Foundation Musick's MonumentThe Knöppel-Knöpfel family – the name also appears in Besse – was based in Guxhagen in the 17th century; according to the local parish register, they were recorded as Knöppel or Cnippel, a name which the descendants of the family’s progenitor subsequently changed to Knöpfel. As is already known from the history of the Wittich family in Melsungen, belonging to the Knöpfel family held special significance because two descendants from the Knöpfel line, namely the notary Johannes Reuter from Kassel and his niece Ottilia Möller from Melsungen, had established a generous family foundation under which their descendants were to receive financial support for their education – for the men, towards their studies, and for the women, towards their trousseau when they married – for a total of seven years. This was known as the Reuter-Knöpfel Beneficium, which was administered by the District Administrator of Melsungen as late as the 19th century. In particular, the descendants of Konrad Knöpfel, Metropolitan of Melsungen, were entitled to receive the foundation’s funds, and thus so were the members of the Till and Wittich families.
Let us now turn to the earliest Knöppel! According to an old Melsungen parish register, the earliest Knöppel was a Konrad Knöppel who lived in Guxhagen; his son Hermann Knöppel is then mentioned, who is recorded in Melsungen in 1575 but appears to have moved back to Guxhagen in 1576. We learn a little more about Andreas Knöppel, who lived in Guxhagen – presumably a grandson of the first Knöppel – who was born in 1602 and is described as a ‘Büdner’ or ‘Büttner’, that is, a smallholder; he is said to have been of means. He married around 1630; by 1659 he had three children and employed a male and a female servant. He died in Guxhagen on 26 June 1676 at the age of 74.
His eldest son was Konrad Knöpfel, born on 20 December 1631 in Guxhagen, who made a great leap forward: he embarked on an academic career. On 15 November 1651, he enrolled at what was then the University of Kassel, and in 1653 at the University of Marburg. On 27 June 1657, he married Christine Rüdiger in Breitenau; she was the daughter of Härtung Rüdiger, the vicar of Breitenau, and had been born in Melsungen on 5 August 1640. In 1659, he became assistant to Vicar Gundelach in Neuenbrunslar, and in 1660 he became vicar in Wolfershausen. In 1676, he succeeded his father-in-law, Härtung Rüdiger, as Metropolitan in Melsungen. His wife died in 1691, and Konrad Knöpfel married for a second time, to Anna Barbara Eißelin, on 27 March 1695.
Johann Konrad Knöpfel, born in Wolfershausen in 1662 and enrolled at the University of Marburg in 1680, became provisions commissioner at the Hessian fortress of Rheinfels near St. Goar. Conrad Knöpfel married Regina Magdalena Dirx on 29 April 1695. Conrad Knöpfel died before 1721.
St. Goarer Taufeintrag Regina Magdalena Dirx vom 24. September 1676
(KB 149-1, S. 56)
1.
Heirat von Conrad Knöpfel und Regina Magdalena Dirx am 29. April 1695 (KB 149/1, S. 255);
2.
Taufe von Dietrich Conrad Knöpffel am 9. Februar 1696 (KB 149/1, S. 105);
3.
Taufe von Maria Sophia Christiana Knöpfel am 9. November 1697 (KB 149/1, S. 116);
4.
Taufe von Anna Margaretha Elisabeth Knöpffel am 24. September 1699 (KB 149/1, S. 125);
5.
Taufe der am 18. April 1701 geborenen Anna Getrud Henriette Knöpfel (KB 149/1, S. 130);
6.
Taufe von Johann Christian Ludwig Knöpffel am 21. Juni 1703 (KB 149/1, S. 137);
7.
Taufe von Johann Henrich Werner Knöpffel am 23. Dezember 1704 (KB 149/1, S. 142);
8.
Taufe der am 16. Mai 1709 geborenen Anna Christina Dorothea Knöpfel (KB 149/1, S. 158);
9.
Taufe der am 28. Februar 1711 geborenen Maria Elisabeth Knöpffel (KB 149/1, S. 162);
10.
Taufe von Johann Ludwig Knöpffel am 29. Dezember 1712 (KB 149/1, S. 168);
11.
Taufe des am 22. November 1714 geborenen Johann Wollrath Knöpfel (KB 149/1, S. 177).