The Kassel Story

Treffen

Wiesbaden, Germany

20 June 1987

Introduction to the Casselmann - Family - History

By

Dr. Karl-Heinz Casselmann, Konigstein, Germany

In the beginning, there was C A S S E L (now Kassel)!The central German city in Hesse some 180 Kilometers north of Frankfurt, where in the 14th century the first Casselmann's were officially registered. Parts of the German region of Thuringen belonged to Cassel's rulers since 1247.

Very early in history-the city's walls were still not completed-restless residents of Cassel moved away, at first to small towns and villages nearby later they moved farther away. Wherever they went, they were called "men from Cassel" and spelled their names Casselmann, Cahaelmann, Cassilman, Kasselmann, Kaselman, Caselman, etc. (according to Brechenmacher's dictionary of German names). Brechenmacher mentioned Andreas Casselmann, registered in Simmerhausen near Cassel in 1418. In the official document from the town council of Witzenhausen dated September 19, 1367, the name Casselmann is mentioned in connection with a transfer of payment to the near monastery Germerode.

Many people from Cassel "immigrated" to Grossalmerode some 22 kilometers east of Cassel, where they were first mentioned in 1639 in a list of men to serve in the army of the aristocrat ruling in Cassel.(Jost Casselmann)

However, Casselmann's probably lived in Grossalmerode even earlier than that. At the end of the 17th century, Casselmann's were so numerous that the people could only keep them apart by giving them nicknames. Their professions: shoemakers, potters, prize-winning butchers, teachers, mayors and city officers. The Pennsylvania hero in the War of Independence, Henrich Casselmann, was a shoemaker before he came to North America. It is proven that he did not come from Adelshofen, maybe he was born in Grossalmerode. ( Dr. Karl-Heinz explained that no record of the birth of Heinrich had been found in Adelshofen, the theory that he was the eldest son of Andreas Ludwig is still not disproved).

Potters from Grossalmerode taught their profession in Reinhardswald, a forest region northeast of Cassel, for example Johann Friedrich Casselmann (Udenhausen-exhibition catalogue Pottery from Reinhardswald," Kassel 1982, page 189) earlier, Heinrich Casselmann was mentioned as a potter from Grossalmerode.

It is interesting to see that Casselmann's from Grossalmerode knew how to preserve their right of residence in Cassel- It is explicitly mentioned. Among the Hesse soldiers sold to the Britains to fight in North America there were Casselmann's from Grossalmerode and other Hesse towns.

Even today, most Casselmann's live in Grossalmerode. The ancestors of almost every second Casselmann living in West Germany were born in Grossalmerode.

In the 200 years from the middle of the 17th century to the middle of the 19th century many Casselmann's also lived in Allendorf along the river Werra. They were craftsmen, teachers, but mostly fishermen and boatmen. Later they moved down river to Rintein and Vloto. One of them, Philipp Casselmann took the juridical doctor's degree at the University of Jena in 1706.

The Casselmann's from Rintein have most prominent family members in their ranks. Wilhelm Theodor Casselmann, who lived from 1820 to 1872, studied chemistry in Marburg, where he was one of Bunsen's scholars. He took his doctors degree, taught at the Marburg University, and became deputy principle of the Wiesbaden high school. He also taught young soldiers at the Nassau Military Academy and belonged to numerous official examination committees. He wrote school books for high school chemistry-classes and analyzed the healing waters from Bad Sodded and Neuenhain in the Taunus region in southern Hesse. For many years he was elected member of the Nassau parliament, another sign of the respect payed him.

Also from the Rintein region, from Fischbeck, came the only Casselmann, to receive the title of nobility. It was Leopold von Casselmann (1858-1930). He was Lord Mayor of the city of Bayreuth, famous for it's Richard-Wagner Festivals. Leopold von Casselman was a member of the German Reichstag under Bismark and representative of the National Liberal Party in the Bavarian parliament. A street in Bayreuth was named after him.

Eva Maria Zilling, nee Klinckaieck, Hamburg is a niece of Leopold von Casselmann. Her paternal grandmother was a nee Casselmann from Rintein. Mrs. Zilling descends from an old established family of booksellers and publishers-living in Paris in the fourth generation. As a young women, she studied history of art in Halle and established close contacts to the famous .. Bauhaus". Today, Mrs. Zilling is 88 years old and still residing in Hamburg. The respected German daily newspaper "Die Welt" on December 7, 1976 ranked her among the ten "grande old ladies" of Hamburg, along with famous German artists and actresses such as Ida Shre.

In the south of Cassel, Casselmann's live in Melsungen, Lispenhausen, Gensungen and Felsberg. I cannot go into details, it would take too long. But there is one more Casselmann I must mention because he presented us with a family color: Casselmann's Green.

He is Arthur Casselmann. He was born in Felsberg near Cassel on September 3, 1828 and died in St Petersburg, Russia on November 10, 1872. He was a student of Friedrich Wohler, a world-famous chemist. In 1865, he received a call to St. Petersburg where he worked as the secretary of the Russian Pharmaceutical Association. He founded a Russian magazine for Pharmacy. He discovered Casselmann's Green a color also widely known in Germany as "Schweinfurter green." Today, Casselmann's green or Schweinfurter green is not used any more.

Even centuries ago, Casselmans with academic degrees moved far away. Around 1600 they lived in the Magdeburg region. In 1603 Constantin Casselmann from Mardeburg took a masters degree at the University of Jena. The Jesuit priest Heinrich Casselmann from Eheinberger near Cologne came to Erfurt sometime around 1700, where he was Placidus, abbot of Erfurt, and for several years president of the city's famous University.

Last but not least there are the Casselmann's from Adelshofen, who in 1709 left Germany for North America. There they became the largest of all family branches, How they came to Adelshofen is still a mystery.

However, Casselmann's not only emigrated to North America and Arthur Casselmann was not the only one to go to Russia. Some of those emigrants probably came back to Germany during World War II.

The Casselmann family in Switzerland is closely related to Heinrich Casselmann from Grossalmerode and his descendants. it is interesting that even Hans-Dietrich Casselmann married a Swiss woman- Anna Rinder from Glattfelden, Zurich.

Eva Maria Zilling's parents and grandparents in Paris owned a respected bookstore and publisher's house called Klincksieck. One of Germany's most famous publishers, Rowohlt, learned his trade in the company. Also in Paris, a sister of Juergen Casselmann lives with her children.

In Belgium there is a Casselmann family too. They are Flemish and Catholic. I could not obtain information about them because my correspondent has stopped writing without giving reasons.

It is not easy to establish who is related to whom in this large family. Jane Casselman from Detroit has a theory that may be helpful. "Look at the nose" she says and indeed; John, Dan, Ed and I have the same noses. Very well then.

For the time being, it is enough to know that we all have the same name, that we are Germans or that at least we were Germans at one time. There is a lot to do, LET'S GET ON WITH IT!

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