The Mystery of RIEß Sisters - Part 2

My Assertion:  Anna Catharina Riess, wife of Joh. Ernst Menge, and Anna Elisabeth Catharina Riess, wife of Joh. Ernst Christian Kreuter, were sisters. Both Riess women were the daughters of Joh. Clemens Riess and Anna Margareth Kleberger of Södel, Hessen, Germany.

Given this assertion, the Södel Familenbuch (page 266) is mistaken to list Anna Elisabeth Riess, wife of Joh. Ernst Christian Kreuter, as the daughter of Hans Martin Rieß. She was instead the daughter of Martin's brother, Joh. Clemens Rieß, and a sister of Anna Catharina who married Joh. Ernst Menge.

My Argument:

The first question is if indeed the two Riess women were sisters, who were the parents they had in common? For the time period in question, the only Rieß in Södel who had sons who might have been father to these girls was Johann Riess and his wife Anna Margreth. Their sons were:

• Johannes Riess had a daughter named Anna Catharina, 1670-1671.  He did not have any daughters with the name Elisabeth.
• Joh. Clemens Riess had daughters named 

     Anna Elisabetha 1684-1694

     Anna Catharina born in 1690, married Joh. Ernst Menge

     Catharina born in 1694

• Hans Martin Riess had daughters named

     Anna Elisabetha, 1685-1761, married Joh. Ernst Klein

     Catharina, born 1692                                                 

     Maria Kat, 1700-1775, married Johannes Sommer

Given this information, I eliminate Johannes Rieß as the possible father of the sisters in question. That leaves Clemens and Martin, both of whom had daughters named Elisabeth and Catharina. Remember we are looking for one sister who married Menge and the other sister who married Kreuter.  

In the case of Clemens, his daughter Elisabetha died when she was 10 years old, and supposedly his daughter Anna Catharina married Menge in 1709.  

In the case of Martin, two of the three daughters who can be considered for this scenario married someone other than Menge or Kreuter. So even if it was Martin's daughter Catharina who married Menge, Martin does not appear to have had another daughter who married Kreuter. I therefore conclude that Clemens was indeed the father of Anna Catharina who married Menge, and so by extension Clemens must also be the father of the wife of Kreuter. But how can that conclusion be supported given this evidence?

In looking again at the daughters of Clemens, it happens that the death of the first daughter, Anna Elisabetha, is very likely significant. The daughter baptized as Catharina on 17 Aug 1694 was born 7 days after her older sister Anna Elisabetha died on 10 Aug 1694! In cases like this, it was the custom to name the next born child of the same gender with the name of the child who just died. There must have been a godmother with the name Catharina, thus it seems entirely probable that the daughter of Clemens baptized as Catharina in 1694 had three names: Anna Elisabetha Catharina - Anna Elisabetha for her dead sister, and Catharina for her godmother, whoever that was. This would also explain how all three of these names appear in various combinations in reference to the woman who married Kreuter.

In this scenario, not only were Anna Catharina Riess Menge and Anna Elisabetha Catharina Riess Kreuter sisters as the church documentation stated, but they were close in age and probably close emotionally, especially after both their parents died when the girls were still minors. After the sisters each married, the Menge's and the Kreuter's each served to sponsor a child from the other's family. And indeed, children from their two families ventured to the New World to the same city (Philadelphia) to the same church (St. Michaels and Zion Lutheran Church) where they continued to sponsor each other's families.  

But then we have to wonder what happened to Martin's daughter named Catharina, born in 1692? Where previously the same question applied to the daughter of Clemens named Catharina and the answer was Unknown, now the same answer applies to the daughter of Martin named Catharina. It is Unknown what became of her.

So there rests my case. I am in the process of taking a class that will help me learn to write a genealogical proof argument, so maybe I can use this as my test case in class! I'll let you know how that turns out. Meanwhile, I welcome comments and feedback.