Valentine Waltman

Male Abt 1678 -


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  • Name Valentine Waltman 
    Birth Abt 1678 
    Gender Male 
    Notes 
    • The Waltman Family of Northampton County, By Neil A. Boyer, 12 Jun 2009

      The Waltman Family Name. One component of this research is the tale (primarily from LaMance, true or not) of how the Waltman name was given to the family by a Bavarian count, Hiram von Frundsberg, in 1681. Walking on a path in the Black Forest, the story goes, Count Hiram is said to have encountered the three-year-old son of a Spanish count. Recognizing that the boy's life was endangered by political enemies of his recently murdered father, Count Hiram adopted the boy and called him Valentine Waldman -- "Valentine" because he was found on Saint Valentine's Day, "Waldman" because he was a "man of the woods." Over time the name was changed by some descendants to "Waltman." The boy grew up to be the founder of a large Waltman clan in America, estimated about 1960 to number more than 3,000. [11]

      Other Waltmans' LaMance and several other genealogists gave the impression that this Valentine Waldman and his son Conrad were the main source of all the Waldmans or Waltmans in America. The first sentence in her book began, "Nearly evman is a descendant of one Valentine Waldman." Nevertheless, there is evidence of other lines. Indeed, one genealogist has written that "the name of Waltman or Waldman is and was very common in the south of Germany. Waltman is a very old name." A search of U.S. census reports for the name Waltman in the early 19th century reveals many people by that name, including immigrants, who seem not at all related to Conrad and his descendants.

      U.S. census reports covering the years 1790 up to 1930, and the Social Security Death Index, both on the internet, show numerous lines of Waltmans with family members having been born in Europe. LaMance, however, suggested that the Wale in these cases had been chosen rather than inherited. She contended, proudly and rather arrogantly, and probably wrongly, that "it was not at all surprising that among the many millions of people in Germany, when the fashion of surname-taking came in like a flood, that more than one family, absolutely independent of any other family, should have selected the same family name, that of Waltman. It is a musical name and withal a poetical one, meaning a man of the woods."

      The Line of John Emanuel Waldmann. Aside from the work that has been done on Conrad Waltman, one line that is well-studied relates to John Emanuel Waldmann, who was born on June 19, 1715, in Appenhofen, Rheinland-Pfalz, Germany. Details family are presented in part because Lora LaMance's book on the Waltmans confused some of the children of Emanuel, as he was known, with chidren of Conraad.
      Family research showed that the father of Emanuel was Christoph Waldmann (1680-1743), who was born and died in the same German town. Emanuel was married in 1744 in Rheinland Pfalz, Germany, to the former Margaretha Beuerle (or Beuerlin) who was born about 1729 and died at the age of 57 on October 13, 1786. When he was 53, Emanuel, his wife and several children traveled to America aboard the Crawford, arriving in Philadelphia on October 26, 1768. The ship's passenger list showed the names of two of their older sons, George Jacob Waltmann and Johan Wilhelm (William) Waltman, but apparently the entire family made the voyage together. Emanuel settled in Lovettsville in Loudoun County, Virginia, about 30 miles from Washington, D. C. He died there in on February 13, 1784, and was buried with his wife in New Jerusalem Lutheran Church Cemetery, in Lovettsville. Some of his descendants remained in that area of Virginia, while others moved to the area of Bedford County, Pennsylvania, and some went further west.

      The Conrad Waltman Story: Furstenberg Origins
      According to the LaMance account of the Conrad Waltman origins, the House of Furstenberg was one of the great families of southern Germany in the Middle Ages, and had numerous castles and great riches. The Castle of Furstenberg in the Black Forest, about 13 miles north of Schaffhausen, Switzerland, was built in 1218 by a branch that called itself the Zahringen-Furstenbergs.

      The Furstenberg name was used mainly by the Catholics of the family, while the Protestant members called themselves Frundsberg. Reportedly, there was also discord between the two family groups. According to LaMance, two brothers, Eiam Furstenberg, were both bishops of the Catholic Church and allies of Louis XIV of France, who was constantly seeking new territory. In an act said to be regarded as treason by the Protestants of the family, the two bishops in 1681 turned over to France the keys to the city of Strassburg, the Protestant capital of Alsace (which adjoined Bavaria). Although various accounts of the family used the names Furstenberg and Frundsberg interchangeably, in time virtually all people of both names disappeared. LaMance said this was partly because the family was not prolific, partly because they tended to get involved in wars, and partly because many of them married commoners, which meant that offspring of the marriages were not regarded as legitimate heirs.

