Zimmerplaz. In addition, Eisenlohr was to remove an existing bridge at the pond, construct a set of pedestrian steps in its place, and was prohibited from locating footpaths in the wooded area of the property, limiting them to grassy areas. Many of these features still can be seen today.
After Johann's death, his widow, Rosine (nee Hofstetter) operated the brewery, but not the biergarten, since the original concession permit could not be found. Eventually, Rosine's son, Simon Eisenlohr, assumed management. At that time, the property consisted of a one-story residence with beer cellar, a new brewing house with wells, and the surrounding open garden area. Simon opened a retail beer parlor at 120 Wilhelmstrasse, which was very successful.
The biergarten had a reputation for providing "class" entertainment. Among the performers were Niedernauer Badmusik on June 19, 1861 and Frau Bierbrauer Keim in 1863. Eisenlohr enlarged the facility, including a drawing room and a balcony. The family residence was atop the beer hall, salon, and bowling (nine-pin) alley.
Near the base of the slope was the brew house, ice house, and an aging cellar. (During World War II, the cellar was used as an air-raid shelter, and it is believed that Jacob Heinrich, the son of Lisetta and Heinrich Wille, lost his life because of a heart attack while running to the shelter.)
Under Heinrich Wille's management, he added a new reservoir, a brewing vat with a capacity of 3200 liters, and a massive one-story cellar annex.
Following Heinrich's death in 1880, Lisetta leased the brewery (excluding the house and retail business) to Jakob Junginer of Güssenstadt. Junginger gave up the brewery after only one year, and the lease was picked up by Ludwig Firedrich Manz. Lisetta sold the brewery outright to Louis Krauss. After his death, his widow Katherina (nee Becker) occupied the home. She acquired an operating license which she held until 1919, when the property was acquired by Karl Weiblen. In July 1927, the property was occupied by the Hausbauverein, and, in 1938, it was taken over by the Reutlingen Liederkranz. The Liederkranz renamed the facility, which had been known to this point as Eisenlohr's Bierkellar, to Ohlandhöhe and the area at the base of the slope to Frankonenkeller.
[This account of the facilities is taken from Reutlinger Geschichts Blätter
(1978).]
Although there are no earlier ancestral records available to this author, Maria Regina Wille related that her ancestors were French Huguenots, a protestant religious group persecuted during the reign of Louis XIV. She reported that one of her Huguenot ancestors was a secretary at Louis' Court who fled France into Switzerland about 1685 and later migrated to Germany. It is possible that the Germanic name Wille stems from the French name Vuillie. For a brief period, it was speculated that this Wille family may have been closely related to Switzerland's General of the Army, Ulrich Wille. (Wille was elected to this supreme rank on the outbreak of World War I in order to defend Switzerland's borders.) This connection to Ulrich Wille could not be corroborated.
Church records in Aich, a short distance from Reutlingen, relate in Item 207 of the church archives a short genealogy of a Wille family, a portion of which is quoted below. However, there is no verified connection with the subject Wille family. The portion that is quoted includes two references to the given names "Jakob Heinrich," where there may be a (speculative) connection.
"The Wille family originated in Aich. The original ancestor there was Johann Jakob Wille, an army corporal and miller, 1697-1788, with his wife Marie Barbara Koch. His son is Johann Jakop, cellar master in Pfulligen [near Reutlingen], 1729-1807. He had a son, Jakob Heinrich, baker, 1766-1839. He, in turn, had a son, Jakob Heinrich, baker, 1796-1878."
Return to Paul F. Niehoff and Maria Wille.
Back to Pat's and Walt's Roots.
* One of the children of the Eisenlohr/Buck marriage was Paul Eisenlohr, who emigrated to Baltimore some time before 1892. There, he was employed as a consultant and public relations man for a large brewing company. Later, he went into business for himself, building a hotel and several houses on the growing outskirts of Baltimore. Unfortunately, the boom failed and he was bankrupted. He and his wife survived as late as the 1930s, when they visited Lehighton, Pa.
Principal data derived from Paul and Maria Niehoff -- Founders of an American Family, Walter H. Niehoff, unpublished manuscript (1981).
Webmeister, Walt Niehoff (Enkel).
