Glass Message Board
Glass Discussion & Research. NO IDENTIFICATION REQUESTS here please. => Germany => Topic started by: kaycyn on February 26, 2015, 05:04:26 AM
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I stumbled across your wonderful site and am looking for information on a glashutte in Holsthum, Germany in existence about 1780 or so.
I am a direct descendent of the Greiner glassmakers and have been looking for my 4th great grandfather Josephus Greiner for over 25 years. I'm not sure when he was born (around 1755?) or where or who his parents were but I know he died November 20, 1797. He was married twice; his wife at the time of his death was Maria Peiffer. My cousin - Paul Greiner - was in Germany a few years back and found Catholic church records indicating he was a glass master. Places associated with him are Holsthum, Ferschweiler and Schankweiler.
Any assistance you can give me is most appreciated. I am going blind and would like to finish my research before that happens in a year or less.
Thanks - Cindy
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Glashütte Holsthum was set up in 1769 by a Dominik Laeis active until 1811/12 and again 1843 to 1850/51. Buildings largely modernised but including cone roof still exist. At the time the area was under Austrian control. A book was published by a descendant Ernest Dominik Laeis in 1831 and mentions the Glass works. https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=TRNAAAAAcAAJ&dq=laeis+Glash%C3%BCtte&source=gbs_navlinks_s and more recently Josef Dreesen: Die Glashütte in Holsthum bei Bitburg. Neuss 1990. Which can be found cheaply on Abebooks, if your Joseph Greiner was an important part of the business he is likely to be mentioned in that book
Only other glassworks that I find was a bottleworks set-up in 1868 not far from Holsthum in Minden.and various name changes to 20th century. Meyer & Söhne in Porta-Westfalica. Also (or probably same) Glasfabrik Wittekind -. Part of Gerresheimer company in 20th C making carboys. These might point to earlier glassworks there.
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Hi Frank - thanks for your information and the quick reply! Yes, I have Dominik Lais (spelling in church records). On a list of employees from the Holsthum glass works from about 1777 he is listed as a "director".
Of the 35 men listed, all but a few have their place of origin listed. Of course one of the ones which doesn't is Josef Greiner! Dominik is listed as coming from Brandenbourg, Luxembourg.
I wish I could find employee lists from some of the other factories in hopes I could maybe piece together a "trail" of some of the workers and see if Josef "traveled" among them. I have sent about a dozen emails to Germany and have not heard back from a single one! They don't get returned so . . .
Would you happen to know anything about the use of hyphenated names? I have hundreds of records recorded just as "Greiner" and then I have hundreds more listed as "Greiner-Durr", "Greiner-Fuchs", "Greiner-Gobes" and so on and no one seems to know why. Even in the same family - same parents - I have had as many of 5 different Greiner surnames!
Thank again for your reply - Cindy
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The Dreesen book is your best bet for more info, should tell you what they produced and location of any archives.
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You could also type the list of employees you found. Anyone researching the same works could then find this thread via google and maybe add to the story.
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You might also find this a useful resource https://www.glass-study.com/cms/index.php?option=com_content&view=category&id=208&Itemid=198 (https://www.glass-study.com/cms/index.php?option=com_content&view=category&id=208&Itemid=198)