      By the end of the Thirty Years War, in 1648, according to LaMance, virtually the entire line of the Protestant Frundsbergs had died out. The only known exception was Count Hiram von Frundsberg, then probably only 10 years old. Althcism became the state religion of Bavaria after the war, the large Frundsberg estate there was regarded as a Protestant settlement and refuge. In 1652, the boy's guardian secured for him a large and elaborate Bible published in Wittenberg, said to symbolize Hiram's leadership of the Lutheran church in the area. In her 1928 book, LaMance said she was in possession of that Bible. In early 2006, the Bible was reported to be in a display case in the library of the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill, placed there by a descendant of LaMance.

      The Child is Called Valentine. Count Hiram apparently married early, to a woman named Margaret, but they were childless, and the Frundsberg line appeared doomed. The LaMance story is that every Saint Valentine's Day, Count Hiram weild boar in the Black Forest with friends. On February 14, 1681, as they were returning from the hunt, they came upon a little boy, not quite three years old, in the middle of the road. Judging by the velvet and lace dress of the child, it appeared that this was the child of a noble. Hiram took the boy to his home and decided to raise him as his son. Hiram was 43.

      LaMance said that Hiram immediately realized the identity of the boy. Spain at that time possessed Alsace, a wealthy Protestant area about the size of Connecticut, with Strassburg as its capital. Louis XIV wanted possession of Alsan was resisting. Spain had sent a certain Count Pedro to watch over the territory, and Pedro was succeeding. (Several researchers have said they believe Pedro's last name was "Ferrette.") [15] Because Pedro was "in the way" of Louis XIV, LaMance said that he "met with foul play." But also in danger was Pedro's son, who had been born on April 9, 1678.

      It was probable, LaMance said, that the widow of Pedro, Countess Eleanor, hid the child for a time, but shortly a group of Bavarian noblemen friendly to Pedro "kidnapped" the boy in order to take him to safety and help him regain hisghts in Alsace; they spirited him into the Black Forest. The story of the kidnapping apparently spread, and thus Count Hiram had no difficulty identifying the three-year-?old boy who stood on the path in the Bavarian woods. In order to protect the boy's true identify, as well as to protect himself, LaMance said that Hiram swore everyone to secrecy, announced that he had adopted a child, and called the boy Valentine Waldman. (A parallel but less dramatic account is that the friendly kidnappers simply delivered the boy to Hiram, a known defender of Martin Luther and opponent of Louis XIV.)

      In 1685, four years after Valentine was adopted, Hiram and his wife, both probably about 47 and childless for 25 years, had a baby girl; they named her Barbara, after a famous Frundsberg ancestor. In time, according to LaMance, Valen love with Barbara von Frundsberg. In 1710, when Valentine was 32 and Barbara 25, they married, and Count Hiram had to prove to local officials that they were not blood relatives.

      Conrad is Born. LaMance said that five years later, in 1715, Valentine and Barbara had a son, Conrad Waltman, born in Bavaria. She said that Conrad had an older brother, Peter, who was the legitimate heir, but Peter was crippled anively young. However, Byron Waltman said there was no documentation for this. Little else is known about Valentine. LaMance said that he died in 1750, at the age of 72, on his wife's estate in Bavaria. She said Barbara died in 1762, at the age of 77.

      NOTE: There is no document that says that Conrad Waltman was born in 1715, only the claim of LaMance that this story is correct. She also said she believed his wife, Katherine Bierly Waltman, was born in 1718 (and not in 1708, as written on her tombstone) [16] and that Conrad was three years older. In the absence of other evidence, this paper assumes that Conrad?s birth date was 1715.

      However, other researchers believe that Katherine's tombstone is correct, that she was born in 1708, and that Conrad, if three years older, may have been born in 1705. The question about the dates of birth of Conrad and Katherine is considered further in discussion of the date of birth of their son Valentine Waltman, who may have been born as early as 1733. LaMance also claimed that Conrad lived until 1796 and died at the age of 81, but there is no evidence relating to his death or burial.
    Person ID I8610  OurNorthernRoots | Andrew's Ancestor
    Last Modified 29 Aug 2011 

    Father Count Petro of Spain,   b. Est 1650 
    Mother Countess Eleanor of Spain,   b. Est 1650 
    Family ID F2179  Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

    Family Barbara von Frundsburg   d. 1786 
    Children 
    +1. Count Conrad Waltman,   b. 1705, Bavaria, Germany Find all individuals with events at this locationd. 1796, Northampton Co., Pennsylvania, USA Find all individuals with events at this location (Age 91 years)
    Family ID F2178  Group Sheet  |  Family Chart